Are you being served properly?

It has probably not escaped your notice that voting is under way for the Financial Adviser Service Awards 2008.

Service is arguably the most important industry benchmark in these days of commodity pricing and me-too products. As one of the instigators of the Service Awards way back in the early 1990s it has been hugely satisfying for me to see the awards grow to become the accolade every provider worth its salt wants to win but has it achieved its original aims? I wonder sometimes. Service remains a bugbear for many IFAs and rarely a month goes by without advisers complaining about missing commission payments, lost policies or just bad administration.

There is still plenty of room for improvement but despite the flaws, the Service Awards have become a hugely positive factor in influencing service standards to intermediaries. One unique element is that behind the awards is a comprehensive survey, rating all providers good and bad. It is this "stick and carrot" approach which marks out the Service Awards. Providers are determined to do well but equally worried about doing badly in the ratings because of the potential impact on business. It is worth a quick look back in time to the roots of the Service Awards and why they have become so important. In the early days of the IFA sector in the late 1980 and early 1990s, when IFAs were just beginning to emerge as important distributors, providers were simply not ready for the wave of business IFAs were throwing at them. Service suffered as a result.

Financial Adviser ran a campaign called Admin Crack-Up to highlight the problems and received an avalanche of mail. Soon after, the Service Awards were launched to encourage providers to improve their service to IFAs. Fast-forward to today and the landscape has change hugely, although the criteria for the Service Awards has remained largely the same. The methodology has stood the test of time. Much else has altered, however. In the early days, most policy processing was still done by hand and paper processing was the norm, there was no offshoring and most IFAs expected routine visits from broker consultants. It was very different to today's online, fast turnaround service and yet I have no doubt that if I asked 10 IFAs now to define what makes good service the answers would be very similar to those of 20 years ago. IFAs expect to receive good service and believe they have every right to do so. Without them and their steady introduction of new business many providers would go bust.

Standards

One question I am often asked is what service standards impress IFAs? I think it boils down to three things. First, is "care and attention". Providers need to treat each new business proposal as if it really matters. Providers who forget that behind every single piece of new business is a client to whom the purchase matters will ultimately fall down. Second, it is "honesty" when there is a cock up. Things do go wrong. Providers who put their hands up straight away and admit mistakes will earn the long-term respect of advisers. Correcting the errors quickly is also important. Third is what I call "the reality gap".