If Black thinks the fees at one firm are out of line, he tells them and gives the firm an opportunity to bring them in line. In one case, Black called an advisor and explained why the fees were too high. The next day, the advisor reduced the fee. "It's not unusual for a client to get a break on fees that covers our cost," he says.

When evaluating fees, Black looks at the amount in assets a client has, how complex the portfolio is and what value an advisor can add. For instance, a firm that uses passive management should cost less than a firm that uses active. A portfolio of ETFs should have low fees. A portfolio that leans toward bonds should cost less than one that leans toward stocks. "Pricing is all over the map," Black says.

A lack of transparency is also an issue. Black says he's had clients tell him they're paying only 55 basis points and he discovers they're actually paying 180 basis points with "all in" costs including management fees. He doesn't immediately rule a firm out because they have proprietary products. "If somebody is the best at something, that's fine," he says. But if seven out of 14 products are proprietary and six of them perform at the bottom quadrant of their group, it makes for an easy decision.

Most clients come to him because they are unhappy with their current advisors. Although Black is willing to keep working with those professionals, most of the clients "have already emotionally made the decision to leave," he says. They hire SpringReef for a variety of reasons, often because they've had a change in circumstances, such as an inheritance or a change in liquidity.

Some of his clients like certain aspects of their current advisor relationship but they want Black to talk with the advisor about something they don't like, such as too many proprietary products or exorbitant fees. "Unlike firms that have clients for a long time, for three-fourths of them, if we do our job correctly, they shouldn't need us going forward," he says. Yet 20% to 25% of the clients keep SpringReef on retainer so they can call him whenever they like.

Does Black ever do due diligence on a firm other than in searches for clients? "When I started out, I did firm evaluations only at the request of a client or if we were doing a search in a certain business model and a certain geographic area," he says.

SpringReef evaluations take five hours and "it's a lot of work," he says, both for him and the firm being evaluated. Yet, as SpringReef has become better known, he says, "a large number of firms want to be evaluated on their own."

Of course, Black doesn't charge the firm being evaluated (since that would be a clear conflict of interest). And SpringReef has so much client business now that Black doesn't have much time to evaluate advisors who are not part of a search. On the other hand, "we want to make sure we don't get stale," Black says. "Every time we get a new client, we expand our number of firms to evaluate new ones.

"We start with a very wide funnel, and then invite three firms to present to the client," Black says. The client's choice is based on personality or fit. Occasionally, Black feels there is a good fit between firm and client, but the client feels no synergy with the advisor. In that case, Black might go back to the firm to find out if it can offer a different advisor.

SpringReef will not evaluate any advisor or firm that does not have at least $1 billion in assets and seven years' experience. This is written in stone. If your firm doesn't fit these parameters, do not call him. "I don't want advisors learning on my customers," he says. But Black and Rygiel have discussed what kind of impact they'd like to make on the business. "We want to be big enough to be part of the dialogue around transparency and conflict of interest," Black says. "We want to raise our voice and be a part of the solution."