Dain Rauscher is raising its consulting bar a notch by forming a consulting group for brokers. The new consulting group and a training and designation program will be officially unveiled this month. It has two tiers brokers can qualify for: The Senior Consulting Group and The Consulting Group.
"We developed this as a way for us to recognize and set apart brokers who have successfully dedicated their practices to consultative fee-based business," says Sandy Duerre, Dain's associate product manager for investment consulting services.
Dain has had a managed money program for about 10 years, but the new effort is designed to distinguish established consultants and help train newcomers, according to Dave Bromelkamp, a vice president and consultant in Minneapolis. The new program is similar to Salomon Smith Barney's Consulting Group and PaineWebber's Masters Program.
"We're not breaking new ground here," Bromelkamp admits. "But internally it's a big deal because the firm is acknowledging that consultants are important to the firm."
About 30 to 40 brokers are expected to qualify initially, Duerre says. Qualification is based on four criteria: 1) The broker must be clean and approved by management, 2) must belong to a consulting organization such as IMCA, 3) must be adequately diversified among different money managers, and 4) must meet minimum production requirements.
Business standards have yet to be finalized, but "will be well into six figures and somewhere north of 15 million dollars in assets," Duerre says.
