Pension Consultants’ Clients Review Its Services

Last Updated: January 01, 2013

To support our 6th guiding principle “Get Better. Get Better. Get Better.” we listened to the “voice of the client” in two ways in 2012: a focus group and an online survey. The focus group was conducted in May with a small group of clients that represented a broad spectrum of our client population: long-term and brand new clients, public and private companies, over $60 million and under $10 million in plan asset size, plan administrators and plan fiduciaries. In October, we sent an online survey to all of our plan sponsor clients. What they shared with us was reaffirming to our business model and guiding principles and it provided valuable insight into what our clients’ needs are so that we can continue to provide valuable services with the utmost professionalism. Here are the results:

Client Focus Group 2012 We held a focus group with clients about their experience with Pension Consultants. Clients were specifically asked how they would describe or talk about Pension Consultants if asked about us. We were pleased to receive positive feedback from the Focus Group, which reinforced that our clients find value in the fact that we are an independent office, that our staff have specialized skills and that we provide services with integrity and professionalism. When we provide advisory services, we have a fiduciary obligation to act in the best interest of the client. The focus group participants provided comments which allowed us to confirm that they understand our fiduciary role to act in the best interest of the client and that in carrying out our fiduciary obligations to each client, we are able to serve client’s needs and do not have an underlying or self-serving agenda. Client Feedback Survey 2012 Our clients’ primary, secondary and committee member contacts were asked to complete an anonymous, online customer satisfaction survey in October. This was the first time such a survey had been conducted. The bulk of the survey questions focused on client satisfaction for both Pension Consultants as a whole, as well as for individual teams. Overall, we were pleased with the results of the survey. We feel that the survey was an effective tool in gathering some feedback regarding the service issues that we believe are important in providing services to you, our clients. Via the survey, we had solicited feedback regarding the following:

how well we prepare and educate plan administrators and plan fiduciaries for their responsibilities to a retirement plan
how we are doing at carrying out the components of our mission statement and the guiding principles of our firm
how well each of our service teams are doing in providing solutions-oriented service; acting with professionalism; and serving in your best interest
how we compare with other consultants that provide services to you

Also, the survey included an inquiry about your satisfaction with the frequency of communications provided from our office and which type(s) of our communications you find most valuable. According to the results we received, clients appear satisfied with the frequency of communications from our office and indicated that they find value in the blog posts and newsletters provided from our office. We plan to continue to use blog posts and our newsletter as communication tools. In the spirit of perennially “getting better”, we welcome ideas and constructive criticism. If you have something you’d like to share with us, we’d love to hear from you. Just contact one of our team leaders at 417-889-4918 or submit a form and we’ll get back to you. PCI’s archived blog entries are dated, the rules and statutes referenced may have changed. The analysis or guidance within these blog entries may have become stale, dated, or no longer accurate. PCI will not update or change these entries to reflect the latest analysis or development.

WRITTEN BY

Pension Consultants, Inc.

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