Improve Plan Sponsor Conversion and Increase Revenue with ParticipantDirect

Improve Plan Sponsor Conversion & Increase Revenue with ParticipantDirect

  1. How Does This Help You?
  2. How This Helps Participants?
  3. How This Helps Plan Sponsor?

We always explain to our clients that Larkspur-RiXtrema apps have two goals:

  1. Help you win more plans
  2. Help you make more revenue from those plans by providing valuable services

To help you win plans (goal #1) we enhanced Larkspur Executive with such formidable marketing machines such as Custom Trackable Marketing Letters (CTML) and most importantly Larkspur PRO and Larkspur Platinum. These features turn Larkspur Executive into a powerful mix of plan intelligence, plan executive contact data, and email marketing automation to create a sophisticated sales strategy, on Autopilot. We have had record signups for Larkspur PRO, even during a crisis (read more here).

Today, let’s talk about goal #1 i.e. getting more revenue from the plans that you do win. Fees for advising qualified retirement plans are very low, you all know that. And they are showing signs of further compression. Competing by lowering the price is not a long term strategy and will drive  you to subsistence level work. Instead, you need to differentiate and broaden the scope of your services. With that in mind we are introducing a new feature in Larkspur Executive called ParticipantDirect.

ParticipantDirect allows you to interact with any number of participants (even many thousdands) without spending a great deal of time. Here is how it works:

Any plan in Larkspur Executive now has two additional reports. The first is called ParticipantDirect and the second one QDIA. Go into ParticipantDirect report for the plan and in the upper right you will see a Get Questionnaire Link feature in the upper right. By clicking there you will get a single link that can be distributed to all participants. When a participant clicks on a link, they will see a brief questionnaire that asks them questions about risk tolerance and their risk capacity (you can read more about the questionnaire HERE).

How Does This Help You?

Once plan participants answer the questionnaire, you will see each respondent in a ParticipantDirect report within Larkspur Executive. You will see their answers in a dashboard. Those answers include their risk preferences, savings, retirement goals. At this point, you can reach out to those participants who you believe to be good prospects for your individual wealth practice. You can offer them holistic wealth management, advising them on assets outside of a retirement plan. You can also contact those that are already in need of a rollover to help them.

Additionally, you can create model portfolios for different risk levels comprised on investments from the plan menu. ParticipantDirect questionnaire will automatically assign the most appropriate model for each participant (based on their risk tolerance and capacity level).

How This Helps Participants?

Participants get two benefits from this. Firstly, they get a detailed risk tolerance and capacity assessment i.e. Education. Upon completion they will get a report with their answers. If their expectations are unrealistic, the results of risk capacity assessments will tell them that their goals may not be realistic and that they need to save more or reduce their goals. This will create a better outcome, as their plans and savings will be grounded in reality.

They will also get an assigned portfolio comprised of plan menu investments, that is appropriate to their risk level. This reduces the risk that their portfolio will be mismatched away from their risk profile and that they will react irrationally in the downturn.

How This Helps Plan Sponsor?

You are providing a service to participants educating them. This helps the plan sponsor. In addition, by assigning them a risk-appropriate portfolio form the plan menu you will increase participation rate, which is crucial to fulfilling the fiduciary duty.

Summary: ParticipantDirect is a powerful tool within Larkspur Executive. It helps you provide additional services to plan participants. This will both increase your negotiating position in the world of compressed plan advisor fees AND will help you earn additional revenue through work with participants over time. On May 21st we will announce a special offer on ParticipantDirect that will last until May 31s. Stay tuned and do not miss this opportunity.

Related Posts

Stagflationary Recession or Stagflation? How to Model Federal Reserve Actions
Reconsider Adding Revenue-Sharing Funds To Your Investment Menu
Three Reasons Email Campaigns Are Not Enough
Three Reasons Email Campaigns Are Not Enough

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.