Although technology could go a long way in helping financial advisors build a book of business, a recent survey conducted by Oaks, Penn.-based SEI indicates that advisors believe clients will continue to value a business relationship with a personal touch.

For example, 58% of advisors who participated in the survey say that in-person meetings will remain critical to the cultivation of client relationships in the year 2025 while 32% feel that video conferencing will become a key tool for advisors to communicate with clients. However, only 10% of advisors surveyed felt that events, social media and email would be useful means of building up a client relationship.

“These survey results further demonstrate the necessity for a human-centric approach,” says Wayne Withrow, executive vice president of SEI and head of the SEI Advisor Network, in a statement.

Similarly, 58% of advisors also said that referrals would remain a dominant business generation tool in 2025 while 19% feel that centres of influence will remain useful for prospecting and only 16% believe social media will be an important business-building tool.

Survey results were gathered from 175 financial advisors at two SEI Strategic Advisor Conferences hosted this autumn.

Yet, despite the enduring faith of advisors in traditional business-building strategies, they also see the value that technology can bring to their practices. For example, 38% of survey participants said business efficiency tools would have the biggest impact on their businesses in terms of bringing in new clients by the year 2025.

In comparison, roughly one quarter of respondents said client relationship management (CRM) platforms will prove useful to their businesses. Digital marketing, robo-advisor platforms and virtual around-the-clock communication are also viewed as potentially useful tools for growing an advisor practice.

As such, despite the importance of advisors maintaining a “human touch” they’re also going to have to embrace technology developments in the industry.

“Due to the changing needs of tech-savvy and time-constrained investors, financial advisors need to use technology to improve productivity and free up time to spend with clients,” Withrow says. “Becoming a techno-advisor will be critical to better servicing clients in the future.”