Call of Duty

Failure to return phone calls was the most common reason for high-net-worth (HNW) individuals to leave their financial services company.

The majority of HNW investors (defined as having investable assets of $500,000 or more) are loyal. Nearly a third claim they would rarely if ever switch firms and 5% claim they would regularly switch firms, according to a SpectremAdvisor.com survey.

What is the best way to keep them? It is as simple as picking up the phone. A whopping 90% of surveyed HNW individuals rated returning phone calls as a primary driver of loyalty. That number even beat out providing good returns on investments (80%) and keeping fees and expenses low (74%). Providing someone to contact if their adviser is not available was also an important driver for 80% of survey respondents.

Generally, HNW clients expect quick callbacks from their advisers. The largest number of HNW clients said that one to three hours is an acceptable time to wait for their adviser to return their calls. According to the results, only 13% think it is acceptable to wait more than 24 hours and, at the other end, only 14% set the bar to one hour or less.

How long will they wait? Similar to the results of what they find acceptable, 30% of HNW clients will wait one to three hours. Almost one-fourth (23%) will only wait an hour, the survey says.