The days of a single effective wholesaler pitch resulting in an advisor dropping a hefty mutual fund sales ticket are long over. What has replaced it is a complex matrix of relationships that an asset manager and its sales team must navigate and win over to get a share of the advisor’s ever-shifting book.
The most savvy asset managers are investing in data and technology to map out the spheres of influence around their most important advisors or buying units, and increasingly focusing their financial and human resources on relationships with the distributors, platforms and third-party influencers that can give the manager access and backing as a preferred partner.
The forces shaping advisor relationships extend beyond the advisors themselves. Three entities, in particular, are having an increasingly influential on how advisors work. Understanding that influence can help distribution teams build stronger relationships with advisors.
1. Broker-Dealer OSJs and RIA Aggregators
Independent advisors are turning to these entities to professionalize their practices and support their many needs: investment, operational, regulatory/compliance and business administration. Many offices of supervisory jurisdiction (OSJs) and aggregators, in turn, source and deliver solutions to those discrete problems in partnership with asset managers.
Engaging with these centers of influence helps asset managers gain access to a growing segment of advisors who can otherwise be difficult to break through. It is a scalable way to broaden adoption of products like alternatives and customized separately managed accounts (SMAs) in channels where education, implementation support and trust can overcome hurdles.
The challenges for asset managers are twofold: identifying advisor and center of influence (COI) relationships and coordinating coverage. Business intelligence teams may need to patch together internal, regulatory and third-party sources to make those links and keep them current, or outsource the work to a data management services provider like SS&C.
Assigning a person to oversee the relationships with COIs will give asset managers an opportunity to best understand that entity and its advisors’ needs, and coordinate delivery of those solutions among field wholesalers, internals, specialists and experts from outside of distribution. In many cases, divisional managers are best positioned to take on this role. Depending on the OSJ/aggregator and the firm’s distribution staffing, dedicated sales staff or national account managers may own the relationship.
2. TAMPs and Fintech Platforms
As advisors increasingly turn to models to handle the asset allocation and portfolio management side of their practice, asset managers want to make their products and solutions model-friendly.
Turnkey Asset Management Programs (TAMPs) and fintech platforms offer model marketplaces where advisors can access and execute on third-party portfolios, from model-delivered SMAs to UMA models combining mutual funds, ETFs, SMAs and/or semi-liquid alternatives to traditional “paper” models that advisors can modify. Some provide tools for advisors to design their own models. Many charge a fee to asset managers participating in the marketplace.
Fintech platforms’ value primarily is in the technology infrastructure and interface. TAMPs, meanwhile, have often centered their value on additional services like due diligence and recommendation of models, designing their own models based on client feedback, trading and rebalancing of models executed through their platforms and, in some cases, tax management or other overlay services.
Asset managers need to consider their key client segments and how/which platforms they use to access models. Platforms that provide that additional opportunity to stand out or support the adoption of models deserve priority from a relationship management and resource commitment standpoint.
3. AI Chatbots
Artificial intelligence-enabled technology has infiltrated the decision-making processes at organizations across industries, including wealth management. Advisors are using off-the-shelf generative AI bots to do basic research, internal chatbots to access proprietary information and AI-enabled tools on research and portfolio management platforms. Some are even using AI to create basic financial plans and asset allocation suggestions.
Chatbots compete with asset managers’ primary digital point of influence, the website, and can even challenge the need to call an internal wholesaler for advisors who prefer supported service. Many of these AI models are opaque about how they arrive at some of their suggestions. Hallucinations and responses based on inaccurate information can and do happen.
But the rise of AI creates an opportunity for asset managers to make detailed information about their products easier for AI technologies to consume and analyze, such as MCP server access. Sales leaders can use their own AI capabilities to share meeting notes, agenda items and even schedule meetings with the advisor’s AI agents to more efficiently communicate.
At baseline, it serves as an opportunity for salespeople to talk with their advisors about how they use AI and how the asset manager can tailor its service accordingly.
Understanding the many entities influencing portfolio construction and product selection among your most important advisory clients allows sales teams to provide more comprehensive, personalized service and solidify your position as a trusted partner.
SS&C’s Distribution Solutions team offers data and services to provide a comprehensive view of asset managers’ most important relationships and opportunities in the intermediary market. To learn more about how we can help your firm, read about our offerings and explore our research.
