There are tried and true ways to get new clients, but will that change in the new wealth management landscape?
Take referrals. In launching its retail robo-advice offering, Schwab Intelligent Portfolios, Naureen Hassan of Schwab said that when new users of SIP sign up, the final question on their intake form will be "Do you want to talk to a financial professional?" Calls from those who do want to talk to a person will be directed to a team "that's skilled enough to vector clients to the right" solution, Hassan said. "If they have more sophisticated needs," Hassan said, the team "will follow our standard" referral protocol, recommending either a branch or a Schwab-custodied independent RIA.
Beyond such passive referrals, there's another approach to attracting clients to your firm: content-based digital marketing.
In February, Shareholders Service Group, the San Diego-based RIA custodian, announced a deal with Vestorly under which SSG's 1,400 advisor clients will get preferred pricing on Vestorly's digital marketing software suite, which provides content for advisor websites, email newsletters and social media, with the ability to identify visitors who are prospective clients.
Justin Wisz, CEO of venture-capital funded Vestorly, said the firm's customers "run the gamut from one-person shops" to firms like Harold Evensky's and Greg Friedman's wealth management firms and enterprise deals with companies like SSG and United Capital. Summit Brokerage Services, the independent BD, uses Vestorly software as a recruiting tool, Wisz said.
