In the work that we have done with advisors, I'm always surprised at how many advisors see the potential positive impact of gathering feedback but are still reticent to take the leap.  The Journal article addresses this well.  My question is....what are the real barriers or concerns for advisors when it comes to asking clients for feedback? Also very interested in any specific experiences in using client feedback to manage or grow the business.

 For those who want to read the Journal article Fear Factor: Client Surveys Aren't as Scary as Many Think, you can go to: http://www.fpanet.org/journal/articles/2007_Issues/jfp0707-art1.cfm 

This statement from the article seems to provide an excellent summary of why client surveys are important for planners to do:

"Meeting or exceeding expectations establishes a competitive advantage if your main competition is your clients’ expectations. Yet your ability to do that depends on understanding what your clients want."

Over the past 2 years we have started using a web survey tool called Zoomerang (www.zoomerang.com) which sounds like the Survey Monkey mentioned in the article. We now do a general annual customer satisfaction survey as well as surveys to participants after we hold specific events like a training/educational webcast and have been pleased with the feedback. Even after 20 years in this business and some customers/users who have been with us that entire time, it is still surprising some of the response we get. Although the overall trends from a survey are important, quite often we find an entire survey can be justified by a couple of "ah hah" observations from unexpected places.

One thing I have wondered about is when we do a general survey, is there any evidence that the voluntary responses tend to come from the more extreme views (ie strong positive or negative feelings), or do you think that the distribution of responses is actually representative of the group you survey?    

Zoomerang and Survey Monkey are similar - basically 'off the shelf' tools if you are in a position to develop, execute and analyze your own survey.  Interesting that you use feedback both to track on-going trends and for issue-specific feedback on an event.  Combined, that information would be very powerful.

To your question, the research on research suggests that, provided you achieve a reasonable response rate, you are probably getting a balanced view (positive, negative and neutral).  Some firms worry that they will only hear about the positive or the negative but our experience suggests otherwise. Again, that is only if you have a reasonable response rate and unfortunately what is 'reasonable' changes depending on the size of the population.

When it comes to satisfaction, you often know about clients who are very satisfied and those who may be dissatisfied.  They have probably told you already.  I'm very interesting in using feedback to identify clients who say they are 'neutral' about the relationship. They would not have told you they are dissatisfied but they are definitely at risk. If you can uncover them early, the client feedback is like an early warning system in the business.

It's also interesting to remember that a side-benefit of client feedback is that you not only get input on satisfaction, but can also identify additional revenue opportunities among clients.  There is some interesting research that demonstrates that conducting client feedback can directly impact the bottom line.

We have had a great deal of success using Advisor Impact for our client survey results and have found that the detailed reports that are generated are enormously helpful on many different levels.

In the pursuit of excellence in client service it is essential to understand how clients perceive their interaction with their adviser, support staff and on a firm wide basis in order to fully ascertain the value that is being added at all levels in the organization. 

We take the 10 focus areas and build initiatives around each for future improvements that we can then benchmark against our next survey which we generally perform every 12 months.  Our employees will have their goals tied to specific areas they have a direct impact on and this provides us with a useful measure of success in managing individual and team performance targets.  After all, what goals are more important than improving client satisfaction?

The survey is also very informative for identifying clients with specific needs or interests that may have been overlooked in the past.  This polling directs future educational seminars we will host as well as making individual account review more targeted on an individual basis.  Some examples here would include an interest in advanced estate planning, socially responsible investing, retirement planning etc.etc.  This also provides insight into cross selling opportunities as needs such as insurance or long term health care may be highlighted.

While it doesn't replace the need to understand your clients on a deeper, personal level, the introduction of a client survey as a tool for continuous improvement has been an essential addition in the growth of our business.

David, thanks for that input.  It is certainly nice to hear that you found the process so helpful.  I wanted to pick up on your last comment about understanding clients on a deeper level.  My comment pertains to client feedback generally, whether you gather that yourself or outsource the process.

Many advisors think about client feedback as a point in time representation of their clients' views.  It is certainly that, but you can also think about it as a stepping stone to a much deeper conversation with your clients.  When a client writes down his or her thoughts on their needs, or on your business, you can use that information to talk at a much deeper level on what they really value and need.  This deeper conversation cannot be replaced by a survey but it can be facilitate by one.

For example, many advisors will see that a client is 'satisfied' or 'very satisfied' and move on because why would you follow up on a postive comment?  The reality is that if a client gives you a good grade, it opens the door to a more meaningful conversation on what is behind that satisfaction.  What do they really value about what you do and why are those things so important?  This kind of conversation not only uncovers more information and binds you even further to the client, it can be invaluable information in helping you craft your messages for prospective clients.  If an advisor isn't linking client feedback directly to their client review process, I think they only get half the benefit.

Love that you use results to link to team goals and performance monitoring.  Does anyone else use feedback to create objective benchmarks for measuring team success?