Wholesalers may be able to increase their value to advisors through their knowledge of investments and products. Nearly one third of advisors (31%) ranked that as their top “want or need” from their wholesaler. Advisors also favored improving the delivery of value-add programs, with 57% calling this their first or second priority.
Advisors from independent broker dealers and RIAs were less interested in knowledge of competing products (12%) than were advisors as a whole (17%). Advisors from banks, insurance firms and other practices were more interested in wholesalers’ knowledge about the particulars of their practice (25%) relative the overall industry (17%), possibly because these types of advisors have distinctive needs.
Click to EnlargeAdvisors also indicated that wholesalers could provide greater help over the next two years in the areas of retirement planning and marketing/prospecting; each earned nearly a third of total first place votes. Still, advisors don’t expect to significantly increase the percentage of assets invested in products from their top three wholesalers. This percentage increased considerably over the last five years, but advisors expect it to remain essentially flat over the next five.
Click to EnlargeNext Part 4 of 4: Less (or More) Talking
