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Providing customer service that brings you client referrals can be made a lot easier if you try and see things from the client’s side, Francis Wilkins writes
Brokers are generally good communicators – they need to be. After all, they are dealing with clients in the midst of making the most important financial decisions of their lives. Understanding their needs and goals is paramount, and that only comes from honest and well-informed conversation.
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The quality of the communications with stakeholders such as BDMs can also mean the difference between a business that runs smoothly and one that encounters barriers and frustrations at every turn.
If the processes and communication skills of the stakeholders themselves are not what they should be then this becomes a challenge but it’s one that, unfortunately, a broker will need to meet head on.
There is, however, a tool that can enhance your communication skills immensely and it involves putting yourself in your client’s place.
To foster good client relations – and to maximise your chances of being referred to new clients – the client needs to know they understand their situation, needs and goals.
Draw on experience
As a broker, you are also a consumer yourself. Like all of us, you are on the ‘receiving end’ of customer service experiences every day. These might include buying your morning coffee, attending a team meeting, purchasing something online, being put on hold for a customer service representative (while hearing that “your call is important”) or paying a fine on a library book. Each of these in their own way involves customer service.
Ask yourself: was that a good experience? If so, why? Is that how I like to be treated? If not, why not?
Keep your customer service radar on all the time and you will quickly accumulate a list of clearly definable behaviours that contribute to or hinder good customer service. Which of these do you display when working with a client?
Live their life
As a broker, you’re an expert. You know the lending market and industry inside out. You understand the issues that characterise major, non-major and non-bank lending. You are business savvy and well acquainted with developments in the financial world.
Your client, however, comes from a completely different perspective. They’re after a home loan not helping to provide one. To put yourself in their position, read the books and magazines they might be reading to develop their investment strategy. Try to imagine what might seem scary to them. Ask yourself how they might respond to financial news.
Most important, ask yourself whether there are things that are run of the mill to you but which might be far from that in the case of your client. Being able to explain an unfamiliar concept is a great way to put a nervous client at ease and establish a trust-based relationship.
Look for feedback
This is where the rubber hits the communications road. You need to try and put yourself in your client’s shoes, but there’s only one way to find out whether you’re actually doing so – ask.
Seeking feedback – both informally, at meetings, regular catch-ups and phone calls and formally, via a client survey – is the best way to get an accurate assessment of the services you provide.
If a client says they would have liked you to have spent more time on reviewing the documents they needed to sign, then that’s valuable feedback from someone who’s confident enough to come back with a candid response. They’ve let you know how they see you and that’s something you can take into subsequent meetings with other clients.
Use what you learn
Seeing things from the client’s side is only of use if it allows you to improve the way you do things and your customer service proposition. It might help to actually write down your observations so you have a check list of things to work on.
Putting yourself in the client’s shoes might sound simple or obvious, but it’s a practice that can pay valuable dividends as you grow your business.
