Nobody tells you this when you take a VP of Sales or Institutional Sales role in fintech or capital markets.

So we will.

The relationships you build – the ones that took years – they don’t belong to the firm.

They belong to you.

The Head of Trading Technology at that tier one bank who finally picked up your call after 18 months of persistence.

The CRO at the asset manager who brought you in for that eight-figure deal because they trusted you personally.

The derivatives desk that moved on a platform decision because of a conversation you had at a conference three years ago.

None of that is in the CRM.

The CRM has names and dates and last contact fields.

What it doesn’t have is the 11pm message you answered on a Sunday.
The intro you made for them that had nothing to do with a deal.
The moment you told them the truth when every other vendor was telling them what they wanted to hear.

That’s the relationship. And when you leave – it follows you.

Every senior institutional sales professional we speak to knows this.
They’ve watched it happen.
They’ve been on the other side of it.

And yet – firms keep making the same mistake.

They treat institutional relationships as company assets.
They underpay, underinvest, and under-title the person holding them.
They assume the book stays when the person goes.

It doesn’t.

We’ve seen it too many times. A VP of Sales leaves. Within six months, three of their key accounts have either gone quiet, moved to a competitor, or are suddenly “reviewing their vendor relationships.”

Because the relationship was never with the logo.
It was with the person.

If you’re a VP of Sales or Institutional Sales professional reading this – in fintech, SaaS, AI, capital markets, or trading technology – you already know what I’m describing.

You are the product. Your network, your credibility, your judgment.

Make sure the firm you work for understands that.

And if they don’t, someone else will.

——

iopa Solutions places senior sales and institutional sales professionals across fintech, SaaS, AI, and capital markets. If this resonates, we’d welcome a conversation.