There is a big difference between offering family wealth-management services and building your business by asking clients for referrals to family members. However, if you choose not to specialize in serving families, there is nothing to stop you from asking a client to refer a family member.

Simply approach the referral request in the same way as you would approach any other kind of referral, says Julie Littlechild, president of Advisor Impact Inc. in Toronto.

“Talk to your key clients and ask if you have permission to communicate with their children,” Littlechild says. Get the contact information and perhaps send a note saying that, with the relative’s permission, you wanted to see if he or she would be interested in receiving your newsletter.

But unlike the children of a family wealth-management client, this relative would have to fit your target client profile. “This could be a high-potential candidate in terms of future net worth, but he or she would have to fit for all the other reasons, such as a shared investment philosophy,” Littlechild says.

Nevertheless, the grown children of clients often become good clients themselves.

“You have more information on them, and that is helpful,” she says. “And there’s a good chance they’ll be good clients if their folks are.”

— GRANT MCINTYRE