Financial service professionals who focus on their client’s financial, family and life goals appear to be more successful, according to new research.

Those professionals who consider themselves “experts” at financial and retirement planning and look comprehensively at their client’s financial, family and life needs and goals appear to be more successful, according to Matt Thornhill, founder and president of The Boomer Project, which recently completed a survey of financial service professionals on financial planning.

Financial service professionals who identified themselves as “planning experts” reported their typical client had twice the total assets as those who were more focused on individual product sales, according to the research.

The self-reported “planning experts” were not significantly different than “non-planners” in years of experience, size of firm, job function or type of products they offer.

But “planning experts” who approach client relationships with a longer-term planning focus had three times the assets under management and reported 40% higher annual revenue than the “non-planners.”

Also, the survey, conducted in January, showed about one-third of respondents operated under a combination of fees and commission, while nearly two-thirds were commission only. Only 4% of respondents ran a fee-only business model.

The research also indicated that 49% of financial service professionals said at least three-quarters of the impetus for a successful financial plan comes from them rather than the client.