Advisors Rank Top 5 Internal, External Fund Wholesalers

“We see satisfaction with external wholesalers driven primarily by how well they demonstrate they care about an advisor’s business, and whether or not the wholesaler brings solutions to the table that meet a need and can actually help an advisor succeed,” said Tony Ferreira, managing director of the Cogent Research Wealth Management Group, in a statement announcing the report’s findings. “But when it comes to the internal desk, advisor satisfaction is really driven by the nuts and bolts of things like timely problem resolution and detailed product knowledge.”

Cogent says that it is preparing to track the effectiveness of wholesalers for individual clients on an ongoing quarterly basis by using these Wholesaler Quality Index scores for mutual fund companies, as well as similar scores it has obtained for ETF and variable annuity providers.

Under the new program, Cogent says individual firms will be able to monitor how well they are performing at the national, regional and sales territory levels, with the added ability to compare these results to those of competitor firms.

“This program packs a two-for-one punch,” said Ferreira. “It shows at a national level where a firm’s wholesaling operation stands relative to its competition. Even more importantly, it gives the company tools to pinpoint problem areas and a mechanism for deploying resources to take corrective action before a client drops the firm.”