Resolutions for 2010: Satisfied clients, better marketing and improved business results

As 2010 gets underway, businesses up and down the land are setting out the plans for the year, be that plans for growth, new services or retaining new clients. There's no room for complacency as we move out of recession and a strong brand and client experience will be critical to business success this year. Getting your business profile, brand and most importantly your client experience right takes effort and all too often the assumptions we make about how our clients want to be dealt with can be some way off the mark. So here are just a few resolutions to consider to help you strengthen and grow your business in 2010...

Resolution 1: Know your client....and really know them

For financial services firms, knowing your client is a core part of day to day business. But how far does your 'know your client' approach go? Your factfind tells you about your clients key information, their current holdings, attitude to risk, income and expenditure but when it comes to service approach there is much more you could be asking and here are just a few ideas...

• What communication methods do they prefer?
• Do they use the internet? Do they use email?
• What other technologies do they use?
• What about internet banking, site comparison sites or social networking?
• What are their favourite websites?
• Would they be interested in seminars?

Knowing all this in addition to those facts you need for financial advice or planning opens up new opportunities to communicate and service your clients.

Resolution 2: Ask for client opinions

Basing any plans, for marketing, communication or service proposition on guesswork works out to be a costly strategy if you get it wrong and so listening to what your clients tell you is all important. It ensures that you can shape what you do to directly meet the demands of your clients, a simple concept and one that works. Proactively ask for feedback from your client regularly, ideally after each interaction with them. That way you can really understand what they like or don't like and ensure that you can continue to shape your services to meet their requirements.

Resolution 3: Get ranked and get noticed

These days Google, Bing or Yahoo are more often than not the first places people will go to find out more about you or your business so it's vital that you keep your web presence up to date and interesting with new content. Make sure people can find out not just about what you do but what other people say about you. Publish feedback results, comments or testimonials on your website, on your blog or via social networks like Linked In or Twitter. Try and personify your website too so that the personalities in your organisation shine through, after all those looking for financial advice or planning services are buying a person, your expertise, your advice.

Resolution 4: Keep innovating

The world changes fast, especially where technology is concerned so keep on innovating, explore new technologies, change your service approach, try new communication methods, have a go at social networking. Simple solutions that are easy to get started with can make a huge difference in a short space of time. Don't be afraid to try something new and you will find that more opportunities will present themselves to you.

For more information on how FinQS can help you with this and more contact us on 01564 711153...

Top 10 Tips for Better Response Rates from your Client Feedback Programme

There are a number of things you can do to encourage better response rates from your client feedback process. With thanks to our users who have told us what works for them, here are our top ten tips for increasing your response rates…

1. Make sure your advisers are telling your clients about your client feedback programme
Set an expectation with your clients so that they are ready to respond to your questionnaires. Make sure your advisers mention your client feedback approach during meetings and conversations with clients, telling them how important feedback is and when they will be receiving a feedback request.

2. Make your request for feedback timely and relevant
Don’t leave it too long after an interaction with your client before you ask for feedback. Make sure you send a request while the service they have received is fresh in their mind, perhaps just after you complete the suitability report, as a follow up to a client review or as part of the new business process.

3. Include reference to your client feedback programme in your client documentation
Why not add a sentence to your suitability report, introduction letter or other client documentation about your client feedback approach to encourage your clients to respond?

4. Provide an incentive such as a donation to your company charity
Make a small donation to a charity of your choice for each response received and tell your clients about this by customising your email text or covering letter for paper questionnaires.

5. Publish your feedback results on your website or in your company newsletters
Demonstrate to your clients that you are responsive to their feedback by publishing the results and most importantly what actions you have taken as a direct result of client feedback. Showing your clients that you listen to and take action on their feedback encourages them to give you their opinions.

6. Chase up outstanding responses
If your client doesn’t respond to your request for feedback, chase it up. This is important customer intelligence for your business, so send your client a gentle reminder if they don’t respond within a certain time frame.

7. Customise your feedback process and make it more personal
The Customer Feedback Centre provides you with lots of customisation options to make your feedback requests relevant to your clients and personalised to your business style. Choose your own email text, sign off or subject, customise additional information pop ups and include your own branding on the questionnaires to encourage your clients to respond.

8. Thank your clients for their feedback and tell them how it helps
Use the Submission Successful page to customise a thank you message for your firm and educate your clients about how you use their feedback (as well as directing them to your company website or other services you may offer)

9. Publicise your client feedback programme when pitching for new business
Tell prospects about your client feedback programme. Show prospects that you care enough to proactively ask for client opinions and set an immediate expectation about how you will be managing and measuring the relationship with them.

10. Use positive feedback to motivate your staff and encourage them to promote your client feedback programme
Positive feedback is a real motivator for your team, encouraging them to continue offering the very best service and gaining their buy-in to your client feedback programme.