Third Annual Client Survey Results (2011)

Below is an e-mail distributed to our clients about the results of our Third Annual Client Survey...

Here are the tabulated results of our Third Annual Client Survey. Thank-you for your business and thank-you for your feedback on the survey, if you were able to complete it. Our client base totals 110 and our response rate was a tremendous 55%.

The typical demographics of a survey respondent:

• 66-73 age bracket.
• Estimated average amount of investable assets of respondent: $1.3 million.
• Percent of respondents who retain Grunden to manage a majority of their assets: 93%.
• 15% have been clients 3 years or less; 40% have been clients between four and ten years; 45% have been clients 10+ years.

We broke the survey down into the same five main sections as we did in previous years. Questions were then tied to each section and weighted equally. We then tabulated the responses and determined how many respondents, as a percentage, gave Grunden Financial Advisory a favorable score of 4 or 5 (5 = very satisfied; 1= very dissatisfied). Below are the categories and how many respondents assessed Grunden’s performance positively (rated us as a 4 or 5, the top 2 rankings:

• Overall Satisfaction: 99% (100% in ’10 and 97% in ‘09)
• Advisor Service Satisfaction: 99% (98% in ’10 and 95% in ‘09)
• Investments: 91% (98% in ’10 and 88% in ‘09)
• Increase Business (referrals): 81% (85% in ’10 and 87% in ‘09)
• Communication: 95% (84% in ’10 and 85% in ‘09)

Below reports on the same five categories, however this time we’re only tabulating how many respondents gave us a 5 (the highest possible rating). This allows us to dig further and find out how many respondents are completely and totally satisfied in the following categories:

• Overall Satisfaction: 88% (88% in ’10 and 84% in ‘09)
• Advisor Service Satisfaction: 90% (86% in ’10 and 79% in ‘09)
• Investments: 69% (71% in ’10 and 60% in ‘09)
• Increase Business (referrals): 64% (66% in ’10 and 68% in ‘09)
• Communication: 86% (75% in ’10 and 75% in ‘09)

Some of the most valuable feedback was found in the comment section. Compliance regulations limit the type of comments we can include (cannot publish comments about your personal experience here); however, we can publish those with substance in practice management. Below is a small excerpt of those comments and suggestions:

• Production and sharing of an annual report for Grunden. Investor meetings/summit where financial/market information is shared with a forward orientation.
• Endeavor to know your clients so well that you would not stray outside their individual boundaries with your recommendations and advice.
• I understand that the portfolio I have is based on the “risk” that I choose, but I have so many friends that have advisors that are a little more active in moving money out of “risk” when they believe the market is going to take a large hit, or possibly sometimes being broader in thinking (example – gold). I’m really thinking off the top of my head…

One question asked was if you thought the market would be higher in one year or not. In 2009, 68% of you thought yes, the market will be higher one year from now (actual result: up 10.16%[1]). In 2010, 83% of you thought yes (actual result: up 1.14%[2]). In this year’s survey, 49% thought the market would be higher.

We also received feedback on the survey itself. Two common points: similar questions asked multiple times and multiple e-mail reminders. We plan on modifying our survey next year (though you still may see a couple similar questions…that is by design) and investigating ways to eliminate reminder e-mails to those who have already completed the survey.

One last item that you might find of interest: social media. We discovered Facebook was the favorite for connecting online with 57% of respondents using Facebook (41% check their account daily) and 50% are using LinkedIn (38% check their account daily). A distant third place was Twitter, in which 14% of respondents reporting having a Twitter account (only 10% checked this account daily).

We look forward to further reviewing the results in an effort to serve you better. If you have any specific questions or would like more details on the survey, please let us know.

Sincerely,

Grunden Financial Advisory, Inc.