Financial Professionals Increasingly Use Automation, In-Person Engagement for Client Growth

Innovative tools for client acquisition are top of mind for financial professionals, with 66% of respondents saying they plan to grow their client base in the next three years using technological systems, artificial intelligence and automation, according to the 2026 Industry Index produced by seminar marketing company AcquireUp, formally TFWG Holdings LLC.

The emphasis on client growth was underscored in the survey by the highest return on investment being linked to interpersonal strategies. When asked, 61% of the 500 surveyed financial professionals ranked acquiring new clients as the largest new asset growth opportunity in the year. Forty-eight percent of respondents said networking and referrals provided the highest ROI for their organization, yet more than half (52%) did not have a referral program in place.

Smaller groups of responding professionals cited major sources of ROI as existing clients (35%), referrals (15%), meal-based seminars (13%) and educational seminars (12%), according to benchmarking data sourced from Track That Advisor referenced in AcquireUp’s index.

“Advisers don’t have a lead problem, they have a consistency problem,” said Greg Bogich, AcquireUp’s CEO, in a statement. “Referrals, seminar marketing and networking already work. The fastest-growing advisers are turning these trusted channels into repeatable growth engines powered by data, AI, automation and consistent follow-up.”

According to the survey, the most common ways responding financial professionals planned to scale their businesses were to automate processes (41%), focus on high-net-worth clients (41%) and expand their marketing (40%). Additionally, 26% planned to hire more advisers.

Among the survey respondents, 72% were financial advisers or wealth managers, and 13% were Medicare agents. Most respondents (74%) were targeting an audience of retirees, 71% were trying to reach pre-retirees, 61% were targeting families, and 58% had a primary client demographic of high-net-worth individuals.

The most-cited marketing strategies to reach different audience demographics included tech-forward components and in-person interaction. Networking and referrals were the most popular strategy, cited by 70% of respondents, while email marketing (36%) and social media (34%) lagged. When asked if they thought paid advertising generated leads, only 25% agreed.

The biggest challenges financial professionals said they faced while managing client relationships included managing client expectations (47%), dealing with emotional reactions to market changes (42%) and balancing time between clients (31%).