During an online Kitces Marketing Summit on April 27, six advisors from six different firms each shared a strategy they've used at their companies to successfully attract new clients.
At the start of the webcast, moderator Michael Kitces, head of planning strategy for Buckingham Wealth Partners, noted that he started the annual event three years ago, after the pandemic started and advisor marketing was "going haywire."
Although referrals didn't seem to suffer much initially, in-person events and meetings stopped, while webinars and other digital marketing strategies proliferated, he noted.
Although referrals have continued to be the top strategy for finding new clients, he said the number of advisors relying on them has started to decline.
"We saw this trend starting to emerge" that the firms growing the most, regardless of their size, "were starting to move away from referrals as the primary pillar of growth," he said.
High-growth firms were relying on referrals for about a third of their growth, he said, while referrals made up 60% to 80% of growth for other firms, he said.
Below are the strategies that the six guest speakers said have successfully driven their growth.
1. Asking 3 Specific Questions
There are three questions that Veronica Karas, senior financial advisor at Captrust in Raleigh, North Carolina, said she asks every client, prospective client and certified public accountant, estate attorney and other centers of influence to generate referrals.
The strategy has "led to 32 new clients and $461,000 in new revenue in the last 12 months," co-moderator Taylor Schulte, CEO and founder of Define Financial, a fee-only retirement planning firm in San Diego, noted while introducing her.
Pointing out that she gets "a lot of referrals from my existing clients," Karas said she started an initiative in 2021 to see how she could "increase the referral rate per client."
The three questions for clients are:
- Is there anything we're not doing for you that we could be doing that you would find helpful or valuable?
- What are the top 2 or 3 things we do for you that are the most valuable to you?
- Is there anyone in your life that could use help with [insert the 2 or 3 things they just said]? We would really appreciate if you could facilitate an introduction.
The three questions for prospects are:
- Is there anything we didn't cover during this meeting that we could have covered that you would find helpful or valuable?
- What are the top 2 or 3 things that we discussed today that are more valuable to you?
- Is there anyone in your life that could use help with [insert the 2 or 3 things they just said]? We would really appreciate if you could facilitate an introduction.
And the three questions she said she started asking COIs are:
- Is there anything we're not doing for your clients that we could be doing that you would find helpful and valuable?
- What would you say are the top 2 or 3 things we do for your clients that you find most valuable?
- Is there anyone in your life or from your clients we haven't met yet that could use help with [insert the 2 or 3 things they just said]? We would really appreciate it if you could facilitate an introduction.
2. Teaching Community College Classes
The strategy of teaching paid, in-person financial education classes at a community college has allowed Ryan R. Morrissey, wealth advisor and principal at Morrissey Wealth Management in New Haven, Connecticut, to add $12 million in new assets under management over the past 12 months, plus $35,000 in one-time planning fees for the firm, Schulte pointed out.
Among the elements of the strategy that Morrissey said he found especially useful: giving the students evaluation forms to fill out including their contact information, with an option to schedule a meeting.
