Retirement Plan Advisors Advantage

Creating Content That Will "Click".

It will help you in the long run.

In the old days, newspaper and television advertising were the way that you could get your message across to potential clients and sources for referrals. The only problem is that advertising was and is still cost prohibitive. Even something like search engine optimization to get better search results for your business on Google can cost a few shekels and based on the nature of your business, it may not be a good fit. My business has been built on social media marketing, which is the use of social media platforms to promote the services I offer as an ERISA attorney and the marketing is based on the content I produce (such as the article you're reading right now). So this article is about how you can provide content on social media that could increase your business.

To read the article, please click here.

When trust is gone, turn out the lights.

When you breach the client's trust, it's over.

I've gone back into collecting sports cards because I need hobbies these days since I'm no longer involved in my synagogue and one of the interesting things I've discovered are something called card breaks. A sports card dealer buys a case of cards and sports card collectors may pick a certain team or player through an auction or outright purchase. For collectors and even investor, this is a cost effective way of purchasing cards. To promote trust that everything is on the up and up, these card breaks are broadcast live on YouTube or another website. I've used one card dealer because it seems everything is upfront, their costs are low, and they are just nice to work with. Above all, there is trust.

Another dealer/card breaker made the run on all these sports card scammer pages because based on a video of a football card break of his, he clearly substituted a card out. That means he found a very rare print of a card and decided it was too good for one of the customers who was entitled to it. He eventually admitted his error (despite not being honest on what the card might have been) and decided to leave the card breaking business. Did he really have choice to leave? He didn't because it's over for him anyway because no levelheaded card collector would ever trust someone like him again.

As a retirement plan provider, what you do for your plan sponsor client is predicated on trust because you have access to the clients and you may have access to the retirement plan's assets. Anything you do that questions trust that a plan sponsor may have in you is something that will be catastrophic to your business. I've seen many a plan provider falter because they lost the trust and faith of their clients. They lost so much business that they had to close their doors. Reputation takes years to build and you can destroy it all in just one moment.

Tell them straight.

Tell it like it is, don't sugarcoat it.

One of the big parts of my practice is assisting third party administrators (TPAs) who cant or don't want afford an ERISA attorney on staff.

I recently had to answer correspondence regarding the payout of a participant who was deceased and still required to take out the required minimum distribution (RMD). The beneficiaries of the deceased claim that the TPA advised them that they could take the RMD and roll it over. The only problem is that law won't allow them to do it.

The initial response by the TPA wasn't wrong, it was just full of a lot of jargon that really didn't fully answer the beneficiaries' concerns. I helped with the second response and just fully explained that no matter what they were told they could not rollover an RMD because it's not an eligible rollover distribution.

Rather than go through a lot of words, it's just a lot easier to tell them straight and just tell then what they can and can't do with the deceased participant's benefit.

Welcoming the New Client.

A good welcome makes the difference.

As you know, I've been a member of a few Synagogues because I'm a wandering Jew and the thing I've noticed is the usual coldness I'd get when joining. Aside from the last synagogue I joined last year (hopefully, the last one I'll ever enjoy), there were several people who called and dropped of welcome packages to welcome my family to the synagogue. I got a call from the Rabbi to meet. The other places, it felt like they just wanted me for the dues.

So when a plan sponsors joins your roster of clients, the best thing to do is make them feel welcome. So much of what happens in life is based on feelings, the way we affect the feeling of others goes a long way in whether we can maintain long-term relationships with people. That's why empathy is one trait most people aren't very good at and the experts of that trait can use that knowledge to further their business.

Plan sponsors have feelings too and they just want to feel they are more than just one number. Making them feel welcome from the get go is extremely important because my experience has shown that if you don't get off the right foot with a new client, they are not a new client at all.

So once your salesperson closed the sale, send out some welcoming package to show that their addition to your client roster is well appreciated.

Be Careful Who You Attack On The Way Up.

People never forget, I don't.

I worked at a number of places in the 11 years before I started my own law firm practice and I will vouch that I didn't try to hurt or attack any of my co-workers. People maybe upset with some of the stances I took in one fashion or another, but I never tried to throw a fellow employee under the bus and I never was gratuitous in any criticism I had for them. I try to treat people the way I wanted to be treated.

If you've read my articles over the last few years, you'll notice that I've had some choice words for some former co-workers who were nasty for the sake of being nasty. If I had a supervisor who was critical, I'd accept that, but I don't forget the people that weren't nice because they were trying to gain some traction on their own or whatever the convoluted the reason is.

People will hold a grudge and I still hold a grudge for those that treated me in a way that I found unacceptable. So the point is that you should never knock and underling or a co-worker down because you never know where they turn up. Maybe they'll have a blog and regurgitate your bad behavior years later.

Support that401ksite.com with a discounted ad.

Great way to get plan sponsor clients and plan provider contacts.

My blog site, that401ksite.com is still accepting content from all retirement plan providers. We're big into recycling. So even if you published your articles on your own site, we're always interested in airing interesting content.

In addition, we're rolling back advertising rates by 50% in order to interest retirement plan providers like you to advertise the only news site about retirement plans that is trying to attract both plan sponsor and plan provider readers.

For a limited time, rates will now start as low as $500 annually (for our plan provider directory) and will also include discounted banner page ads.

Please contact me for more information on advertising or article submissions.

The Rosenbaum Law Firm Advisors Advantage, July 2017
Vol. 8 No. 7

The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

734 Franklin Avenue, Suite 302
Garden City, New York 11530
516-594-1557

Fax 516-368-3780

[email protected]

www.therosenbaumlawfirm.com