How to Confidently Ask Clients for Additional Assets

When it comes to growing your assets under management (AUM), why not start with your existing clients? According to CEG Insights, fewer than three-quarters of advisors currently ask their clients to move assets from other advisors, but this simple request could fuel your organic growth.¹ We’ve got some tips to help you take action.

1. Cultivate your relationships.

A strong relationship with your clients is the foundation to success. Before attempting to grow, focus on providing exceptional service and building trust. To do this, ensure you understand their goals – financially and otherwise. CEG research shows that 30.8 percent of investors would consider moving more assets to an advisor willing to help them achieve their best lives. These numbers jump higher when looking at younger investors. If their advisor helped them live a life of significance, 61.6 percent of millennials would consider moving more assets to that advisor, and 47.3 percent of Gen X investors would do the same.¹

2. Understand their overall assets.

Before making the ask, you must have a comprehensive understanding of your client’s asset landscape, including those managed by others. Without this visibility, you can’t identify opportunities for asset consolidation. Your routine client meetings are a key opportunity to discuss what you manage for your clients – and how other advisors may be handling their assets.

3. Recognize triggers for asset transfer.

Major life events (marriage, divorce, death, etc.), portfolio changes, and shifts in tax laws may serve as valuable prompts to discuss asset transfer with your clients. Proactively monitor for these opportunities so you can broach the conversation at the optimal time.

4. Offer to perform a diagnostic review.

Don’t expect your clients to take unprompted action. Instead, offer to perform a diagnostic review of their assets, explaining how it can optimize their portfolio and help identify opportunities or roadblocks to achieving their goals. If you present this offer regularly, your clients will come to expect it, increasing the likelihood they’ll participate.

5. Make the benefit clear.

Your clients will naturally want to understand why this move benefits them. It’s up to you to clearly and proactively explain the potential value of consolidation. Help them understand how holistic oversight of their finances can ensure alignment with their goals, why consolidation can enable a more streamlined experience, and how you can more easily take advantage of strategies to minimize risk and reduce taxes.

There’s little downside to nurturing your existing relationships to accelerate your growth. Opportunity awaits.

Sources:

^1. CEG Insights, “Play to Win: Driving Organic Growth by Helping Clients Live Their Best Lives.”

Important Information

Investing entails risks and there can be no assurance that any investment will achieve profits or avoid incurring losses.

This information has been created by Harbor Capital Advisors for Financial Professionals. It’s important to consult directly with your firm’s compliance department to obtain precise advice based on their policies, procedures, and any industry-specific regulations.

Methodology:

These survey results come from CEG Insights, “Beyond Wealth: How Advisors Can Drive Organic Growth by Empowering Investors’ Best Lives.”

Investors surveyed: 250 investors with $100,000 to $1 million in investable assets; 1,000 investors with more than $1 million in investable assets. Issues investigated: Goals and values of wealthy households and how they define financial success, including familial, charitable and estate planning goals; action steps for advisors and providers for assisting their clients in meeting their objectives. Timeframe: July 2023.

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