The expectations and scope of financial advice have evolved considerably over the past 10 years. Meanwhile, growing wealth and slow growth in the number of financial advisors in the industry represent increasing opportunities for existing and new financial advisors to grow their practices. As a result, what advisors are looking for from their asset management partners continues to change.
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Like most industries, strategies to keep customers from leaving take a back seat to driving new sales. But reducing redemptions can be more cost-effective and profitable than finding new clients. In fact, one asset manager that we work with has found that, among similarly priced products, one with a 21% higher retention rate translates to 33% higher revenue.
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As discussed in our recent whitepaper, Cost Effectively Growing Assets, identifying and prioritizing the national accounts partners and financial advisors to focus on is a critical first step for firms in the quest to grow assets in a more effective and efficient way.
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It is hard to believe that it has been an entire year since the COVID-19 pandemic forced asset managers fully into the realm of virtual selling with a heightened focus on digital engagement. Some firms were better prepared for this transition than others. But overall, asset managers managed to pivot quickly and flourish amid the unprecedented environment of uncertainty.
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We have written extensively about the importance of asset managers’ ability to provide products that are unique and differentiated. This is likely to be especially true as we begin 2021, a year that will probably continue to be characterized by a high degree of uncertainty, which may weigh heavily on investors and their advisors.
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We hear two questions in almost every conversation with clients:
- Where is our firm winning/losing the most?
- What are the winners in the space doing?
These questions target integral aspects of assessing the efficiency and effectiveness of their organization's distribution efforts; but, without being appropriately framed to factor in their firm's value proposition, core competencies, platform placement, performance, pricing, distributor relationships, etc., these questions do not accurately evaluate their efforts.
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It goes without saying that good products are key to success for asset managers. Our advisor survey data, conducted in association with Horsesmouth, shows that the attribute that is most highly correlated with firm advocacy is “great/quality products.” In other words, advisors who view a firm as having high-quality products are significantly more likely to recommend that firm to other advisors.
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Most asset managers recognize that their current compensation schemes are outdated. Gross sales commissions do not adequately reflect the health of the business and are falling out of favor as the driving metric for sales success. In addition, the past few months have seen a catalyst in advisor interest in—and even demand for—remote engagements with asset manager sales teams, which have highlighted that the metrics used to evaluate activity must also change. Our recent survey shows 56% of asset managers are considering changes to their compensation structures and nearly every asset manager is rethinking how to measure sales success.
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