You’re asking your wholesalers the wrong questions

I was in Toronto last week speaking to the Desjardins national wholesale team.

The topic was the future of wholesaling.

And one of the things I told them is that the old model is fading.

The wholesaler as product expert. The wholesaler as underwriting resource. The wholesaler as the person who knows which form to use.

All of that is getting absorbed by technology. AI. Apps. Better systems.

It’s not gone yet. But it’s going.

So what’s left?

Value.

Real value. The kind that helps advisors grow their businesses.

And here’s the thing.

Most advisors aren’t asking for that.

They’re still using wholesalers the old way.

Call them when you have a case. Ask about underwriting. Get a quote. Maybe go to an event and build some relationship.

That’s fine. But you’re leaving a lot on the table.

Let me flip this around.

Instead of thinking about what wholesalers can give you, think about what you actually need.

What are the real challenges in your business right now?

Where are you stuck?

What would actually move the needle for you?

Is it help with COI conversations?

Is it a better way to position living benefits?

Is it a presentation you can use with prospects?

Is it insight into what other successful advisors are doing?

Is it help thinking through your practice structure?

Once you know what you actually need, you can start having a very different conversation with your wholesalers.

Here’s an example from this week.

I’m working with an advisor right now who has a big opportunity in front of them.

They’ve built relationships with some referral sources who are going to send them estate planning cases. Good cases. The kind of work they want to be doing.

But here’s the problem.

They don’t have a formalized process for it.

They’ve done estate planning work before. But it’s been ad hoc. Case by case. No real system.

And now they’re about to get a flow of referrals, and they’re realizing they need to professionalize the whole thing.

So what do they need?

A short presentation. Something high level that explains the value proposition clearly. Something they can walk into a meeting with and feel confident.

A fact-finding process. Something that captures the right information and leads naturally into the planning conversation.

A follow-up system. Something that keeps things moving without dropping balls.

None of this is complicated. But they didn’t have it built.

So I’m helping them build it.

Now here’s the thing.

A wholesaler could have done this.

If they were positioned right. If they had the relationship. If the advisor had asked.

Do all wholesalers have time for this? Maybe not.

But some do.

And if you say to a wholesaler, “Hey, if you help me grow my business, I’ll do more business with you,” that changes the dynamic.

That’s a real conversation.

That’s partnership.

The problem is most advisors never ask.

They assume wholesalers are just there to push product.

And to be fair, a lot of wholesalers operate that way.

But not all of them.

Some wholesalers are willing to go the distance. They’ll help you build presentations. They’ll help you think through positioning. They’ll share what’s working in other practices. They’ll connect you with resources inside their company that you didn’t even know existed.

You just have to ask.

And you have to be specific about what you need.

Let me give you some examples of what you could be asking for.

Everyone talks about AI right now. AI this. AI that.

But I don’t see anyone actually building AI tools specifically for advisors that solve real problems.

Here’s one that would be incredibly valuable.

Social media content.

Everyone knows posting consistently is important. But most advisors struggle with it. They don’t have time. They don’t know what to say. They post once and then disappear for three months.

A carrier or MGA could easily build a custom GPT or a series of prompts that help advisors create content that doesn’t feel like AI garbage.

Not the mass-market stuff where everyone posts the same thing. That looks ridiculous. You can spot it instantly.

I’m talking about prompts that are designed to be personalized. That capture your voice. That give you a starting point you can actually use.

Here’s the prompt. Here’s how you personalize it. Here’s how you make it yours.

That would be genuinely valuable.

And it’s not confidential. There’s nothing proprietary about helping advisors post better content.

But I don’t see anyone doing it well.

So if you’re an advisor and you’re struggling with content, why not ask your wholesaler? Say, “Hey, do you have anything that helps with this? A system? Some prompts? Anything?”

Most won’t have it.

But here’s the secret.

If you find a wholesaler who is hungry and eager and wants to provide value, they’ll see that as a challenge.

They’ll say, “We don’t have something right now. But let me build it for you.”

That’s what I would have done when I was a wholesaler.

If an advisor came to me and said, “Andrew, I don’t do a lot of business with your company. But I’m willing to explore it. Here’s what I need. Can you help?”

I would have seen that as a massive opportunity.

I would have built whatever they needed.

And then I would have gone back to my company and said, “Hey, I just won this business. Here’s what the advisor asked for. Imagine how many other advisors need the same thing. Why don’t we formalize this and release it as part of our value proposition?”

All of a sudden, you’re the company that solves that problem.

That’s how you differentiate when products are commodities.

Here’s another example.

At PPI, we have a custom version of a tool called Life Design Analysis. We call it Amplify.

It has all the life insurance companies. It streams directly into your book. Your entire block of business is inside the platform.

Every conversion opportunity. Every rewrite opportunity. Every policy that’s coming up for renewal or review. It’s all there.

That tool is incredibly powerful.

But here’s the problem.

Most advisors aren’t using it well.

They have access to it. But they haven’t built the discipline or the process to actually extract value from it.

Imagine if someone became the expert on that tool. If a wholesaler said, “I’m going to help you master this platform. I’m going to show you exactly how to use it. I’m going to help you build a system around it.”

All of a sudden, that wholesaler is providing massive value.

And the advisor is going to do business with them. Not because of dividend scales. Because of the help.

This is the mindset shift I want you to make.

Stop waiting for wholesalers to deliver value.

Start telling them what you need.

Be specific.

“I need help building a presentation for estate planning prospects.”

“I need a system for following up with COIs.”

“I need prompts for creating social media content.”

“I need someone to walk me through how to use this tool properly.”

“I need insight into what other successful advisors are doing in this space.”

Whatever it is, write it down.

And then start asking.

Email your wholesalers. All of them.

Say, “Hey, I don’t do a lot of business with your company right now. But I’m open to exploring it. Here’s what I need. Can you help?”

Most will say no.

Some will say yes but won’t deliver.

But some will actually step up.

And those are the relationships worth investing in.

Here’s the flip side.

If you’re a wholesaler reading this, pay attention.

The advisors who are growing want more than product.

They want help.

They want insights.

They want partnership.

And if you can deliver that, you’ll win more business than the wholesaler with the best dividend scale ever will.

The carriers that figure this out are going to dominate the next decade.

The ones that keep pushing product comparisons are going to struggle.

Because here’s the reality.

The products are all pretty close.

Term insurance? Almost identical across carriers. The only difference is price and maybe conversion options.

Permanent insurance? Yes, there are differences. But they’re small. And the illustrations are all based on assumptions that will change a dozen times over the life of the policy.

Critical illness? Pricing is competitive. Some carriers are slightly ahead. But the gaps aren’t massive.

Disability is its own beast. I’ll grant you that.

But for most products, the differentiation isn’t in the product anymore.

It’s in the value the wholesaler brings.

It’s in the help they provide.

It’s in the partnership they build.

So here’s my challenge to you.

If you’re an advisor, stop treating your wholesalers like product vending machines.

Start treating them like potential partners.

Tell them what you actually need.

Be specific.

And see who steps up.

The ones who do? Those are the relationships worth investing in.

The ones who don’t? Keep them around for quotes. But don’t expect much more.

And if you’re a wholesaler, start listening.

The advisors who want to grow are telling you exactly what they need.

If you can deliver it, you’ll earn their business.

If you can’t, someone else will.

That’s the game now.

Talk soon,

Andrew