Have you ever prepared extensively for a finalist presentation, only to find yourself and your team come in second place?
Panelists during day two of the NAPA 401(k) Summit reviewed what retirement plan advisors are missing in their preparation leading up to those meetings, and how they can win big in the next one.
First, understand your buyer, who they are, and their goals for the plan, said panelist and advisor Donald Barden, who is also CEO of The Perfect Plan, a business strategy used by Fortune 500 companies and the U.S. Military, among other entities.
Rather than solely focusing on the retirement plan, advisors must evolve to include other client interests in their presentation, such as growth opportunities and employee impressions.
“They’re looking for an advisor to be relevant to them,” added Barden. “The biggest mistake advisors make is they think the plan sponsor cares about what they care about. They’re going to be looking at how you impact employees, meet employees in the middle and help solve their problems.”
Josh Itzoe, founder and CEO of FiduciaryWor(k)s, reiterated Barden’s statement, adding that most plan sponsors don’t think about retirement planning at the same rate that advisors do. Instead of going into a finalist presentation with a catalogue of the plan’s shortcomings and your main goals, listen to what the plan sponsor is looking for. Once you secure the business and help clients achieve their targets, then you could work on your own plan goals, Itzoe said.
“They don’t care about retirement as much as you do, they care about engagement of employees and what you can do to grow their business,” he commented. “If you can do that, then you talk about the secondary after.”
Along with putting an emphasis on the employees and participants, Itzoe urged advisors to keep their presentation and dialogue simple. Throwing multiple strategies at prospective clients won’t impress them, he said. Instead, it’ll likely take away any chance of forming a connection with the plan sponsor and could end up hurting your chances at winning the business. Rather than spewing out multiple technicalities, stick to one, two, or a maximum of three points.
Consider presenting a custom case study on the employer’s plan, where you show the different industry partners you’ve worked with, like recordkeepers, third-party administrators (TPAs), etc.
Further personalize the presentation by adding images of the client’s employees and utilize the organization’s logo, mission, and colors. Doing so allows clients to preview the level of engagement and success they’d achieve in working with the advisor.
“It comes down to who is the best storyteller,” added Jeanne Sutton, managing director of Strategic Retirement Partners. “Once you can get the committee to think about their employees not as statistics and numbers but employees, it becomes powerful. Whatever you can do to be dynamic and creative and help the committee members in their role to envision, that’s where you start to differentiate.”
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