Executive Summary
Advisors have a relatively brief window of time to communicate their value to prospective clients. Many prospects ask friends and professionals for recommendations, browse a few firm websites, and typically interview only one or two advisors before deciding whom to hire. This means advisors must communicate both their services and values within a very limited – and not always synchronous – span of time. Given how little time prospects spend evaluating their options, it's crucial to understand why people hire financial advisors and to communicate how their services address those drivers as clearly and effectively as possible.
In this article, Senior Financial Planning Nerd Sydney Squires draws on research from Morningstar that identifies 11 core motivators that influence how prospects choose their particular advisor. These motivators fall into three categories: emotional, financial, and situational ("other"). Emotional motivators were the most commonly cited, with 60% of respondents indicating these as their primary reason to hire their advisor. These included trust, communication quality, and a general discomfort managing finances alone. Financial motivators – such as solving a specific issue or seeking better investment performance – were cited less frequently, but remain important, especially when a prospect has a clearly defined financial pain point. Finally, situational factors – proximity in particular – rounded out the list. Notably, prospects rarely hire an advisor based on all 11 motivators. Rather, they often seek just one or two key values that align with their personal priorities.
To connect with prospects motivated by emotional drivers, advisors can consider strategies that make it simple for prospects to get a 'feeling' for the firm. Success stories, case studies, and a well-crafted About Page on their website can help prospects get an overview of the firm's values and philosophy. Financially motivated prospects, meanwhile, benefit from clarity and specificity. Firms can spotlight the concrete financial services they provide – such as tax strategies, retirement planning, or investment management – in clear, client-friendly language. Finally, for clients who prioritize a local presence, local SEO strategies can make a tremendous difference in boosting visibility among prospects seeking in-person engagement.
The overarching takeaway is that advisors don't need to meet all 11 criteria to attract new clients. Instead, they can identify which motivators align most closely with their existing client base and business model, and then focus their messaging across their website, collateral, and conversations to reflect that value clearly and consistently. Understanding what drives good-fit prospects – and communicating it with empathy and precision – can help position advisors not just as one of the few a prospect interviews, but as the one they choose.
Ultimately, refining an advisor's messaging is an ongoing and iterative process. What resonates today may evolve as a firm's ideal clients shift or as market conditions change. Soliciting real-time feedback from prospects about what stood out or prompted them to reach out can be an invaluable source of input for continuous improvement. In the end, authentic, focused messaging that reflects the true value an advisor delivers can build trust, increase engagement, and help firms serve clients more meaningfully!
Many advisors join the industry not to do sales, but to provide financial planning for their clients. The challenge, though, is that in order to do that financial planning work, most advisors must first engage in some sort of sales or marketing.
Even for advisors who do excellent work, there's only a very limited window to explain their services and how those services provide value to a prospect's specific situation. Here's a quick overview of what that process might look like:
- First, a prospect evaluates their options and who's available. A study by Dynasty Financial Partners found that 46% of people seeking an advisor were referred by a family member, friend, colleague, or professional (such as a lawyer). This aligns with the Kitces Report On How Financial Planners Actually Market Their Services, which also found that 69% of advisory firms get new clients through referrals from clients or Centers Of Influence (COIs).
- Second, a prospect eliminates a few choices and digs deeper into the options that seem more relevant.
- Finally, the prospect may hold a screening call with an advisor. It's common for advisors and prospects to meet twice – once for an introductory call and again for a follow-up or 'closing' conversation. In total, these meetings may cumulatively last an hour and a half or so, with some asynchronous back-and-forth in between. Most prospects only meet with one advisor – maybe two – before making their decision.
It's an interesting dichotomy: The client–advisor relationship is typically long-term (advisors, on average, enjoy a 95% client retention rate), quite expensive, and often deeply personal, as finance intersects with so many aspects of a client's life. And yet, most prospects make a hiring decision fairly quickly.
Nerd Note:
What makes prospects decide that 'now' is the time to hire a financial advisor is often a longer, less visible psychological process. As with any decision, not hiring an advisor is easier (at least in the short-term), so prospects generally need a driving reason to hire an advisor now (or at all).
Some of these motivations will be discussed later, but for a broader overview of the psychology of change and commitment, the Transtheoretical Model of Change identifies six stages related to change – three of which happen even before the person decides to make a change in the first place.
Given that most prospects only interview one or two advisors before making their final decision, the challenge becomes clear: How can advisors position themselves to be one of those few? And beyond that, what makes a prospect choose one specific advisor over another? While every client has individual reasons for hiring, many of those reasons rhyme. Which means advisors must find a clear, compelling way to communicate their value in a way that resonates with a prospect's pain points.
11 Reasons Why Prospects Hire Their Advisor
To communicate a firm's value effectively, it helps to first understand what prospects are looking for. A 2023 study by Morningstar highlighted 13 reasons people hire financial advisors, grouped into three categories: Emotional, Financial, and Other.
A majority of client responses (60%) cited emotional reasons for hiring their financial advisor; 40% included financial reasons. A few listed 'Other' reasons. (Respondents were permitted to select multiple reasons, so totals exceed 100% – for example, someone might include both an emotional and financial reason).
Below are the eleven core reasons that clients hired their particular financial advisor (the two not listed are "other emotional reason" and "other financial reason").
We'll discuss each of these 11 reasons in more detail and discuss how to communicate them to prospects. But it's worth noting: While many of the items on the list can be complementary – such as when solving a specific problem that was identified as both an emotional and financial motivator – some of the items are incompatible. And, especially in a firm's early days, when it's critical to bring in clients and revenue, it can be tempting to aim to 'be all things' for every client (I've been there; I see you!) by checking all 11 items on that list.
In reality, though, no client needs an advisor to be all things. That is to say, no client would list all 11 options as their core reasons. For example, some clients may prioritize the freedom of asynchronous meetings that a remote financial advisor offers, while others would prefer an advisor who emphasizes performance-driven discussions and has no preference if meetings are remote or in-person.
Rather than redesigning the firm's website to address these 11 reasons that clients hire advisors, it's more effective to clearly communicate the two or three that best align with the firm's service model and the needs of its core clientele. (And, if those aren't obvious, asking current clients which services they value most can offer helpful insight.) While each of the 11 reasons can be translated into clear, client-facing messaging, it's far more compelling to focus on just a few and express them with authenticity and clarity.
Clients Primarily Select Their Advisor For Emotional Reasons
As mentioned earlier, emotional reasons are the most common drivers behind why clients hire their advisor. "Trust" is a common theme across this list, whether built through a referral from a family member or friend, or simply through how a firm presents itself.
Industry research by Pershing suggests that being a fiduciary is no longer a distinguishing characteristic (which, to be fair, is a positive sign of the industry's evolution!). While clients still seek competence, they also want to feel like the advisor is someone they'd enjoy working with. They want to get a sense of how the advisor communicates, coaches, and shows up.
Quality Of Relationship With Advisor
The Morningstar study explains that prospects who hired a financial advisor due to the quality of their relationship felt that:
"... they could have a good relationship with their advisor owing to… factors such as a match in values, having trust in the advisor, and having good rapport."
Values – of one sort of another – are often central to a firm's appeal. For some clients, that might mean finding an advisor who shares a particular investment philosophy. For others, such as those in their earning years who resonate with the Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) lifestyle, it might mean looking for advisors who specialize in, or personally practice, FIRE principles.
Real rapport can be built and tested during prospecting and advisory calls, but often, the advisor's "About" page is where that connection first begins. An advisor's 'why' may not align perfectly with a client's, especially if they're in different life stages, but shared values can still emerge. The "About" page can be a good place for the prospect to get a sense of the advisor as a person. Since every client–advisor relationship is inherently personal, offering a glimpse into who the prospect would be working with is crucial.
Action Item: Find the overlap between the existing clients' 'why' and the advisor's 'why', and ensure that is reflected prominently on the website's landing page and About The Team Page.
Discomfort Handling Financial Issues
Client lacked confidence in their ability "to reach their own financial goals or [in] their knowledge regarding finances."
Big financial decisions are exciting… and often scary. Helping clients visualize their goals, develop intrinsic motivation to pursue those goals, set a realistic roadmap, and follow through can be immensely rewarding on both sides of the relationship.
Many prospects have financial goals in mind – perhaps the most common is retirement. Using case studies that highlight client success stories can be a powerful motivator for prospects – especially when the prospect's goals are similar to the client's. So, if several clients have similar goals, case studies can be a great lever to explain exactly how a prospect can expect to find long-term value with the advisor!
Action Items: Add case studies that demonstrate how advisors have helped clients reach their long-term goals to the services page.
Quality Of Communication With Advisor
"Client liked communication they had with their advisor regarding financial services."
There are several ways to let a prospect 'sample' what a firm's communication style is like, such as encouraging them to sign up for a discovery meeting. If someone is thinking about engaging with the advisor, communicating well during the prospecting process is crucial. Small touches, like providing an agenda and clear instructions in advance, can help calm anxious prospects and offer a preview of the firm's long-term professionalism and communication style.
However, there are also ways to reflect a firm's communication style directly on the advisor's website. Client service calendars can help demonstrate the firm's cadence, while the type of media featured – whether text, video, or both – can offer prospects a tangible sense of what to expect. For more motivated visitors, linking to social media posts or external interviews and publications can also highlight the advisor's expertise and personality.
Action Items: Audit the firm's prospect communication process for smoothness and clarity. Ensure that prospects will understand the specific services they will receive if they become a client.
Self-Presentation Of Advisor
"Advisor was hired because of how they presented their business (for example, office, staff, and so on)."
Self-presentation goes deeper than just the clothing we wear – there are successful advisors who always show up in suits and ties, and others who almost exclusively wear hoodies on calls. All of these advisors have clients and a viable business, even though they may attract very different clients and run different business models. What really matters to prospects is more about the consistency of the presentation of the office, staff, and advisor – and whether it resonates with their own values and personality.
Self-presentation on a website often comes down to design decisions – how certain colors, fonts, photos, and layouts are used, and if they feel modern or classic, older or younger, professional or casual. These visual cues can support the overall presentation of the firm.
Optimizing the 'feeling' of a website can be art and science. Here are a few questions that can help advisors choose design elements that create the right messaging for their firm:
- Is the firm's niche obvious from its home page?
- Is the website mobile-friendly and easy to navigate?
- Are the fonts easy to read, with legible text and sufficient contrast between the text and background colors?
- What feeling does the site evoke? How does the firm want clients to feel when they work with its advisors?
Action Items: Ensure website is functional, easy to navigate, and aligned with the firm's brand and audience.
Recommended By Friends And Family
"Client was encouraged to do so by trusted individuals."
Referrals continue to be a major source of new clients – Kitces Research on How Financial Advisors Actually Market Their Services notes that 88% of advisors use referrals to drive client growth. Yet, many advisors still lack a clear referral process.
Not all clients are natural referrers, but advisors can consider developing a process to identify those who are inclined to refer others, and gently encourage them using language that feels authentic to the advisor.
Action Items: Evaluate which clients are natural 'referrers' and develop language and a framework to ask for and receive referrals.
Behavioral Coaching
Client felt that advisor could "provide sufficient support to help the client act in a [beneficial] way … such as explaining the financial plan, motivating the client to stick to the plan, or providing guidance on what not to do in certain financial situations."
Many clients appreciate behavioral coaching, especially when it comes to 'staying the course' through turbulent markets; however, few want to admit that they need it. Morningstar conducted a survey that suggested most behavioral-coaching phrases test poorly with prospects. For example, "Helps protect my portfolio from excessive emotional reactions" was the least disliked descriptor, while "Helps [me or] people stay in control of their emotions" was one of the most disliked.
The key takeaway here is that while prospects may value some aspects of behavioral coaching, it may be difficult for some to admit that they need coaching (especially as they are initially building trust with the advisor!). Instead of asking a prospect to 'admit' to bad financial habits, advisors can frame behavioral coaching as a strength-based collaboration, where the prospect can play the role of 'hero' by joining with the advisor. This can be a more effective way to empower the client to take proactive steps with the advisor's guidance.
A useful comparison comes from outside the advisor industry: Febreze's early marketing campaigns. When Febreze was pitched as a solution to neutralize bad smells, no one purchased it. But when it was framed as a way to make a clean room smell even better, sales skyrocketed!
Likewise, for advisors, positioning behavioral coaching as a way to provide peace of mind, structure, and perspective – instead of framing it as a way to prevent bad behavior – can make it far more compelling.
Action Items: Emphasize partnership, perspective, and holistic portfolio management over mistake prevention.
Prospects Select Advisors For Targeted, Specific Financial Reasons
In the same Morningstar survey, 40% of clients cited that they hired their advisor for financial reasons. Perhaps unsurprisingly, financial reasons often center around a specific pain point. Returns, retirement planning, achieving goals, and tax planning are all clear-cut instances where a prospect would decide to approach a financial advisor. Furthermore, optimizing investment performance continues to be a salient motivator for some clients.
Specific Financial Need And Quality Of Financial Advice And Services
"[C]lient had a specific financial issue that needed resolved, such as planning for retirement, handling the loss of a spouse, or tax planning."
Advisor's "financial services were perceived as being able to help their client achieve their financial goals."
Because there are many situations in a client's life where financial advice is needed, having a well-defined niche can be particularly helpful to clarify the specific problems the firm is best equipped to solve.
Even without a formal niche, if there are consistent financial issues that a firm consistently helps clients navigate, those issues should be clearly communicated. After all, every good client was once a good-fit prospect, and future prospects are likely facing similar issues. If a service is central to the firm's offering, it belongs on the home page. If it's more situational but still common, the services page may be a better fit.
Compliant case studies and other examples can reinforce how the advisor addresses specific needs, while free downloads, such as a PDF explaining a specific financial issue, can offer prospects a low-commitment way to engage with the advisor's expertise.
Action Items: Make the list of core services visible on the landing page. If there are specific problems the advisor consistently solves for clients, include those as well!
Return Performance-Driven Factors
"[C]lient expected they would see the return they wanted."
While the focus of financial advice has shifted over the last few years toward behavioral and holistic planning, many prospects (and clients) still expect strong investment advice as a core offering.
Advisors can go a step further by going deeper into what good portfolio management actually looks like, including the areas addressed (e.g., tax impact mitigation, portfolio rebalancing, and risk management). Basic descriptions of what prospects can expect can help them understand why portfolio management is valuable in the first place, so it helps to use simple, jargon-free language that focuses on the problem being solved.
Action Items: Explain what portfolio management involves and the benefits prospects might expect, using language that's clear and benefit-focused.
Free To Me
Advisor's "services were provided for free."
This reason may suggest that services were provided as part of a work-related benefit, family arrangement, or other dynamic where someone else paid for the services. While there's some debate about the pros and cons of providing a free financial plan as a way to showcase an advisor's value and skill set, providing ongoing services for free is generally not recommended.
Other: It's All About Location
While the "Other" category in the Morningstar study included a range of miscellaneous responses, there was one noteworthy reason that stood out:
"[T]he client or former advisor moved away and were no longer local."
Even with the growth of virtual planning, many clients still value the in-person experience. Kitces Research on How Financial Advisors Actually Do Financial Planning affirms this, indicating that meetings are being held more often in-person, reversing a years-long trend that began with the COVID-19 pandemic. While only 28% of advisory teams conducted their initial planning meetings face-to-face in 2022; by 2024, that number had nearly rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, with 49% of advisors meeting in-person (though, notably, the number of advisors who use video on a case-by-case basis increased as well, indicating that both advisors and clients appreciate having options).
For advisors with a physical office, being locally visible is still important – whether that's through COIs, networking, or local search engine visibility.
While local SEO is a whole subject unto itself, advisors can get started with the following foundational steps:
- Set up a Google Business profile to improve visibility on maps and show up in the "advisors near me" search results.
- Include the city and specific location on the firm's website – ideally in a prominent header on the site's landing page (e.g., "The [Adjective] Advisory Firm In Cincinnati").
- Add keywords (also known as meta descriptions) that include the firm's city name to a few of the firm's main pages.
Action items: Ensure that basic local SEO is established. Consider other visibility efforts such as networking and COI relationships.
Understanding Advisor Value In Context
In summary, surveyed clients listed 11 unique reasons for hiring a financial advisor. While trust is an essential element of the advisor-client relationship, it's important to remember that advisors don't need to check all 11 boxes to attract prospects. For example, a firm that doesn't offer investment management may naturally appeal to a different segment of clients than one that does. The key is to understand what truly matters most to current clients – and the prospects who show up – and communicate that clearly.
Here are some guiding questions and reminders to help advisors refine how their value is conveyed:
- "How would they know?"
When communicating the firm's value to prospects, it's worth considering the following question as a litmus test: "How would a prospect know that this is true just by looking at the website?" Are the firm's services visible, clearly written, and easy to find? If a prospect were on the firm's website for five minutes, how would they describe the firm's brand, services, and offerings? What about three minutes? What if they only saw the top half of the home page? Testing this with advisor peer groups and non-advisor friends can reveal blind spots and improve how the firm's value shows up online. - Goals remain a core motivator.
Many prospects have a specific reason for contacting an advisor in the first place. Questions like "Why did you choose to hire an advisor now?" can be enlightening, especially during a discovery meeting. - It's not just the messaging; it's the delivery.
It can be difficult to ask for financial advice, even if the prospect knows they need it! Using language that emphasizes a collaborative relationship, peace of mind, and the advisor's expertise can be more compelling than requiring a prospect to admit they've made inoptimal investment decisions. - It's easier to be specific with a niche.
Most prospects come to advisors with a specific problem. It's far easier to convey expertise when advisors can demonstrate how they solve problems for a particular group than to claim they have broad expertise that applies to anyone, whatever the problem they may have. Narrowing in on a niche also helps sharpen both the message and the relevance of the service offered. - Don't underestimate the power of personality.
The advisor-client relationship is generally one that is long-term and often deeply personal. Which means it's no surprise that prospects will probably seek someone who they'll be comfortable working with. The more clearly a website or meeting conveys what it's like to work with the firm, the easier it will be for prospects to imagine themselves there.
Communicating Value Is An Iterative And Ongoing Process
Ultimately, advisors will iterate through many versions of how they explain their values – both online and in conversation with prospects. What feels genuine and accurate and what resonates are all moving targets. Firms and advisors grow and change, and so do prospects. The language that works today may need to shift tomorrow.
If a prospect comes through an advisor's website, it may be worth asking them if anything stood out; what prompted them to sign up for a meeting? Their answer can be a good indicator of what to do more – or less – of, especially when that prospect ends up as a client!
There are many reasons clients choose a specific advisor. Tailoring these eleven reasons to fit the individual firm's identity, ideal clients, and service offerings – and refining how that value is communicated – can help a firm's messaging resonate more effectively with prospective clients, ultimately yielding to more great-fit clients in the long run!
