When Bev Evans, an investment advisor with Richardson GMP Ltd. in Mississauga, Ont., wanted to get client feedback, she knew a survey wasn’t going to be enough. She required detailed answers to specific questions about what her clients wanted and how she was meeting their needs. So, Evans set up a client advisory board to help her, not only to meet business goals but also to provide better overall service to her clients.

“It is really important to get feedback directly from your clients,” Evans says, “because it ensures that your client relationships will continue to be meaningful.”

A CAB consists of a select group of individuals from among your client base. These are clients who are willing to meet on a regular basis and provide you with specific feedback on your business and future initiatives.

“You should include clients that are similar to the type of individual that you are targeting for your practice,” says April-Lynn Levitt, a certified financial planner and coach with the Personal Coach in Calgary. “A lot of the time, advisors want to get feedback about what is working well or what clients like. And setting up a board can provide all of that.”

If, for example, you are thinking of changing your logo or rebranding your practice, Levitt says, a CAB can function as a focus group to indicate how the entire client base might respond to the change. Other issues a CAB might comment on include changing your monthly statements, a new financial planning service, launching a new website or introducing a new technology.

Clients tend to provide different feedback when they are in a group setting than when they are alone.

“Asking your clients how they are doing or for their opinion on something after an individual meeting doesn’t have the same effect,” says Levitt, who works with a number of financial advisors in setting up CABs. “There seems to be a different dynamic in a group environment.”

Setting up a CAB can be extremely rewarding if the project is well planned, says Levitt. There are a number of ways advisors can conduct these events, she says, and you should set out with a plan before putting a CAB together.

“The best way to be a better advisor is to ask the people you serve how you can be a better advisor,” says Kenn Springer, a financial advisor with Winnipeg-based Investors Group Inc. in Vancouver who has been running his CAB (which he refers to as a “client advisory counsel”) for the past 10 years. Springer, who has been in the financial advisory business since 1991, serves more than 175 client families, most of them retired or about to retire. He convenes his CAB twice a year and has kept the number of participants at eight clients, usually four couples who fit his target demographic group and with similar investment portfolios.

“When I am approaching people about joining the counsel, I realize that it involves a time commitment on their part,” Springer says. “I really try to let them know exactly how the event is run, what type of feedback I am looking for and what they will get out of it.”

Springer’s CAB meetings are usually casual conversations over lunch. To begin, he explains in detail the day-to-day process of his practice, including the roles of his assistants.

“Many clients,” Springer says, “don’t know what it is we do when we are not sitting in the meeting with them.”

From that point, clients start to open up and provide direct feedback about his practice, what is working well for them and what needs to be improved.

Evans, for her part, set up her first CAB last year. That group consists of six clients who provide a good sample of her ideal client and her core client base. Evans, who runs a fee-based practice for 75 client families, focuses on helping seniors and their families navigate the challenges of later-life transitions. While she maintains a close-knit relationship with many of her clients and their family members, Evans wants to get specific feedback about how she could improve the service she provides and find out whether she needs to add any services to her practice.@page_break@”After using our first [CAB],” Evans says, “we feel that we now have a good understanding of what the expectations, needs and preferences of our more mature clients are.”

This year, Evans will be adding a second CAB to target the younger clients in her business, those in the 40- to 60-year-old age group.

The following are issues to consider when setting up a CAB:

> Number Of People

The size of your CAB is an important decision. A group of six to 10 is usually recommended. It is also a good idea to rotate new members into your CAB every couple years for a fresh perspective.

Evans originally had contacted seven clients who fit her ideal profile. She included a mix of both male and female clients; a range of ages; professionals and retirees; and widowed, married and single individuals. In the end, six clients were able to commit to the board.

> Frequency

Levitt recommends holding your CAB events quarterly to semi-annually, depending on the availability of your clients.

“The groups that I have seen work well are those for which the advisor is consistent in holding the meetings on a regular basis,” she says. “For some [clients], a quarterly event might be a bit much; twice a year allows for a more realistic commitment level.”

Evans has set up her board for an annual commitment, but she urges board members to contact her with feedback throughout the year.

> Who Will Facilitate The Meetings?

Bringing in an outside facilitator not only allows Evans to listen more intently but also takes pressure off clients who may be a bit guarded when providing feedback directly to their advisor.

“Advisors get slightly different feedback [when employing a third-party facilitator], even though they are still sitting in the room,” says Levitt. “It can make a real difference.”

Guest speakers, mutual fund company representatives or industry experts all can be used to facilitate an event.

> Type Of Event

A CAB can be conducted at a breakfast meeting, a working lunch, a formal dinner event or even a full-day activity.

“It can be as simple as providing bagels and coffee and having an hour-long discussion in the morning,” Levitt says, “or as elaborate as a day of golf.”

Take into consideration your ideal clients’ schedules. For Evans and her core CAB, a two-hour lunch event has worked well, because many of her clients have free afternoons. Evans’ next event will be a more formal dinner, to accommodate her younger clients’ schedules.

“The lunch or dinner also provides an opportunity for me to say ‘Thank you’ to those clients who have participated,” Evans says. “It is nice that they get something in return.”

Other events that can be incorporated into a CAB meeting include vineyard tours, golf tournaments and adventure activities such as horseback riding or whitewater rafting.

“These type of events can also benefit the relationship with the clients who are participating because you are deepening your own relationship with them,” Levitt says. “They are feeling part of a group and part of a bigger picture, so that is really powerful in a practice.”

> Following Up

After your CAB event, it is important to communicate with the board members about what came out of the meeting. Springer sometimes sets up a follow-up meeting or telephone call to recap or probe further on an issue.

Communicating the findings of the meeting to the rest of your clients, says Levitt, can also be beneficial. Mentioning the CAB meeting in an email or a newsletter shows both your CAB members and your other clients that you have made an effort to listen to their concerns. IE