Advisors Focus On Existing Clients, Not Growth

It's a bad time for new business, evidently. A recent SEI survey found advisors spend more time with their existing clients than they do trying to gain new business. Just 16 percent of advisors spend most of their day working to gain new clients, while 46 percent spend the majority of their time with their current client base.

Of advisors who are actively searching for new business, 52 percent are inviting clients to bring a friend to client appreciation events as a way to find new leads. Forty-five percent say they work with CPAs and accountants to build their "centers of influence."

Social media isn't the marketing godsend you may have been led to believe. While 54 percent of advisors use at least one social network, less than 5 percent say they actively use it as a prospecting tool.