Financial advisors need to prevent clients from ‘bad mouthing’ them even more than they need clients’ endorsements, according to Bob Oros, an executive at Fidelity Investments.

“Consumers have enormous power today—it’s different from a few years ago. In the past, if a client was unhappy, he or she would complain to a few friends; now a person can reach hundreds or thousands on social media,” says Oros, head of the registered investment advisor segment for Fidelity Clearing and Custody Solutions.

Fidelity on Thursday released its eighth annual Fidelity Investments’ Millionaire Outlook study, which explored whether clients would recommend or promote their advisors, or if they would be detractors.

Advisors rely on their clients to drive referrals, which generate 48 percent of new business for advisors and help drive organic growth, says the study of 1,287 investors.

The study found that 55 percent of millionaires are promoters, meaning they are loyal to their advisors and likely to recommend them to others, and 65 percent of those consider their advisors to be their friends.

However, that is only part of the picture, according to the study. Despite seeing the value in hiring professional financial advisors, 45 percent of millionaires would not recommend their financial advisors to friends or colleagues and 20 percent are unhappy enough to consider leaving their advisor and would discourage others from working with the advisor.

“Advisors need to recognize they are acting in a fishbowl today,” Oros says. “Some advisors think if they have not heard any criticism from clients, they are OK. But that is not true. Advisors need to ask for feedback from clients frequently.

“Advisors need be seen as ‘360-degree people,’ not just as one dimensional,” he adds. “They also need to service clients in a way they want to be served, whether that is a steak dinner meeting, an e-mail or a tweet.

“We have entered a ‘referral economy’—where we, as consumers, thrive on sharing the people and things we value with those in our social and professional networks. While this presents a tremendous opportunity for advisors, the challenge is uncovering the formula that drives millionaire clients to recommend them rather than remain silent—or worse—leave,” he says.

According to the study, millionaires who have a formal financial plan developed by their advisors are seven times more likely to recommend their advisors.

This presents an opportunity for advisors to fill a gap with the 44 percent of millionaires who don’t currently have, or know if they have, a formal financial plan. In addition, those who would recommend their advisor feel he or she “helps to simplify all aspects of my financial life,” according to the study.

Clients who recommend their advisors are 44 percent more likely than detractors to interact with their advisors three or more times a year. Also, during recent market volatility, three out of four promoters were contacted personally by phone or in person by their advisors, compared to half of detractors.

Seventy-nine percent of promoters were asked for their views of the advisors’ work over the past year, while 45 percent of detractors have never been asked for feedback.

In addition to being free with their referrals, millionaires who feel good about their advisor tend to keep most of their assets with one advisor and would go to their advisor if they received a windfall. Sixty-two percent of promoters would follow their advisors to a new company.

The study shows “advisors may be overlooking some very critical, foundational behaviors in their relationships with today’s millionaires—behaviors that consider the evolving needs of investors and their desire for personal, customized relationships with their advisors,” says Oros. “These are straightforward strategies that can convert a detractor to a promoter, yet the study shows that not enough advisors are employing them.”