Adam Tucker

Another 32 financial advisers have been added to the Most Trusted Advisers Network (the Network), designed to serve as a referral source for consumers to advisers that other consumers profoundly trust, making a total of 64 advisers on the register and consumer-facing App.

Beddoes Institute, a data and benchmarking company that works across all major stakeholder groups in the financial services sector, launched the Network in August this year after analysing thousands of client ratings from a survey of over 150 advisers and identifying an objective benchmark of exceptional client service and performance – a Net Promoter Score (NPS®)[1] of 50 or more. Director of Beddoes Institute, Dr Adam Tucker, said members of the Network have an average NPS® of 72, which represents one of the highest results the company has seen.

“We are seeing phenomenal results from these advisers,” he said, “And their clients are gaining better outcomes than we have seen from other adviser relationships. The survey process is tough, and it is honest. Under a confidentiality agreement and with the consent of their clients, advisers have to hand over their whole client base to us for review.”

The 32 advisers join the first 32 invited into the Network in August, and have proven to be the best of the best in terms of keeping clients on track with their financial plan, having more satisfied clients, and having stronger relationships with clients than other advisers surveyed.

“Advisers in the Most Trusted Advisers network are assessed every 12-18 months and must re-qualify in order to continue to belong to the Network. They cannot pay to belong,” Mr Tucker said. “We have just had David Clark of Clark Pacific and Anne Graham of McPhail HLG Financial Planning re-qualify, so we know that the process is continually rewarding the advisers for their hard work and also keeping them accountable.”

Consumers can source an adviser in the Network via the free Most Trusted Advisers App. “The App enables consumers to find an adviser who has really happy clients. We have gone direct to the clients and they have provided us with honest and detailed feedback,” Dr Tucker said.

A full list of the new Most Trusted Advisers appears at Appendix 1. Advisers in the Network have a variety of different licensing arrangements. Appendix 2 reveals the number of Most Trusted Advisers to date from each licensee.

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[1] The NPS® is a powerful loyalty metric which has been linked to profitability and growth in a wide range of businesses. An NPS® higher than zero is regarded as ‘good’ while an NPS® of 50+ is regarded as excellent. Advisers must achieve an NPS® of 50 or more in order to qualify for membership of the Most Trusted Advisers network. Net Promoter, NPS, and Net Promoter Score are trademarks of Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company, Inc., and Fred Reichheld.

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Beddoes Institute launches referral app for consumers to advisers.

Beddoes Institute, a data and benchmarking company that works across all major stakeholder groups in the financial services sector, has launched the Most Trusted Advisers network, including a register and consumer-facing App, designed to serve as a referral source for consumers to advisers that other consumers profoundly trust and as a way to champion best of breed advisers.

Beddoes Institute analysed thousands of client ratings from a survey of over 150 advisers and identified an objective benchmark of exceptional client service and performance. That benchmark is a Net Promoter Score (NPS®) of 50 or more.

Speaking at the launch of the Most Trusted Advisers network in Sydney last week, Dr Adam Tucker, Director of Beddoes Institute said, “The NPS® is a powerful loyalty metric which has been linked to profitability and growth in a wide range of businesses. An NPS® higher than zero is regarded as ‘good’ while an NPS® of 50+ is regarded as excellent. Advisers must achieve an NPS® of 50 or more in order to qualify for membership of the Most Trusted Advisers network.”

By way of illustration, Optus has an NPS® of around minus 8, Telstra around minus 13 while airlines collectively average around zero.  “Advisers in the Most Trusted Advisers network outrank consumer brands like eBay, Dan Murphy’s and Emirates*,” Dr Tucker said.  “We are seeing scores in the advice industry that are higher than we have ever seen anywhere.”

Membership of the Most Trusted Advisers networkis by invitation only and is based solely on how participating advisers have been rated by their clients.  “The advisers we surveyed included the very best of the best from corporate partner advisory networks as well as those advisers who have, over the past three years, been finalists and winners of the AFA Adviser of the Year Award,” Dr Tucker said.

The survey is the Beddoes Institute’s Client Experience Survey, part of the Beddoes Institute’s Leading Practices Program. “Most Trusted Advisers deliver significantly better outcomes to their clients,” Dr Tucker said. “Their clients believe they are more on track with their financial plan and are financially better off as a result of working with their adviser compared to clients of other financial advisers.”

Most Trusted Advisers also rated higher on their qualifications, experience and technical skills than other advisers and have better interpersonal skills, Dr Tucker said. “We found that clients of Most Trusted Advisers are more satisfied and have stronger relationships with their advisers than clients of other advisers. We were also very pleased to discover that the advisers currently included on the Most Trusted Advisers network hail from different segments of the industry, including both institutional and non-institutionally aligned licensee groups.”

Advisers on the Most Trusted Advisers network will be assessed every 12-18 months and must re-qualify in order to continue to belong to the network. They cannot pay to belong.

Consumers can source an adviser in the network via the free Most Trusted Advisers App, which has now been approved by Apple. “The App allows consumers to in effect crowdsource an adviser they can trust. It’s a little bit like being able to talk to thousands of neighbours over the back fence about how to find an adviser they can trust.”

For advisers, the Most Trusted Advisers network formalizes client endorsement of their services. “Our message to advisers who are members and those who wish to be is – your clients trust you, now, via the Most Trusted Advisers network and app, others can too.”

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Richard Dunkerley

Zurich yesterday announced the launch of a communications mix simulator, designed to enable financial advisers to assess the effectiveness of their client communication strategy.

Designed in partnership with the Beddoes Institute, the net reach simulator is an interactive iPad app which calculates the effectiveness of a communications mix based on the generational profile of an adviser’s client base.

Based on research conducted with over 500 advice clients as part of the AFA Adviser of the Year judging process, the app enables advisers to quantify the efficacy of specific communication channels with different client generations, measured against criteria including reach and the impact on a client’s likelihood to refer and relationship strength.

Mr. Richard Dunkerley, Head of Marketing for Zurich’s Life & Investments business, said the power of the simulator lay in its simplicity of use and the variety of ways it could be applied to an adviser’s business.

“As well as quantifying the effectiveness of their current communications mix, the app also allows those advisers wishing to shift the profile of their client base, for example from Baby Boomers to Gen Y, to adjust their communications mix accordingly,” said Mr. Dunkerley.

“By simulating the impact on reach and relationship strength of adding a new channel, for example printed newsletters, the app allows advisers to make more informed decisions about whether the investment in that channel is warranted,” said Mr. Dunkerley.

AFA Adviser of the Year Jenny Brown has been involved in the beta testing of the simulator, and has already seen the value in putting her own practice under the microscope.

Ms Brown said “The simulator has broad applications across our business but has proved particularly valuable in tailoring a communications strategy for a new group of clients recently acquired from another business.

“It has also shown us which channels work best for events or campaigns with specific client segments, helping us maximise impact and minimise wastage”, Ms Brown said.

The release of the app coincides with the launch of Zurich’s Trax2Success roadshow, a national series of events showcasing practice management and business improvement insights from leading financial advisers and industry experts.

“As one of the last truly independent insurers in the market and a longstanding champion of advisers, we are committed to helping advisers create value for their customers, and this latest innovation is just another example of how we bring that commitment to life”, said Mr. Dunkerley.

The iPad version of the simulator is available exclusively from Zurich BDMs, with a desktop version available from the AFA.

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Advisers must tailor their advice to the different generations.

Financial advisers must tailor their communication strategies to suit the needs of each individual generation.

This is the central finding of Connecting with Clients, a white paper released today by the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) with the support of Zurich, based on research conducted by the Beddoes Institute.

AFA CEO, Brad Fox said advisers who communicate in line with their client’s preferred communication channels achieve higher client satisfaction levels, have stronger client relationships and have clients who are more likely to refer the adviser’s business to family and friends.

“Our key finding is that not all forms of communication are created equal,” Mr Fox said. “There are different preferences between different generations of clients and there are tangible performance outcomes for advice practices that get the mix right.”

Mr Fox said that as the advice arena moves into the digital age, there is a growing preference for digital forms of communication, particularly in the one-to-many space. “This helps the advice practice keep a more frequent relationship with clients, and we know from the paper that this is one of the keys to client satisfaction.”

Anther important finding is that personal emails are the preferred method of one-on-one communication for all generations. “That said, baby boomers like it less than the younger generations and Gen Y prefer it a little less than Gen X,” Mr Fox said.

All the generations also want to meet with their advisers face-to-face, however while Gen Y prefer catch-ups – for example over coffee – to more formal meetings at the adviser’s office, baby boomers want more formality.

“A baby boomer’s preference for informal catch‐ups, or even for formal meetings in their own home or workplace, is very low compared to other generations,” Mr Fox said.

The Beddoes Institute’s Dr Rebecca Sheils said the results suggest that a ‘more is more’ effect is consistent across ages, with clients in all three generations reporting higher satisfaction with practices that communicate via a larger number of channels.

“All generations want personal email communication to varying degrees but they also want their advisers to connect with them in other ways, including face-to-face,” she said.

Richard Dunkerley, Zurich’s Head of Marketing and co-author of the paper said the findings around social media usage closely mirrored figures previously released by Zurich showing exponential growth in the use of social platforms by advisers.

“The findings also make it clear that there is an increasing preference for people to access content through their mobile device,” he said, “and to the extent that apps help improve the user experience, we expect the development of adviser specific apps to be a massive growth area.”

Connecting with Clients reports on the communication preferences of a total of 530 clients of leading financial advice practices who participated in the Client Experience Survey (the Survey). The Survey is part of The Beddoes Institute’s Leading Practices Program, conducted in August 2013 on behalf of the 10 short‐listed advisers from the 2013 AFA Adviser of the Year Award.  A comprehensive list of 20 different communication methods currently used by financial advisers in their businesses was used in the Survey.

To optimize the value from this white paper to financial advisers, we have developed an online resource centre to help advisers put the findings of the white paper into practice. Among other things, it will provide updates, case studies, video interviews and an online course.

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