New York, (January 5, 2010) – Internal wholesalers have been buffeted by reductions in staff, compensation and recognition. While firms cut back on external wholesalers and advisors increased expectations of firms with which they do business, internals have been asked to more work than ever – without significant upside in compensation or promotion potential.
These challenges, however, offer sales managers an unprecedented opportunity to reconfigure the sales staff and increase the importance and impact of internal wholesalers. According to Steven Miyao, CEO of kasina and primary sponsor of the report, “The productivity and affordability of internals make them attractive resources. With 70% of advisors spending more time online last year versus prior, and 48% of advisors preferring Web or e?mail as a communication channel, internals are positioned to take a more proactive business?building role with advisors than ever before.”
As with their external counterparts, however, internals are burdened with huge territories. Forty?two percent of firms load up internals with more than 2,000 advisors each. And, internals are more than the back?office administrative support of bygone years, as 54% of their time is now spent selling to and servicing clients and prospects. Therefore, territories of such size are unmanageable.
More importantly, compensation packages are not optimally designed to reward and motivate the activities that are most vital for internals and their firms. Firms indicate that key quantitative metrics for internals include number of calls made and completed, and number of client relationship management entries made. Firms also value important qualitative factors such as product knowledge, teamwork, and call quality. Yet, only 7% of average total compensation is discretionary, not enough to separate the best from the rest of the pack and reward for excellence.
The report concludes by drawing a profile of an ideal internal wholesaler, and identifies ways for firms to develop wholesalers who are knowledgeable and trusted business partners of advisors, fully aligned with the firm’s business and profitability objectives.
Excellence in Distribution: Internal Wholesaling identifies the key levers that sales executives can use to maximize the impact of their sales forces, and provides best practices, benchmarking data, and recommendations regarding:
- Sales Force Structure and Selling Process
- Territory Management
- Technology Deployment
- Compensation
For more information on the full report, Excellence in Distribution: Internal Wholesaling, or to learn about kasina’s other studies, visit www.kasina.com.
About kasina
kasina’s commitment to innovating distribution in the financial services and insurance industries has made it one of the most influential strategy consulting firms in its sector. kasina works with a wide variety of clients from five continents, including firms representing 90% of the U.S.’s total assets under management. An overview of services offered by kasina is available at www.kasina.com.
