North Pier’s Managing Partner Jim Scheinberg‘s explores why advisors won’t stop calling plan sponsors in his latest article for Benefits Pro.
Annually, Fidelity Investments has been surveying plan sponsors to understand their needs and motivation. 2017’s survey revealed that the number one reason plan sponsors sought advice from a plan advisor was to get help with fiduciary issues. The year before, the top reason was to understand and address ‘participant preparedness’ for retirement.
One might think that these surveys are geared towards informing the plan sponsor community. Instead, they are actually provided by Fidelity to the plan advisor industry to help them shape their services.
However, these surveys also serve a potentially unintended consequence: They become fuel for endless marketing tactics of persistent sales representatives on the hunt for their next new client, and a bigger paycheck.
As you continue to be barraged by marketing emails and phone calls, regardless of whether they are wrapped in the guise of the latest survey results, a hot new industry article, or analysis of your actual plan data, have you ever wondered about the world on the other end of the line—why these advisors keep calling, or what their business model looks like?