February 2, 2012
All companies strive to provide exceptional service, but few do what I call..."Special.” How do you do Special? “Special” are those little things that a company can do and must do in today’s competitive marketplace to make its customers stand up and, not only say, " Wow, now that was special," but want to tell the world about how exceptionally special it was.
read more > How Do You Do Special?
December 6, 2011
It’s important for financial advisors to build leads, which boost business development. In this technology driven age, LinkedIn is an excellent tool for financial advisors to identify prospective clients and referral sources.LinkedIn was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and today boasts over 100 million members in 200 countries making it the world’s largest professional networking website.
read more > Making Connections: A Pipeline of Leads Filled by LinkedIn
November 22, 2011
Identity branding is an important aspect of every business. It allows you to package your unique value proposition in an effective way to attract your prospects. It also provides new opportunities for your firm. A consistent message and brand is essential in remaining in the minds of potential clients.
read more > Identity Branding for Success
November 10, 2011
Your database is one of the most valuable assets your business has. If you have up-to-date and correct data, your marketing campaigns will have a far greater success. The first step in creating this valuable resource is to find prospects to include in your database.
read more > Database Creation: The First Step in Marketing
October 24, 2011
When the Department of Labor (DOL) released Interpretive Bulletin 96-1 (IB 96-1) in 1996, they clarified the role of the fiduciary with respect to investment education. Before this bulletin advisors didn’t want to expose themselves to the risk of becoming a fiduciary.
read more > How to Protect Yourself from Becoming a Fiduciary
September 29, 2011
According to recent studies, meetings are one of the top-five time wasters. Although meetings are meant to be productive and educational, oftentimes, a clear message is not delivered. For financial advisors, a successful first meeting with a plan sponsor may seem to be hit or miss.
read more > First Meetings: Creating a Repeatable Process for Success
September 20, 2011
The best marketing plan is designed with an end in mind. You should start your journey knowing where you want to be and at what time you will be there. Creating a marketing strategy provides an excellent opportunity for you to define and launch initiatives to capture a greater share of retirement plan business in your marketplace. By using these five steps in implementation, you will have greater vision and focus in the coming months.
read more > How To Develop Your Marketing Strategy
September 13, 2011
You just walked out of what you considered a successful first meeting. Now what? There are many things you can do to improve your odds of closing the deal, but having a consistent plan of action in place can ensure a higher success rate.There are five easy steps that you can use as the basis for your post meeting strategy.
read more > Increasing Your Closing Ratio: 5 Step Post Meeting Strategy
May 24, 2011
When the 401(k) retirement plan was born in 1981, it was originally designed as a way for employees to defer extra savings or bonus money on a pre-tax basis. Today, the 401(k) has eclipsed the traditional defined benefit (DB) plan to become the primary vehicle for financing retirement in America.
read more > Plan Fees and Value-Added Services: A Win-Win Situation
April 6, 2011
When financial advisors speak to participants at plan sponsors’ companies, they are seen as instant “experts,” the go-to person for all the participants’ 401(k) and investment needs. However, many financial advisors do not realize their potential, and they don’t make the most of their meetings with plan participants.
read more > The Edu-tainment Experience™
March 21, 2011
With complicated and ever changing 401(k) rules and regulations, make it easy for plan sponsors and fiduciaries to find their plans out of compliance. The Department of Labor’s (DOL) maze of rubrics can leave some plan sponsors and fiduciaries out of compliance without even knowing it. As advisors, we must stay up-to-date on what changes are being made and inform our clients of what they are required to do to operate within the confines of massive regulations.
read more > How to Stay Compliant with Complicated DOL Regs
February 17, 2011
Your most successful clients have just lived through an extraordinary economic period of time: we will look back and call this generation the “Great Economic Depression!”
I believe the events of the last two years and the success your biggest clients have had in surviving this time period offer you an incredible opportunity to learn what these successful individuals did to eliminate their greatest dangers, focus on their best opportunities and enhance their greatest strengths.
read more > Solidify And Multiply Your Top Client Relationships
February 7, 2011
Two important fiduciary issues, the Duty of Loyalty and the Duty of Prudence, were highlighted in the July 2010 court case, Tibble v Edison International. The Duty of Loyalty means that fiduciaries must act in the best interests of the plan, its participants and their beneficiaries.
read more > The Duty to Ask… The Duty to Tell
December 16, 2010
Because of the changes made by the Department of Labor (DOL) to the 5500 Schedule C and the new rules announced by the SEC relating to 12b-1 fees, it is always a good idea to keep up to date on “Best Practices” in risk management. Below are the “Top Ten Service Agreement Must Haves” compiled by Elizabeth A. LaCombe, Chair, ERISA Practice Group.
read more > Service Agreement Recommendations
November 29, 2010
The issue of excessive 401(k) plans fees and expenses finally had its day in court on the heels of the DOL’s interim final regulations on fee disclosures. A class action lawsuit, Tibble v. Edison International, claimed that fiduciaries of Edison’s 401(k) plan breached their fiduciary duties by incurring high fees and expenses. The lawsuit went to trial in the United States District Court for the Central District of California in August.
read more > Lawsuit on Excessive 401(k) Plan Fees
October 28, 2010
Many 401(k) plan participants don’t know how they can maximize their success rate as defined as attaining an 80 percent real replacement of income from Social Security and their 401 (k) plan. They need help and that’s where advisors can add value to the client relationship.
read more > Automatic Enrollment Presents Opportunities for Advisors
October 27, 2010
The 401k industry is finally getting the message that the real focus should be on creating successful retirement outcomes for participants. What people need is a "Paycheck For Life" and a 401k plan with the proper education to help them achieve this successful outcome.
read more > Schwab Retirement Plan Services Survey Highlights
July 31, 2010
In their ground breaking book, “The Experience Economy: Work Is Theatre & Every Business a Stage,” the authors Joseph Pine II and James Gilmore make a tremendous argument for the benefits of creating a compelling experience around what normally would be considered a commodity as a means to “charge more.”
read more > It’s The Experience That Counts!
July 19, 2010
The July 2, 2010 New York Times business section had an article about Diageo, the English maker of Johnnie Walker Whiskey. Seems the company has found an innovative way to plug its gaping pension hole: handing over two million barrels of maturing whiskey from its distilleries in Scotland...
read more > Pension Plan Deficit Reform - “I’ll Drink To That”
June 13, 2010
When the government decided to allow corporations, who sponsor 401(k) plans, to use automatic enrollment features, it had to ensure the funds that participants were defaulted into were going to be managed in a prudent way.
Default investments do not just apply for first time-enrollments. An increasing number of 401(k) participants actively choose to use default investments throughout their employment. Others roll over 401(k) plans from other companies and likewise, chose to use them.
read more > Glide-Through or Glide-To: Which Slippery Slope Is Right For Participants?
June 7, 2010
Ever since the 401(k) was born (by accident) in 1981, it has been widely viewed as America’s Savings Plan. However, this was not really the intention. It was meant to be a way for employees to defer extra savings (bonus money) on a pre-tax basis; as a payroll deduction benefit. It cost little or nothing to the first employers who established these programs.
Now flash forward some 29 years and 4-5 trillion dollars later...
read more > Paychecks For Life: The New Retirement Reality
March 4, 2010
Charlie Epstein Founder, The 401k Coach “Wears at least three retirement industry hats. … But it is Epstein’s third hat, the 401k Coach program, that makes him practically unique in the industry and makes him a staple ad industry conferences. Epstein trains advisors, TPAs and wholesalers on the ins and outs of dealing successfully with plan sponsors and meeting participants’ needs. He teaches sales strategies, presentation techniques and much more. … Watch for more and more advisors to turn to Epstein.”
read more > Charlie Epstein: Named One of 401kWire’s Most Influential People In the 401(k) Industry Four Years In A Row
November 1, 2008
Education is a creative act. Advice is a fiduciary act. This distinction is not only critical to understanding the role you play in moving America's workers to take action towards creating a successful retirement outcome for themselves, but also in how you play that role!
read more > Education with IMPACT - The Edu-tainment Experience™
