Should Financial Advisors Buy Leads; are Lead Generation Services Worth It?

Ask any financial advisor and they’ll say the biggest challenge for their practice is getting a reliable stream of high quality, qualified prospects in the door. Should financial advisors buy leads? This article provides an analysis of the major financial advisor  lead generation companies as well as the pros and cons of outsourcing lead generation for financial advisors, RIA firms, CFPs, and wealth managers.

By the way, thanks for joining me.

For those of you who are new to my blog/podcast, my name is Sara. I am a CFA® charterholder and I am a financial advisor marketing consultant. Also, I have a newsletter in which I talk about financial advisor lead generation topics  and it is best described as “fun and irreverent.” So please subscribe!

Key Takeaways

1. Main Challenge: Getting high-quality, qualified prospects is the biggest challenge for financial advisors. Interestingly, 38% of Americans feel stressed about their financial situation, which highlights the immense need for professional financial advice.
2. Function: Lead generation services capture and qualify leads via the Internet, primarily through pay-per-click ads.
3. Internet Utility: Generations X and Y often seek financial advisors online, making digital lead generation viable.
4. Considerations:
   • Competition: High competition among advisors.
   • Lead Quality: Not all leads are high-quality.
   • Distance: Rural advisors might face travel issues to meet leads.
5. Cost: Services are costly but can save money compared to setting up in-house systems.
6. Alternatives: Use SEO, social media, podcasts, newsletters, and networking to generate leads organically.
7. Company Insights: Reviews companies like SmartAsset, Paladin, WiserAdvisor, GuideVine, and Right Financial Advisor.
8. Advice: Combine outsourced and organic methods; focus on building a strong personal brand.

Are Financial Advisor Lead Generation Services worth it?

We’ve all heard the incredulous statement, “Nobody looks for a financial advisor on the Internet.” The biggest question that most financial advisors have about lead generation services is about their legitimacy. The logical assumption is that if finding qualified high net worth individuals with money to manage is so hard for a highly credentialed financial expert, how could it be possible for some third party firm? 

See my post on why why Financial Advisor Lead Generation Services Stink!

Let’s start with the question of what a financial advisor lead generation service is, shall we?

A financial advisor lead generation service is a company that seeks to capture leads for financial advisors through the Internet. Many lead of them target individuals seeking financial advice through what is called pay-per-click advertisements.

How do these financial advisor lead generation services work? When somebody types in, for example, “financial advisor in Milwaukee, Wisconsin” or “how to get 401k advice in Tucson, Arizona”, ads come up which refer the person to a lead generation website where they can search for a financial advisor.

Once the lead is gathered, usually it is qualified and verified before being passed on to the financial advisor subscribing to the lead generation service. But do verify that before you sign up for the service.

Do people really seek financial advice through the Internet?

The times they are a’changin.

Can a financial advisor get leads through the Internet? Yes! With the digital boom, this is a huge opportunity for financial advisors serving the Internet-friendly Generations X and Y. They trust the Internet so much that they’ll go so far as to work with a Roboadvisor, for goodness sake.

If are a financial advisor looking to get leads online but does not want to buy them, you’ll need to put a repeatable process in place that you can execute inhouse. The video below talks about financial advisor prospecting on social media and gives some ideas of the approach to take.

Do Financial Advisor Lead Generation Services Work?

Are financial advisor lead generation services worth it?

There are three important things for financial advisors who are using a lead generation service to consider:

• Competition
• Degree of vettedness
• Distance

#1 Financial advisor lead generation services increase competition among the financial advisors

One important thing to keep in mind about a lead generation service is the highly competitive entry point. Think about the online buyer’s mindset. By the time somebody has launched a financial advisor search, and especially if they’re doing this through the Internet search engines, they are “in the market.” The competition level has increased dramatically and it’s likely they’re already talking to a few other advisors, both online and through their own personal network. Everyone has that one uncle who thinks he knows how to trade stocks!

Then, the lead generation service itself sends the prospect multiple financial advisor profiles, not just one. You’ve got competitors coming at you from all angles. The analogy I would make is it’s like applying for a job on Monster.com. Once the job opening is posted, word is out and you’re competing with every qualified candidate on the street.

Now, that’s not to presume that you can’t successfully close the lead. It means that you’re not the only player in the game at that point. You’ll probably have to work harder to earn the sale than if you had come up with the lead organically.

Showing your value as a financial advisor is hard enough; you don’t need the extra competition thrown into the fray!

#2 No financial advisor lead generation services sell truly high quality leads

My experience working with these companies has been that some leads are true financial advisor leads, while others are not legit. Some companies don’t bother to actually vet the leads and then you end up with a lead that’s not qualified, verified, or worth following up on. Check for the refund policy before you sign up for the service.

I’m not saying about any one particular company who sells leads, but here is what I commonly hear from financial advisors:

“I subscribed to one of these lead generation services and bought a bunch of leads. Every time one comes in, I call – but they never call me back and I’m out $300 a lead.”

Neeeeeeew kidding.

(eyes rolling)

That’s because they don’t know if you’re Bernie Madoff or not.

Take this action TODAY

When you get a lead who knows zilch about you, either because you bought the lead or it’s a cold referral, do this:

• Get your phone
• Put on a nice shirt
• Stand in front of a nice, relaxing picture or plant.
• Smile.
• Invoke a burst of positive energy.
• Press record and say this into the camera:

“Hello, Bill and Betty Boo. I’m Liz Martin. You were referred to me through [insert name].

I know this is weird because you don’t know anything about me, and you may even suspect that I’m the next Bernie Madoff or something. [laugh] Of course I’m not, but you probably wouldn’t even believe me if I told you that.

I can’t blame you. And that’s exactly why I’d like to chat for a few minutes – just to say hello so that I can learn about you, and you can see that I’m not just some financial advisor business card. Let me know when you can talk, my email is at the bottom of this email.”

Don’t blame them when a cold lead ignores you. It’s an instinct – they’re protecting themselves.

No negativity – just hit them with all the positive energy you can.

Every prospect’s biggest fear, at first, is you’re not who you say you are. It’s your job make them feel your humanity and a quick, uplifting video is a great way to accomplish that.

#3 There can be considerable distance from the prospect

The other aspect to consider is population density. If you live in a rural area, you might end up having to travel far to meet these leads if the conversation progresses.

Are Lead Generation Services for Financial Advisors Worth the Cost?

Most of these services render a subscription fee and some have an additional charge per lead. While many financial advisors cringe at the cost of a lead, consider this point.

If you had to create your own lead capture functionality on your own website, it would cost way more than a few couple hundred dollars a month. Consider the cost of an SEO consultant probably starts at about $500 per month at minimum, and that’s not even taking into account the amount of time your marketing person would have to spend producing content to place onto your website, as well as the thousands for your Google Adwords budget. And SEO isn’t immediate, either. It takes a few months before you typically see results. We’re talking about thousands upon thousands of dollars here. If a lead gen service is willing to do the work for you, you’re probably not overpaying.

However, on the other hand, there are several ways that financial advisors can get leads other than buying them.

Obtaining Leads Without Purchase

• SEO keyword optimized blogs and YouTube videos
• Social media platforms (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram)
• Creating podcasts about retirement, college planning, and other wealth management related topics
• Writing email newsletters
• Attending in person networking events
• Getting new leads through referrals/word of mouth

The cost advantage of creating an inhouse lead generation system, instead of outsourcing it, is that once you establish a repeatable process that works, the return on investment can be quite favorable. In other words, the cost of a financial advisor lead can become lower once you establish your own way to find new leads.

Remember that for a small financial advisor firm, the internet is the great equalizer. There are affordable ways for financial advisors to market themselves using the internet without consuming a huge chunk of your salary. 

Analysis of Financial Advisor Lead Generation Companies

Let me start off by saying that I am not officially endorsing any of these companies; this rudimentary analysis is meant to inform and educate only. If you are interested, you should do your own research and contact the company directly. In the analysis below, I identify what I perceive to be what makes each financial advisor lead generation company different from one to the next. This is based upon my experience which is anecdotal and can not be presumed to apply universally to every person to participates with these companies.

What are the major lead generation companies for financial advisors? If you are a financial advisor who wants to buy leads, you may want to look at:

• SmartAsset
• Paladin
• WiserAdvisor
• GuideVine
• Right Financial Advisor

I’ve analyzed each of these financial advisor lead companies below.

SmartAsset

SmartAsset attracts high net worth investors to their site by writing informative articles and offering other online resources to them. They then compel the investors to exchange their email address for these resources.

In my experience, I have found mixed results. I have seen that many financial advisors who buy leads from SmartAsset haven’t been exactly satisfied, however I have also heard from a few advisors that did have some amount of success in getting a few new clients. In my view this probably has to do with the way the leads are collected. If you are curious to learn more about this company then please contact me directly.

Paladin

Paladin provides not only lead generation services but also turnkey digital marketing services for companies without the marketing resources to set up a website, create a branding campaign, etc. They even offer compliance support. Paladin has been in business since 2003. I like that the company offers several different levels of lead gen service (Platinum, Gold, Silver) depending on what the advisor needs.

WiserAdvisor

UPDATE: Note that since the publishing of this blog, WiserAdvisor and Paladin are now one company.

WiserAdvisor has been in the business almost 20 years, and from what I can see this is the longest track record in the game. WiserAdvisor is strictly in the business of lead generation.

What strikes me about Wiser Advisor is that there seems to be much more third party commentary on this company than all their competitors. Perhaps this is a result of the company’s long track record. You can read what investors and even other financial advisors are saying in the 50+ reviews on TrustPilot and several other Internet sites.

GuideVine

Started a little over five years ago, GuideVine is the new baby on the block of financial advisor lead generation providers. While it maybe doesn’t have the longest track record, it does come with a few more bells and whistles than the other options. For example, advisors can make a video to introduce themselves to prospects and include it as part of their profile. GuideVine even has a team that will assist you with creating this video. The video feature is pretty significant, considering that seeing is believing and being able to experience the financial advisor on video is helpful to building trust.

Right Financial Advisor

Right Financial Advisor has a unique video chat feature that enables investors to connect with an advisor before meeting. It’s a great way to ease the pressure and make the investor feel more comfortable with the advisor.  From the LinkedIn company page it appears the company been in existence since 2013.

Financial advisor outsourced lead generation vs. financial advisor organic lead generation

Should financial advisors outsource their lead generation, or should they find leads themselves? The point I’ve made earlier in this blog can be summarized as this:

While outsourced financial advisor leads services may work sometimes, they can be very hit or miss.

So where does this leave us? Instead of buying financial advisor leads, you may want to consider organic, inhouse marketing done by the financial advisor him or herself.

The cold market gives most financial advisors the shivers. The way to warm it up? Branding. While brand is something that most financial advisors put last, taking the time to create a truly unique message will allow you to tap into underserved markets and drive leads to the sales funnel. Most financial advisors, however, lack the time and resources to dedicate in order to achieve effective branding.

Sara’s Upshot

What’d ya think? Was this helpful?

If yes…

• I am an outsourced CMO for companies who need regular, full service marketing – blogging, social media posts, newsletters, etc.
• I am an hourly consultant for those who just need one-time or recurring guidance
• People hire me as a ghostwriter to write content for a project fee
• I have a social media training program
• I have a book about what to say on LinkedIn messenger

Just letting ya know, in case you need me at some point.

Thanks for reading. I hope you’ll at least join my newsletter about financial advisor lead generation.

See you in the next one!

-Sara G