(Kansas City Business Journal) Overland Park-based Mariner Wealth Advisors is leaving no stone unturned in efforts to find new clients, and its CPA Alliance Program is becoming a major contributor.
Founded in 2017, the program offers CPAs an opportunity to refer clients to Mariner Wealth Advisors in exchange for a piece of the revenue. Interested in working with them or their accountant partners? The VIP Messenger is HERE.
“With the capabilities and resources that Mariner has, we do some work that other firms don’t, and we have a very impressive client experience,” Brian Leitner, Mariner's head of wealth management, told the Kansas City Business Journal. “So the CPAs feel really good about sending business our way because they know we’ll do a great job, so they’re willing to make an introduction because their client needs extra help they can’t provide themselves.”
The CPA Alliance Program has grown from 13 participating CPAs in 2017 to 60 today, and Leitner expects that growth rate to continue. CPAs increasingly want to offer wealth management solutions to clients — but don’t necessarily want the headaches that come with launching a wealth management practice.
“For a CPA to invest time and resources to build a wealth management arm, it’s costly, time consuming and may not even be what they’re truly passionate about,” Leitner said. “They may only be getting into it to generate some more revenue. This is a great solution for that because they don’t have to worry about the issues that go into building another practice. They can leverage everything we’ve built over the years. It’s an opportunity to scale their business by referring clients to a firm they trust will put their clients' interests first.”
Leitner called the CPA Alliance Program a big driver of revenue for the firm but didn't divulge specific numbers. Mariner has $30.7 billion in assets under management and 41 locations nationwide.
“Every CPA is different, but if you think about the book of business they attract, these are generally affluent clients,” Leitner said. “It’s generating enough business for us to invest resources in it and try to grow it. It’s a way to diversify and increase our new business relationships. Ultimately, if we do a good job for the clients of these CPAs, we’ll get referrals from those clients of their family and friends. So it compounds onto itself.”
