consulting > insightsFinancial Advisor Coaching: Growing Your Firm Isn’t Just About More Clients—It’s About Smarter Growth
By Herbers & Company Senior Consulting Team
5 min readGrowing a financial advisory firm isn’t just about getting more clients or increasing revenue—it’s about making the right decisions at the right time so they don’t hit a frustrating growth plateau.
The reality? Financial advisors probably didn’t start the firm because they love hiring, compliance, marketing, and creating client service structures to build a successful firm. Yet, those things now define how far they can grow. Without a roadmap, many advisors get stuck in the weeds, slowing their own success. But here they are—running a growing firm and figuring it out as they go.
From Accidental Entrepreneur to Strategic Leader
The transition from advisor to business owner can be daunting. Many financial advisors find themselves as "accidental entrepreneurs," stepping into firm leadership without formal training in management, operations, or organizational growth. With a steep learning curve, advisors are pulled away from the work they love—serving clients. Without guidance, they risk getting overwhelmed by operational complexities, slowing growth, and missing opportunities for expansion. That’s where financial advisor coaching changes the game.
Coaching: Your Shortcut to Smarter Growth
A significant portion of Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) operate as small or solo practices. According to Cerulli Associates, 84% of RIAs manage less than $500 million in assets under management, with many being owner-run or solo operations. This prevalence of small financial advisory firms underscores the importance of targeted support and resources to help advisors overcome growth barriers.
Many firm owners try to navigate these challenges alone, often making critical decisions without the perspective and strategic planning necessary for sustainable success. This is where a financial advisor coach plays a pivotal role.
case study | mid-size firmResolving Partnership Conflicts With Strategic Business Planning
A client firm Herbers & Company worked with was generating approximately $3 million in annual revenue but was struggling with internal partnership conflicts. One partner wanted to focus on organic growth, while the other two preferred an acquisition strategy to scale quickly. The conflicting visions led to stalled decision-making, operational inefficiencies, and growing tension among the leadership team.
Through Herbers & Company’s business coaching and partnership consulting, the firm was able to clarify its long-term vision and realign the partnership structure to leverage individual strengths. This shift not only reduced internal friction but also created a growth strategy that allowed for both strategic acquisitions and sustainable organic expansion.
Within a year, the firm saw improved collaboration, a unified partner group, began exploring promising acquisition targets, and had a clear vision forward that balanced revenue growth with long-term stability of profits. Coaching played a transformative role in helping the firm break through its plateau and move toward its next stage of growth.
angie Herbers, founder & managing Partner“Trying to navigate growth alone is similar to managing your clients’ portfolios without a strategy—risky and exhausting.”
Navigating Practice Management: The Benefits of a Financial Advisor Coach
Coaching helps financial advisors identify growth barriers, develop clear strategies, and prioritize the steps necessary to reach their goals. Whether it’s hiring the right talent, streamlining operations, refining marketing efforts, or expanding service offerings, a coach provides an outside perspective that enables firms to tackle challenges efficiently.
Coaching is more than just advice—it’s a strategic partnership designed to help financial advisors:
√ Increased revenue without adding unnecessary complexity.
√ Improved client relationships for stronger retention and referrals.
√ Optimized operations so they can focus on what they do best
√ Building a strong team so growth doesn’t fall entirely on their shoulders
The Power of Teams: Why You Shouldn’t Grow Alone
Growing a financial advisory firm presents both opportunities and challenges. While growth is exciting, it also comes with increasing complexity—more clients, more employees, and more operational demands. Many firms reach a point where their existing structure no longer supports continued growth, making it critical to implement new systems and processes to sustain growth. Navigating these transitions alone can be difficult, which is why firms that seek external guidance often achieve faster, more efficient results.
Advisors who work with a coach often see significant improvements in key areas of their firm. Stronger client relationships lead to higher retention rates and increased referrals. More efficient operations allow for greater profitability without adding unnecessary complexity. Optimized hiring and talent development strategies ensure that firms have the right people in place to sustain long-term success. And perhaps most importantly, coaching helps advisors regain control over their time, enabling them to focus on the areas of their business that matter most.
Trying to navigate growth alone is similar to managing your clients’ portfolios without a strategy—risky and exhausting.
Marketing That Works for Financial Advisors (Without Wasting Time)
Beyond business strategy, financial advisory firm leaders will seek help in marketing. Marketing is another essential component of firm growth, but more marketing help doesn’t always mean better results. Many advisors fall into the trap of trying to implement every possible strategy—blogging, social media, digital ads, networking events, and referral programs—without knowing which tactics will yield the best return. This scattered approach often leads to frustration and wasted resources.
marketing case study | emerging firmMarketing Strategies That Work
A few years ago, a solo financial advisor generating $600K in revenue came to Herbers & Company overwhelmed by marketing. He was doing everything—attending networking events, participated in podcasts, wrote weekly blog posts, and hosted client events—all to grow his firm. However, despite his best efforts, he wasn’t seeing the results he wanted. Through Herbers & Company coaching program and human capital consulting, we encouraged him to step back and analyze the data, which revealed that a simple client educational event was generating the most leads and referrals for the firm. While the industry was pushing digital marketing, his greatest opportunity was in more personal, relationship-driven events.
With coaching, he gained the confidence to focus on what worked for his firm, expanding his educational events while also investing more time in building infrastructure that supported hiring and training financial advisors. Making this shift, he nearly doubled his firm’s size within a year. This case demonstrates an important lesson: marketing success isn’t about doing more, it’s about doing what works. Coaching helps advisors invest their time and resources strategically, ensuring a focus on initiatives that generate real results.
Business Growth Strategies for Financial Advisors: Smarter Decisions, Bigger Impact
As firms grow, their strategic priorities change and evolve. Even large, market-dominating financial advisory firms turn to specialized RIA coaching to help leadership teams align their business strategy with board directives, partnership groups, and, in some cases, outside investors. At this level, coaching often focuses on revenue optimization, scalability, and decision-making frameworks that support long-term sustainable growth rates.
case study | large firmDeepening Services for Business-Owner Clients
A rapidly growing hybrid, multi-billion in AUM RIA sought executive coaching from Herbers & Company to expand its service offerings and remain competitive in their crowded regional market. Through our research, we analyzed data from our Service Market Growth Study and compared it with the clients their most senior advisors desired to serve. Rather than broadly expanding services, our analysis showed that their greatest opportunity lay in deepening their offerings to business owner clients, expanding their wealth management services to cater toward emerging business owners. By aligning their business strategy with market demand, we guided them in launching a dedicated business owner service division within their wealth management firm.
Focusing on expanding services in the business-owner segment helped them identify two smaller firms, who primarily served business-owner clients, that wanted to sell their firms. This hyper focused, targeted expansion not only strengthened their competitive position but also created an internal pipeline for future acquisitions.
Why Coaching Works: Growth is Easier with the Right Guidance
Every financial advisory firm faces growth challenges, but the most successful ones recognize that they don’t have to navigate them alone. Coaching provides the structure, guidance, and accountability needed to break through barriers and build a thriving firm—regardless of size or revenue stage. Whether you're a solo advisor looking to scale, a mid-sized firm optimizing operations, or a large enterprise seeking strategic growth, the right coaching can be a game-changer.
If you’re ready to take your business to the next level, working with a coach who understands the unique challenges and opportunities of RIAs could be the key to unlocking your firm’s full potential. The right guidance at the right time can make all the difference in transforming obstacles into opportunities and creating sustainable, long-term success.
