There are three ways to elicit responses from clients: take an ad hoc approach and ask them for comments at the end of a meeting, con- duct a telephone survey, or conduct a written survey. To decide which route to take, you’ll need to weigh the costs of the program against the depth of information you’ll receive and the extent to which answers are provided honestly. In general, written surveys tend to be the best option. Although more expensive, they let you ask a large number of questions, give clients time to respond thoughtfully, and offer clients the option of anonymity.
It can be difficult to directly compare the cost of outsourcing the survey process to the cost of doing it in-house, but you’ll typi-
cally spend more time and money if you conduct the survey on your own. To create a professional survey instrument with well-designed questions that will yield the insights you seek, you’ll likely need to hire a writer and possibly a graphic designer to prepare the question- naire and then pay for printing and mailing the survey, entering the response data, and analyzing the results. Advisor Impact’s Client Audit process, for example, would cost around $2,000 plus out- bound postage to survey two hundred households, with an expected 30 percent response rate, but a similar effort done in-house could cost a planner more than twice that amount and likely yield less meaningful results.
Using professional organizations such as Dalbar, Advisor Impact, or local marketing firms tends to enhance the survey process. It’s like an individual who prefers to make planning, investment, and risk- management decisions without seeking qualified advice. She can do it cheaper, but can she do it better? We find that advisers who try to do surveys themselves either do not get them finished or have dif- ficulty interpreting the results. Worse yet, they skew the results by asking the wrong questions, or they skew the wording of the ques- tions to get the answers they want to hear.
For the do-it-yourselfer, the first challenge is identifying which questions to ask clients. To start, think beyond “satisfaction.”
A properly structured survey helps you uncover client expectations, identify cross-selling and consolidation opportunities, pinpoint those clients who are willing to provide referrals, and gather valu- able intelligence about any current or planned communications or activities. For the best results, be sure to ask questions in five spe- cific categories:
1. Focus on service satisfaction, both generally and specifically.
2. Probe client expectations regarding contact level.
3. Assess interest in learning about different products and services.
4. Determine client preferences about how you communicate.
5. Ask for profile information to help you populate your data- base.
Even if you cover all of your bases, not all questions are equally effective. Good questions provide you with specific and targeted
information. Bad questions are vague, are difficult to understand, or lead to client responses that are difficult to interpret. (See Figure 3.2 for examples of good questions in each category.) For every question in a survey, you should know what you’ll do with the results. If you do not control client statements at your firm, for example, do not ask about satisfaction with client statements on the survey.
If you do go it alone, the process of surveying clients can be oner- ous but rewarding. Given the investment of time and money, make sure you fully exploit the results. You can get the biggest bang for your buck by
FIGURE 3.2 What to Ask and How to Ask It
Sample Question Tips and Comments Satisfaction My calls are returned Be specific about the
promptly (on a five-point elements of client service scale from “completely rather than asking vague agree“ to “completely questions about service disagree”). in general.
Expectations How many times do you Gather quantitative data expect to meet in a 12- when possible.
month period to review your financial plan?
Interests Which of the following Get clients thinking about are you interested in the services you provide;
learning more about? don’t leave too many (Provide list of services.) open-ended questions.
Preferences Do you think it’s important Don’t just ask how you for your financial adviser are doing; find out what to provide educational is most important to your opportunities? clients.
Profile What is your e-mail Gather better information address? to populate your database.
! sending a follow-up letter to all clients, highlighting positive feedback and identifying any changes you plan to make as a result of the survey
! surveying clients every eighteen months and tracking your progress
! summarizing your results for centers of influence and prospects Testimonials are helpful, but research data are seen as more objective.
In the spirit of full disclosure, we mention here that Moss Adams LLP adopted the Client Audit process for its advisory-firm clients after evaluating many options. By using a proven survey process—in this case, one developed by Advisor Impact—we’ve consistently been better able to develop insight into how our advisory-firm clients should be thinking strategically about their businesses.
The Client Audit process is a structured approach that provides a customized solution. The survey form is customized and then provided to the adviser for mailing to clients, and the reports are returned to a central processing center. There, the data are evaluated and interpreted and action steps are developed for the adviser (see Figure 3.3 on the following page).
In addition to the insight, what’s compelling about this process is the action plan that comes out of the survey. So many times, when surveys are performed, clients are often left wondering what the pur- pose or result was. So regardless of whether you do it on your own or in concert with a professional survey firm, you’ll want to translate the survey results into an action step or the process will be wasted, along with the money it cost to do it.
“Since surveying our clients, we’ve developed a sharper pic- ture of our strengths,” says Jennifer Hatch, an adviser with Christopher Street Financial in New York. “We understand our weaknesses and can respond before our clients decide to bail.
For example, we were able to understand the level of service that each of our advisers was providing and discovered that [it] varied drastically. As a result, we now set an explicit service standard for everyone in the company.”