This month, Schwab Institutional will release its Best-Managed Firms report, which looks at the top 20% of the advisory firms in its annual benchmarking survey and figures out how they got to be so great. This year, of course, that news has special urgency, as so many advisory practices are struggling to counter the twin burdens of expanding client needs and shrinking revenues.

The firms that made the cut vary in size and structure, but they all really do more with less, according to Trish Cox, chief operating officer of Schwab Institutional, who gave Financial Planning a preview of the data. (Click HERE for Cox's podcast on the report.) The result: These firms are 75% more productive, enjoy 19 percentage points more profitability and 12 points higher revenue growth. All this while maintaining a client-retention rate of 97%.

The secret, Cox says, is to balance efficiency with high-touch client service. Technology, she says, is what frees the best advisors from repetitive tasks, and enables them, along with staff, to focus on clients' needs, keeping them engaged and loyal. As a result, the median best-managed firm can boast of 57 clients per professional, a roster 36% larger than the industry median, which is 42 clients per professional.

One surprising finding in the study is that technology and practice management became critical not at a specific asset level, but at a client level. Once firms crossed the 100-client mark, they started to rethink their processes, Cox says.