How to Properly Promote Your Financial Services

If you’re like many successful financial advisors, you won’t pass up an opportunity to sell multiple financial services at once. While normally there is nothing wrong with this type of proactiveness, we would like to bring an important fact to your attention:

The Government Accountability Office (GAO), is currently investigating how retirement providers use certain types of data during their sales process.

Let’s take a closer look at this issue to ensure you understand these investigations and how they may affect your business.

Key Takeaways:

• The GAO is investigating how participant 401(k) plan information is being used.
• Make sure you understand the laws surrounding the use of participant data.
• Promote your services properly and ethically.

The GAO investigation:

The U.S. Senate is concerned that financial advisors may be using participant account information without their permission purportedly to sell services unrelated to the participant’s retirement plan. As a result of this concern, the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions sent a letter to the GAO in 2022.

Based on this letter, the GAO is investigating how retirement plan participant information is being used in relation to selling other financial services. It also urges the GAO to look into the process of “cross-selling” services based on data acquired from retirement plan information. One of the most common examples of this sales technique is when a financial professional recommends the client rollover their account to an IRA.

Ethically promote your financial services:

A key component in selling your services is the relationships you have with your clients. Are you in tune with their needs from moment to moment? If your clients currently sponsor retirement plans, take a look at their documents so you can benchmark their plans and determine if they might benefit from sponsoring new plans such as an ePlan Services 401(k).

You may also find it helpful to be direct and ask your clients if they are satisfied with their plans and capitalize on opportunities to mention other beneficial services you offer such as wealth management.

Not only will you need a strong relationship with your clients, but you’ll also need to form solid partnerships with a network of professionals such as ePlan services who can help increase your reputation of excellence within the financial community.

Conclusion:

Bundling financial services may be getting a bad rap lately, but your business doesn’t have to get a bad rap as well. Forming the right connections with trustworthy organizations like ePlan Services and using those connections to spread the word about your services can help to move the needle towards boosting your book of business.