1-Grow your 401k Business

Three Ways to Grow Your 401k Business

by Sharon Pivirotto | Follow Me on Twitter Here

3 Ways to Grow Your 401k Business

Listen to the Podcast episode of this topic here.
Or listen on YouTube here.

Today I want to share with you 3 ways to grow your 401k business.

Now in any industry, there are a few ways that you can do this. And it’s pretty much the same, whether you’re selling financial planning, widgets investments, books consulting, and these ways are 1) get more customers 2) increase your prices or 3) add more products and services to your offering.

1 – Increase # of Customers

Let’s look at the first one – growing the number of clients you service.

So if you can easily service 150 financial planning clients right now, and you want to grow your business, you can increase the number of customers to 200 or 250. That’s going to bring in more revenue and that’ll help grow your business and increase your bottom line.

Getting new customers though isn’t always that easy. It requires a very strategic marketing plan, which is why I highly recommend you read the previous article posted on How to Plan (and Hit) Your 401k Busines Goals, where we talk about planning for the different goals that you might have for your business and how to actually create action steps that are going to help you reach those.

2 – Increase Your Fees

The second thing is to increase your fees (charge more for the services you offer).

Now, maybe, you know exactly where your fees comes in in line to your competitors. Maybe you don’t, if you haven’t benchmarked your own consultant fees, I highly recommend that you do that. A couple of providers that offer consultant fee benchmarking data include:

Fiduciary Decisions (advisor fee benchmarking resource)
Fi360 (a Broadridge Company) (advisor fee benchmarking resource)

So increasing your fees is one way that you can grow your business. Hopefully you’re not part of the race to the bottom when it comes to fees and you’re not underpricing yourself just to win business, but I would highly recommend that you look at your fees and understand what your competition is charging so that you can understand where there might be room for you to modify your fee structure.

3 – Offer Additional Products and Services

The third thing is to increase the number of products that you offer.

An example for this in the financial industry is if you’re not regularly talking about life insurance or any type of insurance with your clients, that’s something that you might want to include in the conversation.

Looking back on my Edward Jones days, it seems to me like insurance was and actually a pretty easy sell. And the commissions were actually pretty good as well. So insurance is an example of adding and offering to your product line.

If you’re already doing that, another thing you might want to consider doing (and I wrote about this in a blog post called the Growth Path vs the Guru Path), is packaging up your knowledge and selling it. Maybe it’s offering a budgeting course, or a book, or it’s offering live or digital courses specifically for plan sponsors that you charge a fee for (think fiduciary training).

There are a lot of ways that you could package up your knowledge and your time and add it as a different type of a product or service to your offering (if your firm and broker dealer allows it).

How Will You Grow Your Business?

I hope that this information helps as you consider whether you have the resources to take on new business, increase your number of clients, or whether increasing your product line makes the most sense.

[PDF DOWNLOAD] Investment Committee Starter Kit

by Sharon Pivirotto | Follow Me on Twitter Here

Download the Investment Committee Starter Kit

Information on what plan sponsors need to know and do when setting up an Investment Committee (with sample committee templates)

Helping your clients set up an investment committee to clearly define and document a process of plan oversight is an effective way to help them limit the liability associated with managing a 401(k) plan, and provide tremendous value.

There are a lot of great articles on how to build a strong 401k committee – but I wanted to make it easy for you to explain to plan sponsors what to do and how to do it, so I put together this 18-page Investment Committee Starter Kit. It’s not a big long comprehensive overview of fiduciary responsibilities…

It is a short, easily digestible, instant-value giveaway that you can use all together, or as 10 individual handouts – that’s up to you.

Besides the bookends (the cover and the last page where your contact information would go), here’s what’s included in this downloadable PDF:

5 Sample Forms Including:

Committee Bylaws
Fiduciary Appointment & Acknowledgment Letter
Sample Meeting Agenda
Sample Meeting Minutes
Investment Policy Statement

5 One-Pagers Covering the Following Topics:

Why Set up a Committee
Oversight by Plan Size
10 Steps to Build a Successful Committee
Common Questions about Setting up a Committee
Document & Regulation Overview

Here are just some ways you can use this download:

> To grow your business – if you’re looking for ways to add value when you meet with prospects – or something to get your foot in the door – give them this investment committee starter kit – or even just one or two of the educational one-pagers found within, or any one of the sample template forms…

> To service your clients – if you want to add more value to your existing relationships, this set of documents will help you add another layer of value to your service model

> To bullet proof your book – your small plans may not be ready for a full-blown committee yet, but at some point they will be, and if they don’t know you can help them with setting up a committee – you’ve left yourself open to your competition coming in and discussing this with them

> To move up-market – if you only work in the micro plan market and want to move up market, having this resource can open doors to plans ready to set up a committee as they often outgrow their current “services” and want someone to proactively discuss next steps with them

> To generate leads online – if the only thing you have on your website is an opt-in form asking people to “subscribe to our newsletter” – change that to – “download the free committee starter kit” and you’ll start to get qualified leads by exchanging something of value with an email address of someone that wants information on services you offer

Note – the Investment Committee Starter Kit is completely free.

Click here for Instant Access to the Committee Starter Kit

Note: This kit can be used as is with no editing, just add a final page with your contact information.

You’ll have an option to grab the fully editable PowerPoint version (for less than $50) making it super-simple to customize if you do want to make changes, update the design to match your brand, etc.. If you do that, here are some suggestions for customizing this investment committee kit to make it your own:

1. Consider changing the title to: “401k Plan Fiduciary Kit” or “Retirement Plan Committee Resource” or “401k Committee Kit” or “401k Committee Template Pack” or “Committee Resource Kit” or… keep it the same – that’s up to you!

2. Swapping out the book “Best Practices for Investment Committees” referenced on one page of the kit (since it is no longer in publication as of 10/22/22) with the free DOL Guide “Meeting Your Fiduciary Responsibilities” or fi360’s “Prudent Practices for Investment Stewards” or… any other book you think Plan Sponsors should read.

Click here for Instant Access to the Committee Starter Kit

The Growth Path vs. the Guru Path

by Sharon Pivirotto | Follow Me on Twitter Here

“…Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

-Robert Frost

There’s so much meaning in this famous Robert Frost poem. I can’t help but think of it whenever I think about the future or make plans for the direction in which to take my business.

Being a financial advisor doesn’t mean you’re stuck in a single path. You have choices – but only if you can imagine them and see a clear path to achieve them.

Most advisors are on what I call the GROWTH path, but I’d also like you to consider a different path – the GURU path.

Whatever path you’re on – I’ve outlined some strategies below to give you a clearer vision for how you might proceed on that path.

THE GROWTH PATH

Depending on what your vision for your business looks like, you might end up on the growth path – where you’ll make a plan to get in front of more prospects, take on more clients, and increase assets or fees (or both) to increase revenue… the growth path. Who wouldn’t want to 10x their income? More clients = more assets (or fees) = more $. The growth path is where you don’t necessarily want your current service model to change – you just want to earn more doing the same thing you’re doing now.

Here are some marketing ideas for converting prospects into clients (examples below focus on 401k market but you can modify for your market):

Start with building a “launch” funnel for getting new clients…

Offer a 3-part fiduciary training workshop (or course or series) that leads to an offer for a (paid) plan review
Offer a 3-part 401k plan fee analysis course that leads to an offer to run a (paid) benchmark report
Create a 3-part provider due diligence series that leads to an offer for you to conduct a (paid) RFP for the plan
Conduct a 3-part money 101 training/challenge that leads to an offer to meet with you (appointment) (where you close them as a client)
Teach a 3-part fiduciary training workshop that leads to an offer to do a (paid) 401k fiduciary training for the company’s investment committee or board of directors

ANY of these can be delivered in any of the following formats:

as a series of emails you send to your contacts
as a series of blog posts you write and post to LinkedIn or your own blog (and email your list if you have one)
as a live workshop for your Rotary group or Chamber of Commerce or local SHRM group
as a series of videos you pre-record and post online
as a series of Facebook live videos where you point and shoot and teach – live

The key is to educate and provide tremendous value, so your prospects know, like and trust you and when it comes time make an offer, they’re much more likely to say yes than if you had just tried to get an appointment and convince them to hire you. After they’ve paid you for a service, they’re much more likely to hire you to manage their plan assets or other aspects of their plan.

The path less taken… THE GURU PATH

I don’t think most people say – I want to be a “guru.”

When I hear the word “guru” in the financial industry, I see the faces of Dave Ramsey and Suze Orman and David Bach. But what makes them a guru exactly? Their positioning in the market? The fact that they’re now public figures? Their appearances on TV? (Actually, that opportunity comes because of their guru status)…

Maybe you think of folks you see speaking at our industry conferences like Fred Reish, Marcia Wagner, Brian Graff. These folks are definitely experts, but the guru path is different.

You earn “guru” status as a result of creating your own products and programs around your area of expertise.

Here are a few examples of folks on the GURU PATH:

Jason Roberts – Pension Resource Institute
Charlie Epstein – the 401k Coach Program
Des O’Neill (Ireland) – The Profit Pro (Training for Accountants)
Emily Keating – the Medicare Coach
Ann Wilson – the Wealth Chef
Jeff Rose – Good Financial Cents
Sophia Bera – Gen Y Planning
Dave Grant – Finance for Teachers

Doing a quick google search I also found The Eventual Millionaire (book), The College Investor, Financial Mentor dot com, Military Money Manual dot com, Online Trading Academy, etc. The list goes on… but are you starting to see a pattern?

They didn’t necessarily set out to be the guru in their niche (or maybe they did), but they all took a path that included the following strategies (which you can follow to head down that path too):

They branded themselves – or their product or target market (having a recognizable brand plays a big part in guru status)
They picked an audience (most have picked who they want to work with or what specific area they’ll focus on)
They created something of value (a book, a program, a training course, a product, software, etc.) around their expertise
And most importantly – they LAUNCHED – they put their expertise out there – they’ve made something available for the public to buy

The key is to pick a topic and an audience, brand yourself, create something of value that people are willing to pay you for… and launch!

I’m confident whichever path you take, if you commit to it, and follow a few simple, proven strategies – you’ll get there.

One of the easiest ways I’ve found to advance in ANYTHING is to leverage the expertise of those who have walked before you – those who have experience and have achieved the kind of success you’d like to have.

Dan Sullivan is a genius at teaching folks how to brand themselves and take their intellectual capital and turn it into a money-making machine through his program called The Strategic Coach.

Jeff Walker is a genius at teaching folks how to market their brand and products and services through his program called Product Launch Formula (PLF). As much as the formula is used to launch new products, in the financial world I see it work extremely well to introduce you to new prospects online so they know, like, and trust you… to build authority and credibility and a relationship, making the appointment or sale, or engagement easy.

In other words, Jeff’s formula for presenting yourself online to prospects, can help you convert a higher percentage of prospects to clients in a shorter amount of time if you’re on the GROWTH path, and can most definitely help you create and launch your own products and programs if you’re on the GURU path.

Whichever path you choose – growth or guru – I hope the strategies above will help you envision how to proceed. Onward and upward.

Disclaimer: As a PLF affiliate partner I may receive a commission from Jeff if you invest in his program, but at no extra cost to you. Also, I worked as part of Jeff’s team for 7 years and built out his online portal and helped upgrade his training every year for 5 years, so how much value his program provides.

10 Proven Strategies to Close More 401k Plan Business

by Sharon Pivirotto | Follow Me on Twitter Here

Building and managing a successful and compliant 401k practice takes a considerable amount of time, talent, effort, and resources.

The following 10 strategies have been proven effective at helping you close more 401k plan business.

1. Specialize

The retirement industry is complex. You need to receive specialized training, get at least one retirement credential and present yourself as a 401k specialist, not an investment advisor or Wealth Management firm that also helps people with their company retirement plan.

2. Niche Further

While it may seem like specializing as a 401k advisor is already defining a niche, to the law firm or manufacturing company that has 5 “401k advisors” knocking on their door every week, the 401k advisor that specializes in working with law offices or manufacturing companies becomes a better choice than everyone else that wants to help service their plan. Pick a niche.

3. Understand the Sales Cycle

The 401k plan sales cycle is a long one. It can often take up to 18 months or more to close 401k clients. This makes building a relationship an essential part of prospecting. Your goal in meeting with a plan sponsor is to get the next appointment because the stronger your relationship, the more likely you’ll be at the table when it’s time for the company to finally make that change.

4. Identify Value Drivers

Don’t rush in talking about funds, fees and fiduciary. Chances are, what’s important to you is not going to be keeping your prospects up at night. You need to find out what’s important to your prospects by having more meaningful conversations. Take a look at Jane Murphy’s book, “There’s No Such Thing as Closing the Deal” for a list of questions that create better conversations.

5. Be Helpful, but not Insulting

While it might help you identify gaps that lead to you being able to present and offer solutions, pointing out all of the mistakes a plan sponsor is making is not how you start to build a good relationship. Take caution when going into a new prospect with recommendations. There’s a fine line between pointing out possible improvements and offending the person responsible for the existing plan choices.

6. Have a Follow-up Process

Knowing that the 401k sales cycle is a long one, and most plan sponsors are not ready/willing to move their plan when you first meet them, it’s essential to have a good drip program that let’s you keep in front of your prospects so you’re always top of mind when the time comes for them to make a move. Consider a monthly newsletter or blog post email, quarterly webinar invites, and at least every 6 months call them and try to get another appointment.

7. Be Valuable

Staying in touch with prospects should not be a sale- a-thon. You must add value to the relationship before you expect them to be willing to give you their business. On your appointments and in your correspondence, always be asking yourself “How can I add value to this relationship? How can I help them right now even if they’re not ready to move just yet?”

8. Be Proactive

One of the reasons having a prospect drip program is so effective is because it keeps things moving forward. Stay in touch. Do what you say you’re going to do. Follow-up. Be proactive and pleasantly persistent. Exceed expectations.

9. Do Your Research

With so many online sources of public plan data, getting the information you need is easy. Before heading into that first call or first appointment, do your research. Go to efast.gov and look up the 5500 information. Find out who is the plan administrator and who are the parties getting paid out of plan assets. Google the company and look up the person you’re meeting with on LinkedIn. With a little bit of research, you can learn a LOT of valuable information that can give you an edge in your prospect meeting.

10. Market Effectively

While it’s often tempting to try various methods of prospecting for new business, the most effective methods are those that have been proven effective for you in the past (“it worked so well, we stopped doing it”) and the ones you find easy, effortless and enjoyable. If you’re just getting started, refer to this article (How to Get New 401k Leads in Your Pipeline) for ideas.

What Else?

Looking for more ideas? Let me give you some 401k prospecting strategies – click here to download my free cheatsheet – 38 401k Lead gen ideas to get more meetings.

The Ugly Truth About Your Social Media Profile

by Sharon Pivirotto | Follow Me on Twitter Here

The good, the bad and the ugly truth

(This post is in response to feedback from a previous post, so if it sounds like I’m repeating myself at the top here, it’s because I am since it bears repeating.)

Let’s start with…

The Ugly Truth

Put your big boy pants on. It’s time for a heart to heart. I’m not one for sugar coating the truth, so here goes…

You might be really great at closing the sale when you’re face to face with a prospect, but I can tell you when it comes to online marketing…

Let’s just say, there’s a LOT of room for improvement.

When I created a training workshop on how to position your business for growth, here’s what I noticed when I reviewed the profiles of twenty 401k advisors…

With an average score of 30 out of 100 points on the online profile assessment, it became quite clear that advisors should NOT be trying to do social marketing.

You are good at sales and building relationships and helping participants. Social media is just not your thing.

You probably hate having to deal with compliance regarding what you can and can’t put on your website and you may even think of social media as a waste of time. To this I say –

For the love of all things creative, responsive and effective… outsource already!

When I was writing the previous blog post trying to find a few examples of 401k advisors that had a complete, fully integrated online and social media presence, I was left scratching my head in frustration.

I looked up websites of advisors who are subscribed to my blog updates, I scanned the profiles of the 401k Wire’s Most Influential DC Advisors and even looked up the PLANSPONSOR Retirement Plan Advisor of the Year award recipients and still had a hard time finding 401k advisors that had a consistent and professional presence across all online profiles.

It’s not your fault. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, websites – these are not things you should be spending your valuable time on. As I said before, your talent lies in selling, servicing, and helping 401k plan sponsors and participants.

But with over 5000 views on my previous post, I received dozens of emails. Some folks questioned the benefit of having anything more than your contact information online. Still others wanted to know if, instead of reviewing your social media presence and telling you what you should do to fix the gaps, I could just offer a “done-for-you” service to lay the foundation and set up your social media profiles for you. (Not at the moment – but I know people if you want a recommendation.)

Let me first address the importance of having a strong presence online. This is what I call…

The Bad News

It is absolutely important that you have a strong online presence if you want to grow your practice. Like it or not, technology is here to stay and is quickly becoming a more essential part of our daily lives and how our prospects find and engage with us. In fact, you’re reading this post right now on my website and chances are we’ve never even met.

There is no more yellow pages. Well, there is, but I shred it and use it as nesting box material in my chicken coop :-).

Even business cards are becoming pointless, according to Gary Vaynerchuk (New York Times and Wall Street Journal Best-Selling author and serial entrepreneur). (Colorful language warning on that one – it’s Gary V though so if you click it, you should expect it.)

Your website is your brochure and your opportunity to deliver value and build credibility.

Your LinkedIn profile is your business card and offers real-time networking.

Your twitter account is the new after-hours mixer.

Your prospects will look you up online and you will be compared to the incumbent and the competition.

Ten years ago when I went out on a first prospect meeting with a lead from Acceleration Retirement, the CFO knew all about my background in the military and even asked me about my time as President of the Oakmont Rotary Club because he had googled my name ahead of our meeting. And that was ten years ago when we were way less plugged in then we are today.

How your profiles look and the messages you convey can most certainly help you or hurt you.

The Good News

Here’s the good news – it is really not that difficult to create an integrated brand that conveys professionalism, builds credibility, and gets you in the game.

This article lays out the five steps you should take to position yourself online as a 401k specialist.

If you need additional help, Hubspot provides a complete set of Social Media Cover Photo Templates so all you have to do is paste in your brand images, save, and then upload to each account for consistency across all platforms. You can download those free templates here.

And if you want to know what to do once you’ve created your strong online brand, Buffer offers more value in their Free Social Media Marketing Resources Kit (including action plans) then you’d get by paying hundreds of dollars for social media training from other organizations. You can access that free kit here.

Now you have no excuses. Everything is outlined above. Five steps, free templates, and an action plan. With a few updates you’ll be standing out from your competitors and attracting new leads in no time.

Take Action

Maybe you’ll choose to implement a strong online presence with the steps outlined in my previous post and the free resources from Hubspot and Buffer. Or perhaps you’ll decide your resources are best spent outsourcing this critical brand building activity.

Either way, you will increase your chances of attracting and converting prospects into clients when you make the decision to allocate some time and resources to building a credible and professional online presence.

Credit: Photo 1 by Ayo Ogunseinde on Unsplash
Credit: Photo 2 by FuYong Hua on Unsplash

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