Financial advisors are bombarded with an average of between 50 and 100 sales pitches per week, according to a new study by Practical Perspectives, an independent consulting and research firm that works with wealth management providers and distributors.
Moreover, according to Communicating with Financial Advisors – Insights and Opportunities 2013, one third of those surveyed said they receive significantly more.
Many advisors find the volume of marketing and sales contact to be overwhelming and are challenged to devote time to reflect on these outreach efforts, says Practical Perspectives. Consequently, a large portion of the messaging is given cursory attention or ignored, especially from firms that advisors are not currently engaged with.
Despite the amount of attention given to social media, most advisors do not see social media to be as useful as other types of communication.
Although more than half of their communication is done through e-mail, according to the study, advisors say they are more likely to pay attention to personal visits rather than e-mails or phone calls.
Most of the marketing and sales communications are from asset managers, including those that advisors uses and those he or she is not using, and from an advisor’s broker-dealer or custodian, the report says.
Advisors say JP Morgan, BlackRock/iShares, American Funds, Franklin Templeton and Pimco have the most attention-getting and useful marketing and sales outreach efforts.
Advisors suggested a variety of changes to get them to pay more attention to communications, including making material more concise, focusing on relevant topics and tailoring the message to the advisor and the client base they serve. Many also suggested reducing the volume of contacts, Practical Perspectives says.
“There is a huge investment being made by providers and distributors in delivering information to advisors, so it is important to have insight on how advisors actually perceive these contacts, what can be done to improve advisors processing of these messages, and what sources and formats are most relevant,” says Howard Schneider, president of Practical Perspectives and author of the report.
The report is based on input from more than 600 financial advisors gathered through an online survey conducted in August.