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Getting the Most From Your Wholesalers in 2009

by Lee

In our latest report, "Maximizing Advisor Interactions: Dos and Don'ts for Wholesalers," we lay out a series of recommendations for wholesalers based on insights from an extensive survey of 343 advisors and a series of in-depth follow-up interviews. The key steps, which most wholesalers fail to take today, are:

• DO Focus on Segmentation: A one-size-fits-all wholesaling model does not work. 80% of interviewed advisors believe that most wholesalers do not segment their advisor bases or attempt to customize their messages based on what is relevant or of interest to the advisor. At firms where advisor segmentation is being used, wholesalers should be given extensive training on how to use information on the segments to tailor their approaches going into advisor meetings. Whether or not firms have holistic segmentation strategies in place, however, wholesalers should be using all resources at their disposal to learn about each advisor's business before going into a meeting, in order to make the meeting as relevant and useful to the advisor as possible.
• DO Be a Product Consultant, Not a Salesman: While 91% of surveyed advisors said that it is helpful when wholesalers recommend specific products, 100% of interviewed advisors cited product "pushing" as their biggest wholesaler pet peeve, so wholesalers need to know the difference and be capable of doing the former without doing the latter. An advisor should feel that he is receiving customized advice on what products will meet his particular needs, rather than the same generic product pitch that the advisor before and after him is receiving. Wholesalers should assess an advisor's current needs, concerns, and knowledge gaps, and then be honest in their recommendations, saying if their firm has a product that can fill a specific niche, but admitting if their firm does not, or if a competitive product is a better fit. Winning an advisor's trust is more important, in the long run, than any single sale.
• DO Provide True Business Building Support: 74% of surveyed advisors said that whether or not a wholesaler "understands and helps me with my business-building needs" is either "very important" or "somewhat important" in determining whether they continue to meet with that wholesaler. However, many wholesalers today continue to simply drop printed copies of value-added programs on advisors' desks without helping the advisor to apply the program's tenets to her business or providing tailored support based on the advisor's specific business needs. Wholesalers should help advisors with their prospecting, client communication, and client retention efforts. Additionally, the movement of many advisors toward the independent channels presents an opportunity for wholesalers to provide advice on managing an advisory practice without the infrastructure and support that they previously received from their employers.
• DO Continue the Dialogue Between Meetings: After meeting with an advisor, wholesalers should make sure to follow up. Interviews with advisors revealed that many are dissatisfied with the lack of follow-up from wholesalers after their quarterly or semi-annual meetings. As one advisor put it, "If the only time I spoke to my clients was during meetings, they wouldn't be my clients for very long." 91% of advisors do want wholesalers to follow up via their internals, and 55% expressed a preference for e-mail follow up from internals. In keeping with the universally expressed desire for a more consultative wholesaling model, maintaining an ongoing dialogue between the firm and the advisor is essential to building a productive and enduring relationship.

If you can institutionalize these steps and ensure that your wholesalers follow them, you will stand a far greater chance of hitting your targets in 2009.