Are Most of Your Assumptions About Internal Wholesalers Wrong?

Here is an article I wrote which was originally published in the 2011 summer issue I Carry The Bag, The Official Magazine of Wholesaling published by Rob Shore, Editor-In-Chief

You might not recognize the name John Stockton, but he’s a basketball legend. He holds the all time record for assists in the history of the NBA – 15,806 to be exact.

Great assists set up the shots that win the game. They require strategy, timing, and skill to know when (and if ) to pass the ball. If you played in the NBA between 1984 and 2003, you wanted John Stockton on your team.

If you’re a wholesaler, you want an internal that is a master of the assist.

When your internal sets you up with an advisor, are they sending you in for a lay-up or a long three pointer? Do they know when to hold on to the ball? When to take the shot themselves?

Here are some assumptions many internals have that impact the quality and frequency of their assists. How do you think your internal would answer these questions?

TRUE OR FALSE:

Advisors with significant AUM should be referred to the external ASAP.

False: Sending you out just knowing AUM is like asking you to take a shot from half court. Masters of the assist find out about money in motion, how the advisor makes investment decisions, and what circumstances might prompt him to make changes.

It can be detrimental for an internal to ask about an advisor’s AUM.

False: If they don’t ask and only operate from knowing the assets the advisor has with YOUR firm, you can’t possibly determine how much time to spend with this advisor. Are you getting chump change or a substantial portion of the book? Knowing that info can change your strategy.

“Tell me about your business” is an important question for an internal to ask on an initial call.

False: Before Google and LinkedIn that was a good question. Today’s advisors expect both internals and externals to know that information before they call. Asking questions about what’s NOT on the internet, such as how their business has changed, can help to more quickly identify what the advisor might need now.

The best way for an internal to end a call with an advisor is to set up a specific time to follow-up, or suggest a time for the external to visit.

False: The best approach to closing is to ask the advisor to take a specific action to move the sale forward. Otherwise, the advisor gets busy and on the follow-up call he says, “Oh yeah, I haven’t had time to think about it…” and you need to start all over again.

The best internals get past the gatekeeper as quickly as possible.

False: Using techniques to get past the gatekeeper is like trying to put one over on the referee. Occasionally it works. Savvy internals know that gatekeepers can provide prime info about the best approach to use with the advisor. Sure they screen out, but they can also screen in.

Voicemail is the most effective drip technique.

False: Many advisors listen only to the first couple of seconds of a voice mail. Product pitches via voicemail often get a quick delete. More than two voicemails on the same topic is too many. It’s important to drip, but internals need to use a variety of advisor touches.

The best internals communicate with their wholesalers several times a day.

False: The best wholesaling teams establish a process for exchanging information. Internals who transact all day are far less effective than those who set specific times to communicate and block off ‘do not call unless it is an emergency’ times when they focus on making sales calls.

Face-to-face appointments are always more effective than phone appointments.

False: Face-to-face appointments have much more impact if you can set an objective based on how the advisor does business, what they look for in a wholesaler, and what information they’d like to discuss. Savvy internals set up a phone appointment in advance and gather the info that can help make your visit more effective OR give you the head’s up when a visit would be a waste of your time.

Wirehouse brokers will only give internals a couple of minutes, so they need to pitch them fast.

False: If a fast pitch happens to work, your internal may have a future as a telemarketer, but not as a wholesaler. The number one thing that prompts a wirehouse advisor to say ‘gotta jump’ is a product pitch. Great internals craft powerful openings and questions that relate to how the advisor does business.

The more advisors an internals calls, the better their chances are to succeed.

False: This assumption also belongs in the telemarketing business. Strategic targeting is the make or break skill today; it should be used to identify the advisors most likely to buy. That doesn’t mean internals should make only a handful of calls, but if they are still dialing randomly without a strategy, don’t be surprised if their success rate is dismal.