Earlier this year, John Hancock transformed its sales structure, increasing its reach with separate accounts through its mutual fund wholesalers. In addition to a staff expansion, the firm has retrained its existing fund wholesalers to sell separate accounts and is in the process of adding more separate account-dedicated wholesalers.

"In the past, we had three separate account wholesalers, one internal person, and one person to manage the group," said Keith Hartstein, vice president senior vice president of sales and marketing. "In January of this year, we gave all our mutual fund wholesalers the ability to sell separate accounts. Each of the separate account wholesalers maintains his own book and works with eight to ten mutual fund counterparts to help close the business."

After the sale, the separate account wholesalers handle client servicing, as reflected in their official title: "client relationship manager." John Hancock will nearly double its separate account force when it fills two newly-created positions.

Because of the cache associated with separate accounts, many firms with dual capacity completely segregate the mutual fund and separate accounts sales forces; Hancock's structure reflects the potential synergy between funds and separate accounts, at the same time broadcasting the firm's message more effectively through its existing large force. Currently, John Hancock has 40 wholesalers in mutual fund sales.  

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