Trending
If you go to the British Library and get diverted by their excellent café, the firm that runs it – Peyton and Byrne – has installed this brilliant device that allows you to instantly score the service you get.
It’s not immediately obvious what they do with the feedback (or even if it’s plugged into anything to be honest) but I was impressed that they were brave enough to put it up next to the till where staff could see the result.
Private client advisers that yearn for that coveted trusted adviser label take note! In the private client world much emphasis is put on delivering on a brand promise – of functional effectiveness in setting and delivering on the right expectations, of effective disclosure and, in regulated firms, adherence to a culture that has conduct risk at its heart.
All this is important. But as Justin Basini comments in his excellent book Why Should Anyone Buy from You? – trust is “a two-way relationship” and if businesses “want people to trust them, they need to trust back”.
Being unafraid to ask for client feedback and comment in a way that is open and honest (without breaking client confidentially protocols) impacts the way clients feel about a firm and can only help to increase word of mouth.
Asking for insight and feedback gives clients not only the encouragement to refer you but also the story platform to do so.
Why? Because it is much easier for clients to refer their adviser not just as someone who competently looks after their needs but also as someone who regularly asks them for feedback and acts on it.
Asking clients for feedback and acting on it demonstrates their importance to your business in a tangible way – making them feel like valued insiders.
Without that level of two-way engagement it is hard to encourage referral out of the blue – even in the warm glow of a particular piece of work successfully completed prompting referrals is hard to do effectively.
Embedding feedback into the client journey can draw clients and introducers, and also internal audiences, together more strongly. Regular feedback touch points with your clients can help keep a firm top of mind and tip of tongue.
Feedback programmes also provide an opportunity to tell /remind clients of everything you do or could do for them - increasing their perception of the value of what you do for them and potentially open up further/additional conversations leading to uncovering additional needs and/or assets.