TONY SIRIANNI: Every RIA in the country seems to be talking about “organic growth.” Why do you think so many advisors still struggle to actually achieve it?
ADAM BLUMENTHAL:
Because talking about organic growth and actually building an organic growth engine are two very different things.
Because talking about organic growth and actually building an organic growth engine are two very different things.
The industry has spent billions building better technology for advisors—portfolio management, financial planning, CRM, reporting, trading—but when it comes to helping an advisor find their next great client, the playbook often hasn’t changed much: network more, ask for referrals, post on LinkedIn and hope something happens.
Hope is not a growth strategy.
We’re also asking advisors to become professional marketers. They’re not. They’re professional advisors. Their highest and best use is advising clients, building relationships and growing their businesses—not figuring out content calendars, prospect databases, email campaigns, AI prompts and marketing automation.
I think RIAs have to stop simply telling advisors they can help them grow and start asking a harder question:
What infrastructure have we actually built to make organic growth happen?
TONY: Advisors are being bombarded with AI tools promising to help them grow. Is AI actually solving the problem—or just creating more noise?
ADAM:
Right now, I think there’s a lot of AI fatigue.
Right now, I think there’s a lot of AI fatigue.
Every week there’s another AI prospecting tool, content generator, data platform or marketing solution. Many of them are excellent at one specific task.
But here’s the problem: giving an advisor six great tools doesn’t necessarily give them a growth strategy.
Now the advisor has to figure out how those tools work together, who should run them, what the strategy should be, what content to create, whom to target, when to reach out and how to follow up.
The advisor shouldn’t have to become the systems integrator.
Over the past year, we’ve spent a tremendous amount of time studying the AI, marketing and business-development landscape. One thing became very clear to us: the opportunity isn’t simply finding the best AI tool.
It’s connecting strategy, technology, data, content, intelligence, outreach and execution into a cohesive growth process.
Advisors don’t need more AI. They need AI to actually do something for them.
TONY: You talk a lot about advisors identifying a niche. A successful advisor might say, “I work with high-net-worth families. Why do I need to narrow that down?”
ADAM:
Because “high-net-worth families” isn’t a niche.
Because “high-net-worth families” isn’t a niche.
One of the biggest mistakes in advisor marketing is trying to be relevant to everybody.
Go to 100 advisor websites and look at the language: comprehensive wealth management, customized financial planning, personalized advice, helping high-net-worth families achieve their goals.
If I can replace your firm’s name with another firm’s name and the message still works, you haven’t told me why I should choose you.
Great marketing starts with three questions:
Who are you? Who are you uniquely positioned to serve? And why should that person choose you?
Maybe it’s business owners approaching a liquidity event. Executives with concentrated stock. Physicians. Attorneys. Professional athletes. A specific industry or community.
Once you have that clarity, everything becomes more powerful—your content, your prospecting, your messaging, your data and eventually your use of AI.
Know who you are. Own what you’re known for.
AI without that strategy just allows you to produce generic marketing faster.
TONY: Here’s something advisors may not think about: what does organic growth have to do with the eventual value of their business?
ADAM:
I think this is one of the most overlooked parts of the organic-growth conversation.
I think this is one of the most overlooked parts of the organic-growth conversation.
Most advisors view growth as an AUM or revenue question: How do I bring in another $50 million or $100 million?
But advisors should also be thinking about organic growth as an enterprise-value issue.
If someone is evaluating your business someday—whether that’s a buyer, investor or strategic partner—one of the most important questions is going to be:
Where is tomorrow’s growth coming from?
There’s a meaningful difference between a firm that has grown primarily through market appreciation and referrals and a firm that can demonstrate a repeatable process for identifying prospects, creating opportunities and consistently winning new clients.
One has a book of business. The other has a growth engine.
Think about what you’re really selling someday. It’s not simply today’s revenue. It’s the confidence someone has in the future revenue and growth potential of that business.
That’s why I believe advisors need to start thinking about organic growth as more than marketing.
Done correctly, organic growth can become part of the enterprise value you’re building.
TONY: That sounds great, but most advisors would say, “I barely have enough time to serve my clients and run my business. When am I supposed to do all of this?”
ADAM:
That’s exactly why I think the traditional model is broken.
That’s exactly why I think the traditional model is broken.
If your firm’s organic-growth solution is handing an advisor a collection of marketing tools and saying, “Here you go—start growing,” that’s not much of a solution.
The advisor shouldn’t have to run the marketing department.
I believe the future of advisor growth needs to be done-for-you. Not another platform to learn. Not another dashboard to manage. Not another AI tool that creates more work.
Imagine instead that the heavy lifting happens behind the scenes.
Your niche is defined. Your thought leadership is being developed. Your ideal audience is identified. Prospect data is enriched. Technology is watching for relevant money-in-motion signals. Outreach is occurring. Follow-up is happening.
And then one morning you look at your calendar and there’s a conversation scheduled with someone who actually fits the profile of the client you want to work with.
That’s what done-for-you organic growth should look like.
And frankly, I believe this is where the expectations of RIAs are heading. Advisors should expect more than technology, compliance and back-office support from their RIA. A real, done-for-you organic growth capability needs to become table stakes.
We talk about this as the future of the RIA industry, but the future is already here.
We need to stop measuring advisor marketing by clicks, impressions, emails sent and content produced. The metric that matters is much simpler:
How many qualified conversations did we create?
The advisor shouldn’t need to become a marketer, data scientist or AI expert. Their RIA should be building the infrastructure that does the heavy lifting for them.
At the end of the day, an advisor’s job should be simple:
Build the relationship. Win the client. Serve them exceptionally well.
And increasingly, helping create those opportunities should be part of what advisors expect from their RIA.
