How Hornor, Townsend & Kent Improved “Ease of Doing Business” While Nurturing a New Revenue Stream

The Challenge

Hornor, Townsend & Kent (HTK), a nationwide broker-dealer and independent registered financial advisor, identified a crucial opportunity to expand its client base by allowing its advisors to provide fee-based financial planning. But their existing process for accepting one-off payments was too burdensome and costly to institutionalize the service.

Without a simple way to integrate fee-for-service planning, advisors feared that they would miss out on building relationships with younger clients, who were likely to grow their wealth over time, while also losing out on a lucrative revenue stream.

The Solution

In search of a comprehensive solution, HTK identified several key requirements, including supervision oversight, storage capabilities, document upload functionality, and a streamlined billing and payment process. HTK recognized the broader potential in AdvicePay, a platform they were using strictly for billing purposes, and began to explore the ways they could streamline operations and expand their service offerings with the system’s additional capabilities. By leveraging Advice Pay’s Enterprise platform, HTK gained access to an end-to-end workflow tool, making it easy and efficient for the firm to support dual broker-dealers and registered investment advisors. This meant the firm could forgo its disconnected process involving spreadsheets, emails, and paper checks, and instead upload all their agreements, billing, and invoicing in one easy-to-use application.

The Results

In October 2022, HTK moved all fee-based planning clients to the AdvicePay platform. Since making the switch, the firm has experienced a 27% reduction in paperwork and a significant increase in fee-based financial planning engagements. Zina Lauman, Director, RIA Product, Sales Support & Business Development, at HTK praised the platform for its comprehensiveness and efficiency, stating, “It’s a one-stop shop. We have everything housed and we can do reporting easily. We can see what deliverables have been sent, and which ones we are still waiting on. It’s been an easy process for us, which helps us to make things easier for our financial professionals.”

With the expanded adoption of AdvicePay, advisors at HTK now have more time to focus on client relationships and financial planning. In total, the firm has onboarded on AdvicePay more than 150 advisors, 1560 clients since 2022 and, $2.8 million in fee-based planning revenue. The platform's efficiency has enabled advisors to streamline approval processes, empowering them to spend more time delivering personalized services to clients. As a result, HTK has seen a significant growth in interest for its financial planning program and a heightened ability to cater to client needs effectively.

Additionally, the partnership with AdvicePay has provided HTK with invaluable insights and support, including a collaborative educational program for advisors on launching a fee-for-service financial planning offering. Recognizing AdvicePay as more than just a service provider, HTK views the partnership as instrumental in its growth and scalability.

 By leveraging AdvicePay’s end-to-end workflow and fostering a collaborative relationship, HTK has positioned itself at the forefront of an industry trend toward fee-based financial planning.