The September issue of The Cerulli Edge–U.S. Asset Management Edition, from the Boston-based research firm Cerulli Associates, found that asset managers have reacted to the market crisis of 2008 by cutting their overall salesforce personnel by about 5%. However, one area that has seen significant growth, the report found, was in e-wholesalers, also called hybrid wholesalers, whose ranks grew by 23% across the industry.
Cerulli says that e-wholesalers can be a "more cost-effective way to generate sales then traditional external wholesalers, as they have lower compensation and travel expenses." It found as well that e-wholesalers can generate about half the production of external wholesalers with those lower costs.