BOSTON, December 10, 2009 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — In a new advisor survey released today, top financial representatives expressed that a combination of independent broker/dealer and traditional career system offerings would make them most successful.

The survey of more than 1,000 experienced financial representatives, conducted for John Hancock Financial Network (JHFN), was developed by Mathew Greenwald & Associates. The survey examined financial professionals' attitudes about resources offered through affiliations with business partners such as insurance companies, wirehouses, banks and independent broker dealers.

Top financial representatives showed a strong preference for certain offerings of a traditional career system, with seven in ten financial representatives preferring to work for a nationally recognized company over an independent firm (71% vs. 29%). The health and retirement benefits usually associated with a career system were also preferred by a majority. Nearly seventy percent of respondents (69%) expressed a preference for access to a subsidized health care platform compared to increased incentives (30%).

However, experienced financial representatives also showed a strong preference for certain offerings usually associated with an independent broker/dealer. Nearly nine out of ten respondents prefer to sell from an open product platform than a proprietary platform, 88 percent vs. 12 percent respectively. They also overwhelmingly prefer to be recognized for their total sales regardless of product mix, 80 percent vs. 19 percent for product-line sales. In terms of training support, two-thirds prefer to receive their training locally from experts in the field rather than from a home office (68% vs. 31%).

"Results of our internal research, which is the basis for significant changes being made to our prior business model, were echoed in this survey. The survey validated our assumptions that financial representatives want to align themselves with an organization that blends the resources and stability of a career organization with the entrepreneurial opportunities of an independent firm," said Peter Gordon, president, JHFN.

The survey also asked respondents to rank the importance of a number of key attributes. The top five attributes considered "extremely important" included:

• Open product platform (75%)
• Operational and customer service support (68%)
• Equity/ownership in business (63%)
• Automated business process (53%)
• Affiliation with a nationally recognized company (43%)

"The current environment — with a huge base of boomer clients seeking advice to deal with a range of financial needs including investing for the future, income planning for the retirement as well as the transfer of wealth - - is creating one of the largest opportunities ever for financial reps," said Gordon. "The financial companies that reps want to work with will thrive, which is why we're paying close attention to their preferences. We are working to implement a business proposition that is attractive to entrepreneurial financial professionals looking for the power to effectively build unique businesses, based on their own vision and market opportunity."

Additional attributes that were ranked "extremely important" included:

• Rewards and incentives (42%)
• Opportunity to network with successful experienced financial representatives (32%)
• Subsidized healthcare benefits (33%)
• Sales training (29%)
• Annual recognition trip (18%)
  

Methodology

Using a questionnaire developed by Greenwald & Associates, John Hancock Financial Network fielded this study by sending Email invitations to 55,260 experienced financial representatives. The information in this release comes from 1,016 financial representatives who responded to the survey and represents 161 different firms.

About John Hancock Financial Network