Why Not Just Pay Wholesalers a Salary?

Over the past three days Ignites has been running the results of a wholesaler survey they did.

Ignites survey on the top issues that external wholesalers face in their profession. Precisely 152 wholesalers, representing more than 50 fund families with $3 trillion-plus in open-end mutual fund assets, took part in the research.

While there were a number of interesting findings one jumped off the page at me:

Seriously?

Wholesalers would like to see a bump in their base compensation as the number one way to increase retention?

Who are these wholesalers?

Most of the folks that I work with now, or have worked with in the past, favor the commission side of the paycheck over the base side of the check.

In fact, those wholesalers that bitched about their base were generally looked down upon by their peers. They were viewed as underachievers and not “real wholesalers”.

How about if we just shift the paradigm completely and go with a base of, say, $150k plus an annual incentive of up to 50% of base – all predicated on the performance of the firm.

Is that a means toward retention?

Has the business fundamentally changed – what are your thoughts?

p.s. – Are you reading Ignites? Chances are your firm has a subscription and you could get access.