Only 10 per cent of the top business development managers (BDM) will get big bonuses this year, because they know their product well and understand financial planners' businesses, according to Financial Recruitment Group (FRG).
"As BDMs are in full marketing mode to get the business in the door, planners are constantly being approached by BDMs for business," FRG New South Wales state manager Conor Donoghue said.
"BDMs must be able to add value... by understanding what will be right for the advisers' clients and why,"
"Only the good BDMs, who understand the technical side of their product and what is happening in the market, will have a chance."
Inexperienced or younger BDMs, who had not worked through a market downturn, would find it very hard to sell, Donoghue said.
The average salary for BDMs ranges from $110,000 to $120,000, up to a higher figure of $170,000 to $180,000 plus superannuation, car, phone and bonuses of over 50 per cent, with top performers awarded long-term incentive programs, according to FRG's May 2008 survey.
In some cases, BDMs had uncapped incentive programs, where top performers earned over 100 per cent of their salary as a bonus, depending on their KPIs, according to the survey.
But there has been a slowdown since the 2007 survey, where some top performers were getting an average of 100 to 150 per cent of their salary as a bonus.
