Content area
Full text
Advisors tend to excel in planning for their clients' financial needs, but are they falling down on another critical part of the job?
Many of today's advisors have not formalized their client communication practices, a misstep that could hamper long-term business success, according to the FPA's recent Trends in Client Communication Study, conducted in collaboration with Advisor Impact CEO Julie Littlechild.
"We're seeing that a lot of advisors have not put the proper planning in place when it comes to client communication," says Valerie L. Chaille, director of the FPA Research and Practice Institute which produced the study. "The more in touch advisors are with their clients the more likely they are to stay."
Less than half of the advisors surveyed (44%) indicated they communicate service standards -- such as frequency of contact and response times -- to new clients. Of advisors who do inform clients of their service standards, only 15% do so in a written agreement.
“The reality is that an advisor can have a great client communications plan but if it is not formalized and communicated, the value is significantly reduced,” said Littlechild in a statement. “There is a discipline to defining, assessing and communicating a plan and, based on the data, there is room for improvement across the industry."
CLIENT FEEDBACK
Sixty eight percent of advisors surveyed indicated that they gather client feedback in some...