How Financial Advisors Actually Get Clients, Backed By Data (With Michael Kitces)
Feb 10, 2025
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In this discussion, Michael Kitces, the Chief Financial Planning Nerd at Kitces.com, reveals key insights from his recent marketing study for financial advisors. He shares how advisors can reduce client acquisition costs from up to $10,000 and avoid the 'anti-scale' trap that threatens profitability. Kitces emphasizes the 'Transfer of Trust' technique to expedite client onboarding and highlights proven marketing strategies backed by data. Valuable tips on leveraging personal strengths and the importance of storytelling in client relationships round out this must-listen conversation.
Financial advisors often miscalculate marketing expenses, leading to client acquisition costs that can surge as high as 10% of revenue.
As advisory firms grow, paradoxically escalating client acquisition costs challenge the expected economies of scale, hindering overall growth.
Cultivating trust through personal branding and strong relationships is essential for client retention and maximizing the effectiveness of marketing efforts.
Deep dives
Understanding Marketing Costs for Financial Advisors
Many financial advisors underestimate the true cost of their marketing efforts. The average advisor typically allocates only 1-2% of their revenue to marketing, which may not represent the full picture of their expenses. When accounting for the time spent on business development, which often includes around 20% of advisor compensation, the actual cost of acquiring new clients can significantly increase, reaching 10% of their total revenue. This insight highlights the need for advisors to assess their marketing strategies and spending to ensure they are effectively and efficiently attracting new clients.
The Anti-Scaling Effect in Advisory Firms
As an advisory firm grows, its cost to acquire clients often paradoxically increases. Despite expectations that larger practices would benefit from economies of scale, many experience higher marketing costs due to the increased value of their time as they move upmarket. This leads to a cycle where higher minimum fees are established to cover growing client acquisition costs, ultimately flattening growth. Advisors must be cautious of this trend and find ways to manage marketing expenses as they scale their businesses.
Short-Term vs. Long-Term Marketing Strategies
There are two broad categories of marketing strategies for financial advisors: short-term, immediate tactics and long-term strategies that build over time. Immediate tactics, like cold calling or using lead generation platforms, can yield quick results but may become costly over time due to the intensity of the effort involved. Conversely, long-term strategies, such as content marketing or SEO, often require patience, as significant results may not emerge for years. Finding a balance between these approaches is key for new advisors to ensure they can sustain their business while laying the groundwork for future growth.
The Importance of Trust in Client Acquisition
Trust remains a pivotal aspect of client acquisition for financial advisors, as nearly two-thirds of new clients find their advisors through trusted referrals. The mechanisms of trust, such as personal relationships or referrals from professionals, highlight the necessity for advisors to cultivate strong connections with their prospects. Marketing strategies that emphasize personal branding, consistent engagement, and credibility over time foster the trust required for client retention and referrals. Advisors should focus on building and maintaining trust throughout various marketing efforts to achieve lasting success.
Choosing Marketing Strategies That Fit Personal Strengths
Advisors are encouraged to select marketing tactics that align with their personal styles and strengths to maximize effectiveness. Whether through in-person networking, podcasting, or writing, the key is to adopt strategies that advisors can sustain over time. The variability in marketing success often stems from advisors not sticking with strategies that do not resonate with them, leading to inconsistent efforts and poor results. By picking the right approach that complements their personality and capabilities, advisors can develop stronger connections with their clients and refine their tactics for better outcomes.
Today’s guest, Michael Kitces, recently released an 108-page study called, “How Financial Planners Actually Market Their Services.”
Michael and his team have done all the hard work for you to prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, how to actually get clients from your marketing.
I don’t say this lightly, but this might be the best podcast episode ever for financial advisor marketing.
Not only will you realize what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not working), but you’ll leave this episode with a plan to dominate 2025 and beyond.
Listen now for an absolute gold mine of financial advisor marketing backed up and proven by hard data.
Show highlights include:
This 108-page financial space marketing report will show you with crystal clear certainty how to actually get clients from your marketing (0:33)
Why financial advisors are sometimes spending up to $10,000 per client (and how to get this cost lower while landing more clients) (5:11)
The insidious “anti-scale” trap most advisory firms find themselves in that slowly bankrupts their firm (6:19)
How building a faster, sales-based approach to business development gets you up and running but also plants the seeds of destruction in your firm (and the two-track approach to use instead) (13:20)
The success rates of the most successful marketing strategies for financial advisors backed by hard data (14:58)
The sneaky “Transfer of Trust” secret that fast tracks your sales pipeline and can result in several new clients each month (27:17)
Who wins in a battle of generating more clients: Podcasts or video marketing? (31:13)
3 things every piece of your marketing must do or it will fall on deaf ears (34:13)
Why you only need 50 great clients to run a wildly successful advisory firm that rivals even corporate behemoths like Merrill or Morgan (47:05)
The single most important marketing lesson every advisor needs to hear based on hundreds of hours of hard data and research (50:14)
Since you listen to this podcast, I want to give you a gift:
If you subscribe to the Inner Circle Newsletter, I’ll send you a collection of seven “objection busting” and copyright free emails, personally written by me, that you can use right away to begin getting more clients. Sign up here: https://TheAdvisorCoach.com/Coaching. Then, let me know you subscribed, and I will reply back with a link where you can download them for free.
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