Before asking for your first real reviews, consider the benefits of a dress rehearsal. We suggest putting yourself or a member of your team in the shoes of 2 to 3 clients and 1 non-client and writing mock reviews you can then evaluate using your new policies and procedures.
The SEC wants to ensure you’re not cherry-picking reviews from your favorite clients, so it’s important to ask all of your current clients for a review when first getting started.
Asking for Online Reviews in Your Everyday Business
Importantly, you’ll still need to avoid SEC cherry-picking concerns, so your online review policies and procedures should be updated to show how your ongoing approach for review collection is consistently applied across all clients.
Getting Started with Testimonials and Endorsements
We hope you found this article useful and we encourage you to read each of the articles in our SEC Marketing Rule Education Series for more ideas to compliantly attract new clients and grow your business with testimonials and endorsements.
Financial advisors embracing online reviews will lead the industry in attracting new clients throughout the historic transfer of wealth from Baby Boomers to Millennials over the next decade.