The Weekly Discipline That Separates Top Advisors From the Pack

By Charlie van Derven

Why Growth Feels Inconsistent

For many independent advisors and RIAs, growth can feel like a mystery. Some weeks the phone rings, introductions come in, and prospects seem to move forward without much prompting. Other weeks feel like a ghost town. Same effort, same market conditions, very different results.

The truth is, success in this business rarely comes from random momentum. More often, it’s the product of a very specific and often overlooked discipline: tracking your pipeline with weekly intentionality.

This may not be the flashiest idea in your toolkit. It won’t earn you a standing ovation at a conference. It may not even make for exciting conversation over coffee with your peers. Still, the advisors who practice this one simple habit often see a consistent, repeatable, and scalable growth pattern that compounds year after year.

The Power of the Pipeline List

Let’s ground this in reality. Every advisor has names in their head — people they’ve met, been introduced to, crossed paths with at an event, or thought about calling for months. The issue is rarely a lack of opportunity. It’s a lack of structure.

What top advisors do differently is they don’t let those names float around in their minds or live scattered across sticky notes and disconnected CRMs. They write them down, review them weekly, and assign a next step to each person on the list.

Think about that. Something as basic as writing down the names of people you’d like to work with, and then taking one step forward with each of them weekly, is often the difference between inconsistent growth and steady momentum.

This isn’t groundbreaking. It’s just rarely done with consistency.

Why It Works: The Psychology of Forward Motion

Here’s what happens when you make pipeline tracking a weekly habit:

1. You stay mentally engaged. A prospect list keeps potential clients top of mind. You begin to see opportunities to help, engage, or connect that would otherwise be missed.

2. You create momentum. Most prospects don’t convert after one conversation. Regular outreach builds familiarity and trust. You’re not pushing. You’re progressing.

3. You reduce anxiety. When business slows down, it’s easy to panic or overreact. A consistent pipeline review gives you clarity. You know what’s working and what needs your attention.

4. You shift from reactive to proactive. Instead of waiting for referrals or responses, you control the pace. That control compounds over time.

Intentionality is the antidote to randomness. Without it, growth feels mysterious. With it, growth becomes manageable and predictable.

The Misconception About “Busy”

Many advisors feel too busy for this. There’s a compliance review to finalize, a client meeting to prep, or a last-minute market event that needs your attention. The pipeline review gets postponed, again.

Here’s the hard truth: activity doesn’t equal progress. You can be busy all week and still end up in the same place if your pipeline isn't moving.

Blocking 30 minutes once a week to review your list, identify next steps, and execute on a handful of them can do more for your long-term growth than attending another wholesaler lunch or tweaking your LinkedIn headline.

Consistency matters more than complexity.

What to Track (And What to Ignore)

Your pipeline doesn’t need to be overly complicated. A simple spreadsheet, CRM, or even a whiteboard can do the job. The key is reviewing it consistently and assigning actions intentionally.

Here’s what to include:

• Name: Who is the potential client or referral partner?

• Stage: Are they cold, warm, or hot? Have you met with them? Are they deciding?

• Next Step: What’s the very next thing you can do to move them forward?

• Date of Last Touch: When did you last reach out or engage?

• Notes: What’s relevant to this person? What are they navigating?

What you don’t need: long biographical writeups, color-coded scoring systems, or a 12-step CRM automation for every prospect. Keep it simple, actionable, and fluid. The goal is movement, not bureaucracy.

It’s a Numbers Game, but Not a Cold One

Let’s talk numbers. Marketing and client acquisition will always be a numbers game: outreach, touches, responses, meetings, conversions. Advisors know this, even if they don’t always act on it.

The difference is, this isn’t cold calling in the 90s. This is about warm, thoughtful, intentional communication with people you’ve already connected with or been referred to. The numbers still matter. The process just got smarter.

One of the easiest ways to boost your numbers is to make sure you’re working from a list that’s always growing. That means adding new names each week. If you’re not adding people, your future pipeline is shrinking. It’s that simple.

Add people. Track them. Move them forward. Repeat.

What to Do If You Don’t Know Who to Add

Some weeks your list might feel light. That’s a signal, not a failure. It means your marketing strategy needs to support your pipeline system.

Here are ways to keep your list fresh:

• Follow up with webinar attendees who didn’t book a meeting

• Reconnect with someone who engaged on LinkedIn but never scheduled time

• Ask a client for one introduction this quarter (make it easy and specific)

• Review past event rosters or CRM leads who never converted

• Build a micro-campaign for a specific niche or profession

Pipeline growth is about staying in motion. You don’t need 1,000 names. You need 30 to 50 people who are real fits, moving forward at different speeds.

Empathy Without Hesitation

Some advisors hesitate to reach out regularly because they don’t want to bother people. That hesitation is often rooted in fear of rejection or the belief that prospects don’t want to hear from them.

Here’s a reframing: your follow-up isn’t about selling. It’s about serving.

When you reach out with value — a helpful article, a relevant question, a gentle check-in — you’re showing up in a way that reflects professionalism and care.

That’s not annoying. That’s what trusted advisors do.

Clients want to work with someone who is present, proactive, and engaged. They rarely say yes after the first touch. The follow-up is where trust builds.

It’s Not Just for Prospects

Your pipeline isn’t only about cold or warm leads. It should also include:

• Clients who need a service expansion such as estate planning or business succession

• COIs who could refer more frequently if better nurtured

• Past clients or prospects who might return under new circumstances

Pipeline thinking means identifying opportunities for growth in every direction, not just new households.

Where Fractional CMOs Fit In

This is also where a Fractional CMO can bring order to the chaos. While you focus on client relationships and planning strategies, a marketing leader can help you build systems that keep your pipeline organized, nurture new leads with timely content, and align your outreach with business goals.

A Fractional CMO doesn’t replace your effort. They amplify it. When marketing, messaging, and pipeline tracking work together, growth becomes less about hustle and more about execution.

The Takeaway

Weekly pipeline tracking is not about control. It’s about clarity.

Advisors who know exactly who’s in their pipeline, what stage they’re in, and what to do next are the ones who grow steadily, not sporadically. It’s not complicated. It’s just a habit.

If growth feels random, start with this simple question:

“Who do I want to work with, and what can I do to move them forward this week?”

Then do it. And then do it again next week.