After learning about YCharts through the recommendation of an industry peer, John Hancock decided to outfit the company’s distribution team with the platform. Motivated by the desire to keep wholesalers abreast of market and fund flow movements; visualize economic trends; deliver timely market research and analysis; highlight model portfolio solutions; and objectively address challenges that may arise during meetings, John Hancock felt YCharts provided a compelling solution.

“With YCharts, we’re able to better put our investment solutions in the context of the markets in a way that works for people on the go,“ said Jeff. “It’s an incredibly analytical tool and saved us from having to build one in house.”

When meeting with advisors, John Hancock’s wholesalers take a consultative approach. By first assessing their needs, the distribution team gains an understanding of advisors’ current strategies and how John Hancock could improve them.

YCharts’ Fund Screener enables the firm’s wholesalers to compare funds by category and analyze performance and risk metrics, allowing them to uncover funds that stand out as strong investment opportunities.

Additionally, the John Hancock distribution team is building their own client fund lists directly into YCharts, which their wholesalers can then leverage for powerful on-the-fly analytics and strategically weave into sales conversations. The tool provides the ability to quickly create visuals that showcase the hypothetical performance of potential strategies compared to the advisor’s current strategy, in clean, visually appealing, branded reports.

“YCharts is helping us bring more focus to the conversations we have with advisors, including helping them see the potential value in making changes to their portfolio strategies,” said Jeff.

And it’s not just the YCharts tools that are making an impact. Jeff and Matt both make sure that their wholesalers are leveraging YCharts’ Fund Flows Report to ensure they’re up-to-date on the previous month's fund flow numbers, historical flows and performance data for mutual funds and ETFs.

Although they’ve only utilized the YCharts platform for a short period of time, John Hancock's wholesalers are already finding that it’s leading to more success across the distribution team.

Matt recalls a recent example of a wholesaler on his team who built a number of client fund lists and Fund Screens within YCharts, to be used in preparation for a meeting. His presentation was so well received that each member of his team now leverages the workflow in their own conversations, and best of all, everything was shared amongst the team with a simple click.

“There is no doubt that YCharts is helping with client conversations,” Jeff said. “Our business consultants use it in the bulk of their meetings when discussing a specific fund opportunity.”

Matt also appreciates how easy-to-use and accessible YCharts is compared with other clunky, antiquated solutions, and loves how it’s enabling collaboration across the entire team.

“A big part of a territory’s success is the internal/external partnership,” said Matt. “YCharts helps those teams stay on the same page. The internals stress test the model portfolios that advisors are using and make recommendations for adjustments. When we take all that portfolio analysis that’s done internally and put it into the wholesaler’s fingertips, they’re more prepared for meetings and feel more informed.”

“I really see YCharts as a tool that can sync up many different parts of our organization,” Matt said. “From our distribution team to our capital markets team, I see it making a big impact on our collaboration as a whole.”