How to Buy Leads for Sale as a Financial Advisor

Generating leads is often one of the toughest hurdles that financial advisors face when growing an advisory business. You might be taking all the right steps – creating a professional website, enhancing your brand’s presence on social media and expanding your email list – yet only seeing a slow trickle of new prospects instead of a steady flow. This can lead you to consider whether purchasing leads could be a smart move for your business. If that’s the case, understanding where to find high-quality financial advisor leads for sale can make all the difference.

SmartAsset’s Advisor Marketing Platform (AMP) offers financial advisors services like client lead generation, automated marketing and more. Learn about SmartAsset AMP today.

Where to Find Financial Advisor Leads for Sale

Finding leads for sale is as simple as searching for “financial advisor lead generation services.” Numerous companies offer lead generation for financial professionals, so there’s no shortage of options.

For example, SmartAsset’s Advisor Marketing Platform (AMP) offers financial advisors services including client lead generation, automated marketing and more. With three different levels of service, AMP can deliver up to 120, 276 or 540 referrals per year. Furthermore, the subscription-based service gives you the marketing tools to nurture leads and hopefully convert them into clients.

You just want to be sure you select the right company to work with that aligns with your needs and goals. Here are some things to keep in mind as you shop around:

Clarify Your Needs and Goals

It’s important to think about what you hope to accomplish when buying leads. For example, are you only interested in buying life insurance leads? Or do you want to simplify marketing while connecting with prospects who need comprehensive financial planning services?

Consider Lead Quality

In lead generation, less can be more. And it’s quality, not quantity, that matters. You may derive more value from buying a smaller list of curated leads that align with your niche versus a larger list of names and contact details that haven’t been properly vetted.

Estimate Your ROI

If you’re paying for leads, it’s important to have an idea of how much you’re likely to get back. A “good” ROI is typically anywhere from 5 to 10 times what you paid for the lead. Consider your average client acquisition cost and expected revenue per client to determine whether purchasing leads makes financial sense. Beyond direct revenue, also weigh the long-term benefits. If a lead becomes a loyal client or refers others to your practice, the overall value extends beyond the initial cost.

Ask About Tools

A good lead generation service does more than just send you names. It also provides you with tools that you can use to nurture relationships with prospects. SmartAsset AMP helps financial advisors streamline communication with potential clients by automating call, text and email campaigns. For example, AMP’s Next Call feature automatically tracks and logs every call made and text message sent to individual referrals, giving advisors detailed records that update in real time.

Review Testimonials

One of the best measures of any lead generation service is what current or past users have to say about it. Reading reviews or testimonials can offer insight into what other advisors do or don’t like about a particular lead generation company.

If you find a lead generation service you’re interested in working with, you may want to start small. Buying a smaller list of leads allows you to assess the quality before making a larger investment. It can also give you an idea of whether paid leads are right for you if you’ve never used them before.

Converting Purchased Leads into New Clients

Unfortunately, buying leads doesn’t guarantee that you immediate success adding new clients. Advisors who invest in a lead generation service like AMP should keep in mind that it takes effort, diligence and persistence to convert a purchased referral into a client.

Once you acquire leads, act quickly. Speed and timeliness are – critical contacting prospects within minutes increases the likelihood of engagement. Use a personalized approach when reaching out, referencing any details the lead provider shares, such as financial goals or investment preferences. Implement a multichannel follow-up strategy that includes phone calls, emails, and, if appropriate, text messages.

Justin Fitchko, a Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®) and managing partner at DayMark Wealth Partners in Ohio, told SmartAsset that AMP gives him the ability to set up an automated process for contacting new leads.

“I’m immediately informed via an email and text message to my personal cell phone saying you have a lead,” Fitchko told SmartAsset, adding that new leads automatically receive a text message from his number. “I generally try to call immediately, with the assumption that other advisors are going to do the same.”

Additionally, automated tools like CRM systems can help you stay organized, track interactions and follow up efficiently. AMP integrates with popular CRMs like Salesforce, Hubspot, Zoho, Redtail, SmartOffice, Pipedrive and Wealthbox.

Finally, nurture your leads with valuable content and insights. Offer educational resources like webinars, articles or newsletters to demonstrate your expertise. Building rapport over time increases the chances of converting leads into loyal clients. By combining a strategic approach with personalized communication, you can turn purchased leads into long-term relationships.

Importance of Lead Generation for Financial Advisors

Building a thriving advisory business means you need clients, but they won’t just appear with the wave of a magic wand. Initially, at least, you’ll need to spend some time scouting out who could benefit from the services that you offer.

Leads you connect with today may become clients tomorrow. And more clients equals more revenue for your business, both in the short and long term.

Actively generating leads can yield more opportunities for growth, especially if you’re expanding into new markets or adding to the list of services you offer. You can also generate more referrals from existing clients as you build your book of business.

Pros and Cons of Buying Financial Advisor Leads

Should you buy leads as an advisor? The question is up for debate, and there are plenty of arguments both for and against doing so:

Pros:

Buying leads gives you access to a pool of interested prospects who are actively looking for financial advice, and thus likely to be more receptive to your marketing efforts.
You may be able to reach a broader audience than you would with your current marketing strategy.
Compared to the time and financial investment that’s often required to implement an effective marketing strategy, buying leads is a faster and easier way to achieve your goal.

Cons:

Lead generation services are not perfect, and you could end up paying good money for leads that are poor quality or where the prospect’s contact information is inaccurate.
Competition may be stiff if other advisors are buying the same leads, and the first advisor to make contact with a prospect might be the one to close the deal.
Buying leads can sometimes make it more difficult to build relationships, which is central to creating a sustainable business.

Some advisors have remarkable success with lead generation services, while others struggle to make connections. Evaluating your business goals can help you determine if buying leads makes financial sense for you.

Tips for Generating Leads Organically

A financial advisor researches how to buy leads.

For every advisor who pays for leads, there’s another who doesn’t. One isn’t better than the other; different approaches work for different businesses. If you’d like to try to generate more leads organically before you buy leads, here are some ideas on how to do that.

Talk to Your Current Clients

Your current clients can be one of the best sources of new leads if they’re sending a steady stream of referrals your way. If you’re not getting those referrals, ask your clients what you can do better. You can also ask them to fill out an anonymous experience survey if you don’t want to put them on the spot.

Collaborate With Other Financial Professionals

Forming strategic partnerships can help you get new eyes on your business and potentially reach a broader field of prospects. For example, if your ideal clients are 30-somethings with young kids, you might gain exposure as a guest on a millennial money podcast.

Improve Your SEO

Search engine optimization or SEO refers to strategies that are designed to help your website rank higher in search results. If you have a website that doesn’t get much traffic, revamping your SEO strategy could help you rise in the rankings and be more visible to prospects who are searching for financial advice.

Build Your Email List

If you’ve neglected email marketing, you could be shooting your lead generation strategy in the foot. You can give your list an instant boost by developing a valuable lead magnet and promoting it on your website and social media accounts.

Engage

Social media is a great marketing tool for advisors, but only if you’re actively using it. If you have social media profiles, but aren’t doing much with them, consider how you can ramp up engagement. Share a poll with your followers, ask them a question, host a livestream – those are all ways to get the conversation flowing.

Host a Seminar

Seminars are great for marketing because you can reach a large audience without having to corral them into a physical space. Seminars, whether live or prerecorded, offer prospects a closer look at how you can help them develop their financial plans.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Should Financial Advisors Buy Leads?

Whether it makes sense to buy leads depends on your goals for growth and what you can afford to invest in this type of marketing. For some advisors, buying leads is a cost-effective way to connect with right-fit prospects. Others may find that organic methods of lead generation work best.

How Much Do Financial Advisor Leads Cost?

Lead generation services structure their fees differently, and the cost per lead can vary greatly from one company to the next. You might pay a flat monthly fee or a fee that’s based on the percentage of a prospect’s assets. Comparing fee structures for different lead generation services can help you determine which one may offer the most value for your money.

A Broadridge survey of over 400 financial advisors found that those with at least $100 million in assets under management (AUM) spend an average of $742 to acquire each new client. However, advisors focused on aggressive growth spend upward of $1,000 per new client, according to the survey.

Where Do Financial Advisors Get Their Leads?

Financial advisors can get leads from a variety of sources, including email marketing, social media, digital ads, direct mail marketing and SEO-driven local searches. Referrals can also bring more leads your way if your clients are motivated to tell their friends and family about you. Diversifying your sources for leads can help you cast a wider net when attracting prospects.

Bottom Line

Two advisors discuss where to find financial advisor leads for sale.

It’s relatively easy to find financial advisor leads for sale, but it may take some research to find the right company to work with. At the end of the day, whether you buy leads or generate them yourself, the most important thing is making quality connections.

Tips for Growing Your Advisory Business

How big is your firm’s digital footprint? The answer matters as more investors turn to online searches to find financial advice. 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.
Hosting client events is a way to show your appreciation and potentially generate more referrals. When deciding what kind of client appreciation event to hold, consider your client’s interests and passions, as well as what’s feasible for your budget.

Testimonials appearing on this site are actually received via text, audio, or video submission. The testimonials are provided by financial advisors that have ongoing business relationships with SmartAsset. They are individual experiences, reflecting the real-life experiences of those who have used our products and/or services. The testimonials are not 100% representative of all of those who will use our products and/or services, and we make no admissions of such. The testimonials displayed (text, audio, and/or video) are given verbatim except for correction of grammatical or typing errors. In some cases, the testimonial has been shortened in length where it has not been possible to display the whole testimonial, and where we considered, acting reasonably, that some parts of the testimonial were not relevant to our site, products, or services. SmartAsset may extend free products, discounts, promotional support, or other indirect or direct financial incentives to these sources. These incentives may or may not influence the nature of the testimonial. In this case, compensation was provided.