Communication leads to understanding, loyalty and happy clients

Keeping in regular contact with your clients is essential to ensure satisfaction, loyalty, repeat business and referrals. The contact most valued by your clients is of course the face-to-face meeting or client review but this is something you can only do profitably a certain number of times every year, perhaps quarterly for your higher net worth or ‘A’ segment client, and half-yearly or annually for ‘B’ clients. With this in mind how else can you maintain regular contact with your clients to keep your brand and services at the forefront of their minds? And how can you communicate and nurture relationships with more of your client-base profitably?

Let’s assume that ideally we aim to contact our clients up to 24 times a year to keep a regular communication channel open and to reinforce our brand, values and the great service that we offer. It may seem a lot but with a little effort and using the wealth of different communication technology available it soon becomes easy achieve this. People’s circumstances change quickly and often they forget to tell you about it so implement a communication plan to make sure you are always kept in the loop.

Get your team involved
Client communication in your organisation doesn’t always have to come from the adviser. In fact having different people in your organisation contacting your clients builds your company profile and loyalty to your company and brand, not just you as an individual. Account management calls are a simple and effective way to continue the conversation with your client long after the initial advice process or ‘sale’ is completed. Your client will value a proactive call from your client service team, administrator or paraplanner to see if there is anything further they need or to talk to them about how else you might help.

Quarterly Newsletters
Client newsletters or email bulletins are a great way to touch your clients with minimal effort or expense. A well-worded informative quarterly newsletter positions you and your firm as the experts in your field that you are and is a great way to keep your clients informed about what you are up to, how your business is performing or tell them about new services you are offering. Include articles, news, results of your client feedback programme, and personal stories to make your newsletters inspiring and interesting for your clients.

Email Bulletins
Tailor email bulletins to meet the interests of the different profiles of clients you deal with: are they sophisticated high net worth investors who would be interested in market commentary, business owners looking for tax planning information, or clients who are inexperienced in financial matters so looking for ideas on money management or budgeting? Targeting the information you send out to clients demonstrates that you understand who they are and that you can offer specific services to meet their needs. Offer monthly email bulletins to your clients, perhaps even weekly to your high net worth clients and capture their permission to do this as part of your factfind or initial enquiry process.

Client Feedback
Proactively asking for client feedback is an effective two-way method of communication that lets your clients know that you are serious about service excellence. Asking for feedback after each interaction with a client is not only best business practice, it also brings with it a wealth of other benefits including happier more loyal clients, more motivated staff, marketing opportunities, more referral business and great testimonials. It also gives you some strong marketing material to include in your newsletters and other company literature but publishing your feedback results.

Online Servicing
What better way to keep your clients informed and involved than 24 hour access to your brand through online servicing. Giving your clients access to their portfolio online is a great way to keep them interested in what you do, and if it includes their bank accounts, credit card statements and spending habits then you are giving them something that they are likely to log into every week. Incorporate a messaging function to allow you to chat to your clients and suddenly a whole new virtual world opens up allowing you to communicate with your client and give them a complete picture of their financial life.

Social and Internet Media
Social networking sites are a great way to keep a regular dialog going with your client so ask your clients whether they are signed up for any of the social networking sites like Twitter or Linked In. These offer opportunities for your to engage in a dialog with your clients, show your expertise, or drive traffic to your website or blog…and the easy part is that your posts can be short, making it a quick and easy way to get your message across. Try it and see the impact that 140 characters can have on your clients. You could also try writing regular weekly blog posts on your website to keep your clients updated and informed, with free blogging tools available such as Blogger or Wordpress, getting your blog started is quick and easy.

Seminars or Networking Events
Getting a group of your clients in a room together is a great way to extend relationships and uncover new opportunities. Such events could be focused around a specific, topical theme or more general. Use events to educate your clients about financial advice or planning, pension matters, tax planning or investment strategies. Include a lighter more entertaining section and make sure your brand is featured in presentations and hand outs. You could even follow these up with a promotional offer while you have your client’s attention.

When you implement these different communication channels you will find that making contact with your clients 24 times a year becomes much easier; 4 quarterly newsletters, 12 monthly email bulletins, 4 client questionnaires, daily tweets, weekly blog posts, 24 hour access to online servicing …. Before too long your clients will look forward to and make time for your communications. Whatever contact approaches you use, the key is to keep it consistent; a structured contact and communication plan is a good idea to keep track of how you are communicating, when and who with. Put this in place and stick to it. Once you are in regular contact with your clients they are more likely to contact you as a result. You will create stronger relationships and cement your brand in your client’s mind.

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!

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.

If life hands you lemons, make lemonade

As a provider of an online client feedback solution I get asked a lot about the impact proactively asking for client feedback can have on PI Insurance. There’s a common misconception that asking for feedback is effectively ‘inviting complaints’. In truth the FSA does not necessarily consider negative feedback as a formal complaint but it is their definition of a complaint, and it’s literal interpretation, that seems to be causing some confusion amongst the IFA community and PI Insurers.

The FSA handbook defines a complaint as “any oral or written expression of dissatisfaction, whether justified or not, from, or on behalf of, a person about the provision of, or failure to provide, a financial service, which alleges that the complainant has suffered (or may suffer) financial loss, material distress or material inconvenience.”

It’s a fairly far reaching definition which, taken literally, may suggest that negative client feedback from solicited surveys and questionnaires could constitute a complaint. In fact the FSA have provided this wide definition for a specific reason. Having referred the issue to the FSA’s Policy department, they confirmed that “The Handbook definition of a "complaint" aims to ensure that firms are unable to justify a failure to deal with complaints on the grounds that the complainant did not present his grievance in a prescribed format (say, filling out a form), or did not explicitly say he was making a complaint; hence the definition is drafted quite widely. That is, if a customer contacts a firm to express his dissatisfaction, the firm should investigate the matter regardless of how it was communicated (email, letter, telephone etc) and regardless of whether the customer specifically refers to his concerns as a "complaint". However, this does not necessarily mean that any negative feedback should be regarded as, and dealt with, as a complaint."

It seems that the FSA are simply trying to prevent firms from wriggling out of their obligations to deal with a complaint by suggesting that the complaint did not reach them through a formal procedure, hence their rather broad definition. This ensures that firms must deal with complaints in whatever format they arrive in. As far as client questionnaires are concerned, what the FSA are in fact saying is that negative feedback should be taken as seriously as if it were a complaint and acted upon or investigated accordingly. What they are not saying is that every negative response to a client feedback questionnaire should be formally dealt with under a firm’s complaints procedure. It comes down to common sense as “Customer satisfaction questionnaires tend to ask the individual about his or her experience with the firm in generic terms, often with a focus on customer services. We need to consider whether the customer would reasonably expect an individualised response, or any response at all, to his or her feedback. In most cases, they probably would not - certainly not where the feedback is anonymous.”

Proactively asking for client feedback can bring huge rewards to a firm. Of course you should not simply ignore negative feedback, after all it helps you to continually improve what you do and everyone knows that if you can turn around a client who has expressed dissatisfaction with your service by dealing with their comments quickly and fairly then you will gain one of your most loyal clients. Any feedback provided by your clients should be monitored, understood and most importantly acted upon where necessary; whether it’s from a formal questionnaire process or indeed more informal ad hoc comments that are received.

It’s good business practice to find out what your clients think about what you do. Implementing a client feedback process where feedback is requests after each interaction with a client can help mitigate risks, ensuring that firms can quickly act upon any negative feedback before it escalates to a complaint and this is something that PI Insurers should look favourably upon.

According to the FSA, “Only in unusual circumstances would feedback on customer satisfaction questionnaires constitute a potential complaint - say, if the questionnaire specifically asks if the client would like the firm to look into a particular point of dissatisfaction and provide a response, or provides any other indication that it is a vehicle for airing specific grievances on which the firm is expected to act.”

So don’t be afraid to ask for feedback, it makes good business sense. Always notify your PI Insurer but challenge them if they suggest that you could be inviting complaints. This is not the case and in fact from a PI perspective client feedback can help mitigate risk, especially if you can be alerted to negative feedback as it is received so that you can deal with it immediately. This means that for a client feedback process to really work you need to ensure that you can manage it and monitor feedback effectively, and most importantly you can take action where it is needed. This way you can deal with any negative comments or concerns as they arise; you can be responsive to your clients; you can make use of positive feedback for testimonials and referrals; you can confirm your client proposition.

Client feedback is a fantastic business development tool, manage it properly and you will satisfy the requirements of your business, the requirements of your PI Insurer and the requirements of the regulator.

Twitter as a client feedback tool

When you think about it, Twitter is another form of web-based client feedback tool. If you provide a great service...or indeed a not so great one, people will tweet about it. And why? Because people like to give feedback and twitter makes it so easy.

The growth of the internet has made it easy for us to share information and social networking sites like Twitter make it even easier, a tweet from one of your clients about you is instant feedback in just 140 characters. And the big benefit of Twitter is that it gives you the right to reply, not just to the person who provided the feedback but to all your followers too. You demonstrate that you are responsive; you listen to client views; you care enough to monitor and respond to feedback.

Twitter is also a great tool to promote your business by posting links to your client testimonials on your website. Just try a search on twitter for 'client feedback' and you'll see how business owners are posting their positive feedback. It's a great way to drive traffic to your website and promote your services at the same time.

So to make the most of social networking and include it in your marketing and contact strategy. To quote Oscar Wilde "“The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about” ....and if you are talked about make sure you know about it.

Positive Feedback is Good For Business

If you are proctively asking for client feedback in your firm then you may only ever focus on those responses where your client is not 100% happy. Negative responses are typically the ones we take action on, leaving positive feedback as simply a validation that we are doing things right. But positive feedback is an extremely valuable marketing tool so when you receive it you should make sure you use it wisely.

Your clients verbatim comments make excellent testimonials - check out my own website for ours at http://www.finqs.co.uk/casestudies.htm. When a client likes what we do, we ask if we can use their positive comments as a testimonial. Good feedback also helps you identify referral opportunities, those clients who will be advocates for your business so don't be afraid to ask them if they know of anyone else who would benefit from what you do.

Generating referrals is one of the most effective marketing activities you can undertake and receiving positive client feedback is key to this. Too often referrals are only ever received passively, because a client happens to mention you to someone. For you to really benefit from referral business make it an active part of your marketing strategy. Ask for feedback as a way to remind your client that you did a great job and you will identify referral opportunities...and when you do, don't be afraid to ask!

Confirming your client proposition and generating opportunities

In today’s climate, clients demand the best service more than ever before. When times are tough, clients are more choosy about where they spend their money and for businesses to gain a competitive advantage, clients must be satisfied, loyal and most importantly engaged with your business.

Clients who are engaged with your business are enthusiastic about what you do, they recommend you to others, they provide you with testimonials, they become part of your marketing collateral and ultimately they increase your profits.

A strong service proposition increases a clients engagement in your firm. As client engagement increases, this builds trust, increases loyalty and client retention, leads to more referrals, increased revenue and profitability. Your most loyal and engaged customers become brand enthusiasts. Some commentators call this ‘Customer Advocacy’, taking the view that clients are less likely these days to simply accept whatever services you provide, indeed according to a white paper published by The OMC group about Customer Advocacy in Financial Services, today’s customer is now “value-extracting” meaning that clients will look for the value in a proposition and how it meets their personal requirements. This is the very reason why firms need to develop a strategy to align their service, marketing and branding efforts with the needs of their clients.

To develop client engagement or customer advocacy with your business you need to understand what drives it for your clients. Is it that you provide a well delivered, excellent service? Is it the frequency of contact you have with your clients? Is it that you care enough to ask for client opinions? Is it that you take an open and responsive approach? Is it that the client has confidence and trust in the service and advice you offer? Is it the perception of the quality of your communications with your clients?

Finding out what inspires your client’s loyalty and engagement with your firm is the first step to creating a successful service proposition. The only way to really understand what your clients want is to ask them for their views. Doing this enables you to benchmark your service proposition and set a solid foundation on which to build your client proposition and marketing strategy.

So don’t just assume you know what your clients opinions and perceptions are, ask them. Reach out to your clients and inspire them to talk about you. You may or may not be surprised by their responses, but you will certainly benefit from them.

Have you switched to fees yet?

Axa Winterthur have published an interesting survey this week on how IFA's are adapting their service models to help them cope with the current economic downturn. Despite the apparent desire and push to move to a fee based model for many IFA firms over recent years, the survey reveals that 6 out of 10 IFA's are currently running a commission based business but they expect to increase the fee-based portion over the next 12 months.

So yet again we see a drive towards and a desire for fee-based business models but it seems that progress is slow. So why the delay? Experience tells me that many firms want to get there but practically they just don't know how. Help and guidance is needed if firms are to get their businesses ready for a post RDR world. So how do you get there?

The important focus must be on being able to demonstrate the value of your proposition to your clients. There is a huge misconception by consumers that advice is free and if this is to change then IFA's need to really show their clients what they are paying for. This means that firms need to take steps to firstly understand the demographics of their client base, conducting an unbiased segmentation of their clients, and secondly to ask their clients what they think about the existing services they offer. Only then can a firm understand how to change their business model and proposition to justify a shift to fee-based advice.

In my opinion there will still be a place for transactional businesses post RDR, but there is much uncertainty and speculation over the business and distribution model for such firms. Those businesses who decide to move to a fee based, truly independent proposition have huge opportunities in front of them, but only if they can get their service proposition right for each segment of their client base.

A strong service proposition, together with effective marketing based on an understanding of the needs and financial behaviour of a particular client segment means that firms can truly maximise those opportunities and build a strong business fit to weather any economic storm.

From Cyberspace to CRM: Technology Delivers Results

Effective client management and service has always been a key driver for business success but in today’s climate it really is absolutely vital. Customers expect far more than just a competitive price, when times are tough they demand excellent service and it is this that will set you apart from your competitors. Technology eases the way, providing slick solutions to help you deliver customer service more quickly and effectively. The continuing expansion of the internet, social networking and email communication makes getting your message to your clients even easier. So which technologies should you consider to maximise the opportunities within your client bank?

A website gives your business presence
If a client is looking for a particular service today they will more than likely ‘Google’ it. The World Wide Web is the largest shop window in the world and the internet savvy consumer has millions of company profiles and brochures at their fingertips so make sure your website stands out. An interesting website is a great way to clearly state what you do and why customers should choose you.

Feedback technology ensures you can really make client opinions work for you
The only way to really understand what your customers want is to ask them for their views. Doing this enables you to benchmark your service proposition and set a solid foundation on which to build your client proposition and marketing strategy. Good client Feedback technology makes the process of gathering feedback simple so that you can focus on the results; and it’s a much more cost effective way to understand what your clients think than manual, paper-based methods. A timely email received by your client with a simple click through to your personalised, branded client questionnaire ensures rapid, relevant feedback. Feedback that you can measure, analyse and act upon.

Social Networking drives referrals
Social networking sites like Twitter provide a free, easy way to get your message across. If you have a really great meeting with a client, ask them to tweet about it. Soon their friends and family will hear about you, along with their work colleagues, and their followers too. This is viral marketing at its most powerful, passing on your message and building awareness of your brand.

Email communication delivers your message efficiency
Email is fast, it’s cheap and it’s an effective way to communicate with clients. If you profile your customers you can send targeted promotional messages to different groups quickly and easily. If you don’t hold many email addresses as yet, start gathering your client’s email addresses as part of your factfind or client review process. It may take a few months but before too long you’ll have an email marketing list that you can use to communicate with clients quickly and easily, perhaps to update them on events you are running or to send out a regular client newsletter.

A CRM or Back Office solution keeps you on top of your client relationships
A solid back office system keeps your client records in one place, manages leads, sales and business activity, and gives you an audit trail of all communication. There are lots of solutions out there to suit all types of organisation so shop around; and when doing so make sure you focus on your business requirements not the functions offered by a particular solution. A good back office solution will integrate with other tools or provide the ability to export your client data so you can use it elsewhere. So make sure your data is accessible so that you can also exploit the power of other essential business tools such as Microsoft Office, Google Docs, Business Intelligence or Customer Insight solutions.
So if you are not making best use of the internet and technology to enhance your service proposition and build an effective marketing and communication strategy, ask yourself a few questions….
Do potential customers know who you are?
Do you know who your customers are?
Do you know what your customers really want?
How well are you servicing your customers right now?

Technology is there to help you build and maintain strong relationships, generate repeat business and grow your business. Thanks to technology business can now be conducted more efficiently, online; it connects us with our clients and allows us to communicate in a more immediate way than ever before. So take a small step into cyberspace and watch your business take a giant leap into a better way to do business.

What do you really want to know from your clients?

It’s true that knowledge is power and most IFA firms now have a back office or CRM solution that helps them collect detailed information about their clients from contact details, portfolio holdings and values, health information to income details. All of this can help firms segment clients into useful groupings for ongoing targeted marketing purposes. However, even with the most sophisticated CRM system, firms need to go further than knowing who the client is in as much detail as possible. In order to continue to shape your service proposition and make sure you can deliver the best possible service for each and every client, you need to know how well they were treated in each and every transaction with your business.

Event driven client feedback programs help you do just that, proactively requesting feedback after each interaction with your client, whether that’s a client review, advice process, lifestyle planning service or a product sale. For such feedback to be really effective, you need to go after the type of information that is going to be most useful for you in understanding the outcomes your proposition is delivering to your clients; the things that provide practical value to you, as a business owner, manager or adviser.

Ideal questions are the ones you can do something about; the ones that really tell you something about the service you are offering; the ones that will drive client referrals and loyalty. If you focus on these then you can really start to understand what your clients think about what you do and more importantly you can adapt to their changing needs and wants.

If a client provides positive feedback, don’t just accept it as a validation that you are doing things right, use it wisely. Positive feedback from your clients is your testimonials, your client referrals, and your repeat business. Positive feedback helps you recognise and reward your team and in turn ensures that each person is motivated to continue providing the highest possible service. If feedback is negative, make sure you have the means to respond quickly and effectively. Research shows that if you can turn around someone who has had a poor experience with your firm, they will end up being one of your most loyal clients. Use negative feedback to help you focus corrective action where it is needed, build it into your training and competency plans and use it to continually improve your service proposition.

Make feedback a strategic part of your everyday business and deliver a service proposition that is truly aligned to your clients needs.