A survey of top financial advisory firms shows that their best investor clients are more likely to get the attention of the firms’ most experienced advisors.

In order to become more profitable, a majority of firms have begun to match their advisors’ time and skills to the value or the amount of business the investor is placing with the company. That means investors with not all that many assets usually can expect to have junior advisors take care of their financial needs. The study, conducted by Corporate Executive Board, was reported in Registered Rep.

Similarly the more “profitable” investors would get to tap into the expertise of the more experienced advisors.

The reason for this trend is simple economics. The Corporate Executive Board found that focusing on the most lucrative investors may increase average revenue per client by 40 percent. The trend is likely to grow because the profitability of many advisory firms has been diminishing. The survey of 100 wealth management firms discovered that the average firm expects profit margins in 2010 to fall 75 percent below their 2007 peak. It will take until at least 2012 for growth in investors’ wealth to reach 2007 levels.

Can the addition of new clients help wealth managers make up lost profitability? That won’t be easy. “It takes a lot more selling to land a client,” says Wallace Blankenbaker, senior director and executive advisor of financial services at the Corporate Executive Board. “They’re more nervous about where they’re going to move their money to.”