Institutional Sales - what it is?
I’m trying to understand Institutional Sales as a career, particularly in London, and there seems to be much less information about it compared with IB, PE or HF.
I’d appreciate some insight from people actually working in the industry.
Specifically:
* What do you actually do day-to-day? How client-facing is the job, especially at junior levels? How much time is spent talking to clients vs markets/research/Excel/admin?
* What’s the practical difference between Institutional Sales, Institutional Equity Sales and Equity Sales Trading?
* Prestige: How are these roles viewed within a BB compared with M&A, Trading, Equity Research, ECM, etc.?
* Compensation: Realistic London base + bonus at Analyst, Associate, VP, Director and MD levels?
* Lifestyle: Typical hours, weekends, travel, conferences, client dinners, etc.?
* Clients: How much interaction do you actually have with PMs, hedge funds, asset managers, CIOs, etc.?
* Career progression: How difficult is it to reach MD and what does the job become at senior levels?
* Exits: Where do people realistically go after Sales?
* Sales vs M&A: What are the main advantages and disadvantages of Sales compared with M&A?
Most importantly, does Institutional Sales genuinely become a highly relationship-driven, client-facing career at senior levels, or is the reality more analytical / screen-based than it appears from the outside?
Would also appreciate any honest opinions on what people like and dislike about the career.
You're in the wrong forum btw. It's a job in S&T.
What the job is like depends significantly on what product you're selling.
You're asking how client facing it is... The entire job is selling to clients. There is basically nothing else to it. Everything you do is client-related. Even as a junior. Most banks these days run very lean desks. Juniors are given accounts to manage as early as possible.
I'm not in sales but they are my internal clients and I have many friends there. The job only gets more client-based as you rank up... But tbh it is never not client based. If we're talking equity sales, then it already starts at a very high base (edit: to be clear I'm referring based level of client interaction, not comp). For more complex sales desks (e.g. imagine some derivatives FICC sales) then your work can be more grunty and analytical at lower levels.
There's plenty on the site about sales though, do some googling
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