"I'm going to share with you a fact. Seventy percent of widows leave their advisor within one year of their husband's death," she said. "Now we're starting to talk about a real opportunity."
What's needed? It would help if the industry increased its number of female advisors, now at about 17 percent, she said.
"When we talk to women and ask what they are looking for, they say they want more downside protection, they want longevity protection. Money is an enabler for women. The majority of women, even those making more than $250,000 a year, have the bag lady syndrome. They are scared of becoming bag ladies."
Women want to be spoken to in plain English, and just over half are interested in values-based investing, which has become a multi-trillion asset market that will continue to grow as women control more of the wealth, she said.
She added that women move more slowly on relationships than men do. Women report just as they start to commit, the advisor has given up on getting the business, she said. But when women do commit, they are more loyal and generate more referrals than men do, she added.
Another opportunity is the next generation, currently the millennials, born from the early 1980s to the early 2000s. Only 2 percent of the next generation stay with their parents' advisor, Krawcheck said, "and it's because the truth is, we often don't know the next generation."
"Millennials want information and they want it not just during office hours. They want it the way they want it. They want it delivered online and personally. ... They have grown up with the idea that Wall Street is rigged. For any advisor to say, 'I'm not on Wall Street,' they don't get that," Krawcheck said.
As a result, millennials are as conservative as the oldest investors are today, she said. Like women, they also are very interested in values-based investing. "Do we really think they are going to be driving their electric cars and wearing their Tom shoes, sporting their Warby Parker glasses, taking their recyclable bags to the grocery store, working only for companies whose values align with theirs, and investing in companies that are, for example, hurting the environment if they are given another realistic option?"
Krawcheck also noted the importance of social media. "I don't think we fully recognize that this changes everything. "People who are not on LinkedIn are viewed as older and less technologically savvy. ... Why would you make it hard to find yourself in the business that we're in?"
More than 90 percent of the mass affluent -- $100,000 to $1 million in investable assets -- used social media in the last few months, Krawcheck said, and 44 percent, on its way to 50 percent, used it to engage a financial services provider.
Financial advisors can use social media as an enormous positive. For one, advisors can use it to show themselves as an expert on certain topics, she said. Most financial services companies aren't using social media right, however, she added.
Overall, Krawcheck was very upbeat about the financial advice business. "I've never been anything but a fan of the advisory business and what you've all done. ... If you look around you'll see some opportunities in places that others aren't looking."