Fundcos delivering high level service to advisors, study reveals

(June 3, 2005) An ongoing study indicates that mutual fund companies are doing a good job serving advisors through their customer service representatives (CSRs).

“You’re dealing with an industry that is obsessed with delivering client satisfaction,” says Hugh Murphy, vice-president of financial services at Environics Research Group, which runs the Call Audit study.

“The financial advisor community is spoiled rotten in the area of client service, I believe. All of these companies have, for years, been doing their best to develop knowledgeable client service teams.”

The study involves 15 fund companies and about 4,500 phone calls between advisors and customers service representatives at fund companies over the past year or so.

Manulife Mutual Funds, a division of Elliott & Page, headed the list with an overall score of 86.4 out of a possible 100 points. “Elliot & Page is topping our rankings, but their scores are not statistically significantly different than AIM Trimark, AIC, Talvest or even RBC,” adds Murphy. “Those companies are all delivering, in our view, service at the top level in this industry. They’re doing a really good job.”

“RBC has done a remarkable job, because the level of service they were delivering a couple of years ago was quite mediocre” he notes. “They’ve done some good work.” RBC was the only bank firm involved in the Call Audit.

The companies that rise to the top of the study are those that have no weaknesses in any particular area, Murphy notes. “They have good training and development programs and some of the best CSRs move up to other constructive and creative roles. It’s kind of a breeding ground for knowledge within these companies.”

Still, not all fundcos are standouts when it comes to customer service. “Some firms have CSR reps that need to be fired,” says Murphy. “It’s shameful to say, but they are CSRs out there who shouldn’t be doing what they are doing. Then there are companies that just don’t have processes in place to ensure that they are delivering consistently quality service. And they don’t impress on their people how important client service is.”

The Environics study is multi-layered. The firm records and analyzes calls between advisors and CSRs, finding out how long it takes the advisor to get through to the rep, whether the CSR asks the right kind of questions and comes across sounding “cheery, not dreary,” says Murphy.

“These are fundamental things that would apply in just about any client service setting where you are dealing with a contact centre in a business-to-business relationship,” he says.

After the call is completed, advisors (who are paid a small stipend to participate) are asked a standard list of client satisfaction questions. “It’s completely subjective from the advisor’s perspective, but it is objective data because we can use that data to determine whether or not the advisor is being satisfied,” says Murphy.

However, the study does not look at industry knowledge of CSRs. “Whether or not the CSRs are delivering the right answers, those are not the things we are testing,” says Murphy, adding that his firm has been asked to survey CSRs to try and identify the fundamental distinguishing characteristics of those delivering the best service.

Filed by Doug Watt, Advisor.ca, doug.watt@advisor.rogers.com