GMA is the global / international marketing agency handling this as a market-entry marketing failure. The fix is not more generic traffic. The fix is the page, proof, offer language, paid path, SEO/AI visibility, distributor handoff, and follow-up the target-market buyer can understand.
The European IFA expects a commission. The US RIA judges commission as a conflict and walks. The client never opens. The conversation dies on the structure, not the candidate.
If the US RIA went quiet after the fee conversation, it is not the candidate. It is the structure. The RIA cannot sign a commission and is too professional to argue.
European IFA culture treats the referral fee as the working compensation for a relationship the IFA spent years building. The home regulator allows commission disclosures inside MiFID II and the European bank-and-specialist model has carried trail commission as a category for decades. The IFA brings the client, the wealth platform pays the IFA, the client signs a single fee schedule. The arrangement is normal and disclosed.
US RIA culture treats third-party commission as a conflict question that has to be handled by the RIA and its counsel. The European commission is not insulting. It is the wrong opening frame for the US fiduciary buyer.
US family offices screen for fiduciary alignment before they screen for performance. A referrer who opens with commission is sorted into the salesperson category before the conversation about the candidate starts.
The European referrer's mistake is judging the US RIA's no as a negotiation. It is a structure signal. The commercial packet has to be rewritten before the conversation about the client can continue.
If the US RIA were free to write the referral agreement, what shape would they sign? Have you ever asked them, or has the conversation only run from your side outward?
"The European IFA brings the client. The US RIA cannot accept the commission. The client opens an account somewhere else."House view
Stage one: evaluate the RIA refusal as a structure signal, not a negotiation. Pull the email thscore where the US RIA declined. Identify which of the three blockers triggered: the commission itself, the disclosure refusal, the unregistered-entity payment problem. Most stalled threads have one specific blocker, not a vague no.
Stage two: rewrite the referral memo in US format. Replace "introducer commission" framing with client fit, role clarity, transparency posture, counsel-evaluation points, and a clean next step. The memo does not draft legal terms. It gives the RIA and counsel a commercial packet they can evaluate without having to rewrite the premise.
Stage three: re-approach the RIA with the rewritten file. The conversation now opens with disclosure structure, not money. The candidate fit is the second slide. The fee question is procedural and pre-cleared. The RIA's compliance officer judges a memo that already maps to their filings and the decision moves to the candidate, where it should have started.
This work fits inside a Market-Entry Marketing Sprint (six to ten weeks, one corridor and one referral structure), a Cross-Border Marketing Build (three to six months, multiple RIA relationships and a US-format referrer brand), or a Global Marketing Partnership (monthly retainer, twelve-month minimum, for multi-jurisdiction wealth groups). Public prices are not listed. GMA confirms fit, work needed, and sequence after the inquiry screening.
| Before rebuild (European commission frame) | After rebuild (US fiduciary frame) |
|---|---|
| Referral memo leads with introducer commission percentage | Memo leads with solicitor disclosure language, fee at the back |
| Compensation tied to client AUM with no end date | Compensation as flat fixed fee or pre-cleared solicitor cut, disclosed once |
| European entity asks US RIA to pay the European entity directly | Solicitor disclosure or consulting fee for named services, registered or disclosed |
| RIA compliance refuses without naming the blocker | Compliance judges a memo built around their own ADV language |
| Top-bracket RIAs sort the introducer out of the inbox | Top-bracket RIAs evaluate the file as fiduciary-aligned |
| Client opens the account elsewhere, referrer not on file | Client opens with the RIA, referrer named in the client agreement |
The structure work runs before the next introduction. Rebuilding the memo after the third refusal costs the referrer the RIA and the deal.
"The referral memo should let the fiduciary evaluate fit before they have to reject the compensation framing."
"If the RIA has to untangle the commercial role before they can evaluate the client, the memo is doing the wrong job."
Because the memo leads with compensation conflict before it proves client fit. The RIA hears risk before value. The fix is to reframe the packet around client fit, role clarity, disclosure posture, and counsel-evaluation points.
Move it out of commission language. The referral memo should lead with client fit, relationship role, transparency posture, and the compliance question the RIA's counsel needs to answer. GMA does not draft compensation terms or legal disclosures.
No. Compensation structure, solicitor language, disclosure, registration, and client-agreement terms belong with the RIA, its counsel, and the client's advisers. The work here is the commercial packet.
The work rebuilds the referral architecture so the US fiduciary can evaluate it. New referral memo in US buyer order. New pitch to the US RIA that leads with fit, role clarity, and counsel-evaluation points, not commission. Public prices are not listed. GMA confirms fit, work needed, and sequence after the inquiry screening.
Yes. A clean US-format referral memo gives the model fit, role, disclosure posture, and next step. A commission-framed European memo looks like a sales referral before the fiduciary question is even reached.
The US allocator class scans for fiduciary alignment before they scan for performance. A referrer who leads with commission lands as a salesperson with a quota. A referrer who leads with fit, transparency, and counsel-evaluation points lands as a cleaner introduction.
Start with the inquiry form. Share the current referral memo, the email thscore where the US RIA refused the commission, and the names of the US RIAs you have approached. Response within one business day.
No legal services. No drafting of solicitor agreements. No SEC or state filing. No fiduciary services. No US entity formation. No E-2, L-1, EB-5, or O-1 visa work. No US tax structuring or double-tax-treaty analysis. No US banking introductions. No regulatory licensing. No IP filing. No contract drafting. No M&A transaction work. These belong with US securities counsel and the RIA's compliance officer. GMA works inside the parameters they set. When a marketing decision carries legal or compliance implications, GMA flags it and defers before execution.
If the market is not responding, the first question is simple: what is the buyer not seeing, trusting, or doing yet?
| Action that should happen | The buyer should request a quote, ask for a call, send an RFQ, move a proposal forward, or hand the work to the right internal person. |
| What may be unclear | If that is not happening, the market may not understand the category, proof, offer, price, channel, service answer, or follow-up. |
| What to inspect | Check the page, sales deck, product proof, offer language, contact path, and follow-up before adding more traffic or more distributors. |
| Next step | If the break is commercial, continue to /engagements/ or /contact/#inquiry. |