External Wholesaler
27 RepliesJump to last post
Getting an external wholesaling job the first time out is tough, but it can be done. You’ll need creativity, great interviewing skills (at the interview and after), a good network, and some senior people that will become advocates for you. Ideally, those folks need to be some other wholesalers and well respected customers of your company that can speak about your public speaking skills, as well as your ability to mix easily in a crowd of strangers and endear them to you quickly.
Honestly, I think not already being an external will work against you more than being black. Let's face facts, the investment business is dominated by white males, so the number of minority wholesalers is rather small (growing, but still smaller than white males). I've worked with a couple of very talented black wholesalers, and believe me, their color wasn't an issue. This opinion comes from someone who has twenty five years experience in financial services, with eleven as a wholesaler. I got my start when I left a large mutual fund company in Texas...you do the math.I have to tell you something… after reading this…
I have been in the business for over 13 years as an advisor. I have seen more than my share of wholesalers.. AND IMHO! the 2 ...very best 2 I have had he pleasure to work with professionally and personally are 1 a woman and 1 a black male.. The woman from JH ..OUTSTANDING service...her team is on point and her presentation skills outstanding.. the other guy from AB Funds .. Spectacular and articulate.. polished .. you get the point.. Anyway the reason I bring this up is because I think they too experienced the discrmination you spoke of ..but strove to be greater from it.. not lesser by it. And I guess I just wanted to share that, to help you understand that if your perserverance is in place ..and YOU are always sharpening your tools at the game at hand... You will prevail .. Just my 2 cents !I have to be honest at the risk of upseting some existing and ex-wholesalers. I think for what they do, they are way over paid, and I don’t place much value in what they have to offer. All of them are very nice, polite and good to be around, but if I were the companies they represent I would cut their pay to about 75k salary because that’s all most of them are worth. Why the employers are so particular about where they get their candidates is beyond me. I just don’t see much skill out of the majority of reps that I have met in my 6 years.
I am an Internal and I have been with my company for over five years. I worked my way up through the ranks and obtained my licenses.
The particular co. that I am with has promoted internals to an external role a few times since I have been here. Honestly, it doesn't happen often. However, there are new roles being created such as a hybrid wholesaler (an external whom happens to be their own internal) which is good for getting your feet wet. I have met a few that started off as an F/A, accepted a wholesaling position at a small time mutual fund co or insurance co and eventually move over to a bigger fund family. With all that being said, there are externals who make six figures but work crazy hours and drive all over the map to get from office to office. Some externals are good at relationship building and some are extremely analytical and talk product. I find the best wholesalers know how to blend the two and know how to present well enough to make you listen. I know some advisor's think all wholesalers do is flip open their wallets, golf, and talk shop but there is so much more behind the scenes. There is so much compliance now days you have to spend an entire day in the office just to catch up on paperwork and completing CE credits. I personally do not want to be an external but commend you for trying. There is a website www.ignites.com that displays job openings and I just saw one today for an external wholesaling position. Good luck!Guys thanks for all the feedback! Race, age, sex all matter and they will all come up and some point. Do I think I get played a lot as a black man sure, but at the same time I have to keep fighting, because everybody is not like that, and I believe that in the end that God is going to work it out. I agree with what one poster said, each stop is an opportunity to learn and get better, and I will use each experience to become a great wholesaler, but not just for my self so that I may open doors up for others (internals, woman, African Americans) when the time come. This is bigger than just me trying to get a job, it is to help open up doors for others in the future.
<?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
CMB