How One Advisor Attracts HNW Clients

Dan Richards

Recently, a California-based advisor explained how she shifted her practice to focus on affluent clients. Her success was the result of a simple but thoughtful five-step plan.

The catalyst for this conversation was an email from a Texas advisor with one of the top four American firms, who asked about tapping into multi-million clients. I reply to every question from advisors and, where it makes sense, use the questions in my articles. The Texas advisor’s question and my answer are below. Many of the principles of attracting high-net-worth (HNW) clients apply to prospecting in general.

Here was his question:

How do I attract super-affluent clients?

In order to take my business to the next level, I need wealthier clients. I’ve been in the business 15 years and have assets of $100 million. The average assets per client of some of the top advisors profiled in Barron's is over $20 million. My average client asset level is $800K, with no client with AUM over $8 million.

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I have met some of the Barron's top 100 advisors at conferences and they aren’t any smarter, harder-working or more knowledgeable than I am. But the results clearly indicate that they are better at marketing to high-net-worth investors. I’m not necessarily seeking $20 million clients, but need more with $5 million and $10 million. The difficulty is that there is no specific path; I'm guessing if you profiled 10 of the top Barron's advisors, you would get 10 different marketing methods. Can you help?

How super-affluent clients are different

This advisor is quite right that there are a number of different tracks to attract affluent clients. That said, these approaches do have one feature in common: They are attuned to the psyche and expectations of affluent clients.

To succeed in the affluent marketplace, you need to adopt a HNW mindset in how you operate. Recently, I discussed the attributes of affluent clients with three advisors who target clients with assets of $5 million to $25 million:

  1. Complexity

    Their situations are more complex in terms of investment, tax, estate planning and charitable giving strategies. Many HNW advisors have moved to a broad wealth management focus; taxes are a particular hot button.

  2. Other professional advisors

    Affluent investors often have an accountant and lawyer in place who deal with tax and estate issues, with whom they generally consult on important financial decisions. And at least initially, it’s common for these clients to put more weight on advice from these trusted professionals than from their financial advisor.