How can advice practices strengthen client satisfaction?

With new clients demonstrating lower satisfaction levels, Business Health has shared why making a first impression among other tips is key to improving clients’ contentment.

Business Health’s client satisfaction survey, which canvassed over 60,000 clients with an adviser, highlighted that new clients are less satisfied than clients who have been working with their adviser for longer periods of time.

According to the research, Australians who have spent less than seven years as an advised client have lower satisfaction levels than those who have been advised for more than seven years.

Breaking it down further, it appears an early initial appeal quickly wears off as those who have been with their adviser for three to seven years have the lowest ratings.

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This was measured across nine key service delivery areas, namely:

• Depth of understanding
• Business relationship
• Technical knowledge
• Range of services
• Implementation of solutions
• Professionalism of practice
• Support staff
• Review service
• Client communication

The lowest satisfaction levels were reported for review service and range of services.

The survey also discovered that self-employed clients and small business owners present lower satisfaction levels with their adviser’s performance compared to retiree clients.

To address and improve newer clients’ lower satisfaction levels, Business Health put forward three key recommendations.

Making a good first impression

To ensure clients feel confident with their adviser from the beginning, the organisation encouraged businesses to actively seek feedback about what clients did and did not like about the onboarding experience.

Moreover, making the client feel welcomed through specific touches could look like writing a handwritten note or including a lifestyle questionnaire.

“As the relationship evolves over time, perhaps the most important driver of client satisfaction is communication. Frequency, relevance and level of personalisation all play major roles in keeping clients in the loop, aware and, hopefully, appreciative of their adviser’s effort,” Business Health wrote.

Setting client expectations

Although advisers can underperform in meeting their clients’ expectations, the firm reminded advisers that this is usually due to them failing to explicitly set and manage their new clients’ service delivery expectations.

“When left to their own devices (and not knowing any better), new clients will expect the world and demand it yesterday. If you do not take a very active role in clearly defining exactly what you will do and by when, you are setting yourself up to fail.

“No matter how good your work, or how quickly you deliver, it will almost always underwhelm your new client’s set of self-determined and completely unrealistic expectations.”

To mitigate this issue, advisers should ensure each meeting is followed up with meaningful client contact – such as confirming the specific points of discussion in an email.

Explain your purpose

“We have no doubt that, in some shape or form, all advisers explain to new clients all the different ways in which they can add value.

“However, it is completely understandable that most of your new clients will be singularly focused on solving their immediate need – they may not be particularly interested in your other services that are not directly applicable to their current situation.”

Continually educating clients on the depth and breadth of your solution suite and service offerings is crucial, Business Health added. This will mean the advice practice remains the “go-to solution” for whatever life changes the client is experiencing.