(Dow Jones) Size does matter when it comes to investors' assets. And brokerage firms are implementing new programs that push their financial advisors to get rid of at least some small clients.

By reducing their concentration of small households by 1%, advisors can increase their production by $7,700, according to a study by PriceMetrix, a wealth management software provider.

The study looked at 15,000 advisor books at 15 of its brokerage firm clients and the ways in which the firms are attempting to decrease their percentage of client households with less than $100,000 in investable assets.

"Firms that were able to drive the most reduction in small household concentration used disincentives, which is just a fancy way of saying penalties," said Doug Trott, chief executive and president of PriceMetrix. "But they used a mix of carrots and sticks."

The most successful approach was giving advisors a target of small household concentration. One firm chose 15% as the target and motivated advisors and branch managers by not including business with households less than $50,000 in bonus calculations, according to the study.

That firm, which requested anonymity, saw the greatest percentage drop in small households, reducing its concentration by 14 percentage points in one year, reach a 24% concentration.

"Advisors and managers have very competitive behavior, so that is a great motivator," Trott said. "But there's also some coaching involved to help advisors understand the benefit of setting some minimums."

PriceMetrix provides software that enables advisors to see the revenue level over time of each of their households and how it compares to other similar accounts across the firm. They can use it to identify accounts that aren't generating revenue.

"Just like underperforming stocks, you would want to get them out of your portfolio," Trott said.

But many advisors express a strong allegiance to the lower-end clients who helped them build their book, even though they've now outgrown those relationships. Advisors also believe in that lottery-ticket client who will someday be worth millions.

It's taking more than just old-fashioned encouragement to get advisors to move on.

Aside from financial incentives and disincentives, firms are also creating alternative solutions for small clients so advisors won't feel as bad about letting go. Strategies like call centers or hiring junior advisors, licensed client associates or salaried trainees can take the small accounts out of advisors' books, provide those clients with some service and not force a complete separation between the client and the original advisor. Other firms are hiking up the fees on the client end, encouraging them to leave on their own.

"Firms don't make you terminate client relationships," Trott said. "You can choose to keep them and let them drag down your portfolio, just know that that's what you're doing."

That's not to say advisors should have no small households. One in eight of those small accounts does in fact have $1 million elsewhere, according to PriceMetrix's research, so the advisor just needs the right mix.

Chris Russell, director of Professional Development & Training at Hilliard Lyons, said it's been a careful process to convince advisors to pass on small clients without forcing them to do so. "When culture dominates in a firm like ours, you can't just change everything all at once, the pushback from the advisors would be unbelievable," Russell said.

Hilliard Lyons has about 400 registered representatives. Many of them are located in small towns in the Southeast, where their books are primarily made up of small accounts, making it even harder to create a leaner book.

At this point, the firm saw its small household concentration drop by seven percentage points, by showing advisors how much money they're losing by hanging on to small clients.

"We haven't made a disincentive yet because we need to put more support in place first, such as junior advisors or salaried trainees to handle the small accounts," That's the next step, but he's taking it slow.

"For now, we want to find some advisors we can work with who can be success stories," Russell said. "And then create best practice models around that."

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