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When an Advisor Calls, Who (or What) Answers?

Posted by Mike McLaughlin on May 16, 2011, in Thoughts , tagged with , , ,

The other day I heard a radio ad for a company promoting green technology. Most of the ad wasn’t memorable – I don’t even recall the name of the company – but the ending stuck with me. The firm gave out their toll-free number and then stated that “a live person will pick up your call”. No automated system (IVR). No menu to navigate.

I thought that sounded pretty good.

I then wondered: do any asset managers have a live person answering their toll-free phone numbers for advisors? So I called ten firms to find out. The results:

  • One firm, Nuveen, has a sales rep pick up directly.
  • Another, Columbia, has an IVR say your call is important before patching the advisor through to a rep.
  • Three others – BlackRock, Delaware, Janus – prompt first for an extension then have the advisor hold for a rep.
  • The remaining five firms present an automated menu with anywhere from 2-6 options.

In other words, half the sample enabled an advisor to reach a human being without proactively doing anything besides placing the call. Yet only Nuveen has that call directly answered by a person. I can’t claim that this makes Nuveen’s customer service any better, or that they do a better job of converting cold inbound calls to sales. But I do think the direct personal interaction is, simply, nicer. And, evidently, rare.

(As a sidebar, the configuration of the different IVR systems is worth another discussion down the road. The options vary significantly by number/type. And, interestingly, two firms use their IVRs to promote specific products prior to presenting a menu of options.)

Best Blogs of the Week

Posted by Anu Heda on May 16, 2011, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , ,

A newcomer, Wells Fargo, breaks into the best blogs, with two posts.

  1. Wells Fargo – A quick refresh on the difference between broad-based inflation and CPI-based inflation, along with ideas related to inflation.
  2. American Century – Scott Whitman summarizes his investment philosophy (towards the end).
  3. Wells Fargo – Peter Nulty often provides a weekly update,this week’s starts with a great subject – Your house wants to know what’s for dinner – and a quick-format.

Best Blogs of the Week

Posted by Anu Heda on May 09, 2011, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , , ,

Last week presented a few interesting topics we thought to share.

  1. Vanguard – In celebrating the index investing’s 35 birthday (and their own success therein), Craig Stock posts a compact history for indexing.
  2. Virtus – Joe Terranova provides an easily digestible summary of major currencies in one post.  He uses a few charts, but doesn’t become bogged down in statistics or data points.
  3. Russell – The post describes the difficulty in selecting high-performing assets.  Additionally, there’s a 1-question poll that captures readers’ opinions

Best Blogs of the Week

Posted by Anu Heda on May 02, 2011, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , , ,

Three worthwhile reads from last week.

  1. American Century makes a strong case about long-term growth.
  2. BlackRock’s weekly roundup links to a word cloud from Bernanke’s speech.  The diagram makes it clear what’s on his mind – inflation.
  3. Russell discusses the AMT and just how much the US Treasury depends on it.  While most everyone agrees about the AMT’s inequity, the post shares the AMT’s role in the overall tax revenue base.

Advisors investing in prop products – strange sounding…

Posted by Anu Heda on Apr 24, 2011, in Thoughts , tagged with ,

Registered Rep chronicled the story of a few Independent Advisors & RIAs starting their own investment vehicles.  A primary selling point is transparency – if the advisor manages the vehicle, he/she can share daily transactions and holdings.

So many asset managers; so many investment vehicles; so many investment strategies – these advisors could not find any investment product that provides the transparency and the strategy they seek?  Naturally, I was a little skeptical.  The virtues of open architecture are well-documented and many providers invest heavily to reinforce those benefits.  So why bother?

Maybe there’s a different play though.  I can think of two investor types that may prefer this:

  • Nervous Nellies – They want to spend their evenings fretting over holdings, performance, and other data points.  For that reason, they like trading in specific equities and even mutual funds.  They may have bought into the concept of alternative investment strategies, but can’t reconcile the opaque nature of hedge funds.
  • Bragging Bills – They want exclusivity at the cocktail party.  An adviser who provides these clients access to some fund without easy access can boast about it.  It’s sort of hedge fund “lite.”  (And this may improve prospecting for the FA.)

Is the advisor unable to find a product or is there value in having a proprietary product in the bullpen?