VisionQuest says client surveys provide important pointers to improvement. Wealth managers and private-client investment advisors are shy about soliciting client feedback. This is understandable given the common view that no news is good news. But clients have ways of making themselves heard anyway -- at worst when they're already set to pull the plug -- so moving to gauge client sentiment proactively can save a firm time, trouble and money and, if handled right, aid a firm in achieving "trusted advisor" status.

Very few

Only 2% of RIAs and independent broker-dealer affiliates solicit client feedback in a systematic fashion, according to Tiburon Strategic Advisors , a Tiburon, Calif.-based consultancy to financial-service providers.

In addition to a natural reluctance to invite criticism, many advisors say they're simply too busy to formulate, distribute and analyze client input. And in some cases, broker-dealer affiliates are prohibited from conducting surveys, either because their platform providers have regulatory concerns about clients putting complaints down in writing or because they're reluctant to share information with third-party survey providers.

But for firms that opt to add client surveys to their practice-management toolsets, there are ways to get out of shouldering the burden of compiling and sifting through surveys. Moss Adams, a Seattle-based accounting and consulting firm conducts client-sentiment surveys on behalf of wealth advisories. Online options -- perhaps a better choice for smaller firms -- include Chapel Hill, N.C.-based Client Opinions and Omaha, Neb.-based Quantum Market Research. VisionQuest Wealth Management, a Raleigh, N.C.-based advisory to high-net-worth individuals and families and an outsourced CFO to closely held businesses, has conducted two client surveys since it was founded late in 2005. Yes, definitely

From a response rate of about 60% of its client base of to its 2007 online survey, VisionQuest got a "Yes, definitely" response from 100% of its clients to the question "Would you recommend VisionQuest to a friend or colleague that needs of wealth management advice?" -- an improvement over the 88% positive response from clients to the same question in 2006. VisionQuest and its founder and CEO Steve Peters, one of the architects of SEI's Wealth Network, sets a lot of store in its ability to move past matching clients' goals with their financial plans to tailor investment and legacy planning to meet their core values. "Other firms don't take a personal interest in the client and the client's family's needs," one VisionQuest client writes in the survey. Another's comment reflects and similar sentiment. "They really seem to get to the personal level to help you meet you needs." Clients who said they would recommend VisionQuest to others were also invited to pick three reasons why they would do so. Just over a quarter -- 25.8% -- chose " VisionQuest provides a broad range of services that meet my needs," 21.6% chose "VisionQuest provides a customized approach to wealth management" and " 14.4% chose "VisionQuest cares about my family and me." Wider focus

"VisionQuest has a knowledgeable team," was a top-three pick of reasons to recommend the firm for 13.4% of clients who responded to the survey. Though on the surface a favorable data point, Peters sees its ranking -- coupled with the 93.1% of respondents who view "confidence [in], comfort [with], and credibility of Steve Peters" as either "critical" or "very important" to their relationship with the firm -- as a call to action. "That kind of personal identification is understandable with a new firm like ours where I'm focused on bringing in business, but the message is that our success may be too dependent on me," says Peters. The solution, adds Peters, is to make other team members more visible to clients. (A small illustration: the first name in VisonQuest's voicemail directory used to be Peters'. Now its Jessie Hrivnak, who joined the firm as director of client service late last year.) In addition to his concern about the scalability of VisionQuest's human capital, Peters sees process scalability as vital to sustaining "the quality of our people, processes and solutions for our clients" -- a challenge he says he hopes to meet by engaging "new partners and technology solutions" to help the firm maintain high levels of client service as it grows. -FWR

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