As the role of an advisor is becoming increasingly consultation-based and sophisticated, especially with the rise of dedicated due-diligence teams, wholesalers will also need to step up their game.

In FUSE Research Network's December 2017 advisor trend monitor, Wholesalers: The Advisor View, the new data reflects this trend as advisors' responses drop across the board for the question, "What do you anticipate will be your top three needs over the next two years where a wholesaler could help?"

According to the survey, 57 percent of the 700 advisor respondents in 2016 ranked 'assistance in retirement planning' as their top need looking ahead to 2018. However, only 30 percent of advisor respondents in 2017 ranked this category as their top need looking ahead to 2019. FUSE hints that advisors without a dedicated due-diligence team placed a higher emphasis on assistance in retirement planning. With this in mind, wholesalers should begin to shift gears and show their worth to advisors in the marketing and prospecting space, which is currently the most anticipated need for 2017, looking ahead to 2019.

It is also worth noting that 66 percent of the advisors surveyed have a team member dedicated to due diligence.

In this survey, 43 percent of the respondents are advisors that work on a team while 57 percent are solo practitioners. Among advisors surveyed, sole practitioner advisors personally managed nearly $99,000,000 in client assets on average, and teams managed approximately $332,000,000 in assets. On average, the advisors surveyed are 51 years of age with approximately 17 years of experience. 

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