More Isn't Always Better: Why Advisors Should Focus on Their Strengths

Today’s financial advisors feel a lot of pressure to do more: find more clients, increase revenue and manage more assets.

Often, they respond to that pressure by adding services, including investment management, tax preparation or financial planning.

But each new service takes time to learn and deliver, leaving less time for the work clients already value most. As advisors stretch their expertise across more disciplines, it becomes harder to maintain the same depth of expertise in each, and the quality of their advice can suffer.

The American College of Financial Services’ 2026 Advisor Expertise Study illustrates that concern. It found that advisors deliver 49% of services at an advanced level, while 51% are delivered at intermediate or basic levels.

Advisors still need to adapt as their clients’ expectations evolve. At Berthel Fisher, our independent platform provides the flexibility, resources and support to build on their strengths while accessing new capabilities. That helps advisors meet evolving needs without mastering every discipline or changing their business model.

With that in mind, a few considerations should guide decisions about adding services:

✔ Start With What Clients Need. According to Cerulli Associates, advisors offer about six financial planning services, on average. Yet investors report using fewer than three, primarily retirement accumulation and retirement-income planning. In other words, advisors offer about twice as many services as clients say they use.

That gap does not necessarily mean clients have everything they need. Cerulli also notes that clients may not understand the full range of services already available to them. Before expanding their offerings, therefore, advisors should identify unmet needs and explain how their existing services could help.

✔ Build Expertise Around Those Needs. Those conversations can also reveal opportunities to specialize. When clients share similar concerns, advisors can develop deeper expertise while spending less time learning unfamiliar issues with each new engagement.

Kitces research drawing on its 2019 and 2020 studies illustrates the potential benefits. Top advisors with a niche spent over 150 additional hours annually on client-facing activities compared with top advisors without one. They spent 28% more time with clients and prospects and 13% less on middle-office and back-office tasks.

Those efficiencies also accompanied stronger businesses. These advisors served 14% more clients, whose average investable assets and net worth were 25% higher.

✔ Use That Time to Deepen Relationships. The value of greater efficiency extends beyond serving more clients. It also gives advisors time to understand the people behind the financial decisions.

A study published in Financial Planning Review connects very high client satisfaction with advisors who demonstrate care beyond financial matters and provide reassurance about progress toward goals. Engaging family members and coordinating with clients’ other professionals were also associated with very high satisfaction.

✔  At Berthel Fisher, we believe those findings reinforce why personal attention should remain central to an advisor’s business. Understanding a family’s concerns, involving a spouse in planning and working with an accountant all require time. Adding services should support that work, and advisors should weigh any expansion against the attention their existing clients need.

Ultimately, growth decisions should begin with what clients value and where advisors can deliver their best work. The right platform makes that easier by providing access to expertise and support as needs change. With those resources, advisors can serve clients more fully while preserving the relationships and strengths that made their businesses successful.