Advisers who survey their clients experience greater profitability.

It may seem self evident that you care about what your clients think, and yet – according to Rod Bertino from Business Health – only 15% of practices formally seek feedback from their clients.

The same survey – of around 2,000 advisers – found that those who do formally seek feedback from clients are on average 73% more profitable than those who don’t.

And the key to that staggering statistic is that surveying your clients is not a pure academic exercise, nor something that should be attempted in a tokenistic fashion; rather it’s about building a stronger business by understanding what your clients want and value (and what they don’t), and being prepared to deliver to their wishes. In other words, if you are serious about asking your clients for feedback, you need to be serious about acting on that feedback.

Surveying your clients is something that can be done easily and inexpensively, using mechanisms such as a written survey, an online questionnaire you can email them (visit surveymonkey.com to set one up free), or even a telephone survey.

Advisers wishing to make the process even more robust will often consider seeking outside assistance, either to administer the methods described above or to facilitate focus groups, which are more indepth discussions with clients on a range of topics, and are often used by large companies to test everything from new product design to advertising concepts and logos.

The advantage of seeking external help is that the process can be much more independent and your clients may feel more comfortable in opening up about their thoughts; additionally external researchers may be able to help you benchmark your scores – a satisfaction rating in itself may not be helpful unless you have a point of comparison.

Each approach has pros and cons, and you need to balance time and cost versus the depth of feedback needed.

Whichever approach you take, it’s fair to say that any feedback is better than none.

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This is an extract from a collection of business improvement tips for advisers, launched at Zurich’s Trax2Success national roadshow, featuring the 2013 AFA Adviser of the year Jenny Brown.

Click here to read Hot business tip number 1: Look after yourself and your staff

Click here to read Hot business tip number 3: Place a higher value on your time

Click here to read Hot business tip number 4: Review your client onboarding process

Click here to read Hot business tip number 5: Adopt an estate planning methodology across your business

Click here to read Hot business tip number 6: Tailor your communication strategy by client generation

Click here to read Hot business tip no number 7: Change your approach to review meetings

Click here to read Hot business tip number 8: Create a differentiated service offering (segment your client base)

Click here to read Hot business tip number 9: Set up a Board of Advice

Click here to read Hot business tip number10: Develop a client retention strategy

Click here to read Hot business tip number 11: Run a program where staff drive improvements

Click here to read Hot business tip number. 12: Build your emotional intelligence

Click here to read Hot business tip number. 13: Go Social

Click here to read Hot business tip number. 14: Get better at handling objections

Click here to read Hot business tip number. 15: Create stronger referral sources

Click here to read Hot business tip number. 16: Set up a Google account

Click here to read Hot business tip number. 17: Learn from leading advisers

Click here to read Hot business tip number. 18: Make better use of technology in your business

Click here to read Hot business tip number 19: Improve your office environment

Click here to read Hot business tip number 20: Develop a great value proposition

Click here to read Hot business tip number 21: Make more use of video in your business

Click here to read Hot business tip number 22: Optimise your website for mobile

Click here to read Hot business tip number 23: Have a marketing plan

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