How Are We Doing?

We develop the survey they send to their clients, and we provide survey reports, along with tools, resources and guidance to help the advisor leverage the information.

For example, one of our reports is called a Personalized Meeting Planner. This allows an advisor to automatically generate an agenda for the next meeting. The agenda will show how satisfied each client is, what they expect in terms of direct contact and reviews, and if they are interested in other services.

This report also shows the advisor's share of each client's wallet. In addition, we ask if the client is comfortable making a referral and confirm whether the client has provided a referral in the past year.

OM: What is the best channel (or channels) for a client survey or audit?

JL: Some advisors feel surveying clients face-to-face puts them on the spot. At times, face-to-face critiques can hurt. Or you may get platitudes: "Everything's fine." 

Asking your questions in email or mail through a third party avoids these problems and adds a level of credibility to the process. 

OM: Is it possible to handle this process badly?

JL: You could say that any feedback is good feedback, but there's a broad range of value between "It didn't hurt" and "It transformed my business."

We see four common mistakes in advisors' questionnaires:

1. Failing to ask what is most important to your clients. Advisors sometimes inquire how satisfied a client is about X, Y and Z, but don't ask how important these things are to the client. For example, they may ask the client to rate the quality of their newsletter, but don't ask how important it is to the client. As a result, they could spend a lot of time and energy fixing something the client really doesn't care about.
2. Asking questions that can't be clearly linked to action. Questions need to be meaningful in order to elicit answers you can act on.
3. Failing to ask questions that identify new opportunities. Advisors are sometimes so focused on measuring client satisfaction that they forget to ask about other needs that could lead to expansion of the relationship.
4. Asking two questions in one. When clients are asked, "How knowledgeable and effective is your advisor?", they don't know if they're supposed to rate knowledge or effectiveness, which means you can't really interpret the results.

OM: How can advisors use this client feedback?

JL: One way to get real value out of the process is to write to all clients, whether they responded to the survey or not, expressing thanks for the feedback and describing any changes that are going to be made as a result. These follow-ups send the message that the advisor takes feedback seriously and is listening carefully to clients.

On an individual client level, the findings can be valuable as the basis for a better, more deeply probing review meeting. The advisor may also be able to capitalize on untapped potential through cross-selling and referrals.

Finally, the survey will help identify a client at risk and determine the reasons why, allowing advisors to decide whether the relationship is salvageable.

What surprises advisors most is how much opportunity an audit can uncover. For example, when an advisor asked his clients whether they had provided a referral to him in the last 12 months, 45% said yes. But the advisor told me he had received referrals from only about 5% of his clients. In other words, many of his clients were making referrals, but those prospects weren't contacting him. As a result of the audit, he could see who had made a referral and could follow up with them.

OM: How regularly should an advisor ask for feedback?

JL: Typically, every 12 to 18 months. It's important to recognize that soliciting feedback is an ongoing process, not a one-time event. It's about communicating to clients that you care all the time. You want to create the expectation that this is how you do business.