5 Referral Sources for Financial Advisors

Client acquisition often starts with a conversation—sometimes with a current client, other times with a trusted professional contact or a prospect who found you online. Each of these interactions can point back to a different referral source. For financial advisors, understanding where strong referrals come from can help streamline business development and focus attention on the relationships that lead to growth.

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5 Referral Sources for Financial Advisors

If you’re ready to start getting more clients, here are five referral sources to help you expand your client base:

2. Current Clients

Referrals from existing clients are often the most direct. If clients are satisfied with your services, they may be willing to recommend you to friends, family or colleagues who are looking for financial guidance.

The key is building trust and demonstrating your value first. Then you can position your ask so that clients don’t feel pressured to offer referrals. It should be clear what you’re asking, but at the same time, your request shouldn’t sound like a sales pitch.

You can also use referrals to bridge gaps across generations. For example, if you’re working with a married couple approaching retirement, you might let them know that you’re available to talk to their children or grandchildren about their financial planning needs. That’s something that might not have even occurred to them, which may result in another referral.

3. Attorneys

Attorneys can also be a helpful source of referrals for financial advisors because, while the services they offer might overlap, they’re not identical. For example, say that your primary area of focus is estate planning. It may be natural to connect with an estate planning attorney who could refer clients to you for financial advice.

Securing referrals from an attorney can take time, however, as you’ll need to build trust first. You could start by asking for referrals from attorneys you already know or who are connected to you through someone else in your network, versus complete strangers.

4. CPAs and Other Financial Professionals

Similar to attorneys, relationships with certified public accountants (CPAs) can be a reliable source of referrals for your advisory business. Their clients are already primed to get professional help with their finances from an accountant, so collaborating with an advisor may not be too far of a leap.

A CPA may also be willing to connect you with other people in their circle who could be additional sources of referrals. For example, their network might include bankers, mortgage professionals or insurance agents, all of whom may be willing to refer clients to you.

5. Other Advisors

Finding other advisors who either have too many potential clients or who are receiving prospects that don’t fit their niche could be a potential source of referrals. It could seem counterintuitive to ask other financial advisors for referrals, but it can be an effective strategy. Here are three common examples of when an advisor might refer clients to another advisor:

• A prospective client needs help with an area of financial planning that the advisor doesn’t offer, so they refer them to another professional who specializes in that niche.
• The advisor’s business has grown more rapidly than they anticipated, so instead of simply turning the prospect away they refer them to an advisor they know who’s actively looking for more clients.
• A health issue prompts an advisor to switch from full-time to part-time hours. They decide to cull their client list and refer some of their existing clients out to another trusted advisor.

Again, it’s all about building relationships with people you trust and who trust you in return. Nurturing your professional network can be a great way to open the door for those kinds of referral opportunities.

Tips for Converting Referrals

There are many ways to find more referrals online. But, if you’re not ready for those referrals when you receive them, then it might not matter much. You must have a process for converting those referral leads and then onboarding them as clients. Here are four general tips to help you take your conversion of referrals to the next level:

• Keep your current clients happy. Some potential clients will want to research your firm or talk to someone you’ve worked with before. If you aren’t doing a good job at keeping your current clients happy, it could cost you new clients as you grow.
• Keep growing professional relationships. Word of mouth is one of the most powerful tools at your disposal when looking for new clients. The more professionals you’re able to partner with, the better your chances of landing new referrals. If potential clients have been referred to you more than once, it could be a slam dunk in terms of converting them.
• Provide value to partners. One way to ensure strong referrals when you receive one is to build strong relationships. If you take your time to do things for your professional partners, the chances are that when they refer someone, it will be a strong referral that increases the likelihood of you being able to close the deal.
• Create partnerships that make sense. You want to make sure you’re cultivating potential referral sources that make sense to you. For example, if you focus on ESG investing for your clients, you’ll want to cultivate relationships with potential referral partners who are working with clients who find ESG important.

Finding new clients can be time-consuming. If you’re unable to commit to a robust referral strategy, consider finding online lead generation that works for you. Add new clients and AUM at your desired pace with SmartAsset’s Advisor Marketing Platform. Sign up for a free demo today.

Why Referrals Matter for Financial Advisors

A typical financial advisor’s daily schedule may involve time spent prospecting and working on outreach efforts to attract new clients. While that can pay dividends in the long run, the investment of time that’s often required could leave you with little room to manage other important tasks in your business.

Referrals often bring clients directly to your business without having to tie up hours of each day reaching out to prospects. According to a 2024 Broadridge survey of financial advisors, advisors reported that client referrals converted twice as quickly as marketing prospects.

When someone is referred to you, they may already be familiar with positive feedback about your firm. You then have an opportunity to leave them with a positive first impression and turn them from a referral into a client. Not all referrals will turn into long-term clients, but that doesn’t undermine their value for your business.

Bottom Line

If getting more referrals is one of your financial advisor goals, it helps to know how to find reliable sources. Reviewing your client list first, then casting the net wider to consider other professionals in your network can be a great starting point. And, if you don’t have much time to commit, you can always use an online lead-generation tool to find clients for you.

Tips for Growing Your Advisory Business

• SmartAsset AMP (Advisor Marketing Platform) is a holistic marketing service financial advisors can use for client lead generation and automated marketing. Sign up for a free demo to explore how SmartAsset AMP can help you expand your practice’s marketing operation. Get started today.
• Social media marketing can be an effective tool for defining your brand and establishing your credibility as an advisor. If you’re not using social media to market your business, it’s important to consider where it might fit into your firm’s larger digital marketing plan.

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