In the fall of 2008 as the crisis was unfolding, LPL conceived a new program called Clients First that was unveiled in January 2009. At the time it was launched, management expected 1,700 advisors in the firm's network to adopt it. Eighteen months later, about 7,200 advisors are using the program and 40% of them are very actively using it. Those who are highly engaged are adding new clients at a 23% faster rate than others affiliated with LPL and enjoying 17% higher asset growth.

Clients First created an online platform "to let advisors access a toolset" with lots of communication and marketing tools, according to Ruth Papazian, executive vice president and chief marketing officer. The program zeroed in on specific topics and allowed advisors to target clients with messages based on different client profiles and market segments, including messages that focused on women, retirees, pre-retirees and centers of influence, as well as issues like volatility. At a time when millions of investors were looking for new advisors, LPL created separate vehicles for clients and prospects within the Clients First umbrella.

Presently, the program is in Phase Five and expanding into such areas as using social networking effectively and complying with the murky regulations that surround it. "We track what [advisors] are downloading and so we have an immediate feedback system," Papazian says.
Many advisors have strong sales and relationship management skills, yet marketing is almost a foreign concept. Advisor response to Clients First was such that it spawned another service dubbed Advisors First, housing areas like practice management and marketing.

Advisors First, and Papazian, have their fans. Marc Freedman of Freedman Financial in Peabody, Mass., calls her "one of the best acquisitions LPL has ever made. He praises her "ability to bring things to life by using technology that lots of advisors can access."

Marketing With Commitment
In recent months, Papazian has spent a good chunk of her time holding marketing seminars around the country with LPL-affiliated advisors and trying to convince them to turn it to their advantage. It can be a little perplexing. "Advisors do something that works so well and then they never do it again," she remarks.

With access to 12,000 advisors, however, it gives the firm a huge talent pool from which to seek out best practices. One service the firm tries to help advisors with is client targeting. "We ask advisors ten questions," Papazian says, "and once you start asking them questions, they start to perceive what their best clients look like."

Successful marketing requires a long-term commitment, but does not necessarily require a lot of money in her view. "It's staying with it and understanding it's not a one-hit wonder," she explains. Involvement in community charities, and appearances on local cable and radio shows also can go a long way to reinforcing a firm's credibility.

Papazian has also negotiated an agreement for advisors to access prospecting lists from Walter Karl USA. Her advice when it comes to direct mail is to never send out "more than 1,000 pieces at a time."

When LPL recruits advisors out of wirehouses, they tend to know even less about marketing than independents, and without a national brand behind them, they tend to miss it more. Consequently, Papazian and her staff often spend more time with these folks, creating logos, brochures and overall marketing strategies. Branding an advisor's own firm in her (or his) local market is particularly important for someone who is going independent and used to relying on a national firm.

Business Consulting Is Key
Another area where advisors at LPL have grown increasingly receptive to listening to the home office is business consulting. Given the dramatic decline in revenues many advisors-and many industries-experienced in late 2008 and the first half of 2009, that's not surprising.