Pathways to Growth
Capital Group’s Advisor Benchmark Study
Three crucial routes to business growth
In Capital Group's Pathways to Growth: 2022 Advisor Benchmark Study, we surveyed more than 1,500 advisors to answer the question: Why do some practices grow more than 138% faster than others? Our research identified certain actions and practice management behaviors that helped drive growth across the board, for all kinds of practices.
We categorized these higher-impact activities within three distinct groupings, or pathways. Understanding what these paths are and how they relate to each other can help you rebalance your time and energy toward growth-related behaviors.
Find out more about each of these pathways below. Then find actionable ideas to help you stand out among the highest growth advisors in our Pathways to Growth article collections.
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Client Acquisition |
Successful practices make client acquisition a focus and have established procedures for marketing, acquisition and client onboarding.
An intentional approach
Clients are the lifeblood of every practice and key drivers of assets under management (AUM) and revenue growth. Our study showed that practices that made client acquisition a focus and utilized marketing-based strategies gained a greater-than-average share of new clients and achieved higher-than-average growth. Yet, the average practice relies on referrals for 86% of its new clients and engages in limited marketing activity. And despite minimal acquisition-oriented marketing activity, respondents expected new clients to be a primary growth driver.
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Relationship Alpha |
Delivering products and services that support clients in reaching a range of life goals builds confidence, loyalty and deeper engagement.
More offerings delivered in a differentiated way
Certain products and services are “table stakes” offerings for all practices. But our study confirmed that practices offering a broader range of services tied to the long-term goals of clients and their families — from tax planning, to estate planning, to serving multiple family generations — grew faster than those that did not. One key offering correlated to high growth was retirement plans, as practices with significantly higher-than-average shares of their AUM in them grew faster.
Products and services offered directly through practice
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Strategic Scale |
Building a business takes thinking like one, which means spending more time on the activities correlated to growth.
Spending time smartly
While it may come as no surprise that advisors are dedicating 80% of their time to client and investment management, our findings indicate that allocating more time to practice management leads to higher growth. Seeking areas of efficiency – through technology, model portfolios, processes, productivity tools and team building — and focusing on the highest value activities leads to higher growth practices.
Share of advisors who set defined and measurable goals in the following areas
Source for all chart data: Capital Group Advisor Benchmark Survey, May and June 2021
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Get your copy of our latest Pathways to Growth study for greater insights, including:
- Client acquisition strategies
- Enhanced service offerings
- Technologies to help you scale
- Marketing tactics that set high-growth practices apart
- 5 steps on your pathway to growth
Explore our curated collections of related PracticeLab articles:
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