Advisor at a Bank

[Bwell86]

Does anyone have experience being an advisor at a bank?

I've been with Pru for going on 5 years and things are okay, but the treadmill is starting to get to me. I'm going through a lot of personal things right now and the idea of a base salary sounds nice. I know that I would still be in sales and my overall earning potential would be much smaller.

Most of me says to keep plugging at Pru, but I have a small voice telling me to explore my options.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[russelltw]

Bwell86,
You may find yourself wishing for commission job once you get a cushy salary. To be blunt, it sounds like you are settling for something less "risky." However, with less risk comes less reward.

Sounds like your efforts are not generating the results you want. When that happens we some times dream about something more predictable. You might just want to try some new things (new marketing ideas) with work. Talk to others on the forum. Ask to pick their brains. I did when I was going indy. There some here I still call occasionally and value their opinions. Their input helped me avoid a lot of the pitfalls of those starting out.

Read a sales or marketing book. You have to get out of your rut... Activity is usually the best way I know how. Good luck.

 

[moonlightandmargaritas]

I've been with Pru for going on 5 years and things are okay, but the treadmill is starting to get to me. I'm going through a lot of personal things right now and the idea of a base salary sounds nice. I know that I would still be in sales and my overall earning potential would be much smaller.

Most of me says to keep plugging at Pru, but I have a small voice telling me to explore my options.

Depends what value you place on independence. If you don't mind sitting in a bank branch ALL DAY, EVERYDAY waiting for people to come to you...

 

[Larry Tew]

It depends on the deal. You may not be just sitting there waiting for people to call or come in. Some of these arrangements would have you going around to the branch managers and loan officers promoting your services. At some point, you'll realize that even with a "salary", you're still on commission because if there's no business being done, the salary will go away along with your job.

The other thing is that even if you find the basic daily routine to be tolerable, you DO NOT own the business you write. It belongs to the bank. There will be no renewals or referrals for you to benefit from.

It may not be a bad fit - all things considered, but make sure you have a clear picture of all the moving parts.

 

[DHK]

There is NO base salary at a bank... unless you're a junior broker or an assistant. Any salary you have is gone after about 3 months.

I was a junior broker to a senior advisor a few years ago. Our monthly quota was to generate $44k+ in GDC commissions per MONTH. Out of that, the partnership would receive 45% payout... and then I got my base salary + 15% of that amount (even though I'd often generate up to 1/2 of that amount because I loved selling variable annuities). This was a few years ago.

($44k x 45% GDC = $19,800 x 15% split = $2,970 + my $2,000 base)

The senior advisors had no base salary after a 3 month period. So you're still a hunter... although it's more like "fish in a barrel".

Oh... and no cold-calling was allowed. It was all generated by client reviews, branch team member referrals, and calling on CD & money market lists.

To be a successful bank advisor, you'd have to have a great working relationship with the bank managers (I worked with a territory of 5 different bank branches) and be able to teach/train/coach all their team members on how to identify referral opportunities. Good promotional contests help to reinforce the behavior we want to see in the rest of the teams.

You may also have some competition with your own bank platform staff. Some banks (Wells Fargo comes to mind) may have multiple bankers who have similar licensing to you. If they close a deal, you may not get paid. At my credit union, we had insurance-licensed platform reps who could sell fixed indexed annuities (assuming that they weren't that complex - HA!), but they rarely sold anything. They did it for "partner referral credit" and the bank rep would get the commissions.

Anyway, the commission hurdles are higher, and the biggest risk IS the person who wants to come in every week to "review their portfolio".

At most banks or credit unions, you have a full portfolio to work with - including fixed insurance contracts. Well, not the credit union I was at. They used to work with Imeriti... but there was an issue, so they found a different IMO... and they SUCKED... except for fixed annuities.

If you're going to go this route, you need some knowledge ahead of time. I recommend reading "The Ultimate Bank Advisor" by Bob Cobb. And subscribing to "Bank Investment Consultant" magazine and searching for any of Bob Cobb's articles. They are GOLD for the bank advisor.

Get ready for more bureaucracy and micro-management than ever before - not just from your own manager... but from working with the bank managers and THEIR supervisors, etc. There's a lot of headaches with this, but the whole idea is that prospecting gets easier and warmer, and that's true... but it's no "walk in the park".

 

[pfg1]

A buddy of mine works at a small local bank. He get's $50k salary, and handles all types of business for them. He doesn't make commission, but is allowed to write insurance business outside of the bank. He went into the deal with that, so that he could make more than his bank salary...but not starve on commissions alone. Works out well for him, though his time commitment is big with them and he doesn't do a ton of ins business outside. He probably does more for the bank than he needs to, but is a loyal worker.

Obviously we don't know your situation, only you do. Maybe a job that is salary or salary/comm may be what you need right now. You could always go back to being independent if you didn't like it.