R Factor Index Helps Advisers Grow Business

The R Factor combines the R Factor Index and practice management consulting to help advisers and financial services companies grow their business through increased referrals, according to a press release. It is also aims to help gain new assets from existing clients.

The R Factor Index baseline is the number reflecting where the adviser or company is at the moment. The index is then used to guage and improve business performance with best practice, according to Robinson & Associates, a consulting company that helps financial professionals improve their marketing methods and increase revenues.

The index uses a methodology that measures the degree to which advisers and financial companies have clients who are willing to take a risk and, of their own initiative, make a referral or spread positive word-of-mouth advertising about an adviser or company. Research found that the index correlated to future growth, according to the release.

“From a financial professional’s point of view, if you have clients who are willing to risk their reputation for you, then they are willing to recommend you to others and that ultimately creates referrals,’ says Martin R. Baird, CEO of Robinson & Associates. Baird explains that clients who take the risk and make a referral are acting as advocates for their adviser. More advocate clients create predictable results for growth and profitability, he said.

Best Practices

The R Factor best practices are leadership, program management, goals and metrics, incentives, action planning, improvement, and client and employee closure. Baird explains them as follows:

Leadership: Management must act as leaders to create a culture that clearly demonstrates how important it is to have clients who are willing to risk their reputation and make referrals.

Program management: Robinson & Associates partners with an adviser or financial services company to analyze the results of each R Factor Index survey, and then uses client feedback to decide which steps need to be taken to improve business operations and boost the index score.

Goals and metrics: Measurable goals and metrics are established and tied to a common goal to create incremental progress and profits.

Incentives: Employees are critical to providing the kind of service that turns clients into advocates. Incentive, reward, and recognition programs are implemented to spur them on.

Action planning: An action plan is crafted to determine who will do what, when they will do it, and why they will do it.

Improvement: Internal improvements are identified and implemented to create more clients willing to recommend an adviser’s services.

Client and employee closure: Employees will want to know how things are progressing. Keeping them informed gives them closure. As part of the system, clients are asked how they can be better served. Clients have closure when they are told how their input was used.More information is available at www.raresults.com/rfactor.