Advisors Mulling a Move Should Check the Elephant in the Room

The insights behind the campaign are consonant with research conducted separately by Fidelity Investments, also released this week, which shows that a focus on the financial aspects of advisor transitions may be less effective than the family and emotional dynamic behind the decision.

The Fidelity study found that encouragement and discouragement from family members played a significant role in transition decisions and that risk-avoidant motivations, including fear of the unknown and stress of the move, were dominant factors in keeping fence sitters from moving.

Broker-dealers that focus on their technology platform or product offerings are therefore talking past advisors’ key concerns, Cetera’s Theder says.

“We believe that relationships underlie this industry, whether firm relationships or family relationships. Truth and integrity weigh more than financial benefits,” she adds.

Cetera, which runs four broker-dealers, is reaching out to advisors through channels including digital advertising, email blasts, print advertising and through its Elite Advisor newsletter.

Theder says the firm determines its content strategy through a “client or spouse test,” including only information the firm believes an advisors would tell their clients, wives or husbands.

“So much of marketing is ‘download this whitepaper,’” Theder says. But it’s really “all about engaging people. We all want to be engaged and entertained. We want [our truth campaign website] to be like a Pinterest page. We have a passion for thinking of advisors as people.”