Becoming a client of PlanPro has empowered the Michigan Retirement team with rich plan information and contact data to support their digital prospecting. Within their first few weeks of prospecting digitally, PlanPro’s robust LinkedIn contact data directly led the 401(k) team to securing a client.

Background

Michigan Retirement Advisors, a team of four, prides itself on building strong relationships with clients. Taking a service-focused approach, they target small-medium sized companies, ensuring they have the time and capacity to provide the required service to plan sponsors and their participants.

Challenge

A Need to Go Digital

Growing their client base and plan assets is a core goal for Michigan Retirement Advisors. Previously, their growth steadily relied on hosting quarterly, in-person seminars for prospective clients – attendance was driven by physical mailers. The Covid pandemic eliminated this as a viable strategy and spurred the 401(k) team to make a pivotal shift in how they prospect new plan business.

Michigan Retirement Advisors saw increased value in building connections with decision-makers via digital channels like LinkedIn and email; however, they struggled to access insightful information and accurate contact data with the tools they were using prior to partnering with PlanPro.

Not all Tools Are Created Equally

“If everyone is using (the same tool), it doesn’t set us apart or prepare us to have different conversations.”

Evan Pawloski, AIF, Senior Partner at Michigan Retirement Advisors

As a team of four, the Michigan Retirement Advisors wear many hats – advising, educating clients, and growing their book of business. To them, efficiency matters. Between a lack of up-to-date information, a challenging user interface, and having to work in multiple systems, the team needed a streamlined process to target new opportunities. They knew they wanted to set themselves apart and be prepared to have unique and meaningful conversations with their clients, but the tools they were using, along with everyone else, weren’t cutting it. 

When asked about his experience after a few short months with PlanPro, Evan Pawloski added: “PlanPro feels like the iPhone of the 5500. Everyone else feels like Android – it feels old.”  

Solution

The Michigan Retirement Advisors 401(k) team subscribed to PlanPro and developed a digital outreach strategy that would help them win more plan business.

The Prospecting Process

The prospecting process begins by using PlanPro to create targeted lists of prospects. Targeting plans that they have evidence they are a good fit for is key to them being effective as a small team – one niche they focus on are specific industries they have prior experience in.  The team relies heavily on the accuracy of PlanPro’s plan summary reports which include insights on the plan and decision-maker contact data. They subsequently send personalized messages through Linkedin and email to initiate a conversation. Their previous 5500 provider had limited contact data coverage, particularly for emails and LinkedIn profiles, but PlanPro’s rich contact database has since empowered them to reach many more prospects through digital channels.

“I love that a prospective client’s LinkedIn profile is already hyperlinked (on their plan profile), and that it opens as a new tab when I click it vs. opening in the same tab.”

Andrew Sawyer, 401k Sales Assistant at Michigan Retirement Advisors

The team explained that some of the key features they pay close attention to on plan profiles are the Investment Screener, Fee Analyzer, and red flags. Plan red flags were used to not only garner their prospects’ interest, but also build awareness with plan fiduciaries about the overall health of the plan. Through these conversations, Michigan Retirement Advisers are able to showcase the improvements their team offers as the prospective new advisor to the plan. The plan analysis has also given them significant insights into how they can optimize the plan’s performance and cost.

The Value of PlanPro

Backed by their proven closing rate, the team at Michigan Retirement Advisors is confident about being able to close a new plan once they’ve secured a meeting. PlanPro helps support this team of advisors’ ability to get “into the room” and better prepares them to have more meaningful and productive conversations.

“Before PlanPro, our team was trying to break down a 5500, which was the hardest part…but PlanPro distills the information to something actionable where we can take next steps with it.”

Evan Pawloski, AIF, Senior Partner at Michigan Retirement Advisors

PlanPro has become a daily staple for the team. Due to their need to be productive and focused, the team appreciates the attention to detail and a simple, yet comprehensive dashboard that comes with PlanPro. Feeling the constant support of the PlanPro customer success team from day one with onboarding, training, and continued support, Michigan Retirement Advisors have confidence they are in good hands.

“PlanPro is more user-friendly, cleaner, and more robust. As our business grows and new team members come onboard, I don’t have to go through the education/training process I used to because your tool spells it out for them. It definitely streamlines our processes.”

Evan Pawloski, AIF, Senior Partner at Michigan Retirement Advisors

Results

A pivotal moment for the team at Michigan Retirement Advisors was when they were able to filter through targeted prospect lists using PlanPro to secure their first-ever client via LinkedIn – a fulfilling win as they originally subscribed to PlanPro to begin doing more digital outreach.

They first created a lead list on PlanPro of several hundred plans in their local market. Evan and Andrew drilled down further to plans with clear, immediate opportunities for improvement and began a two-pronged marketing approach. They first connected with decision-makers on LinkedIn using personalized, concise messages. If they were unsuccessful getting a response, they’d follow up with an email to the prospect referencing their outreach out LinkedIn and reiterating their value proposition.

One particular prospect responded to Andrew’s message on LinkedIn asking to learn more. The Michigan Retirement Advisors team discussed with him on a call how they could help significantly decrease the cost of the fees associated with the plan lineup. This led to the team closing their first LinkedIn opportunity – all within a month’s time.  

“I’m a big proponent of PlanPro, so if you’ve got someone on the fence, give them my phone number – just make sure they aren’t in my area – and I would be happy to help you win them over!”

Evan Pawloski, AIF, Senior Partner at Michigan Retirement Advisors

Illustrations by Freepik Stories.