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In Practice February 14, 2007
Industry Must Change to Accommodate Marketplace
In the retirement income arena, the best products won’t necessarily prevail.
Reported by Alison Cooke
However, those that are superior in delivery will, said David Macchia, president and chief executive of Wealth2K Inc., Monday at the Managing Retirement Income conference in Boston.
Francois Gadenne, founder of the Retirement Income Industry Association (RIIA), the endorsing organization of the conference, said part of the challenge moving forward is to better understand the audience. “Why are we selling relationships to segments that want products?” he asked conference attendees.
The technological change that has made the majority of Americans comfortable doing banking online, and accessing media online, the financial services market must respond to this trend when marketing products to consumers, said Macchia.
“We’re at a point where in many cases customers have advanced beyond the providers in financial services,” Macchia commented.
Providers much consider this in their communication strategies and ask whether they are aligned for success and delivering experiences to the end user, he said. The traditional media marketing messages will no longer work moving forward, Macchia commented.