Advisers slowly warming to Partner’s Customer Outcome Matrix

Advisers have been slow to embrace Partners Life's customer outcome matrix, but numbers are growing.

Tuesday, December 8th 2020, 3:23PM

Partners launched the matrix at the start of the year as a way of measuring key elements of the advice process to ensure good outcomes are consistently being delivered to customers.

Results will be tied to bonus commissions and will allow clients to provide detailed feedback around their experience with advisers.

Within the new COM, advisers will be rated on four positive criteria (initial advice, replacement advice, cancellation advice, and service advice) and two negative criteria (customer active complaints and non-disclosure and misstatement). Each of the positive criteria has an equal rating of 25%, which go towards the overall score.

Additional bonuses will be awarded advisers who score well on the positive points and have no bad feedback in the negative criteria.

The first results from the COM will be released to advisers soon, and there will also be a demonstration around the how scoring key works in real situations. Partner’s Life says that full implementation of the COM, including the bonus commission levels, will be commencing from July 1 next year.

Managing director Naomi Ballantyne says when the programme started the response rate was around 10% now it is up to 25-30% and she expects it to get up to the 50% by the time it fully kicks in.

She admits there will be some advisers who don't want their clients to respond to the survey.

She says if there is no response from clients then Partners cannot award points to the adviser.

While some concerns had been expressed around the company looking at the quality of advice, that is not what the matrix is about. "Judging advice isn't what it is about," she says.

"There is nothing to be scared of."

Ballantyne says now that numbers are increasing the company is getting some good data and she pleased with feedback from customers.

"Overall there has been very good responses from customers about the advice they have received."

The area which has created the most interest is around whether replacement business has been properly explained to clients.

"Advisers who move other people's clients often think they are invisible," she says.

The new matrix is providing more information and better visibility around what is happening.

Partner’s Life has suggested that advisers let clients know that a COM survey will be emailed after their policy is issued. The measurement of period of the COM is quarterly, therefore bonus rates will differ for each quarter.