Clients are leaving advisors for better advice (and relationships)

investmentnews.com:

It’s a dog-eat-dog world for financial advisors, at least when it comes to client retention and loyalty. Several advisors say conversations and regular guidance should always be top of mind when it comes to maintaining relationships with clients.

Recent findings from the Cerulli Edge U.S. Asset and Wealth Management Edition show clients can be quick to switch to a new financial advice provider if they’re presented with an investment with a stellar performance record at a time when they’re feeling underwhelmed by the performance of their current provider. 

Autumn Knutson knows this all too well. After all, the founder of Styled Wealth, an independent firm, has been on the receiving end, landing clients who switched from other advisors. While it’s unfortunate for the previous advisor, it means Knutson gets the opportunity to have long relationships with her new clients.

“It’s one thing to communicate the right thing or to tell someone knowledge that you may have as an advisor,” she says. “I think it’s an entirely different experience when you effectively collaborate, and team together. It’s having different tasks, perhaps of implementations of things that are more industry-specific for the advisor. But on the client side, we need to understand from them very deeply, what are their goals and what are their values?”

Advisors feel as if they can hold on more clients by providing them with better returns and better outcomes from an investing perspective, Knutson added. However, she thinks there’s something missing related to the full foundation of what an advisor-client relationship might have offered in the first place. That can result in the client ditching their advisor for a better one.

“I truly think a lot of advisors end