The Customer Feedback Centre Client Review & Custom Questionnaires

We continue to enhance the functionality of TCF Centre and this week we have added a new Client Review Questionnaire as well as the ability to create your own custom questionnaires that are specific to your company.

Custom Questionnaires for your Company

As well as the standard questionnaires provided by The Customer Feedback Centre, you can now also create your own company specific questionnaires. These work in exactly the same way as the standard questionnaires; the only difference is that as a custom questionnaire is only used by your company, your site comparison data only relates to your company, rather than giving you comparison data across all companies on TCF Centre.

These custom questionnaires give our users more options as to how they wish to use client feedback for their firm, perhaps to add custom questionnaires specific to their own internal processes, to gather marketing information or even to create a staff questionnaire.

Client Review Questionnaire

A new Client Review Questionnaire has also been added to the TCF Centre list of standard questionnaires. This asks questions about the client review process relating to the factfind process, analysing progress towards goals or quality of communications or documentation.

As always we welcome your feedback, both on the new and existing functionality so please get in touch, we’d love to hear from you....and if you are not already using TCF Centre to manage your client feedback programme contact us on 01564 711153 to find out how we can help!

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...

All aboard the big dipper...

Is it really that time of year again? It can't be, I'm nowhere near ready! Business is busy and these last few weeks have seen more new firms signing up to TCF Centre taking us over the 100 registered firms mark. Brilliant stuff! I can't believe we've come so far, it seems like only 18 months ago since I was hopping up and down with excitement having secured our very first pilot site...oh hang on it was only 18 months ago and I still hop up and down when we win new clients now! Doesn't time fly when you are spending every hour of every day building a new business, forgetting what weekends used to be like, with elated highs over the successes and tears of frustration over the failures, no matter how small! This I am sure must sound familiar to any business owner out there...they say life is a roller coaster and in the case of business life I think it's reminiscent of a ride on Nemesis, or maybe Oblivion in some cases!


All in all we've had more roundabouts than swings, and I look toward 2010 with a sense of optimism and excitement. Despite 2009 being a really tough year for many firms out there, I think 2010 brings new opportunities as we move closer to a profession that is more qualified, respected and understood. There's much work to be done to educate consumers on the value of independent financial advice and to make financial advice accessible to a wider range of people but lots of initiatives in this respect are already making in roads. And for technology providers like us the future brings huge opportunities....

Technology is progressing faster than a runaway ghost train and technologies like MS Silverlight will take business application useability to a new level. I truly believe that interfaces can be intuitive and user friendly. The days of cumbersome pop up dialogs, tabs within tabs within tabs, and clunky navigation are numbered...and no, it isn't smoke and mirrors.

We are also seeing a shift in the way clients are serviced. A shift from managing the client, to collaborating with the client, letting the client drive how you interact with them. This is exactly where innovations in technology solutions can help and also why it's so important to understand what your clients really think about what you do, how you communicate and the services you deliver.

And so as the festive season gathers momentum I'll be spending the last couple of weeks of 2009 working with more progressive financial advisory firms to make client feedback technology a core part of their service, marketing and communications approach and looking at new technology that is coming in the new year to change the way we communicate with and service our clients..... so all aboard and scream if you want to go faster!

Uncover new opportunities with your feedback questionnaires

As well as identifying how satisfied your clients are with the services you offer, your client feedback questionnaires are a great way to find new opportunies within your clients. Here are just a few ideas for the types of questions you might like to consider…

Yes/No Questions

Yes/No questions are great for identifying new opportunities, consider asking questions to gauge interest in additional services you offer or even find out what additional services your clients would like from you…

Do you know of anyone who would benefit from our services? If you are happy to refer them to us, please provide their contact details.
Would you like to receive our regular company newsletters?
May we use any additional comments you make as a testimonial?
Would you be interested in finding out more about our service?
Do you have any further comments or suggestions that may help us to further improve our services to you? If yes please provide details.
Are there other services we should be offering? If yes, please provide details

Strongly Agree/Strongly Disagree Questions

These questions are scoreable and so great for gauging how your clients value your service…

The staff treated me with courtesy, attention and care at all times
I am happy to recommend ABC Financial Services to my friends, family and colleagues
I was kept up to date with the progress of my application/financial plan
Any queries I have are answered promptly and to my satisfaction

Very Good to Very Poor Questions

These questions can provide a straight forward view of quality…

The quality of the communications I receive from ABC Financial are….
The information available to me on the ABC Financial Services website is…

Very Satisfied to Very Dissatisfied Questions

Use these question types to understand client overall satisfaction or ask specific questions on elements of your service proposition…

How satisfied were you with the overall level of service provided by…
How satisfied are you with the frequency of contact you receive from us?
How satisfied were you with our approach to client care?

Client feedback questionnaires are a great way not only to monitor performance and build client loyalty but also provide valuable insight on which to base new marketing campaigns or create new leads.