Asset managers misread advisors’ priorities, Cerulli finds

Recent Cerulli Associates surveys of advisors and asset managers found a gap in expectations. Of more than 100 asset managers polled, 52% said they believe advisors want help bringing in new business, while only 16% of advisors identified growth as a top priority.

Advisors instead prioritized client-facing support. When asked to pick up to three practice-management resources, 37% of advisors chose client engagement strategies, 29% selected financial planning support and 27% picked behavioral finance coaching for clients.

Asset managers also identified client engagement strategies as an important offering, but only 48% listed it among their top services. A majority of managers overestimated advisors’ appetite for help with business development.

Brendan Clark, CEO of Clark Capital Management, noted, “Advisors want tools to use when they sit down with their clients and kind of enable that engagement.” He described that support as point-of-sale materials such as seminars, handouts and other client-meeting aids.

Clark Capital runs webinars on estate planning, business succession and taxes. One session produced more than two hours of answers from estate and tax attorneys, which the firm edited into short videos, study guides and handouts that advisors can use and that qualify for continuing education credit. Clark said such service ideas often come from regular meetings with advisors; succession planning for baby-boomer business owners was a recurring request.

Kashif Ahmed, founder and president of American Private Wealth in Bedford, Massachusetts, declines meetings where wholesalers pitch customer-relationship-management upgrades, arguing those costs are ultimately reflected in higher expense ratios. “No, no, no, you’re in the mutual fund business,” he said, calling those pitches “nonsense.”

Bryan Byrer, founder of Millennial Financial Planning in Indianapolis, recalled using portfolio-analysis services from Dimensional Fund Advisors and receiving one-page fact sheets on behavioral psychology and industry surveys. He said the portfolio analysis helped him feel more confident about his portfolio construction.

Cerulli’s findings list the specific service types both sides ranked and show variation among advisors: some seek mainly product access, while others tap a broader set of planning and client-engagement tools.