Annual Client Surveys Can Enhance Client Relationships
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An annual client survey can be a valuable marketing strategy that you can use to "stay in touch" with your best clients, to develop more cross-selling opportunities and to ask for quality referrals. The purpose of a client survey is to determine whether your clients would like to review any of their personal or business planning needs and to schedule an appointment to review those needs.
Success is often dependent upon the strength of your client relationship and your ability to motivate your client. Survey your best clients first, but before that you must consider the types of issues or concerns that are most likely to be of interest to them.
For example, lets assume that you typically work with high-income professionals. These individuals are generally interested in how they can increase and protect their income, how they can reduce their income tax burdens, and how they can accumulate and protect their wealth for their familys retirement, education, and savings needs.
In light of a more challenging financial and economic climate, its clear that these clients may need to review their accumulation and protection strategies.
From an asset accumulation perspective, how many of these clients have the "right" investment plans and strategies? From a protection perspective, what percentage of your clients annual income would be lost in the event of disability or death? How effective are their estate and insurance plans if a catastrophic illness, accident or death should occur?
In many cases, your clients are simply unprepared, and you need to disturb them in order to schedule a review of their needs.
Producers who work with high-net-worth clients may wish to consider some of the most recent changes in the tax and financial environment in order to disturb them. For example, consider the impact low interest rates and turbulent equity markets have had upon the income and assets of these clients. In addition, consider how gift, estate, charitable and insurance planning strategies might need to change if estate tax modification or repeal should occur.
Your annual survey can be designed to focus upon personal needs, business needs or both. For purposes of this discussion, lets assume that business needs fall into three general categories: business insurance and succession planning, employee and retirement plan benefits, and nonqualified benefit strategies.
If you are looking to disturb your business clients, ask the owner to consider what happens to his or her business investment and familys income if he or she (or another owner or key employee) were no longer around or became disabled? Alternatively, ask your clients to consider how health care costs have affected their companys profitability and cash flow.
