The traits are thinking like a CEO; being a tech innovator; targeting new clients; being a market innovator; retaining heirs; planning their succession; being bullish on mergers and acquisitions; and putting clients first.

But while all successful advisors exhibit one or more of these eight traits, the way they prioritize them determines their success for "the optimal outcome for their clients and their practice."

'Tech obsessed'

The high-AUM group, the report finds, are more "tech obsessed."

They are more likely to adopt new technology, and considerably more likely to consider new tech the top factor in enhancing profitability.

Compared to all other advisors, the high-AUM group is more likely than all other advisors to add interactive websites (57 percent), mobile technologies (57 percent) and tools for risk management (56 percent).

They're also more likely to prioritize tax optimization tools (44 percent) and artificial intelligence (38 percent).

Both high-AUM and high-earning advisors, by the way, have been more likely in past studies to consider robo-advisors as allies rather than enemies, the report says.

And that hasn't changed; high-AUM (27 percent) and high-earners (26 percent) are nearly twice as likely as all other advisors (12 percent) to be interested in adding robo advisors to their practices.

Enhancing profits

Enhancing profits is high on the list for both groups, although this year high-AUM advisors ranked integrating technology higher than profits, at 22 percent compared with 21 percent.

High-earners, on the other hand, are still focused on profits (19 percent), with succession planning coming in second at a considerably lower 13 percent.

Both groups, unsurprisingly, rank adding new clients high on the list of ways to boost profits.

However, while high-earners rank it at the top (45 percent) strategy, high-AUM advisors are more focused on that shiny new technology (43 percent) and targeting high-net-worth clients (also 43 percent). New clients come in second at 41 percent.

When it comes to clients, most advisors have been focusing on GenXers year over year.

After all, the report points out, "GenXers are in their prime earning years, poised to build more wealth over the next two decades, and also positioned to inherit wealth."

But that's changing, as high-AUM advisors are starting to increase their concentration on millennials—a good practice for the long-term future of their firms, since millennials represent so much future potential.

High-earners are moving away from GenXers in favor of boomers—who, after all, control the largest percentage of assets overall.

Changing marketing strategies

As a group, successful advisors are changing marketing strategies to bring in the next generation of investors. This year, the report says, 78 percent of high-AUMs and 70 percent of high-earners have done so, compared with just 59 percent of all others; 38 are concentrating on social media.

High-AUM advisors are somewhat more likely than the high-earning crowd to concentrate efforts on website enhancements (22 percent), hiring a multigenerational team (20 percent), offering socially responsible investing (19 percent) and lowering fees for younger clients (18 percent).

High-earners, on the other hand, are somewhat more likely than high-AUMs to leverage mobile technology (35 percent) and highlight historical performance (13 percent). Both types of successful advisors (11 percent) are somewhat more likely than all others to leverage robo-advisors as a means of bringing in the next generation.

When it comes to investors, the study finds that both high-AUMs (40 percent) and high-earners (39 percent) prefer to communicate with clients face to face—and unsurprisingly, so do those HNW clients, although it varies from group to group among investors.

While 40 percent of HNW clients, 39 percent of emerging HNW and 36 percent of the mass affluent want face-to-face meetings with their advisors, just 31 percent of the ultra-HNW do.

Successful advisors are also focused on retaining the heirs of current clients, with 90 percent of high-AUM and 85 percent of high-earners having a strategy compared with just 70 percent of all other advisors.

And a strategy is definitely necessary, since not only will $30 trillion pass from boomers to GenX and millennial heirs over the next 30 years, but those heirs are far more likely to jump ship than to stay with Dad's advisor: Defection rates range from 65 percent to as high as 90 percent.

They also have that succession plan in place; 72 percent of high-AUMs and 81 percent of high-earners have a strategy to retain the heirs of their current clients, compared with just 64 percent of all other advisors.

Putting clients first is high on the list for successful advisors, with 87 percent of high-AUMs and 79 percent of high-earners saying that the fiduciary model will benefit their clients regardless of the outcome of the disputes over the Department of Labor's fiduciary rule. Interestingly, 83 percent of all other advisors also feel this way. In fact the high-earning group has the most members who disagree with a fiduciary model, at 21 percent.