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Wholesalers Find Success by Focusing on Fewer Advisors

by Steven Miyao

On average, asset management companies' wholesalers currently cover 3.4 states, totaling about 1,550 advisors. These wholesalers average only 1.57 visits per year to each advisor they meet with. Our research has shown that this is problematic for two primary reasons:

1. Many advisors go without any wholesaler visits
2. It doesn't enable the wholesaler to maximize their meeting to sales ratio

Our FA Vision data shows that there is virtually no difference in advisor advocacy when a wholesaler meets an advisor 0-2 times. However, there is a 29.6% increase in advocacy with 2 to 3 meetings, and a whopping 75.9% increase with 2 to 4 meetings.

This data clearly shows that it pays for a wholesaler to see an advisor at least four times per year and that this substantially helps the wholesaler to build a strong relationship with the advisor. On the flip side, it doesn't pay for a wholesaler to meet with an advisor less than 2 times a year.

Wholesalers are pressed for time and have too many advisors in their territories. If wholesalers need to meet with advisors at least four times per year to get a higher yield for their meetings, wholesalers can't cover more than 200 advisors.

To maximize productivity, firms need to identify focus firms and focus advisors within territories and ensure that wholesalers are directed to spend their time with these key 200 advisors. 63% of firms currently incent their wholesalers on focus advisors, while 47% of firms incent wholesalers to spend time with focus firms.