The following post is an entry from our partners at kasina. kasina is a trusted advisor to the leaders of the asset management and insurance industries. The ideas they promote and advice they impart is based on solid industry research and practical experience. Continuing our focus on internal wholesalers, in this guest contribution, Rubesh Jacobs, a senior managing consultant at kasina, offers practical guidance on how to prepare internals to be effective with advisors.

Internal wholesalers are more important to firms now.

Tough economics in the industry called for downsizing and sales forces were no exception. As kasina has noted in its perennial “Excellence in Distribution: Internal Wholesaling” paper, a shrinking sales force has heightened the importance of internals who are being asked to play a greater role attracting new business and servicing existing clients. In fact, internals now spend 70% of their time on sales and servicing, up from 56% in 2009. Given what we know about advisor preference for phone interactions versus in-person meetings, and the economics of leveraging internals versus externals, the shift towards more sales and service makes perfect sense.

With the additional responsibilities, however, internals have had to give up training time (15% in 2009 down to 10% in 2011). This is just another practical reality where firms have to find ways to still provide the most important and relevant training.

So, the question is, where should firms focus their training budgets and internals’ training time?

We recommend that firms look at internals through the eyes of advisors.

The graph below from kasina’s FA Vision service illustrates the relative importance of wholesaler attributes. The most important attributes are knowledge of products (no surprise!), professionalism (availability, responsiveness, follow-up, ability to deliver a program), and ability to deliver solutions (knowledge about me/my firm, ability to help me build business, customize approach to my needs).

Now compare the attributes that advisors think are important (above) for wholesalers to have with what firms think are important attributes to focus on (below). Herein lies the crux of the issue.

There is alignment between advisors and firms on knowledge of products and advisors/firms. Thereafter skills that will help an internal to develop a consultative, solution-oriented approach are deemed less important.

American Funds’ internal desk is approximately 50% larger than its nearest peer. And, according to FA Vision, 30.6% of American Funds’ clients only interact with an internal, more than double the average. Clearly American Funds is investing in its internals as a strategic asset because, again according to FA Vision, they have the 6th highest advocacy from advisors.

So, firms must first thoroughly understand the perceptions, perspective, and needs of advisors. Then they must re-evaluate their training plans and curriculums to adapt internals’ skills to the needs of advisors.