401(k) Specialist Issue 1 - 2022 - 34

401(k) CLIENT CONNECTION
Are Your 401(k) Clients at Risk?
5 Client Retention Strategies
By Rebecca Hourihan, AIF, PPC
ONE OUT OF THREE plan sponsors are actively
looking for a new advisor, according
to a Fidelity study.
It's been said that it costs seven times
more to earn a new client than it does to
retain a current one. As you implement
your 2022 business plan, consider these
five client retention strategies. These ideas
could have a big impact on how your
clients perceive the quality of your service,
increase loyalty and even produce inbound
referrals.
Great Service
Regular meetings are the first and best
way to ensure happy clients. From your
retirement plan committee meetings to
employee education, when you are in front
of your clients, your value is seen, heard
and appreciated.
Approximately 40% of advisors meet
with their plan sponsor clients quarterly
and 33% meet annually, according to the
2022 Defined Contribution Report, making it
important to make your meetings count.
* Be prepared - Let them know how
valuable they are by sending an agenda
with meeting information and a
thoughtful email ahead of time.
* Be professional - Just because they
are clients, it doesn't mean you
don't have to impress them. Present
organized, purposeful and informative
information.
* Be punctual - With more and more
meetings switching to virtual platforms,
being ready is more important
than ever. To be respectful of everyone's
time, be there early, provide a
5-minute end of meeting announcement
and be willing to adjust your
material to allow for questions, if
necessary and end on time.
34
ISSUE 1 2022 | 401kSpecialist.com
" Email marketing is
the #1 proven client
retention strategy
that still works. "
Communication
Your clients want to stay informed, and
you need to be their trusted source.
Email
According to a Morningstar survey, 30%
of clients prefer weekly emails from their
advisor and 36% prefer to receive them
monthly. This means that more than half of
your clients want to hear from you at least
once per month.
Email marketing is the #1 proven client
retention strategy that still works. Within your
emails, teach and train your clients. Show
them step-by-step 401(k) best practices, share
how-to plan sponsor guides and content that
will engage, entertain and educate.
If you haven't started a client retention
email strategy, now is a great time.
Social Media
LinkedIn is the largest business-to-business
social networking site in the world. On average,
decision-makers spend 11 minutes per
day scrolling and reading content, according
to statistics from the networking website.
Two quick ideas to increase client retention
and boost your social media strategy:
1. Connect with all your clients
2. Follow all their companies
When you post, now you have a larger distribution
reach and another avenue for you
to share important news with your clients.
Knowledge Sharing
Be a thought leader by creating content
that shows your clients you know how to
advise a retirement plan and that you have
experience working with similar companies
and have solved their challenges. You have
several options to:
* Verbally share
* Show and tell
Podcast
Video
* Visually express the concept
graphic
* Write about your experiences
* Present and explain
InfoBlog
Webinar
By
sharing your knowledge, you solidify
your trusted role and strengthen your
relationship.
Aim to share one valuable resource per
month and at a minimum, one per quarter.
Relevant and Timely Topics
Often times, we hear advisors express
frustration because they have access to
wealth management content; however,
they do not have plan sponsor materials.
So, they try to mix-and-match content that
might appeal to employers.
Now, before you send/post/share
content, take a step back and ask yourself,
" will this information help or hurt my client
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