Clearly defining your service offering
When reading your brochure or website, a prospective client should be able to immediately understand what business services you offer and what you are promising to do for them. You need to make it absolutely clear what advice services you will undertake on their behalf. This includes what you are promising to provide under each service, how much each service costs and what the client can expect by way of outcome.
Consider each part of your service in turn and ask yourself these questions:
What do we really value as a firm?
What do we actually do in each part of the service?
What is it that makes us different, if anything?
What outcome do we promise the client?
Do clients understand what we’re not promising?
To what extent can I guarantee the client outcome?
How important is the promised outcome to the client?
What happens if we don’t deliver on our promise?
Successful firms regularly undertake an audit of their client-facing materials and conversations to check that their intent is matched by their outcome. It is simple to conduct. Take each part of your client communication, break it down and run it through the test below. Are your marketing materials aligned with your delivery capability?
For help on how to gather client feedback, see the section on building client loyalty.
What do our marketing materials say? | What do we mean when we say that? | What do our clients think we mean? |
|---|---|---|
... | ... | ... |
How should you make your offering?
You don’t need to offer the same service to each of your clients. Successful firms are disciplined in only offering those services that a client values and is prepared to pay for. Segmenting your clients to understand their needs and then determine if a service “promise” can be delivered in a cost-effective manner is good practice. Read our article, “Effective segmentation” for a full guide into how to carry out this process with your client base.
Some companies offer a ‘one size fits all’ approach to service whilst others choose to segment their offering. Another popular approach is providing tiers of service, for example, gold, silver and bronze. But don’t believe that the more you promise your client, the more valuable they will consider your service. Conversely, the longer the list of deliverables, the less credible it becomes. It is better to produce a short list of defined outcomes rather than a long list of possibilities.
Accumulating a history of kept promises is the way to build trust with your client, so make your promises simple and attainable and keep them, every time.
The importance of review
Successful advisory firms place a significant emphasis on the review process, and for good reason. For one, demonstrating your ongoing service for the fee your business charges is now a regulatory requirement. But, in addition, successful practices offer more than a portfolio review – they offer a “goal attainment” review – so that the adviser can reappraise the client’s goals and aspirations, making any necessary adjustments to the investment plan. Clients who feel they are making progress towards their goal are more likely to remain loyal to their adviser.
Let’s consider the best way to put together your client promise.
Guide to creating a clear client promise
Trust and transparency form the backbone of creating a long-term client relationship. Both require a clear value proposition, and it is a good approach to formulate this as soon as possible. With a value proposition, you can tailor your offering to your clients and therefore simplify the exchange.
There are six steps to making sure your client promise is clear and understandable.
Define your service offering through a clear and comprehensive consulting philosophy
This should clearly state what you do for your clients and the advantages your service offers. Through careful formulation and presentation of this, you can set yourself apart from other advisers and achieve a lasting impact.
Formulate your concept in an easily understandable way
For your value proposition to work, your clients need to understand it. Ensure that you define the individual steps of your process, creating structure for you and your clients, transparency and, subsequently, trust.
Tailor your services to the wishes of your clients
Explain your planning resources and services to your clients and clarify your value proposition. This way, your clients can understand more precisely how you can help them achieve their investment goals. When listing your services, be guided by the wishes and goals of your clients and adapt your offering accordingly.
Be transparent about your fees
Some advisers find it difficult to talk about fees but remember that transparency is an important prerequisite for a trusting relationship. Present your fee structure clearly and include a detailed explanation of your services. If you prefer, you could allow your client to familiarise themselves with your fee structure in advance of your meeting. This way you can still actively involve them in the conversation.
Let your client know who you and your team are
A personal profile gives you the opportunity to introduce yourself and your team members. Mention your professional experience and industry-specific qualifications, but also say something about yourself and your co-workers, and perhaps your hobbies or social commitments.
Now you have the tools to develop your client promise, let’s look at how to make it the most compelling for your client.
Defining a compelling client promise
When developing a clear and well-defined promise, it is good practice to focus on these key areas:
Only promise what you know you can deliver: control the outcome
Don’t make your promise based on an outcome you cannot control – for example, the performance of your chosen asset classes. In a turbulent market, performance-based promises can quickly and easily destroy your credibility.
Focus on your client’s needs
Your service promise should focus unfailingly on your client’s real intent and everything you do should be a means to the client’s end. Use language to convey this to your client, relating your actions explicitly to their promise – for example, stating, “As promised, here is your quarterly review statement…” Perceptions are built up by repeated experiences, so by continually exceeding service expectations by delivering on your promises you will create powerful client loyalty.
Ensure your client trusts the whole business, not just you
For your business to be truly successful, your client needs to trust the whole business, not solely you as an individual. This means that, should the business be sold, or you change roles in-house, the client value remains. There should be flawless, systemised execution throughout the company to keep the service promise.
Beware of overpromising
It is tempting to believe that the more the client pays the more you should promise and deliver. Best practices, however, work on ensuring that they keep their promises to a credible minimum. Create short, achievable promises, and exceed these. Your clients will put trust in your brand from an accumulation of your successes, not your failures.
Understand your implicit promises
Like all professionals, your own code of conduct will contain elements that your clients may take for granted. For example, you will always act in the client’s best interests, will maintain your skill and knowledge and will be trustworthy. Whilst you don’t need to overplay them, these values form the foundation of trust your client places in you, and so they are still important.
Summary
For a client promise to be effective, it needs to be achievable and, most importantly, it must be kept. Breaking your promise to your client will result in losing their trust and damaging your relationship. Only offer what you know you can deliver and focus on your client’s needs to ensure that your promise offers what they need. Make a straightforward promise, ensure your client understands the offer and the benefit to them, and then, unfailingly, keep it.
Action points
To understand how you may best add value to your clients, consider the strengths and weaknesses of your firm. Make a list of your business competencies, including your clients’ perceptions, the quality of your service delivery and the performance of your systems and processes.
Using this list, carry out a ‘gap analysis’ to determine missing elements in the services expected by your clients and your firm’s ability to make a promise around those needs.
Considering the missing elements, look at methods you could use within your firm to plug these gaps and ensure a complete provision of this service. Do you need to hire new staff or provide training to existing staff? Perhaps the gap could be fixed by upgrading your technology.
Read our article, “Building client loyalty” for more areas to consider within this aspect of your client relationship.
Client value proposition checklist
Use this checklist as a tool for you to use to ensure that your company’s CVP effectively communicates the unique benefits and value that you offer to your clients.
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