Show Your Competence
Even though clients assume you will be competent, you still need to seize every opportunity to justify your clients' belief in your competence. ---John J. Bowen Jr.
Advisers managing investments for affluent clients are expected to be competent (defined as knowledgeable and experienced). So for this reason, even the investors who were very dissatisfied with their advisers were likely to rate them fairly high in the area of competence; 80.6% of very dissatisfied clients gave their advisers credit for money management expertise, which is nearly identical to the 80.9% of very satisfied clients who did so. Very dissatisfied clients did rate their advisers somewhat lower in the areas of confidentiality and knowledge about investments, but they still gave them relatively high marks. Even though clients assume you will be competent, you still need to seize every opportunity to justify your clients' belief in your competence. Reprints of articles you have written, for example, will help reinforce your affluent clients' belief that you have the experience and knowledge to help them achieve their financial goals.
-John J. Bowen Jr. is president and CEO of CEG Worldwide, LLC, in World-Class Service
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