Financial advisors do want to hear from fundsters regularly, according to new research from the folks at a consulting ally to asset managers.

Lisa Travaglini Fuse Research Network Director of Editorial

Lisa Travaglini, director of editorial at Fuse Research Network, reveals that finding from the Needham, Massachusetts-based firm's 2024 Advisor Trend Monitor: Wholesalers: The Advisor View report. She notes that, on average, FAs want to meet with their top three external wholesaler contacts four times per year: 1.6 times virtually (via video calls) and 2.4 times in person.

The good news, Travaglini writes, is that that average roughly lines up with what wholesalers seem to be actually doing, at least with their "focus advisors." She reveals that, per Fuse's findings, each external wholesaler supports 325 focus advisors and does an average of 15 focus advisor meetings per week. That means it takes a wholesaler an average of 22 weeks to meet with each of their focus FAs, which translates into about 2.5 meetings per year per focus FA, barely higher than FAs' average preference of 2.4 meetings per year; but remember that that FA preference is specifically regarding their top three wholesaler contacts, not all wholesalers.

"Understanding these preferences is crucial for wholesalers and sales teams," Travaglini writes. "Interaction preferences — whether in-person, video, or phone — vary widely and must be thoroughly vetted and documented."

The picture looks a little different for the non-focus advisors. Travaglini reveals that the Fuse team found that external wholesalers do an average of 4.8 non-focus FA meetings per week. That might mean that non-focus FAs see wholesalers much less frequently, if each wholesaler covers a similar number of focus and non-focus FAs. 

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