Where’d all the referrals go?

One sign that financial advisers’ clients aren’t impressed with their portfolio performance: they have cut back on referring other investors.

“That source of business growth has slowed for the first time for a lot of advisers,” said Mark Schoenbeck, senior vice president of marketing for Curian Capital LLC, an RIA that provides separately managed accounts to advisers. “They are concerned about that and many aren’t sure what they should do now.”

In Curian’s annual survey of 1,000 advisers, respondents’ goals were much the same as they have been in past years. In the most recent poll, 77% of advisers ranked acquiring more clients as their top goal for the year, with 56% picking better time management and about half picking improving marketing. Mr. Schoenheld said all three signaled continuing concern about finding new ways to pick up clients. Another 20% said they planned to develop a niche or specialty, which would give advisers find a new way of drumming up business. That is up from 15% who picked the same goal last year.

Clients’ reluctance to urge friends or family members to work with their adviser is a function of the negative news and opinions about the economy with which they are bombarded. That tends to make them feel less likely to want to go out on a limb by suggesting that their friends work with their adviser, according to Mr. Schoenbeck.

Hence, advisers are looking for more ways to bring new clients into their business. That effort is making many of them look for ways to become more organized and use their time more efficiently, Mr. Schoenbeck said.

“Every time we ask adviser what is the No. 1 way they get new clients, it has always been through referrals,” he said. “Historically, advisers haven’t had to be very disciplined in having a marketing plan.”