Financial advicers often market their comprehensive financial services as a way to differentiate themselves from other advisory firms and to stand out in the broader landscape of financial advice. These services may range from ‘standard’ offerings like retirement planning to less traditional areas like credit card consulting. In a firm’s early years, there tends to be more room for experimentation, with advisors adding new services to provide value and attract clients. However, as a firm’s capacity grows and its list of services expands, the focus often shifts – from asking how to do more for clients – to “How can I regain control of my time without reducing the value or quality of my services?”
The best roadmap for focusing an advisory firm will reflect how to do more of what clients value and scale back on what they don’t use or appreciate. While advisors may make educated guesses about client preferences, this approach has its limits. Advisor often have different skills and perspectives than their clients (because if clients share the same inclinations, they might just be advisors themselves!), and it can be difficult to fully eliminate personal when evaluating clients’ needs. One-on-one client calls can offer insights, but they’re hard to scale and may unintentionally lead to biased responses.
A more efficient solution is an asynchronous client engagement survey, allowing clients to rate how much they value specific offerings. These surveys help advisors identify what to improve, what to reduce, and what to keep doing because clients enjoy it! Advisors can also gauge interest in potential future services, using that feedback as a compass for what to build next.
Beyond assessing service offerings, client engagement surveys provide advisors with an opportunity to gather feedback about other aspects of the business. Advisors can ask how much value clients feel they receive for their fees, how they perceive about the firm’s overall responsiveness, and what the firm should stop or start doing. This detailed feedback can reveal unexpected insights into where clients are truly finding the most value!
In most cases, two weeks is enough time for the clients to complete the survey, with a few reminder emails sent while the survey is open. After the survey closes, advisors can evaluate the responses – what can they do more of? Where can they scale back? And which new business opportunities would clients value most? After some preliminary analysis, it’s important to follow-up with clients, expressing appreciation and sharing at least one change the firm will make based on the survey results.
Ultimately, the key point is that client engagement surveys can be a powerful tool for advisors to identify what matters most to clients. They provide valuable insights not only on what to streamline but also on where clients are receiving the greatest value. Beyond improving efficiency, surveys demonstrate that the advisor values client input, strengthening relationships and enhancing satisfaction – which can lead to better retention and more referrals!Read More…
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