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Excellence from Plan Sponsors’ Perspective

What constitutes excellent service? That’s an important question for an advisor, since the ultimate goal is to provide exactly that to clients and ultimately plan participants. 





To help answer this question, three plan sponsors offered their insights in a March 23 panel discussion at the 2015 NAPA 401(k) Summit. 





Moderator Ann Schleck, founder and CEO of Ann Schleck & Co., was joined by Music Choice Human Resources Director Deb Gualtieri, People’s Credit Union Ellen Ford and Mike Tanner of the O.C. Tanner Co. 



All three stressed the importance of educating employees. Gualtieri said Music Choice worked hard to educate millennials about the importance of the plan and participating in it. The result? They were successful in increasing participation. 





Tanner’s experience was similar — less than half of his company’s employees attended education sessions about their plan. The company went to a service provider that offered one-on-one sessions with employees about the plan. Now nearly all employees have had this kind of training onsite or electronically. 





And Ford said they achieved 100% participation in one-on-one training sessions when they made them mandatory. Now People’s Credit Union is targeting employees age 50+ for training about the importance of preparing financially for retirement. 





What was their biggest “a-ha” moment? Here’s what they told Schleck: 





  • Ford: when they realized how much they were not doing for their employees.



  • Gualtieri: when they concluded that in following their practice of offering up to three plan loans was facilitating what employees should not be doing. 



  • Tanner: when there was no negative response to the auto features they introduced. 


When asked to describe a perfect meeting with a vendor, Ford said that the vendor should “know who we are” and tell them how they can help the company make employees better. “Make it a solution, not a service,” she said. 





What makes an advisor not just good, but extraordinary? Gualtieri responded, “Be proactive. Check in constantly. Visit clients. Go beyond the 401(k). Reduce fees without being asked, proactively.” 





Tanner has a different approach: measure retirement income replacement ratios, not just participation rates. Tanner said that the top consideration in choosing an advisor is the quality of the service offered. And Ford suggests considering whether a benefit the advisor offers is meaningful for employees. 

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