Until fairly recently, many of the top advisors I knew were surprisingly complacent about lead generation. These top advisors had built strong referral networks, were well known in their local area, and in many cases had limited direct competition. They were often operating at near full capacity, so they raised their minimum fees or AUM minimums and referred clients who did not meet the criteria to other firms. Among these top firms, it was not uncommon to hear that 90% or more of their new business came from referrals.

But a number of disruptions over the years have altered the status quo, even among the top firms. For one thing, former referral sources are becoming competitors. The CPA firms advisors once used as their best sources have opened up their own wealth management divisions. So have banks. A major custodian, Charles Schwab, recently launched Schwab Intelligent Advisory, and though a spokesperson says it targets the mass affluent, not the traditional users of independent advisors, it is highly likely that the new service will attract at least some independent advisories’ desirable prospects.

Technology has been another disrupter. Video conferencing and cloud applications have allowed advisors to break down geographic barriers, so independents are not just competing with the firm across the street, but potentially with firms across the country. Schwab Intelligent Advisory offers web conferences with a CFP and interactive financial planning software. Vanguard Personal Advisor Services offers some planning from a CFP as well as video conferencing. These services charge a fraction of what independent advisors typically do, and are backed by nationally known brands.

With competition for new clients increasing, and fee compression a reality, advisors need to explore new methods of attracting prospects and converting them into clients. This is an area where technology can help.

Much has been written about using public relations, web searches, social media (LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.) and blogs to position you and your firms as experts, so we will not cover those tools here. Instead, we will look at some technologies, many from firms you already know, that offer a lead generation component.

eMoney
eMoney, a popular financial planning application that many readers are already using, is rolling out a number of tools to help advisors acquire new clients. The company’s new Lead Generation Tool, previewed at the Technology Tools for Today (T3) conference in February and due for release in June, is a refined version of the winning submission at the Fall 2016 eMoney Hackathon. The tool, accessible through a unique URL that your firm can provide to prospects through multiple channels (your website, blog, social media, etc.) provides a way for prospects to select a goal, identify a need, and access a streamlined path to get advice. A welcome screen asks for minimal information (the client’s age and current income). Next, clients select a goal (retirement or another saving objective). They are then prompted to provide a few more data points (their retirement age, the percentage of income they want at retirement, their current assets, their current savings, etc.).

With the information collected on the first screen, eMoney can get a rough estimate of what this client’s retirement might cost, and his or her likelihood of reaching the goal. If there is a shortfall, the tool offers come strategies that will improve the odds of success (save “X” dollars more per year, lower income in retirement expectations, retire “X” years later).

The prospects are then invited to request a consultation with you. If they do, all the information they entered in the tool is available to you within eMoney.

The lead generator will be available at no extra charge to all emX licensees.
 

A second new offering is the Prospect Purchase pilot. This pilot, which is currently being used by 200 advisors, matches them with prospects using information supplied by both parties. eMoney is partnering with a digital marketing firm to generate leads, which will then be matched with one or more advisory firms. eMoney anticipates that there will be a charge for this program, which has yet to be determined, and the final version may evolve according to what the firm learns during the pilot program. Interested parties should contact eMoney for further details.

EverPlans
An EverPlan is a secure digital archive that stores everything your loved ones need should something happen to you. This includes wills, trusts, insurance policies, important accounts and passwords, vendors, health and medical information, advance directives, final wishes and funeral preferences. In addition, there is an excellent library of guidance and resources. According to Abby Schneiderman, the co-CEO of EverPlans, there are three main reasons advisors choose to use EverPlans software with their clients. The relevant one for this conversation is that they want to do multi-generational planning.

According to Schneiderman, “85% of children fire their parent’s advisor when the parent dies.” There is a big disconnect here between what the children of clients do, and what advisors think they will do. “Ninety-three percent of advisors believe the children will retain them,” she says.

Advisors can encourage their clients to invite their children to a multi-generational planning session, where they can see what an EverPlan looks like. The advisor can then ask the kids if they would like to have an EverPlan of their own. This establishes a relationship between the advisor and the next generation.

One can argue that this is more of an asset retention tool than a lead generation tool, but however you look at it, retaining existing assets is just as important as acquiring new ones. As is the case with the other products listed here, when clients or prospects create an EverPlan, they are prompted to share the plan with the advisor. If they do, the advisor has access to all of the information (or the portion that they are allowed to see). This can create all sorts of marketing opportunities.

There is, however, a true lead generation purpose to EverPlans. When clients create a plan, they are also invited to create a “just in case” letter. This document, typically one or two pages, is a quick summary for family and advisors in case something should happen. People authorized to view portions of your EverPlan are called “deputies.” If a deputy receives a just-in-case letter from you, or is otherwise invited to view any portion of your EverPlan, then that deputy is prompted at various intervals to create a plan of his or her own. When deputies respond to one of these prompts by clicking on it, the advisor is alerted and sends these prospects a personalized invitation to start their own EverPlan.

To date, according to Schneiderman, more than 15% of deputies have chosen to create their own plans, so the more clients and prospects the advisor creates an EverPlan for, the more referrals they are likely to get.

EverPlans charges $3,500 per year per advisor, and volume discounts are available. Each advisor can have an unlimited number of client EverPlan users.

FinMason
FinMason offers an application for advisors called FinScore Pro, a risk assessment tool that can be white labeled for your firm. It asks a number of questions that are designed to match clients with a portfolio within their risk parameters that will achieve their financial goals.

Purchasers of FinScore Pro have access to the FinMason “LeadGen” tool at no extra charge. This is essentially a customizable form that advisors can put on their website inviting prospects to take the FinScore Pro risk assessment. It captures a prospect’s name, company name and e-mail, then e-mails the prospect a link to the risk assessment, which can include extra questions created by the advisor. Once the process has been completed, the prospect has the opportunity to share the results with the advisor. If that happens, the advisor has the information necessary to initiate a conversation.

FinScore Pro costs only $49 per month per advisor, so it is a relatively low cost way to generate new leads.

PIEtech
PIEtech, the parent company of MoneyGuidePro, a leading provider of financial planning software for advisors, offers a product called myMoneyGuide. The product allows advisors to invite clients to experience a guided planning experience that can help them create a customized financial plan focused on the clients’ goals, concerns and expectations.

First, the prospect receives an invitation from an advisor. The invitation can be generated from a landing page on the web, by e-mail or through other channels. Next, the prospect enrolls in a lab. These are provided by myMoneyGuide seven days a week. There are multiple labs, each targeting a specific demographic that enrollees can choose from.

Then the enrollee participates in the lab. First, the prospects define what they need, want and wish for in retirement. Then they prioritize their goals and create a basic action plan to help manage progress toward their goals. Prospects are then invited to take a look at alternative scenarios—they can see what happens to their plan should they decide to spend less, save more, retire later or change how they invest. This exercise allows them to better understand the trade-offs they can make and the impact those trade-offs have on their plans.

There is also a “what-if” section. Here, prospects can see what would happen if they experienced a sudden market drop, an unexpected health expense or a pension cut.

Finally, the participants can decide whether they want to share their information with the advisor to get help improving their plan. To date an overwhelming number of participants choose to engage with an advisor, PIEtech executives say. When they do, all of the information captured in the myMoneyGuide experience is made available to the advisor in MoneyGuidePro.

The cost for myMoneyGuide is $75 per prospect, but only if the prospects complete the guided experience. According to Bob Curtis, PIEtech’s CEO, the firm has been offering special discounted pricing for a limited time to introduce advisors to myMoneyGuide.

Rixtrema
Rixtrema recently introduced a product called the Annuity Advisor that allows an advisor with a few mouse clicks to analyze virtually any variable annuity available on the market today. It also allows advisors to clearly explain to clients all the costs their current product carries, including an annuity’s fees, surrender charges and tax implications and any impact these have on client cash flows. The product positions the advisor to propose alternatives. The software can compare the client’s annuity to a fee-only annuity or a taxable account, for example.
 

By offering a free annuity analysis, advisors can create a pipeline of leads with investable assets, people who can likely be turned into clients.

The list price for the Annuity Advisor is $200 per month for new clients, which seems reasonable to us. For existing Rixtrema clients, significant discounts are available.

Riskalyze
Riskalyze is perhaps the best known and most popular third-party client risk assessment tool available today. The firm has a technology that calculates an investor’s risk tolerance, according to a patented “risk number,” and claims it can engineer the risk in a portfolio to fit your clients’ unique and individual risk preferences and meet their expectations with a 95% mathematical confidence.

This can also be used as a lead generation tool, though, because you can ask your prospects to go through a brief process to arrive at the risk number they can comfortably accept. When you run the clients’ current portfolio through the Riskalyze process, what you discover is that the risk numbers and the portfolios often diverge significantly. When you demonstrate this to a prospect, turning him or her into a client becomes an easy task.

The core Riskalyze Pro package, which includes these capabilities, costs $145 per month for a single user, though volume discounts are available. A premium version, with even more features, starts at $245 per month for a single user.

If you are looking to generate new business, your existing providers may be the best place to start your search.