Client satisfaction is essential for a successful financial advisory practice. While technical proficiency is what clients are supposedly “buying,” other factors also prove to be very important. Sponsored by Hartford Funds, the MIT AgeLab, directed by Dr. Joe Coughlin, conducted an analysis based on online reviews from Yelp (N = 499) and Angie’s List (N = 100), and identified key practices and characteristics clients value in financial advisors.

Topping the list is personalization. According to John Diehl, Senior Vice President of Strategic Markets, Hartford Funds, “Clients are showing a true interest in working with financial advisors who understand their individual needs, wants, goals and timetables, and take them into account when coming up with a financial plan.”

Right behind personalization is expertise and empathy. Expertise is defined as mastery of finances as well as up-to-date knowledge of the changing economy. As noted, this is supposedly what clients are looking for in their financial advisors. Financial advisors positioning themselves as experts should consider highlighting their abilities including using concrete examples.

An empathetic financial advisor is one who truly listens to clients, ensuring they feel understood and who demonstrate that they care. “Investors are real people, with real emotions,” explains Diehl. “They’re looking for a trusted advisor to guide them through the ups and downs of investing.”

There are four additional factors that proved important. Included here are:

• Education – providing the information in an understandable way so that clients can make informed decisions.
• Effectiveness – the ability to get meaningful results.
• Retail experience – the quality of the interactions with staff and the ability to easily connect with the financial advisor.
• Trust – confidence in the financial advisor’s decisions is in their best interest.

“I meet with many excellent advisors and teams every day and they often tell me that they can’t recall the last time that they lost a client for performance reasons, even though they say they’re not always on top. But they do share that when they lose a client, it’s often because they didn’t return a phone call on a timely basis or understand the sensitivity of a particular family situation,” says Diehl. “Expertise and outcomes alone are notsufficient, the financial advisor’s simultaneous orchestration of multiple soft and interpersonal skills, together with the financial advisors traditional expertise and capacity to deliver return on investment is what makes for a successful advisor/client relationship.”