Slideshow 7 Ways to Boost Client Satisfaction

Even though many advisors cite boosting client satisfaction as a primary concern, they often don’t know what to do to make it happen. By taking the right steps to ensure a highly satisfied client base, an advisor will be able to position his or her practice for stronger growth.

Here are 7 things advisors should consider to boost client satisfaction.

Source: How to Increase Client Satisfaction

The way clients feel about their overall relationship with you is more important than even the level of satisfaction they feel about your service and your investment performance. Interestingly, competence is not a huge factor in determining client satisfaction, because clients assume their advisors are competent.

When you make a promise, keep it, and keep it on time. Set a goal of providing perfect service, with plenty of attention to details. Researchers have found that nearly two-thirds of very satisfied clients see their advisors as being perfectionists, compared with less than 7% of very dissatisfied clients.

While clients dislike service failures, they dislike unpleasant surprises even more, making it your job to prevent them as much as possible. To rate well with clients in this area, actively solicit opinions and perceptions - including negative ones - from your clients. Not only will this help you spot and head off major problems, it will clearly demonstrate your concern about service to your clients.

Affluent clients are looking for true emotional warmth. When asked if their advisors are warm, 64.3% of highly satisfied clients said yes, while only one-quarter of dissatisfied clients had this response.

Your clients want to be kept informed not just about their portfolios and financial progress, but also about important changes at your firm and with your staff. Given how important it is to affluent clients to be kept up to date, it would be wise to incorporate tools into your client database that help you flag any relevant situations and issues.

Affluent clients want advisors who pay attention. Your goal, as always, should be to learn more about your affluent clients, and listening is the way that you will do that. That said, customize your approach based on your client base - some of whom will prefer short, task-oriented meetings and others who may prefer drawn-out conversations where a range of financial and non-financial matters are discussed.

Affluent clients generally care about having you focus on their needs. You have to be able to convey the sense to each client that you are striving to understand his or her unique needs and provide individual solutions.