Client experience is important in many industries, but for financial advisors, having the trust of your clients is vital. Without a strong client-advisor relationship, how can you build your client capital and expand the business?
The foundation of that relationship is based on the level of service that an FA and his or her firm can provide. However, advisors who are born salespeople sometimes need a little bit of help with what happens after the deal is done – offering support and continual service to continually enhance the client experience.
Asking for feedback from your clients is not only a great way to find out what your firm’s strengths and weaknesses are, it also shows them that you care about their opinions and value what they have to say.
“Customer satisfaction research is about much more than the data you get back, it’s about the opportunity to engage and often recover your customers after a bad experience,” says Jeff McKenna, senior consultant at Chadwick Martin Bailey.
In partnership with iModerate Research Technologies, Chadwick Martin Bailey conducted a survey of 1,400 customers and found that just 35 percent had received feedback from a company after submitting comments about a negative experience.
McKenna notes that when there is a failure in service, it actually offers an opportunity for the company to turn things around, to rectify the negative situation and save the client relationship. Many of the consumers in the survey explained that they saw it as “their job” to give feedback to the companies that serve them. Respondents were motivated by their “hope for change,” as well as by the desire to be acknowledged by a business, not just brushed off.
When it comes to making service a priority in your own firm, consider distributing a client experience survey with questions about their experience – what you do well and what needs work.
More importantly, read what your clients have to say, process it and make plans for how you can change for the better. Share the feedback with other partners or employees, focusing on the good as well as the bad. Take steps to implement meaningful change in the organization – be it through training, policy development or another tactic – and also take the time to respond directly to individual comments.
Client experience and reputation are closely linked, and perception by clients is vital in the financial services industry. Trust is the basis of everything you do, and it lays the groundwork for developing new client relationships.
Do you have other tips for driving continual growth and improvement in a business?
