Survey: Most Financial Advisors Spend Little Time Reaching Out to Prospects

By Warren S. Hersch

August 17, 2012 at 10:07 AM

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More than seven in 10 advisors only communicate with prospective clients once a month or less, new research reveals.

ByAllAccounts, Woburn, Mass., published this finding in a Marketing and Business Development survey conducted in September 2011. The survey findings are based on aggregated responses from 215-plus advisors.

The survey reveals that 73% of advisors only communicate with prospective clients once a month or less. Yet more than four in 10 advisors (41%) say they plan to acquire between six and 15 new clients next year, while 46% hope to bring on 16 or more.

Just over one in 10 (12.5%) of respondents say their marketing strategy for attracting new clients is effective.

Only 12.4% of the respondents say they have a dedicated marketing person or team. But more than a quarter of those polled (26.7%) say that marketing is handled by staff people who also manage other activities.

The top 5 marketing tactics used by the advisors include websites (62.4% of those polled), events/seminars (56.1%), emails (51.4%), newsletters (47.4%) and direct mail (30.1%).

Fewer of the survey respondents use social media (21.4%), content creation (such as whitepapers; 19.1%), print media advertising (18.5%), press releases (18.5%), and search engine optimization (15.0%).

The top marketing activities that advisors are outsourcing, the surveys finds, include website design and upkeep (56.5%), email marketing (47.8%), seminar and event coordination (39.1%), broadcast or print advertising (30.4%), content creation (30.4%), public relations (21.7%) and telemarketing (13%).

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