Financial advisors run on client households, not deals. The record of record carries assets under management, custody positions, suitability questionnaires, Form ADV disclosures, meeting minutes, and a fiduciary paper trail. Strkr's advisory CRM shape ties household structure, custody feeds, and compliance workflow together in one audit-ready record.
Advisors evaluating a horizontal CRM often arrive after a stint on a generic sales tool reshaped with 40 custom fields. The six recurring problems below drive advisory firms to a purpose-built RIA shape instead of continuing to bolt wealth-management vocabulary onto an SMB CRM.
Horizontal CRMs model contacts and companies; advisors need households (spouse plus dependents plus trusts plus related entities). The horizontal workaround is a free-text "household name" field that nobody keeps clean. Strkr ships Households as a first-class object with primary member, related members, linked entities, and household-level AUM.
When AUM lives in the portfolio-management system and the CRM carries a stale copy, every advisor meeting opens two tabs. Strkr integrates with Orion, Tamarac, Addepar, Black Diamond, and Envestnet to pull household-level balances, positions, and performance into the CRM record overnight (and on demand).
Suitability questionnaires are regulatory-grade records. A shared-drive PDF loses chain-of-custody. Strkr's Documents module stores the questionnaire with versioned revisions, structured answers (risk tolerance, time horizon, liquidity needs, income), and a signed-copy archive. Suitability status is a visible field on the household record.
A fiduciary needs a documented decision trail: what was discussed, what was recommended, why, and what the client agreed to. Horizontal CRM free-text notes do not survive an audit. Strkr's meeting template captures agenda, participants, recommendations, rationale, and client acknowledgment with timestamps and signed-copy support.
Annual Form ADV delivery is an SEC requirement. Horizontal CRM teams run it as a spreadsheet. Strkr's Documents module runs a Flow that generates each household's ADV packet, delivers it with a tracked-opens link, logs acknowledgment, and raises a compliance task for the client that did not open within the policy window.
FINRA and SEC rules require archive of client communications. Horizontal CRM email syncs are not retention-grade. Strkr integrates with Smarsh, Global Relay, and Erado for compliant archive and surfaces archived threads on the household record so advisors see the archive status next to each message.
The core shape of advisory CRM is Households, not Contacts. The cards below are what Strkr's Households object carries and how it ties the rest of the workflow together.
A household has a primary member (the usual decision-maker) and related members (spouse, children, in-laws, dependents) plus linked entities (family trusts, LLCs, estates, foundations). Each relationship carries a role (grantor, beneficiary, trustee) and a start date.
Household AUM aggregates balances across every linked account at every custodian. The number refreshes overnight from the portfolio-management feed and can refresh on demand before a review. Historical AUM is kept so the household record carries a 12-quarter trend.
Each household carries a service-model tag (gold, silver, bronze, prospect) that drives review cadence, allocation review frequency, and fee schedule. The tag ties into Flows: a gold household gets a quarterly review Flow; a bronze household gets a semiannual.
A household has a primary advisor, zero or more supporting advisors, and a service team (operations lead, client-services associate, planner). Each role carries scoped permissions on the household record; the primary advisor can edit everything, the service team can edit operational fields.
Compliance status is a visible field on the household record: current suitability questionnaire date, last ADV delivery, last KYC refresh, open compliance items. The field is a single-glance diagnostic for an advisor opening the record.
The service tier drives a review-cadence Flow: a quarterly review Flow for gold households auto-schedules the meeting 10 business days ahead, pulls the review packet (AUM, performance, allocation drift, planning notes), and shares it with the client ahead of the meeting.
The portfolio-management system is the system of record for positions and performance; the CRM should mirror it, not replace it. Strkr integrates with the common PMS platforms and the common custodians so the household record carries current numbers.
Orion sync via the Orion Connect API pulls household-level balances, holdings, performance, and billing status overnight. On-demand refresh is available on the household record for pre-meeting prep. Reconciliation flags between Orion and Strkr surface on an ops dashboard.
Tamarac integration mirrors the household structure (so rebalance groups align) and pulls rebalancing status: last rebalance date, pending trade approvals, drift from target allocation. The advisor sees rebalance posture on the household record before the review.
Addepar integration carries multi-custodian aggregation including alternatives (private equity, hedge funds, direct real-estate), with manual-position support for assets the custodian does not carry. Household AUM reads from Addepar for firms that run it as the aggregator.
Black Diamond and Envestnet integrations cover the common balance, holding, and performance primitives. For firms running a less common PMS, the open API accepts the same shape, so the household record stays uniform across the book.
For firms running direct custody integrations rather than through a PMS, Strkr pulls from Schwab, Fidelity, and Pershing custody feeds. The household record carries the custody-level breakdown with aggregated AUM at the top.
Reconciliation breaks (missing household, mismatched member count, custody position without a CRM linked account) surface on an ops dashboard with the household link and a one-click review action. The ops lead works the queue daily; breaks never age past a sprint.
Advisory compliance is a mix of annual deliverables, event-driven reviews, and ongoing archival. Strkr runs each as a Flow with evidence attached to the household record.
The suitability questionnaire runs as a structured Document with answers (risk tolerance, time horizon, liquidity needs, income, net-worth tier, investment experience). Client signs through the Documents module; the signed copy archives. The questionnaire-due date surfaces as a visible compliance field on the household.
The Form ADV delivery Flow generates each household's ADV packet from the firm's current filing, delivers through the client portal with a tracked-opens link, logs the acknowledgment, and raises a compliance task for any household that does not open within the firm's policy window.
KYC refresh is risk-based: standard households on a three-year cycle, enhanced-review households on an annual cycle. The Flow runs the refresh request, tracks required-field completion, and routes to compliance for sign-off.
Email and messaging retention integrates with Smarsh, Global Relay, and Erado so client communications land in a compliant archive. Archived threads surface on the household record with an archive-status indicator so the advisor can see at a glance whether an email landed in retention.
When an advisor recommends an allocation change, the recommendation record carries rationale (why this allocation, why now, what alternatives were considered). The client acknowledgment attaches as a signed Document. The paper trail is one audit-ready record per decision.
When a regulator or auditor requests a household's file, the export carries the current suitability questionnaire, every Form ADV delivery and acknowledgment, KYC history, communication-archive pointers, recommendation records, and meeting minutes with signatures. One export; one audit-ready folder.
An advisory prospect is not a sales lead. The qualification bar, the diligence pace, and the handoff to onboarding all run differently. The modules outlined below cover the prospect-to-client motion.
The prospect pipeline carries discovery (initial conversation), planning (financial-plan review), proposal (service model and fee), and onboarding (account open, ACAT in-progress, first review scheduled). Each stage carries entry criteria and an SLA; velocity reports surface the slow stage.
The financial plan is a structured Document on the prospect record: current situation (cash flow, net worth, goals), analysis (gap, Monte Carlo result, risk profile), recommendations (allocation, insurance, estate, tax). The plan is versioned; the delivered-to-client version is a signed copy.
ACAT (asset-transfer) in-progress tracking surfaces on the prospect record: initiated date, custodian status, held positions, expected completion, and known blockers. The advisor sees transfer status at a glance; the client-services associate works the exceptions.
The prospect record carries the referral source (center of influence, client referral, event, inbound, campaign). COI-sourced prospects link back to the COI contact so the firm can run a COI-performance report quarterly.
The onboarding Flow fires on prospect-to-client conversion: account-open task to ops, paperwork generation through the Documents module, first-review scheduling Flow against the service tier, service-team assignment, and compliance-task creation for the initial suitability and KYC.
Lost prospects carry structured reason codes (fee, service model, incumbent advisor, timing, no fit). The reasons surface on a quarterly planning retrospective to inform fee-tier adjustments, service-model refinement, and COI-outreach strategy.
A horizontal CRM can be made to approximate an advisory CRM; it cannot be made to match one.
| Feature | Strkr | Horizontal CRM retrofit |
|---|---|---|
| Households as a first-class object | Primary member, related, linked entities | Contact plus workaround |
| AUM aggregation from PMS feeds | Orion, Tamarac, Addepar native | Manual or stale |
| Suitability questionnaire with signed copy | Documents module; versioned | Shared-drive PDF |
| Form ADV delivery Flow with acknowledgment | Tracked opens; compliance task | Spreadsheet tracker |
| KYC refresh cadence by risk tier | Flow with required-field tracking | Manual |
| Communications archive integration | Smarsh, Global Relay, Erado | None or add-on |
| Service-tier-driven review cadence | Flow with packet generation | Advisor memory |
| ACAT in-progress tracking | Status + blockers on prospect | Custody-only |
| Audit-ready household export | One click; all artifacts | Multi-system assembly |
| HIPAA BAA, SOC 2 Type II in progress | Yes; Q4 2026 target | Varies |
Three starting shapes depending on practice size and service model.
A solo RIA with 60 households runs Orion sync, Smarsh archive, annual Form ADV delivery Flow, three service tiers with quarterly/semiannual/annual review cadence, and a prospect pipeline with eight open prospects. The ops surface is minimal; the audit posture is complete.
A boutique firm with four advisors and a service team runs scoped permissions per role, a reconciliation dashboard watched by the ops lead, a COI-performance report, and a planning template library. Advisors own primary household responsibility; the service team owns operations and exceptions.
A multi-office enterprise RIA runs Addepar aggregation, multi-office permission scoping (each office sees its households), firm-wide compliance queue, and a quarterly consolidated review of AUM growth, net-new household count, and attrition reasons across offices.
Custody feeds. Household AUM. Suitability and Form ADV workflow. Smarsh archive. A compliance posture your examiner can walk end to end.
Yes. Native integrations cover Orion, Tamarac, Addepar, Black Diamond, and Envestnet with daily sync of balances, holdings, performance, and billing status. On-demand refresh is available for pre-meeting preparation. Direct custody integrations are available for Schwab, Fidelity, and Pershing on request.
Households are a first-class object with a primary member, related members (spouse, children, dependents), and linked entities (trusts, LLCs, estates). Each relationship carries a role and a start date. Household AUM aggregates across every linked account at every custodian.
Yes. The Form ADV delivery Flow generates each household's packet from the firm's current filing, delivers through the client portal with tracked opens, logs acknowledgment, and raises a compliance task for households that do not open within the firm's policy window.
Yes. Strkr integrates with Smarsh, Global Relay, and Erado for compliant communications archive. Archived threads surface on the household record with an archive-status indicator so the advisor can see whether a message landed in retention.
The suitability questionnaire runs as a structured Document with answers (risk tolerance, time horizon, liquidity needs, income, net worth, experience). The client signs through the Documents module; the signed copy archives. The questionnaire-due date surfaces as a visible compliance field on the household.
Strkr is HIPAA compliant with a BAA available on request (which matters for advisors with medical-practice clients), SOC 2 Type II is in progress with completion targeted for Q4 2026, and GDPR and CCPA controls are in place. Field-level permissions, SSO on every paid tier, and a full sign-in audit log round out the posture.
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