Market Volatility & Growth: 401(k) Advisor Marketing Post-Pandemic

[0:00] JD: Let that intro rip. Hey, well, you asked for a little Chicago intro and you get it. Mr. Wolnowitz, what Matt was saying, and I totally agree with, is in the financial planning and wealth management side of advisory shops, they've always looked at down markets and volatile markets as a huge opportunity to bring on new clients for lots of obvious reasons. I mean, that's an old narrative. We've heard it a million times, but it still rings super true. If markets are volatile and advisors are not paying attention to their clients on the wealth management personal planning side, they're going to get swooped up by somebody else that's willing to help them and answer their questions and talk to them about the markets. Is it true that in volatile markets, with a COVID 19 pandemic, is that an opportunity for 401k plan advisors? Mark, yes or no and why? [1:34] Justin: Can you repeat your question? [1:36] JD: Yeah, go ahead. [1:40] Mark: Yes, absolutely it is. I think the pandemic throws a little bit of a screwball in it. But the truth is, clients now and six months from now or a year from now are going to be looking to advisors that took action and responded accordingly during this time period. So if you can monitor what you've done, if you could even document somehow quantify what you've done and show a prospect of a plan six months or eight months from now, that, hey, these are some of the actions I took when shit was hitting the fan then, yeah, that is a way to, to use the volatility and to use the pandemic to continue to grow your practice. [2:18] JD: Can we unpack that a little more? What. What would you record? What would you document as an advisor to show this prospect six months from now when the prospect says, why should I hire you versus this person or my current person? And you say, because when the shit hit the fan back in coronavirus times, I did A, B, C, D and E for my clients and it made an immense amount of difference. What is A, B, C and D? What would that look like? [2:52] Mark: I think one is, you know, it's not going to really be about investment performance. Right. Because anybody can have that conversation. So maybe one is, did the advisor help the business navigate the small business loan process? Maybe that's one. [3:08] Justin: Did they. [3:08] JD: Did he step out? Did he or she step outside of their comfort zone in terms of normal 401k services? And we've been talking about this ad nauseum on the show, right? And help with, help with ppp, help with some small bridge loans, help with maybe SBA loans, whatever, credit card Getting their money on some cash. Did they do that? Sure. That could be one of those bullet points. [3:30] Mark: And I think for anybody listening in, the conversation isn't. I helped my clients understand the ppp. The conversation is I'm connected very well in this financial space and paying attention to what is relevant and what the needs of our clients are. An example would be when the pandemic hit, I became very well informed on what the PPP was and was a resource for my clients. And that's why I keep doing the hashtags. We did that segment for so many years on this show where we're trying to help advisors differentiate themselves. These are the ways in which you differentiate yourselves. As Matt mentioned in the chat, you become a consultant, you become a resource for your client, whether it is specific to the 401k and investments or fiduciary needs or getting access to cash. Like we've been talking about philosophy episodes. And if you can do that, you can talk about that in a sales process a year from now and you can show changes that you made during this time. Hell yeah, that's going to be a good thing for you. [4:31] Justin: We talked about it on our show on Tuesday with Samantha about folks being tone deaf. Right. So I think another example is making sure your communication is sound. And I know Jake 401 Jake is commenting on that as well. But your communication not only needs to be proactive, you know, the folks that are actually stepping up and communicating with people, but it needs to be with what's going on right now. Don't just send out your package communication that's going out scheduled. Make sure that it's about the CARES act and what you can do and what you've digested from it. And it's not just a long three page white paper. It's bullet pointed on the takeaways, action items and I think more importantly how they can physically help during the confusing times. [5:23] JD: How about real, real numbers where you move the needle. We had Alex Astley on and if you guys remember, he had mentioned and we were right out of the gates, we were like two weeks into this thing and don't quote me on his numbers, but he had said I had done, you know, we had done 52 one on one Zoom meetings with participants. We had done 32 group setting webinars for our clients. In whole, he had literally had numbers that he was keeping track of how they had pushed out support in this pandemic. And I thought that's the kind of thing that you could put on a piece of paper and verbally explain to someone that again, when the shit hit the fan. This is what I did over March, April and May in terms of communicating and helping participants one on one, and educating my plan sponsors, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. [6:16] Justin: Or you could just tell them you started a webinar series and drank a bunch. [6:23] Mark: That'll go over well. [6:26] JD: Justin, I see quite a bunch of people chiming in. I think I saw the almighty Don Trone say something as well. Hello to you, Mr. Trone. That's pretty cool to have somebody like that here. [6:40] Mark: Everything we're talking about, it's called leadership and stewardship, not fiduciary. [6:45] JD: Sounds like a Don Trone thing to say. Hey, Don Trone, what up? What up, bro? I got my deal right here. This is his book. Never mind.