Have you checked in with clients lately?

Done right, a client survey can help you retain clients, generate referrals and build your business.

Conducting a survey shows your appreciation for your clients’ businesses and opinions, uncovers cracks in your service — and possibly in your relationships — of which you may not be aware, and provides the data you need to create your client communications plan.

Most financial advisers have never conducted a survey, and usually, I hear the same reasons:

“I speak to my clients all the time.” Speaking to your clients about their portfolios’ performance or what the market is likely to do isn’t the same thing as speaking to them about your services and what changes, if any, they would like in your relationship. Also, clients differentiate between contact that they initiate and contact initiated by you.

“I know what my clients think.” With all due respect, you don’t. Generally speaking, we don’t tell people we like (and I am sure most of your clients like you) what we don’t like about them. Also, we don’t tell them the things we think they should do differently unless they ask.

“My clients don’t have time to take surveys.” Some don’t, but many do, and you don’t need to hear from everyone in your client base to get a sense of what they need. A common rule of thumb in customer service is that for every one person who speaks up about a problem, there are 10 more who feel the same way and haven’t said anything.

Ready to start? Here are some pointers:

• Decide whether you will outsource the survey or take care of it in-house. Using a marketing or research firm means that not only will you get professional help, but your clients will reveal more, since they won’t be dealing directly with you. Under these circumstances, you can probably dig more deeply into sensitive topics such as pricing or what it will take to get more referrals. The downside to outsourcing is the cost, which generally ranges somewhere between $7,500 and $12,500.

• Whether you outsource or handle it yourself, you will need to determine at the outset the key things you want to learn. This is important because once advisers decide to conduct a survey, they often want to ask every question that they can think of, and length is the primary reason people do, or don’t, complete surveys. Knowing what is most important will help you keep it short.

• If you are conducting surveys on your own, finding samples should be relatively easy. Many of the mutual fund and insurance companies have a unit on client surveys in their practice-development programs. If you can’t find one to your liking, contact me at the e-mail address below, and I will send you the sample I have developed.

• Although it makes sense to start with a sample, the survey should be customized based on your circumstances. For example, if this is your first survey, you want to set a baseline for satisfaction levels and understand what contributes to the ratings that your clients give you. If you have recently made changes in your office, you want to know if your clients have been affected and, if so, how?

• Don’t forget that you want to know the good as well as the bad. I like to ask clients what they would like me to do more of and less of so they are free to tell me what they like as well as what they don’t like.

• Life will be easier if you can do the survey online through a service such as SurveyMonkey. Not only is the paper part eliminated, but the service tallies the results. But first consider your most important clients and whether they are more comfortable with pen and paper than with an online survey. If it is the former, you know what you need to do.

• You can improve your response rate by making sure that your clients are aware of the survey. Send an e-mail about it before it is distributed, ask your assistant to make calls to ensure that people have received the survey and returned it, and talk about it in your newsletter. One way to encourage participation is to enter everyone who returns their survey in a drawing to win a gift certificate to a popular store or restaurant.

Libby Dubick is president of Dubick & Associates Ltd., which helps advisers and financial services firms develop marketing opportunities. She can be reached at [email protected].

For archived columns go to investmentnews.com/marketingstrategies.

Related Topics: ING Group, Marketing Strategies