Boston, MA, Dec. 5, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today DALBAR released the 2013 winners of its annual Mutual Fund Service Award. BlackRock, Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management, JPMorgan Funds, Lord Abbett, MainStay Investments, Primerica, and Putnam Investments emerged as the leaders in customer service in 2013.
For over two decades, DALBAR has conducted rigorous testing of service delivery and, each year identifies those mutual fund firms that were found to be above their peers in service to clients after a full year of comprehensive evaluation.
These award winning firms understand the importance of delivering superior service as can be seen from the evaluation results:
- When an investor contacts their call centers, the personnel
understand the power of first impressions. An immediate
appreciation and respect for the investor is demonstrated 91% of
the time. This compares to an industry average of 58%.
- More often than not, investors are not completely sure what
they need when they contact the call center. These firms are
superior in listening closely, asking questions to help facilitate
the discussion and then setting appropriate expectations by
recapping information and next steps. This is done in 82% of the
time compared to a significantly lower industry average of
34%.
- Consistency in delivering at a superior level. This award was first introduced 24 years ago and Putnam Investments has earned it 22 times, BlackRock 14 times, JPMorgan Funds and MainStay Investments 13 times, Lord Abbett and Primerica 11 times and Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management (formerly DWS Investments) has earned it 5 times.
"These award winning organizations understand that when all things are equal, service is a powerful differentiator and creates loyal customers as well as strong advocates," said Kathleen Whalen, Managing Director at DALBAR.
The Mutual Fund Service Award is based on systematic testing of customer service throughout the year. DALBAR conducts thousands of tests to measure how financial companies respond to the need for service from their customers. Companies that exceed a variety of industry benchmarks after one year of testing earn the DALBAR Mutual Fund Service Award.
DALBAR, Inc. is the financial community's leading independent expert for evaluating, auditing and rating business practices, customer performance, product quality and service. Launched in 1976, DALBAR has earned the recognition for consistent and unbiased evaluations of insurance companies, investment companies, registered investment advisers, broker/dealers, retirement plan providers and financial professionals. DALBAR awards are recognized as marks of excellence in the financial community.