The real challenge is to determine what your clients want to read. One effective solution for some firms has been to develop advisory boards comprising a cross section of clients. Such boards might meet once or twice a year to review communication tools and techniques used in the past by the firm. More important, the firm can ask the clients what they want and what they need. Such events could even be fun and enlightening for those chosen, because it gives them a special status as clients within the firm and an opportunity to meet in more relaxed environments such as restaurants and banquet rooms.

Another way for advisors to find out what clients want is to have them respond to surveys. Survey Monkey (www.surveymonkey.com) provides a simple and inexpensive questionnaire (if there are 100 or fewer responses, it is free). Constant Contact (www.constantcontact.com) offers similar surveys and online polls.

The advantage of a brief survey is the ease of use. It takes only minutes for you to design and send out one through e-mail. The disadvantage, though, is that clients are typically besieged with such questionnaires and are not likely to respond. Thus, the demographics coming back could be skewed if there are a limited number of respondents.

Whichever technique or combination of techniques you use (advisory boards or surveys), taking the time to find out what your clients need and want in the way of communications will benefit you and them in the long run and is worth taking the time to do it right.

David L. Lawrence, RFC, ChFE, AIF, is a practice efficiency consultant and is president of EfficientPractice.com, a practice consulting firm based in San Diego, Calif. (www.efficientpractice.com). The Efficient Practice offers an advisor network and a monthly newsletter.

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