Nearly All Advisors Are Looking To Add Six Or More Clients Next Year, But Most Rely On Word Of Mouth Referrals Hot
If account aggregation firm ByAllAccounts got anything like a representative sample, just the RIA channel alone will need to create at least 1.4 million new accounts next year for everyone to meet their goals.
The wirehouses will need to find 260,000 new accounts, IBD reps might need nearly 1 million accounts, and so on.
This is theoretically possible, but at the current pace of wealth creation, it's a pretty tall order for all those American families to suddenly wake up, realize they need advice, and meet your account minimums.
It's a lot more realistic to envision all these advisors buying or cannibalizing each other's businesses to capture American families who already have professionals managing their money.
That kind of cutthroat scenario will produce very clear winners and losers.
ByAllAccounts says 42% of the advisors they talked to still rely on word of mouth referrals to bring people in the door and 62% have started using their websites to actively market themselves.
That's probably the minimum required these days.
A better marketing program probably won't help many advisors retain their existing accounts -- if clients are unsatisfied and looking for alternatives, an extra brochure won't make much difference -- but it can at least boost the odds that AUM coming in will outweigh AUM going out.
As it is, 73% of the advisors ByAllAccounts talked to say their website isn't working to bring people in the door.