Making Connections... getting new business

[K-t-F]

I have posted on the 401K board... maybe some of you have seen my posts. I have been performing TPA work for way too long. I took over a family business and now need to grow. I am activly pursuing the QKA (simply going in order) to put some initials after my name so I am taken more seriously.

My Question: Suggestions where to gain new business... plans. I am soliciting local CPAs... financial advisors. I am presently a one man TPA firm administering 35 plans. My goal is to double (or more) my workload and move on from there. My niche is the small closely held corp.. SE individual. Any suggestions ??? any small plans people want to lighten their work load of?

(This board doesnt get too much action... But didnt want to take up the 401K board....)

[Lame Duck]

If you work on Defined Benefit plans, a possible source of business referrals that is usually neglected is the family law attorney. Most are looking for an independent actuarial review of benefits in DB plans and cash balance plans for purposes of division in a divorce proceeeding. Call the family law division of your local bar association and arrange to speak before them on valuing DB plans. It may also lead to their own plans. You can also try presentations before the local medical society, rotary clubs, etc. All of these are usually interested in speakers and you can generate a lot of business from them.

[Guest Boilerburm]

Making relationships with the right brokers is usually key to developing new work. If you can find good ones, make sure you hold onto them - way too many either don't know what they are doing or don't care enough to do it right. Use any contacts possible - i.e. attorneys, CPAs, bankers, etc. - you never know what may lead to a good client or two, or even a block of business.

[K-t-F]

I was asked to and did speak in front of a NAPFA (National Association of Personal Financial Advisors) group in Boston (well, outside Boston)... I have solicited literally hundreds of CPAs in and around me. I think I am going around it right.. not too pushy.. make the connections and wait. I read a post somewhere on here where someone asked how many plans should an administrator handle... I was frankly surprised to read that many handle 100+... even alot more. I simply want to grow my business and be a little more comfortable

[Guest GSHASC]

Your question is not primarily benefits related; it is a marketing question and I strongly suggest you begin a serious study of marketing in order to be effective. I think the shortest cut I've seen to what you need to know and master along those lines can be found in Dan Kennedy's marketing material. (He has also gotten into "success" publishing and I don't think he has as much to offer along those lines as he does in his primary field, marketing.)

Visit Dan's website and purchase the cheaper stuff - e.g., his "The Ultimate Marketing Plan" (? as memory serves) and the cheaper Midas Touch Marketing cassette series.

Now, the most powerful thing you need in order to market yourself is not professional credentials. Believe me, no one cares any more - at least no one who is in a position to pay you. What you need is an identity. What you want is for a little associative bell to ring in someone's head when they need your services that pops up your name so they call on you.

You want to get known as the guy - preferably the only guy who can do X [whatever]. So first figure out who you are and then use that identifier. For example, Federal Express was just another delivery service until Fred Smith characterized it as "When it absolutely has to be there overnight." Years ago when I started a business, I got myself known as the past master at implementing comparable plans. Word got around and people would say, "Hey, we have other people we do business with but you're the only guy in town who really understands this stuff so we had to do business with you."

Never talk to a group without a supply of written material you either sell or give away (if you have to) and which emphasizes who you are. The text should contain liberal sprinklings of anecdotes relative to your expertise and contain your address and website. Published material commands much more respect than professional initials. Refuse to give people your business card and insist instead that they purchase or take a copy of your printed material. They wil lose your card, but they won't lose your material if you've made your speech sufficiently intriguing. Make sure your address, phone number and website are in the material where they can find it.

Always look to establish an ongoing relationship. Follow up with thoughtful contacts and learn the art of asking for referrals. In that connection, here's an important tip: As we speak, across this country, there are countless benefits professionals administering plans who, if they were properly trained to devote a few minutes attention to marketing, could virtually double their employer's client base simply by looking for additional consulting opportunities within their existing client base and exploiting those clients in the area of referrals. Instead, their employer maintains on payroll a staff of specialized "sales" people who expend inordinate amounts of energy in pursuing one of the least efficient and most expensive functions in business - getting new business from outside sources. Your cheapest source of new business is your own client and referral source base, so learn to network within it first.

Don't be too accomodating. Remember, no one lines up to see the guru at the bottom of the mountain. Make 'em climb. Even when you have nothing to do, don't answer your phone; return messages. Then tell people you are busy but might be able to fit them in next week. Increase fees and watch the drones drop off while you keep the good referral sources. (A good referral source is one that pre-sells you to the client and who vouches for the client's promptly paying you. And who sends you clean business that doesn't take a long time to service or aggravate you to death in doing so.)

Remember that this is marketing, not benefits work. So, when you interface with people in a selling mode, forget logic. People do not make decisions based upon logic; they make them based upon emotion and justify them with logic later on. Learn to figure out what people really want and give it to them. Remember, the most irrelevant thing on the planet is what you think someone else should want.

You have to get to be known and favorably associated in people's minds. Sometimes that means acting a little like a clown. So be it. The most successful people have learned to sell themselves and to get their names in print - even if sometimes not in a favorable light (although I doubt you want to go that far in the benefits field).

If all this offends you as a professional, you need either to change or resolve yourself to having skinny kids. I suggest change; you'll find it much more rewarding than being "professional." (After all, we're all professional. The trick is to be effective.)

Also, try picking up some books by guys who know how to market themselves. One guy whom I don't trust at all is Robert G. Allen. But he knows how to market himself. His books are worth looking at just to watch how he positions himself with marketing campaign after marketing campaign, mentioning his websites and touting his publications. Contact him once and he'll follow up with newsletter offers and a plethora of email, all designed to establish a relationship and sell you something.

Marketing is not something you do in business; Marketing is the business. Anything else, you can hire someone to do. Your clients do not see nor do they appreciate your work. They see the image you present to them - including, of course, the one whose service makes their life hassle-free.

Again, I suggest you sit down and figure out who you are in terms of what you really can offer that is unique. Write it all down and think about it and write some more. Eventually you'll come up with a short description that is catchy and which everyone can remember. Then keep repeating that over and over to folks, just as Ronnie Reagan did with his 6 points in 1980. That repetition fixed in people's minds who he was. As a result, they called him The Great Communicator and elected him President over the incumbent, Jimmy Carter, whose endless, complex answers to every issue only confused the public.

Best of luck.

[Guest penman]

"Nobody cares anymore". Wow. They should care, there is a lot of money at stake.

[AndyH]

I think the comments by GSHASC, whoever he or she may be, are terrific.

[Guest WellSpring]

As an investment consultant, I can assure you that simply making the call and then hanging back and waiting for your potential referral source to send business your way is unrealistic. I advise many individuals, businesses, and plans on investment, and from time to time, I am in a position to throw business to a TPA. The guy that gets the nod is always the one who is constantly bugging me for business, assuring me all the while that he can do anything I put in front of him, never letting anything slip through the cracks, etc. Be in a position to make your referral source look good. Not just with praise, but by being everything he says you are and more.

Marketing is crucial, as has been stated so eloquently above, and marketing yourself to potential referral sources is just as important. One successful link to a CPA or law firm can result in multiple pieces of business.

On a separate note, I am curious if anyone knows of an organization in NYC that would be a fertile source of leads for Investment Consulting and Pension Performance Consutling referrals? I need to get the word out about what I do, and I am trying to find an effective medium through which I can accomplish this. Are there any TPA associations out here? CFO or Fiduciary societies that anyone can recommend?

[Dougsbpc]

I think the comments by GSHAC are excellent as well.

He/she touched on this but it was very important in our success. We looked at where we were geographically, what our competitors were offering and then determined our specialty.

For example, we knew most of our competitors were administering simple safe harbor plans (afraid to venture out). We determined our market area was comprised of several small very profitable businesses (they had to be to live here). We let our competitors bang their heads trying to compete with fund companies and large administrators, while we concentrated on cross-tested DC and DB plans and floor-offset plans.

So as GSHAC pointed out, making a name for yourself like the " " guy is very important.

[K-t-F]

WellSpring, I am glad you made the point to be the squeeky wheel... My "MO" regarding soliciting has been to gently revisit each favorable lead with a follow-up... keep my propaganda at the top of the pile, but at the same time dont be annoying. I know that a CFP,attorney, or CPA is not going to instigate a change to their client if there really is no reason to. If it aint broke....

GSHAC has made some excellent points which I put into place when I took over this business in '99. Raising my fees a little to see if the "complainers" would drop off (none did) and creating a niche, focusing. To qoute myself

I know that a CFP or CPA is not going to instigate a change to their client if there really is no reason to.  If it aint broke.... 

I think that GSHAC's response to that statement would be to find a flaw, expose it, and then run with it. Now to come up with that catchy phrase...hmmm

GSHAC mentioned FedEx... does anyone know where that business plan came from? The guy who started it (Fred Smith?) was a student at Harvard Business School and the idea was a school project. "Fly everything into one location and then fly it out again.... overnight? will never work" The teacher said... failed him. Eh...the rest is history, or so that is what I was told.

Thanks for everyone's comments!