Fidelity primes the referral pump for RIA clients
A new program gets a warm reception from advisors ready to snap out of hand-holding mode
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Mike Byrnes
Hats off to both Fidelity and Schwab for helping their advisors with referrals.
It was interesting to read that Fidelity and Schwab see a significant difference in the new business percentages that their advisors attribute to referrals. Maybe the “51%” and “80%” quoted above are not an apples-to-apples comparison. From my experience with well established advisors, I see 70% comes from client referrals, 20% comes from strategic alliances and 10% comes from other sources. Of course, all business models are different. For example, a less established advisor doesn’t have the clients to provide referrals, so they need other marketing activities to drive new business (and vice versa.)
As a majority of advisors’ new business comes from client referrals, I see improving the strategic alliance referrals as a significant area for advisors to improve their new business strategies.
Mike Byrnes, President, Byrnes Consulting, LLC, www.byrnesconsulting.com
