The majority of financial advisors see this year as being one for acceleration and growth, according to a new survey. And while most have made changes to their practices, some are not sure how to improve to encourage greater success this year.

Many financial advisors have made “substantial changes” in their client-relations management and portfolio construction in response to the effects the market downturn has had on their practices, according to the Curian Capital study.

Those changes could mean improved success, showing the economic downturn could have served as a wakeup call for financial advisors.

“The advisors who recognize the need for change and seek out new solutions for meeting their clients’ needs will be the most successful in the coming year,” said Chris Rosato, senior vice president of strategic development for Curian Capital, in a statement.

Two-in-three (68%) of the 1,800 independent financial advisors surveyed said their business mindset is one of acceleration and growth. Just 10% said their business strategy was currently sound, while one-third of respondents said they needed to change their business model, but did not know how.

The majority of respondents feel that marketing, cross-selling and business plan development are valuable forms of support that can help them achieve growth.

“While the downturn clearly had a significant impact on advisors and investors, our survey results show that advisors responded proactively to the challenge by spending more time with clients and finding new ways to help them meet their financial goals in an extremely volatile environment,” said Michael Bell, president and CEO of Curian Capital, in a statement. “With the new focus on managing client emotions and increasing communication, advisors may have lost sight of their own strategic business planning objectives to some degree, but they remain optimistic about the coming year.”

Asked to respond to how client relations were affected last year, most advisors (88%) said they feel investor emotions influenced their ability to manage clients’ portfolios. It also led them to increase the frequency and duration of their client meetings, according to the survey.

The results also showed that market volatility increased client demand for more conservative investments and guaranteed income, prompting advisors to adopt a more tactical approach to portfolio construction.

More than half of advisors report that their clients have modified their expectations of retirement lifestyle or plan to delay retirement, and the same number have adopted a more tactical approach to portfolio construction.

Curian distributed its 2010 Advisor Outlook Survey to independent advisors via e-mail in November 2009. Results were collected via Zoomerang, and 150 broker-dealers are represented among the 1,804 respondents.