An external wholesaler is an investment firm’s sales representative tasked with convincing licensed agents to sell the firm’s products and services. Anyone interested in working as an external wholesaler must first obtain a securities license, and anyone applying for one of these positions must have prior sales experience. Wholesalers are also expected to have a broad understanding of the securities industry most firms.
Mutual funds and life insurance products are typically sold wholesalers. Before selling mutual funds in most countries, people must take securities training classes and pass a licensing exam. Furthermore, some countries’ laws require insurance sales agents to complete a separate life insurance training course that includes an examination. Because many firms sell hybrid products that contain both securities and insurance elements, most investment firms require anyone who wants to become an external wholesaler to have both a securities and an insurance license, even if the representative only sells one of these product types.
From a legal standpoint, anyone who passes the licensing exams, even if they never graduated from high school or college, can become an external wholesaler. Many investment firms, however, prefer to hire people who have completed college degree programs in finance, economics, or other related fields. Some securities firms hold college fairs on the campuses of major universities to recruit graduates for sales positions. Wholesalers are relatively well compensated when compared to other finance-related jobs, which means that competition for these positions is often fierce. As a result, anyone interested in working as an external wholesaler must have above-average college grades.
Aside from having a strong understanding of securities and finance, wholesalers earn the majority of their income through commission, which necessitates strong sales skills. Applicants for these positions are typically required to have prior experience working as customer-facing investment representatives, as these individuals have a good understanding of the types of products and features that investment clients seek out. Furthermore, investment representatives are accustomed to working in a high-volume sales environment, which is similar to that which a wholesaler must operate in.
Wholesalers usually collaborate with agents who work for a number of investment firms and cover a large geographic area. As a result, most companies only hire wholesalers with valid driver’s licenses because travel is an important part of the job. Furthermore, employees in these positions have little daily contact with their managers, implying that investment firms reserve these positions for self-motivated individuals with strong organizational skills.