Blinded by the Light of Glory Days

OK I’m guilty.  The last time I put on my rollerblades I broke a rib and there have been other incidents along the way that might suggest I stay off the wheels.  But I put them on again last week and now I have a dislocated elbow encased in a full arm cast (a rather spectacular fall). So I’m typing with one hand and considering confronting the fact that I haven’t changed a thing about my rollerblading ‘model’ in the past 15 years.  My skates are old and I’m way too cool for all that protective gear.  My secret place is now an obstacle course filled with kids, dogs, bikes and cell phone addicts. My health care deductible has gone way up.

Those are the facts, but up until now I didn’t pay much attention to them.  I was stuck on days gone by when my rollerblading model worked.  Blinded by the light of the glory days…

In the world of asset management I’m worried that some distributors may be headed for more than a dislocated elbow. I’m talking about those firms that have yet to take a really hard look at the current viability of their glory days distribution model.  I don’t mean downsizing and upsizing with the whims of the market or tweaking around the edges. I’m suggesting new models.   New role definitions. New metrics. New approaches to selling…

Just some of the facts:

• Stats show that frequency of face-to-face visits no longer dominates all advisor preferences especially in the extremely attractive RIA segment.  So why are many firms, despite the market intelligence, still covering the entire country with the infamous boots on the ground?

• Teams dominate the wires.  Doesn’t there need to be a much different wholesaling approach to covering the different roles that advisor team members play? How about metrics for success with teams?

• Website analytics provide rich data about who visits for what. Do most wholesalers even know which advisors visit their site?  Do they even really know what’s on their firms’s website, not to mention on those of competitors, so they can be on an even playing field with their advisors?

And as for sales desks…

• Most business professionals  don’t have the time these days to answer their phones unless they are expecting a call.  Implications for internals?

• Many firms report that their return call rate from voicemail is 3% or less.  If internals are leaving voicemail messages on 80% of their calls, the math doesn’t work.  And for those who count each message as a contact…yikes!!!

• Email has become a skill set in itself.   Are internals getting help with that or with the more advanced skills to get access and heard in a world of information overload?

The distribution models and metrics that got firms to the glory days aren’t enough anymore, especially with that that pesky margin problem.  Some courageous firms are on their way to figuring it out.  They have new skates, the right gear to cushion market swings, and have found themselves less crowded pavement…

Then there are those that are still blinded by the light.

Your thoughts on some of the model changes distributors need to make to survive?