Great Aspirations

“Advisers need to have a clear understanding of what they are marketing. Not only are they marketing their brand, they are marketing to say ‘we have solutions to your problems,’” says Gary A. Weuve, a registered corporate coach with recordkeeper and plan administrator CPI Qualified Plan Consultants. When marketing to potential clients, the adviser needs to make plan sponsors aware that no matter what their problem is, the adviser is there to help and has a solution. “You are marketing your expertise,” adds Weuve. “You know the retirement business inside and out. Help your firm to be recognized in the marketplace as the place to go to for retirement plans.”

Once an adviser has an understanding of what his service is, it is important to create a marketing plan. Peter Veldardi, president and COO of FiPath, a company offering online marketing solutions for advisers, says he is shocked that few advisers actually create a thorough marketing plan. Advisers should consider a few items in their plans, including their marketing intentions and the reasons behind them; their definition of an ideal client; their plan for branding their practice; and how to attract these ideal client businesses to their practice, Veldardi says.

Marketing can take a significant amount of time, and some advisers find themselves reaching to networks for help. For example, Troy G. Hammond, president and CEO at retirement plan consulting firm Pensionmark Retirement Group, says marketing has been built into his firm’s affiliate service model. Pensionmark’s corporate office is in Santa Barbara, California; however, the company also has 16 regional offices. The company shares its corporate marketing materials with the members of its regional offices.  Pensionmark also has a committee that heads up marketing, public relations and communications.

“We have specific marketing strategies. That is one of the big reasons we have these regional offices partner with us, Hammond says. “One of the challenges for an individual adviser is putting together a full-blown marketing strategy, because it does take a lot of time. They realize they do not have the 10 hours a week they should be dedicating to this. It’s hard to do it it all in just an hour a week. We probably put more time and resources toward marketing than everyone else.”

Marketing Messaging  

Before advisers can implement any marketing strategy, they must know what they plan to say, and how they will sell their services. The types of messages advisers will use for marketing should be personalized. According to Christopher H. Barlow, managing director, KnowHow 401(k), LLC, and co-author of 401(k) Sales Champion: A Guide for Financial Advisors to Acquire and Retain 401(k) Plans, the types of messages an adviser uses should reflect his and his company’s value statement.

Hammond of Pensionmark says it has become much harder to stand out among the competition.

“A lot of tools that we all use have become commoditized. Even just five years ago, we could show a plan sponsor our analytics system, and they would say, ‘That’s great,’ but those days are over, everyone has one now,” says Hammond. “A plan sponsor only has so much knowledge. When they are presented with information from four different advisers, it is probably hard to decide which one is better.”

“How do we differentiate ourselves? It isn’t just laying out our tools. It’s the things that we have and do that are over and above that. One of our biggest advantages is our size. We have specialists, an investment committee, a communications team, participant call center, operations team and relationship team. Because of our size and our scale, we can deliver a higher level of service at a lower cost. For us, that is one of our big differentiators,” Hammond continues.

Randy Fuss, practice management consultant at CPI Qualified Plan Consultants, says CPI is encouraging regional firms to become regional experts in order to stand out among the competition. “You have to hold yourself up to be the resident expert,” he says.

Another way to determine the right message is to get others’ opinions. One suggestion Fuss and Weuve have is for advisers to create an advisory board made up of their best clients. These clients will gauge  performance, areas for improvement and their expectations of the advisers. “You are really using them as a sounding board to shape your business. You are building advocates for your business with this group as well,” says Weuve.

An Oldie but a Goodie 

While many advisers might regard cold calling or telemarketing as outdated, or a waste of time, for some advisers, it is still a viable source of new business. Hammond says telemarketing campaigns have worked for Pensionmark. “You literally send the plan sponsors information and then pick up the phone and call them,” says Hammond. “Plan sponsors­ get a lot of sales calls. You have to differentiate yourself.” Hammond adds that one way to do this is to conduct seminars about different topics for plan sponsors and their participants.

For Bobby Abel, a financial adviser at Edward Jones Investments, a large part of his marketing strategy is an ongoing cold-calling process. “If I talk to someone who says it’s not on the list or not high on the list, I take a red file folder and I glue my business card to it and put 401(k) retirement plan information, firm specific or to their plan inside. I include anything that either the plan sponsor or the participants can use. I just drop that in the mail to them. I’ll tell them, ‘I’m just trying to stay in touch with you, and I want you to put this in your file drawer.’”

After he sends the initial file, about once a month he continues to send information about retirement, and will make a call once a quarter. “This way when things change, the plan sponsor will know to call me,” says Abel.

Over the years, Abel says he has received numerous calls based on his files, and sometimes the plan sponsor has information he sent over a five-year period.

Abel adds, “It really comes down to service. If I’m talking to plans once a quarter and sending them something once a month, I’m staying in front of them. In some cases, I’m communicating­ with them more than their own adviser is.”

This drip messaging can be very effective in communicating hot topics to plan sponsors. For example, fee disclosure is a major topic for Abel’s campaigns. “I send out my monthly drips that have an article about the new fee disclosure rules and ask them if they are prepared,” says Abel. He says, many times, plan sponsors are unaware of their fees. Abel helps them analyze their fees, which develops his relationship with the sponsors.

Weuve at CPI Qualified Plan Consultants says, “Word-of-mouth marketing is the most powerful marketing out there. I’m more likely to go talk to someone that a friend told me to talk to.” In order to get word-of-mouth working for you, Weuve advises asking clients for an introduction­ to another potential client every time you see them. “If you are doing an investment review meeting, or client education, remind them you are available to work with other firms like theirs in the area.”

Weuve also encourages advisers to stay in touch with their clients and continue to communicate with them. “Send e-newsletters, invite them to educational workshops, have WebEx sessions. Provide a customer experience that then causes that customer to spread your name in the market so your reputation precedes you.”

Barlow of KnowHow 401(k), LLC, says it is important to have the correct expectations of marketing outcomes. “One of the faults of financial advisers is they are not patient,” says Barlow. “This is true especially during the initial cold prospecting and initial contact phase.”

He adds that impatience is the number one reason why financial advisers have not achieved success. It’s a long lead time, it’s complex and there are a lot of different outside people that need to be involved in signing up for a plan for a business. It isn’t a decision that a company will make on a whim. “It’s a decision that will be made when the company is ready to make it,” says Barlow. He adds, “The average financial adviser also needs to change the way they reward themselves. They need to know if they are hitting those activity measurements, and then they will be accomplishing their goals sooner.”

SIDEBAR: Social Media

Is It a Marketing Tool You Should Be Using?  

hether, and how, to use social media in the retirement plan industry for marketing is a hot topic. Some advisers’ broker/dealers and home offices don’t allow them to use social media. However, according to Gary A. Weuve, a registered corporate coach at CPI Qualified Plan Consultants, it is important for advisers to have a virtual footprint.

“If I call on a plan sponsor, someone at the company is going to Google me—CFO or CEO or someone in the HR department. If I don’t have a website, and I’m not on LinkedIn, it comes across as I’m not as serious a player in the market,” says Weuve. “There is a lot about using social networking as a marketing tool. We are still trying to figure out how that all works. Having a virtual footprint validates who you are as your marketing goes out there,” he adds.

Charles D. Epstein, 401k Coach at the 401k Coach Program. encourages advisers to hire a social media consultant in order to better understand social media and marketing. “There used to be the six degrees of separation, now it’s three with LinkedIn,” says Epstein. He adds that Facebook and Twitter are not the place for advisers to be marketing. “LinkedIn is where you will get most of your mileage. You can create a community of businesses that can use your business. The key is the content that you have in the discussion groups needs to be in the retirement area. You, as the adviser, can be the lead person and lead the discussion groups. You will have businesses hear and see what you have to say. This will build up your brand and expertise,” says Epstein.

Despite the fact that social media may be beneficial to advisers, it is also important for advisers to be aware of government standards governing these interactions. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently issued an alert for investors and firms on social media risks. The alert—”Investment Adviser Use of Social Media”—provides staff observations based on a review of investment advisers of varying sizes and strategies that use social media. The alert reviews concerns that may arise from use of social media by firms and their associated persons, and offers suggestions for complying with the antifraud, compliance and recordkeeping provisions of the federal securities laws.

In spite of concerns from the regulators, some acceptance might be coming. Last year, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued a clarification about acceptable social media usage for financial advisers, and recognized social and mobile technology as a boon, not a burden, for the industry. Regulatory Notice 11-39, which sought to clarify guidance that was published in Regulatory Notice 10-06, states “FINRA recognizes that the development of new technologies can facilitate the ability of associated persons to perform their responsibilities and, in the case of registered representatives, to serve their clients.” —TC