Experts Offer Tips on Better Serving Clients

A Jan. 27 session at the NTSA Summit focused on ways to better serve clients and build one’s practice. 

“My passion is expanding our business and diversifying our business,” said 2019 NTSA President Kris Coffey, who moderated the session. “What do clients need?” she asked the panel, which featured Scott Hayes, President & CEO of ISC Group; Mark Heisler, CEO of ADMIN Partners, LLC; and Jack Towarnicky of the Plan Sponsor Council of America. 

Fiduciary Compliance

“Fiduciary compliance is on the mind of plan sponsors,” said Scott. Part of the role is to consider how to help them to comply, he said, as well as helping them mitigate risk, and document processes.

“The interesting thing is that things are different, but the same,” said Heisler. “When they hear the ‘F’ word – that ‘fiduciary’ word – they go screaming from the room.” he said. “So our job is to anticipate their risk.”

Coffey offered a different take. “The ‘F’ word is ‘friend,’” she remarked, continuing that that means helping them to be the type of professionals they want to be and to do business as they want. Coffey told attendees, “Remember – ‘fiduciary’ is your friend.”

Financial Education

Coffey noted that wording has an effect regarding financial education, asking panel members how they look at the different aspects of education. 

“The stuff is pretty complex for everyday Americans,” said Towarnicky. “What I try to do is get them entered and meeting them where they’re at.” He added that he looks at liquidity issues and emphasizes the “right kind of liquidity.” 

Plan Investments

Panel members discussed the need to examine how plan funds are invested and working with clients on that. Said Hayes, “We have encountered people who have the same funds they’ve always had. There’s a lot of them out there.”

“You can make a real difference. You can change the trajectory of a plan by encouraging a sponsor to adopt new plan features and consider how funds are invested,” said Scott.

And there is an increasing number of plan sponsors that are putting in place provisions that encourage participants to leave assets in the plan, even when they leave the employer, Towarnicky added. 

Reducing Plan Costs

Plan fees are very much on sponsors’ radar screens, panelists indicated. Towarnicky reported that the PSCA has found in its research that 90% of plan sponsors it surveyed said they are looking at fees at least annually, if not more frequently.

“There are still a lot of products out there that are old, antiquated and costly,” Heisler noted. He also emphasizes that clients need to be equipped to evaluate fees. “They don’t know what they don’t know,” he said, asking on what basis they are evaluating. “You are helping them to find ways to  mitigate expenses,” he said. 

The Bottom Line

Heisler noted that “this sector is so underserved” and that so many professionals do not use an advisor. “It is a tremendous opportunity,” he said.

“The bottom line,” said Coffey, is that “we have an extraordinary opportunity when 46% of those in the industry do not employ an advisor.”