Rydex by no means plans to abandon its RIA clients. In fact, Farragher said the firm is aiming to significantly bolster its RIA ranks, which account for approximately 6.5% of the RIA population.
"I'd like to double subscriptions. I'd like to see if we can't, in two to two-and-a-half years, double the number of advisors who put their money with Rydex," Farragher said.
Nevertheless, from a marketing standpoint, establishing inroads with broker-dealers proves to be more efficient.
"With the RIAs who are independent, there's less of a network to tap into other than the trade associations. If we can maintain relationships with a couple of reps in an independent broker-dealer, the internal chain or network is there," Farragher said.
What was wrong with the old site? "We did have a financial professional site, but we all considered it weak. You couldn't find very much on it besides Rydex forms in PDF format and some obsolescient research," he said.
He said traffic on the old financial professional site was "minimal," although many advisors conducted fund exchanges via the Web. Although Rydex used advisor feedback to shape the new site, it is not intended as much for existing clients as it is to attract new ones.
Farragher said, "My thinking is I did not build this for the constituency that was already trading on the Web. I did this because I believed I could draw more professionals to the site."
