We recently held one of our PortfolioMetrix Young(er) Adviser roundtables on the topic of annual reviews.
Every client is meant to receive one, but how they are delivered varies hugely across advice firms and financial planners.
Annual reviews may seem straightforward on the surface, but according to our guest speaker experts – Melissa Kidd and Sasha Wakefield – they can easily be improved to boost client engagement and satisfaction.
Advisers tend to make five common mistakes during review meetings according to Kidd: focusing too much on the past, dry and impersonal communication, using too much jargon, talking too much and having no clear process to boost client engagement.
Even the word review suggests something backwards looking. Calling it a progress meeting has a much more positive feel to it.
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Kidd also suggests using more engaging questions to help create better conversations. For example: what would make this review a great use of your time? What do you remember from our last meeting? What’s changed since we last spoke? What else should I have asked?
These open questions broaden the conversation and let the client express their feelings and concerns more readily.
In fact, the last one is key. “What else?” It gives clients the space to talk about what’s on their mind outside the structure of the review. This often gives rise to the most interesting and insightful answers.
This also helps advisers gain an advantage in today’s battle to grab people’s attention amidst so many competing demands. Reviews should not be one-way traffic, a sentiment reinforced by the statistic that client satisfaction is correlated with how much they get to talk in a meeting.
While the annual review can centre around the report itself, it’s important to remember that it’s about your client relationship, not the paperwork
All of this comes back to engagement and giving clients some agency in the review. As Kidd says: “Attention is the new currency.”
While the annual review can centre around the report itself (that’s where all the information goes), it’s important to remember that it’s about your client relationship, not the paperwork.
Wakefield says it’s helpful to give clients a formal document, but it shouldn’t be filled with things the client already knows. Instead, focus on the important parts: objective, attitude to risk, their ongoing investment strategy, and fees.
You can also highlight the ongoing service you provide for them, how they can contact you and how you plan to keep them up to date.
This doesn’t have to be pages of written text. Wakefield says breaking it up with charts, graphs and infographics is welcomed by most clients (65% of people are visual learners).
This is particularly helpful for the one-in-four clients who may be vulnerable. Accessibility is essential, and aspects of the review like font size, the use of photos and videos, and print copies may be important things to consider for certain clients.
The standard annual review may mean something completely different to each adviser
All of this is reinforced by Kidd, who says: “People pay attention to what they care about.” So reassure clients and focus on what is most important to them, not just the boxes that need ticking.
The standard annual review may mean something completely different to each adviser. One might imagine talking to their client across their office desk, or sat in the client’s home, or doing it online over Zoom or Teams.
It’s important to decipher what the client wants from their annual review, and what the agenda should look like. There will be an element of tailoring the review to each client, but some things should absolutely be consistent across client reviews.
Broadly, they should all demonstrate four key values: confidence and clarity, progress towards goals, personal relevance (in terms of content and format of the meeting) and proactive insight.
Kidd emphasises it’s the results the clients care about – the meetings exist to address their financial concerns and their future. As she wisely points out, think about showing them the cake, rather than listing the ingredients.
While this meeting is about updating your client on their journey and making sure they’re getting value, you can also use this time to benefit your own business.
Nothing is set in stone when it comes to annual reviews. But, if you get it right, clients will be calling you asking to book their next one in
I’ve previously written about the power of the client referral – and annual review meetings are the perfect time to ask for one. Once you’ve evidenced your value in the meeting, it’s an opportune moment to ask for an introduction.
It’s clear from listening to the experts that nothing is set in stone when it comes to annual reviews. But, if you get it right, clients will be calling you asking to book their next one in, rather than you having to chase them to accept the meeting.
As Brett Davidson says in his “core principles of killer reviews”: get the process right and you have a client for life.
Ben Peele is MD of PortfolioMetrix
