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Referrals and prospecting: How Flourish helps RIAs drive organic growth
February 11, 2025
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Discovering simple ways to attract new clients is top of mind for many growth-minded RIAs. The 2024 Envestnet Advisor Perspectives Survey showed that more than 70% of advisors rank organic growth as “very important,” but named time and prospecting as the main challenges.1 Outside of market appreciation, the 2023 average asset growth among survey participants was a mere 2-3% and only 38% of organic growth was the result of bringing in new clients.
- Gather richer referral data: Access key information, such as phone numbers, locations, and referral relationships to better assess if a referral would be a good fit for the firm
- Streamline referral management: Easily identify and prioritize referrals with a dedicated "Referrals" tag and highlighted "Looking for an Advisor" status
- Utilize Flourish as a prospecting engine: Effortlessly invite, manage and report on prospective clients with the new "Prospect" tag
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Watch a video of Flourish President Ben Cruikshank introducing the new referrals and prospecting features or jump to the descriptions below:
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Acquiring new clients often utilizes techniques such as networking events and digital marketing that can be time-consuming and expensive. However, referrals often are an advisor’s “bread and butter” to acquire new business and remain central to the organic growth strategy for most advisory firms. According to the 2024 Cerulli Report, referrals from clients, friends, and family make up the largest percentage of a firm’s new clients at 55%. The valuable opportunity that referrals represent can be hindered by challenges such as awkward sales pitches and limited referral information, leaving room for a more natural way to connect with potential clients.
Based on feedback, we have enhanced the platform to better drive qualified leads to advisors.
We're excited to announce the next iteration of Flourish Referrals, providing advisors with more information than ever before to create opportunities for advisors to connect with qualified leads in an authentic way that demonstrates the value an advisor can bring to a client. This new iteration includes:
- Automatic qualification of the referral with insights gathered during the account-opening process, such as whether the person being referred is looking for a financial advisor and the specific wealth management and financial planning areas they need help with
- A reorganized referral page that highlights relevant referral information and helps advisors better manage incoming referrals
- Enhanced tagging and management of referrals who are invited to Flourish on the Clients list, including indicators for individuals who are interested in a financial advisor
To get started, log in to your Flourish account and click on the ‘Referrals’ tab. From there, you will be able to view, sort, and manage your current referrals.
Once you invite a referred client, they'll answer customized questions during the account opening process which will help determine whether they are a qualified lead for your firm. With their profile on the client list, you'll see an overview of their referral journey, and can press the "Convert to Client" button to indicate that you've won this referral as a client of your firm.
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In addition to the opportunity to have current clients utilize Flourish to introduce your firm to their network, Flourish is used by many advisors to drive firm prospecting. Flourish Cash† creates a natural bridge to maintain relationships with prospective clients and can be a powerful conversation starter with a variety of potential clients, such as:
- Friends and family members of current clients
- Potential clients looking for significant FDIC insurance coverage
- Business owners
- Next generation clients
- Prospects hesitant about entering the market
- COI connections (CPAs, attorneys, etc.)
- Nonprofit board members
- 401(k) plan sponsors you’re interested in as personal clients
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To help advisors make the most of the prospecting potential of Flourish, advisors can now tag individuals as a ‘Prospect’ during the invitation process, which will enable advisors to filter, manage and report on prospective clients of the firm. Over time, we will look to surface additional information about these prospects which may help you convert them to advisory clients.
To get started with prospecting, log in to your Flourish account and click on the ‘Invite’ tab. Enter the details of the prospect and check ‘Tag this person as a Prospect.’
From there, you'll be able to view, sort, filter, and manage Prospects on the Client lists. Easily remove the ‘Prospect’ tag by selecting ‘X’ on the top right hand corner of where the tag is presented in the HH overview page
About Flourish
Flourish builds technology that empowers financial advisors, improves financial lives and retirement outcomes, and delivers new and innovative investment options to advisors. Today, the Flourish platform is used by more than 900 wealth management firms representing more than $1.5 trillion in assets under management. Flourish is wholly-owned by MassMutual. For more information, visit www.flourish.com.
