Financial company executives continue to misread the types of practice management and technical support programs their advisors truly want, according to a survey by CEG Worldwide.
Nearly nine in ten advisors (89%) want to learn how the best wealth managers in the industry run their businesses and nearly one in three (31.9%) places a high priority on motivational support programs, according to the report, Winning the Allegiance of Top Financial Advisors.
However, research shows financial executives tend to underestimate the importance that top financial advisors place on these practice management support programs. Simultaneously, financial executives tend to overestimate the importance that advisors place on such practice management support programs as time-management solutions and staff training. Additionally, financial executives tend to misinterpret the technical support needs of their advisors, the report says.
CEG found that support for life insurance products most frequently topped the needs of surveyed advisors (cited by 41%), but ranked only fourth among surveyed financial executives (cited by just 22%). On the other hand, financial executives tended to overestimate the support they believed their advisors required by a nearly two-to-one margin in such areas as retirement planning (60% to 36.2%) and retirement distribution tactics (60% to 31.6%)
CEG, based in San Martin, Calif., conducted the survey of 2,094 financial advisors and 50 financial executives between 2007 and 2009.