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Practice Management > Building Your Business

Study: Advisors and their firms disagree on major business-building practices

By Staff Writer

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New research indicates there are some major disconnects between advisors and their financial institutions. When ranking the importance of marketing support functions, consulting firm CEG Worldwide gathered several conflicting views among wealth managers and financial executives.

The largest opinion gap was over advisor referrals. While 94.2 percent of wealth managers labeled this as “very important,” only 44 percent of financial executives said the same.

“In today’s environment, financial advisors aren’t the only ones who need to raise their game,” said John J. Bowen Jr., founder and CEO of CEG Worldwide. “Financial institutions such as brokerage firms, turnkey asset management programs (TAMPs) and others also must make the right moves to attract and retain their client bases.”

Other “gaps” include:

  • Advanced sales and marketing training: 89.1 percent, wealth managers; 48 percent, financial executives; a 41.1 percent gap
  • Developing strategic alliances: 68.1 percent, wealth managers; 40 percent, financial executives; a 28.1 percent gap
  • Education on selected target markets: 68.1 percent, wealth managers; 48 percent, financial executives; a 20.1 percent gap
  • Developing client referrals: 56.5 percent, wealth managers; 46 percent, financial executives; a 10.5 percent gap

“Nearly every day we witness top advisors switching ranks, launching new practices or looking for new options. Unless your firm gives advisors a compelling business reason to stay, you will probably lose some key advisors,” Bowen noted.