Finding a Happy Medium

Financial advisers believe that a combination of independent broker/dealer and traditional career system offerings would make them most successful, according to a survey released by John Hancock Financial Network (JHFN).

The polled financial representatives showed a strong preference for certain offerings of a traditional career system, with seven in 10 preferring to work for a nationally recognized company over an independent firm (71% versus 29%), according to a release of the survey results. The health and retirement benefits usually associated with a career system also were preferred by a majority. Nearly 70% of respondents expressed a preference for access to a subsidized health-care platform compared with increased incentives (30%).

However, experienced financial representatives also showed a strong preference for certain offerings usually associated with an independent broker/dealer, JFHN said. Nearly nine out of 10 respondents prefer to sell from an open product platform than from a proprietary platform. They also overwhelmingly prefer to be recognized for their total sales regardless of product mix (80% versus 19% for product-line sales). In terms of training support, two-thirds prefer to receive their training locally from experts in the field rather than from a home office (68% versus 31%).

The survey also asked respondents to rank the importance of a number of key attributes. The top five attributes considered “extremely important” included: open product platform (75%); operational and customer service support (68%); equity/ownership in business (63%); automated business process (53%); and an affiliation with a nationally recognized company (43%).

Additional attributes that were ranked “extremely important” included: rewards and incentives (42%); the opportunity to network with successful experienced financial representatives (32%); subsidized health-care benefits (33%); sales training (29%); and an annual recognition trip (18%).