As the end of the second quarter approaches, a reader asked: “How many advisors use webcast platforms for some or all of the quarterly Committee meetings – and how are those received?”
As NAPA-Net readers know, there are few things more valuable in your day than time – and so-called “virtual” meetings cab certainly enhance productivity – but at what relational satisfaction cost?
Committee ‘Calls’
We started by asking if readers have ever used some kind of webcast platform to conduct plan committee meetings, and found that a plurality (41%) had, that 26% had done so for some clients, but not all, and that 9% had done so for some meetings, though not all. Roughly a quarter (24%) hadn’t done anything.
“This only takes place when a committee member needs to dial in remotely and cannot attend in person,” explained one reader. Another commented, “We use a webcast platform only rarely. We use conference calls a bit more frequently, but meet in person most of the time.”
“Only when a client either has multiple meetings per year and requires a flight to get there. Then at least 1 meeting a year is done in person. Also, if a client requests the meeting be handled over the web,” commented another.
“This is really for some clients and for some meetings from a majority perspective,” observed another. “We have one client with committee members across the US, every meeting is a GoToMeeting.”
“Availability of an easy to use tool has been the main problem,” explained one reader. “Currently I have not conducted webinar meetings. However, I am exploring the idea and very interested in the survey results,” noted another.
Asked how those sessions had gone:
48% - Very well
29% - Pretty well
18% - Mixed reviews
4% - Some liked it, others not so much
“I think it depends on the company’s culture,” noted one reader. “For some of our clients they are very accustomed to web meetings, that is how they themselves conduct business internally. If that’s the case, they are very open to, and in many cases prefer, a web meeting.”
“Next best thing to being there,” noted another. “We do try to be in front of our clients as we feel we this helps to build our client relationship. We do recognize the need for virtual meetings and will certainly accommodate these requests to meet our clients’ needs, whenever necessary.”
Participant Protocols
Committee meetings are one thing – but what about participant/employee meetings? Only about 12% responded that they did so “all the time,” while nearly a quarter (24%) said they hadn’t, though a plurality (47%) said they had done so “occasionally.” The rest were in the “yes, but only rarely” category.
“This is a growing need as more and more employees work from home,” noted one reader. “We see the numbers of web participants joining these sessions growing. Again, per my point above, as the company culture evolves for our clients.”
One reader noted that they did so “typically in education situations for presentation delivery across a wide geographic area.” Another said they are doing “GoToMeetings with participants so that we can have a nationwide reach.” Another reader explained that this approach “works well for employee education for off-site employees.”
Still another commented, “This is an area we are considering at this point; especially with new technology advances that will enable us to do so.”
But as for social media interactions as a platform for participant/employee meeting interaction – well, that was a horse of a different color.
The vast majority – nearly 85% – had not, while another 9% said they had done so, “but only rarely.” The rest split between “yes, all the time” and “yes, occasionally.”
One reader explained: “We do use LinkedIn primarily as a platform to reach the C suite audience. Due to compliance regulations we have not done so at the participant 1:1 level on LinkedIn or FB. We do some outreach on FB and likely will do more in the near future geared towards the broader participant population.”
(More) Reader Comments
As is often the case, we got a number of reader comments on the subject. Here’s a sampling:
“We conduct webinars for a fair number of our clients. We also take many phone calls/emails from participants. Not sure this is considered virtual but we are not meeting face to face.”
“I would like to conduct more of them but feel clients may not receive well. Not for every meeting but if we meet four times a year with some, it would be nice to do two of them via a virtual webcast. I fear clients will feel we are slighting them by not being there in person. You also never know if the platform will operate properly based on the technology access of the client.”
“Would love to see the survey results and how advisors are using it.”
“We plan to increase use of webcasts for committee meetings. Our caution with doing so is that we might decrease the sense of engagement felt by clients, which in turn could lead to loss of clients.”
“Virtual meetings are helpful, especially for clients located far away. We will usually employ a different strategy with more condensed subject matter as a webinar is not a perfect substitute for in-person meetings. But webinars can be helpful on occasion if schedules don't come together properly for an in-person meeting.”
“As mentioned in your intro, ‘time’ is one of our most valuable commodities the same is true for participants and for the ‘employee time’ is a valuable commodity for employers – webcast benefit all three parties by eliminating logistics/travel time.”
“With fee compression, our team is thinking about how to incorporate an ‘every other meeting’ approach using webcasts and for smaller plans possibly only doing an annual in-person review and participant education meeting. At recent peer group meetings, it is apparent that using technology to improve margins continues to be important. We have a Committee that is made up of executives spanning the country. The only way to conduct the Committee meeting is using virtual webcast. Since that client led us to the virtual meeting approach, we are using this more. After we began assembling all the meeting materials in a single ‘bookmarked’ PDF, the Committee members stayed on track. Originally we emailed multiple PDFs (performance, plan level stats, legislative updates, benchmark reports, etc.) and this proved to be most confusing problematic. We also conduct open enrollment meetings for NQ plans using virtual webcast given many eligible are geographically dispersed. Our fall back is to use a conf # and the PDF. Ideally, we prefer to use a platform, but often there are technical hurdles. Our firm uses SKYPE and we have heard that ZOOM is a better platform. I would like to know more about what platforms others are using with success.”
“I don’t think I’d start the relationship only expecting virtual meetings, I think it’s easier to transition a client to them after you’ve been meeting with them awhile.”
“I would like to read more about what webcast platforms advisors are using and how they feel about their ease of use, effectiveness and cost.”
“We find it works well with plans whose committees are traveling or are located in different geographical locations.”
“Virtual is great – when it works!”
“Even local participants we serve are taking advantage of virtual one on one. Easier for them to do it from their desk or from their home office than to come to the corporate office for the meeting. Also helps to take bad weather out of the equation (think polar vortex that hit much of the country this past winter).”
“We are looking to offer more virtual 1:1 participant and group meetings as we do have clients that are geographically spread out. Would love to hear from others on best practices on conducting virtual meetings and what creative ways they have successfully reached their participant population (webcasts, YouTube videos etc.).”
“If everyone has the information or materials in front of them (on a screen or papery bits), just a plain old telephone call is all that’s needed.”
“As you mentioned, we have limited time. I don’t have many plans with formal committees but I do have many plans that are very interested in participant outcomes. The problem is that I work with plans across the country. Knowing if virtual participant education/communication is well received will be very helpful. Thanks for the survey.”
Thanks to everyone who participated in our weekly NAPA-Net Reader Poll!
