Speaking At Least Once Per Year

Updated 10 months ago by VouchedFor Team

Speaking At least once per year is a Driver of Elevation Goal 3: Safeguarding clients’ best interests, mitigating risk

Data based on responses to the following question, asked in the Verified Client review form

“How often do you and [adviser] speak?”

Possible responses

Less than once a year
Once a year
Two to four times a year
More than four times a year

Speaking At Least Once Per Year Score

Proportion of respondents answering “Less than once a year”

Distribution of responses to Speaking At Least Once Per Year

Why do we ask about Speaking At Least Once Per Year Score?

Clients who speak to their adviser at least once a year may not be getting good value for money, and may not have been through the necessary annual review process.

How to improve your score:

Regular touch points

Follow up from all meetings with a communication (client portal, email or letter) outlining the key concepts and agreed actions. This re-enforces what has been said in the meeting and is a sign to your client you care that they understand.

Celebrate key events. Schedule greeting cards for birthdays, Christmas, or key life events like retirement. Whilst it can be seen as a bit cheesy, people do value small things like greeting cards as it shows you’ve remembered what’s important to them.

Checking in. Give clients a call with no agenda other than to see if they’re OK and if they need anything or have any questions. This makes you more accessible and promotes advocacy as your client feels you really care about their well being.

Events. You may want to invite your clients to an event. This could be a wine tasting, VIP entry to a cultural event, a box at a show or a talk from a fund manager. Some advisers gain massive advocacy by making their clients feel special from inviting them to such events.

Newsletters. Consider sending out a regular newsletter. You can either write your own or buy one in from a third party. There are several financial services marketing companies who provide and distribute pre-prepared newsletters for a small fee. Newsletters could be on financial or property market updates, educational on a specific topic or just to let them know what’s going on at your firm.

Make it relevant. Don’t spam clients with irrelevant information. Too many or irrelevant communications are annoying and likely to turn clients off. Keep the information relevant and interesting, and the frequency appropriate for your average/target client.

Reinforce what you do for your client

Explain the journey. Remind your client what you do for them each year. Many clients won’t fully understand the work that goes into providing ongoing service so let them know.

Make it visual. If you have time logging software, send a breakdown of the time spent on each client with the annual review report.

Ask for feedback

Ask for feedback from your clients on the frequency and content of communications. This is useful for three reasons:
1) You’re giving your client the opportunity to contact you, so if they have an issue, this is the perfect excuse for them to get in touch.
2) You’re also providing an opportunity for your client to tell you that they’ve not read, or even received, your communication.
3) If they have read your communication, you can then use their feedback to adjust future communications to make them more engaging, timelier and improve readability.

It’s important you always have up to date information on your client so you can continually monitor that the products and services they have are correct to meet their needs. Make time to reach out to them; it’s more effective to speak to them regularly than deal with bad outcomes and future complaints!