Study: Drop-ins not welcome

When it comes to dealing with wholesalers, financial advisers prefer phone or online conversations over face-to-face meetings. Of advisers who have a preference in how they interact with wholesalers, 23.5% would rather do so telephonically, versus 10.2% who would rather meet in person, according to study released Monday by research firm kasina LLC and the Horsesmouth online adviser community. “The stop-ins are pretty clumsy because our advisory group is very busy,” said Thomas Muldowney, managing director of Savant Capital Management, which manages $1.8 billion in assets. The survey, which was performed April 29 to June 11, also found that 14.7% of advisers prefer to deal with wholesalers online. Still, most of the survey's 3,162 respondents (51.6%) had no preference in whether they dealt with wholesalers over the telephone, online or in-person. That indifference makes it difficult for asset management firms to know how to approach advisers, said Lee Kowarski, principal of kasina. “Advisers need to recognize that firms can't be mind readers,” he said. “Asset management firms are really trying to get smarter about this and trying to understand the preferences.” For that reason, the investment management team at Savant Capital Management goes out of its way to let asset managers know not only how they want to communicate, but what kind of information they expect to get. Mr. Muldowney said. “Our investment team is cagey,” he added. “They want to make sure whatever they talk with a wholesaler about is new and beefy.”