SmartAsset Reviews

I've got two leads though that are not real people. I look up everybody on the Instant Checkmate to make sure they're not my competition. But I looked them up and saw that they didn't exist and the cellphone was not associated with the name that they gave. The email address is not associated with the name. So, some of that would be good if they could get that cleared up. But other than that, I don't have any problems with them at all.

SmartAsset has created a new avenue to meet with potential clients and it's done so in a way that is not time-consuming for me. So, it has created more consistency and the biggest thing is that I'm able to talk and meet with people and I can positively impact their lives. These are people that are looking for advice and being able to be part of that and to connect with them has been great.

I got a lead yesterday and anytime I call, it goes, "Dee, dee, dee." I've called the guy five times, and every time I call, the phone does that. Now, I gotta go through a process to get reimbursed for that lead because it's a bad lead. I have another one that happened last week but I haven't called SmartAsset on that one either yet. I need to call them on both of these and tell them they're bad leads. Usually they're receptive, but it's a pain to go through that process.

It's frustrating when you get a month-worth of leads then don't get a single person on the phone. I reach out to the leads but they tell me they don't need a financial adviser. I don't get reimbursed for those because they went through the process. I tell them, "I've got your email address and your phone number. Somehow you filled out something online." They say they never did. About every 20th lead is like that where the people act like they have no idea. I also never reach 50% of the leads even if I call them, email them, or message them through Facebook.

On the client side, I think sometimes they get deceived. They click on something that says "Have you saved enough for retirement?" Then the next thing they know, they're being asked of their information, but they don't need somebody. It's like as long as they put their information in there, I've got to pay for the lead. That's another thing that frustrates me a little bit. Don't do SmartAsset unless you're willing to commit to making the calls and have a defined process in place on how you're gonna go through the calls, the follow-up, your presentation. If you're not gonna have all that, don't bother.

One guy who called today has been there for over three years and I’ve been talking to him for that period. They know what I'm looking for and what my niche in the market is. So, when they come across it, they'll call me right away and say they know this is a perfect person in my niche of the market. For example, I did a first call today. It was a Live Connections a couple of weeks ago. I found out we’re neighbors. She and her husband are both in the medical field, and my niche in the market is in people in the medical field. So, Live Connections knows that when they meet somebody in the New York area’s medical field, who could be a nurse or a doctor, and they know nurses are my favorite, they'll connect me with those people. Right then and there, I know that person is in the medical field, which is good. I like that.

My business has grown dramatically by using SmartAsset. They do a lot of the legwork for me that I used to do such as trying to go out, do seminars, and meet the same quality of people. They're doing it where I can do it from the leisure of my home or my office or in the car where I am. Other co-workers have joined them and I've referred other colleagues from other firms, too. I recommend it for them to do it.

Every quarter, my rep and I touch base with each other just to see how things are going, and modify things that I wanna modify, if I wanna modify anything. If not, we'll keep it copacetic. We talk strategies, what else I should be doing better and what other people are doing to reach their clients. So, I'm always getting insights from other advisers from other firms. But if you don't put in the work, you don't get the results. With any lead generator, you have to put in the work, the time and the touch points to make it successful, which I do. So, I get the results and I get the growth that I look for.

A lot of the leads that I am getting aren't people looking for a financial advisor. They're looking for a tax specialist or an insurance specialist. Again, in calling to try to talk to someone about that, they didn't care. They said, "That's why we give you so many leads." It feels like a bait-and-switch type of situation. It's extremely expensive too. In six months, I'll have spent almost $40,000 for this but I've gotten zero return on that money so far.

The person that was setting up my stuff was great. But the person that was supposed to be assigned to me as an account manager, I don't even know who it is. They switched it from the person that onboarded me then it was supposed to be someone else but he's responded to nothing. I don't even know if the person still works there but it was sold that this was the person that I would work closely with in order to get this dialed in to make the most of the service.

We've onboarded a couple dozen clients. The lead flow is what we expected it to be. But the quality is questionable at times. I question the level of vetting that they claim they do. I found a lot of people just sitting around an airport or at home and they come across this thing, It's like clickbait. They go through the survey, hit the send button and the next thing you know, they get inundated with emails and phone calls from advisers that they weren't expecting to hear from. So, in this sort of environment where everything's electronic, it's very easy to ghost people. You just don't answer the phone. You get an email and don't reply to it. So, particularly in the last few months, I have noticed a statistical decline in the number of connections I'm making with the leads that we're getting. I don't know if that's just an anomaly and that we're gonna go back to a more consistent contact rate.

This is what I signed up for. So, I take this right in the vein. I get it that they’re dialing for dollars and they're gonna get a lot of ghosting. The actual people they connect with may say they’re not interested and not to call them again. But my connection rate was 37%, which was good. At least, you have a conversation with somebody and you find out if you can get back to them in a month or six months or never again. So, overall, I give it a fair to good rating. I'm hopeful that the last few months is just an anomaly and that will return to a more consistent connection rate going forward. But we've onboarded a couple of dozen clients and it's a fair amount of assets that comes with it, and incremental fees through financial planning. There are times when people will put in a wrong number or a wrong email address. But Smart Asset is good about invalidating a lead and giving you a credit back for that.

SmartAsset's technology is standalone. They have since bought a company called DeftSales that has been a big help particularly in terms of executing on an email campaign. They have their link for phone calls and the analytics that they collect can be somewhat useful. You set up a campaign and it executes the email campaign automatically. I just gotta write the emails. Once they're written, they're written and they go out automatically over the course of three to four weeks from the time we get the lead until the campaign is over. It’s a very helpful tool. With respect to the servicing side, our representative has been available. She's been engaged with us, shared with us promotions they're running and keeps us in the loop in terms of ways to improve our processes and that kind of thing.