UPDATED: Now It’s 76 Great Questions Wholesalers Should Ask Advisors

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it 100 times: wholesalers who partner with advisors (AE’s, agents, reps, etc.) are a valuable commodity.

Those that show up and throw up are a dime a dozen.

Where do you fit in?

In order to assist you with becoming a consultative business partner to advisors, and elevate you out of the sea of wholesaler sameness, download this PDF of 76 Great Advisor Questions.

1.  How long have you been in financial services sales (broker, agent, RIA, etc.)?
2.  What licenses do you hold?
3.  Where did you go to school?
4.  Tell me about your staff.
5.  What does each team member do?
6.  What’s your money management process?
7.  How are product decisions made?
8.  Are there specific models that you follow?
9.  Do you use formal product screening processes?
10.  What is your asset allocation model today?
11.  How will that change over the next three years?
12.  Do you do full financial plans for all clients? If not, is there a threshold?
13.  What programs do you use to generate the financial plan?
14.  Can I get a copy of your client fact finder?
15.  How do you engage the client’s attorney?
16.  How do engage the client’s CPA?
17.  How many attorneys and CPAs do you partner with?
18.  Tell me about your client ranking process. Do you use: revenues, households, dollars over or under certain thresholds, A-B-C-D ranking?
19.  What are your total assets under management?
20.  What’s your average account size?
21.  How many clients do you have in total?
22.  When was the last time you pruned your book?
23.  Explain to me what you did to grow revenue last year.
24.  How successful are you at obtaining client referrals?
25.  What percentage of your book has been generated from client referral?
26.  What was the last program, class or presentation you attended for professional development?
27.  How successful do you feel you are managing your team? Where could you use assistance?
28.  What wholesalers provide you the most support and/or value? Why?
29.  What was your product mix last year?
30.  How will that change in the year ahead?
31.  How are you reaching out to the next generation of your clients (i.e. children, grandchildren)?
32.  Why do clients like doing business with you?
33.  Explain to me your PVP – Peerless Value Proposition™.
34.  Tell me about your client communication strategy (i.e. frequency, communication channels)?
35.  May I have a copy of your latest client communication (newsletter, blast email, etc.)?
36.  Who’s your toughest competitor? Why?
37.  Is there a new product or asset class that you’re exploring for your client portfolios?
38.  Do you work with business assets?
39.  Do you work with company retirement plans?
40.  Tell me about the product mix of your book (funds, annuities, ETFs, insurance).
41.  Who is/was your mentor in business?
42.  What was the greatest lesson you learned from them?
43.  Tell me about your family.
44.  If you could change one thing about you practice this year what would it be?
45.  What’s the hardest part of your job?
46.  What do you like the most about being a financial advisor?
47.  How do you decompress from the demands of the job?
48.  How did you fare in 2008-2009?
49.  What would you have done differently during the meltdown?
50.  What was your greatest lesson from the Great Recession?
51.  Can you share your five year targets for your practice (revenue, assets, income, staff size)?
52.  What accreditation’s do you have?
53.  What local business, social or charity organizations do you belong to?
54.  What keeps you up at night?
55.  What is the biggest impediment to taking your production to the next level?
56.  Can you share with me your formal marketing plan?
57.  Have you ever engaged the services of a coach? If so, what areas of focus were most successful for you?
58.  What are your favorite business publications to read?
59.  Tell me the name of the last book you read.
60.  What’s your favorite travel destination?
61.  What are your thoughts on our industry looking out 5 years?
62.  What’s been the most successful client acquisition strategy you have used?
63.  Have you ever used virtual assistance (elance, guru, Hire My Mom)?
64.  What conferences do you normally attend for continuing education/peer interaction?
65.  Have you ever belonged to an advisor mastermind group?
66.  How has technology assisted your business?
67.  Where do you need help with technology?
68.  Do you use RSS (i.e. Google Reader) to stay abreast of your clients, prospects and news?
69.  What CRM do you use?
70.  What your favorite part of being a financial advisor?
71.  Where do you feel that you/your team really excel versus the competition?
72.  How do you describe your practice to new prospects, aka what’s your elevator speech?
73.  What are most important criteria to you when considering a new product provider/wholesaler relationship?
74.  How can I best assist you in meeting your goals?
75.  How do you engage in new media/social media – including blogging, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter?
76.  To date, what’s the #1 lesson you’ve learned in our business?

If you have questions to contribute head to the comments section below

Just go become a better wholesaler tomorrow than you are today.

Visit the Wholesaler Masterminds Business Builders page for more wholesaler practice management assistance and be sure to explore a Wholesaler Masterminds Coaching opportunity today!

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