Only around a fifth, 22%, of advisers have developed clear profiles for their target clients, leaving those without limiting their growth opportunities, according to a new study.

Less than half, 47%, of advisers had a general idea of their target clients, and 30% had no target profiles at all.

The figures have been published in NextWealth and Aegon’s latest research guide, ‘Organic Growth for Financial Advice Firms’.

The guide suggests that advisers that have clear and defined profiles for their target clients are more likely to generate new clients from a wider range of channels – including referrals from professional third parties, events and digital marketing.

The research said referrals from existing clients is the number one channel for client generation, regardless of adviser efforts to profile targets. Those with clearly defined target profiles and those with no profiles at all both ranked this method first (both 35%), as did advisers with a general idea of their target clients (45%).

However, beyond referrals from existing clients, the research also showed that advisers with defined target profiles are more likely to generate new clients from a wider range of channels. In particular, advisers with defined client profiles were ranked number one for client generation via referrals from professional third parties such as accountants and lawyers, finance events, and digital marketing, such as social media, search engines, and advertising.

Tom Mathar, head of money:mindshift at Aegon, said: “When looking to understand the types of clients you’d like to bring under your wing, it’s important to remember that the numbers are often just the tip of a more human-centric financial iceberg. Each of us has a variety of motivations, values and priorities that guide us through many of the decisions we make in life, including whether we’d like financial advice and who from.”

He said that by building target client profiles that centre on fully-formed visualisations of the people and lives advisers believe they can help, will leave them in a much better position to onboard the types of clients they want to work with. He said it would also help advisers deliver a better service as a result, and become more referrable down the line. “It’s the starting point for a relationship that is more rewarding and fulfilling for both you and your clients.”

• Data was collected by NextWealth in March, using an online survey of 200 financial advice professionals from across the UK, and in-depth interviews with 11 financial advice firms. The interviewed firms were selected independently to represent a range of business sizes, in terms of AUM and number of advisers, and business models.