Built to Scale

Two decades into a career primarily focused on managing and training other advisors, Mark Esslie decided to go back into the advisory field—only to realize that years of helping others sell clients had not done much for his own book of business.

“I was way behind, only managing $28 million at that point,” Mark said. “I had a lot of catching up to do if I wanted to get my practice where it needed to be.”

That uneasiness echoed what he had been hearing for years as a mentor to other advisors. “People nearing retirement would come to me and say they were unprepared to transition out of their businesses,” Mark said. “I realized one of the best ways to scale was to acquire practices, so why not build a team that shows advisors how to retire?”

Over the next seven years, Mark’s team at Iron Tree Financial in Latham, NY acquired seven books of business, while growing assets under management from $28 million to about $440 million by 2024.

While each acquisition was different, they all followed a methodology with three distinct dimensions:

1. Monetary. “We’ve probably turned away more offers than we’ve made, because the numbers didn’t make sense,” Mark said. “Is there a documented record of service to the clients?And what about the average age of the client base, or how far we have to go to service them?”
2. Psychological. “Many advisors struggle to understand the right moment for retirement,” Mark said. “We can help them get to a desirable retirement in 12 months or 24 months, on their terms. They can stay on as an advisor in our practice, and many even become our clients in retirement.”
3. Client Service. Preventing attrition of acquired clients is critical, which is why Iron Tree insists that retiring advisors stay for at least 12 months to make introductions and foster continuity.

Growing AUM by more than 1,500% from 2017 to 2024 has validated Iron Tree’s investment in practice acquisition. Today the company is pursuing even loftier goals as it marks its 25th anniversary in 2026.

According to Mark, “I think it will be easier to go from $500 million to $1 billion, now that we have our system dialed in. The billion-dollar mark is a driving goal for our team.”

“Four years ago, we had a goal to get to $500 million within five years. Now we hope to grow to $1 billion in the following three years.” — Mark Esslie

Iron Tree Financial’s acquisition success starts with its team, combining advisors with W-2 staff provided through Cetera’s turnkey independence branch model. This collection of advisory, operations, client marketing, and media talent gives Iron Tree the cross-functional flexibility to capitalize on acquisition opportunities.

Mark notes that the most important steps include:

1. Making onboarding easy. “We don’t want the retiring advisor to come over and get so overwhelmed that they regret their decision. Our goal is to do most if not all of the paperwork, so the advisor can focus on calling clients and letting them know about the change.”
2. Communicating the change. “Advisors who are seriously prospecting succession plans should overstaff. We try to have one to two people more than we need for the books we’re servicing, so there is already someone trained when we’re ready to buy a book.”
3. Cultivating a strong brand. “We changed from the Esslie Group to Iron Tree Financial because branding is very important when you’re building a larger ensemble. Clients might have doubts if their business switches over to an individual advisor, but teams don’t retire or die.”
4. Interacting early with new clients. “As the advisor begins contacting his clients, we host events he can invite them to—a brunch, dinner seminar, appreciation event, or barbecue. They get to know us as people, while we get to know their goals.”
5. Marketing to encourage engagement. “Digital tactics such as videos and podcasts help clients feel like they know us before our first appointment. They’re also great for outreach to younger beneficiaries who prefer information in 5-minute increments.”