Are you tired of paying salaries and benefits, plus constantly recruiting and training new team members to replace those who burn out? I have another option for you. And it’s free. Well, maybe free is an exaggeration; you do have to invest time and energy to execute my strategy, which is to activate your existing network of referral advocates who are already personally connected to a Plan Sponsor.
Interestingly, most advisors don’t think about the people they know (or to whom they could be introduced) who are participants in retirement plans as referral advocates. But most of these people have direct access to a Plan Sponsor. The key to utilizing this marketing team is to convert them from friends to advocates. The most powerful way to do so is to appeal to their self-interest.
Super Connectors
Your clients respect and admire you and appreciate your professionalism. Your friends enjoy your company and applaud your success. People you meet invite you into their circle of trust. Social norms provide confidence that when we are introduced to other people, they are likely to be friendly and can be motivated to become our advocates. This means that our social circle of plan participants can become a powerful positive opportunity if we know how to activate it.
Not everyone is inclined to make introductions, but some people are naturally inclined toward networking. They immediately explore whom you know and how they can help you. These individuals simply need to be asked to make an introduction, and they’ll jump on the opportunity. To turn these people into advocates, provide unique information that benefits their Plan Sponsor and potentially helps them improve their retirement plan. Then offer guidance about how to make an introduction to the Plan Sponsor.
What About Everyone Else?
Others in your circle need a good reason to make an introduction. Luckily, there is a great reason built into the retirement plan industry.
As you know, defined contribution plans are the de facto standard for retirement plans in the US. With 78 million Baby Boomers in or approaching retirement, academics, asset-management firms and major defined benefit plans are constantly introducing new strategies and establishing higher standards for plan design. These are slowly trickling down to the smaller retirement plans that make up the majority of the industry.
This means that many people in your social circle are participating in a plan that is obsolete in some way. If the plan was designed more than a few years ago, it’s likely to be obsolete in several areas and may be violating Department of Labor (DOL) guidelines without the Plan Sponsor’s or participants’ knowledge.
This represents a powerful opportunity to activate the self-interest of every person in your social circle. If you build a checklist of common areas where plans are obsolete or are violating the current standard of plan design, you can approach anyone in your social circle with a proposal: “As you know, I’m involved in designing retirement plans for companies like yours. My experience has been that most people do not know when their plan is obsolete or poorly designed. Over the past few years, I’ve developed a checklist of common shortcomings in current plan design. I offer a 20-minute consultation with Plan Sponsors about these areas of concern and make my checklist available free of charge. If you think your Plan Sponsor would benefit from this resource, I would be happy to discuss it further. The easiest way to set that up is for you to introduce us to each other via email.”
In this way, you activate your friends’ self-interest because they personally benefit from improving their retirement plan. This self-interest motivates them to become your advocate. Requesting an email introduction is a minor request that could open the door for a very interesting conversation between you and the Plan Sponsor.
Contact your AllianceBernstein representative for more information on current best practices of retirement plan design and a list of common areas where retirement plans are often obsolete or violating DOL guidelines.