PLANADVISER - July/August 2021 - 19

3 Differentiation Techniques
The advisers also discussed three keys to how to approach
writing your RFP response.
1) Customize your content. SageView's consultants ask a
potential client many questions upfront and listen closely to
its answers; this way the RFP response can be customized,
Donnelly says. The advisory firm has template responses to
typical RFP questions but then adapts them for a specific
response. " Definitely, the customization goes a long way
with sponsors, " he notes.
To customize a response, Kelly agrees, it is crucial to talk
upfront with the prospect. " As advisers, communicating our
differentiators needs to start with a recognition of what
the plan sponsor is trying to accomplish. So the more preresponse
conversations you can have to learn about its goals,
the better, " she says. " How do you differentiate your practice
in an RFP response? You create an experience for the reader
that jumps off the page. That happens as a result of giving a
much tighter response that is based on customization and
trying to identify early on, through additional fact-finding,
what's important to that potential client. What's important
doesn't always come through in the RFP questionnaire. "
2) Share relevant case studies. When plan sponsors perform
an RFP, the biggest challenge most advisory practices face
in responding is not whether they have the core capabilities
needed to serve that plan, Assaley says. " The biggest challenge
is how best to express in an RFP response that they have
those capabilities. We try to develop a storyline with real-life
examples of work we've done for our clients, other organizations
[that share similar] demographics and characteristics
with the potential client. We build in those case studies to
the RFP response and give the sponsor a really clear sense of
what the experience of working with us might be like. "
Many sponsors send their RFP to 10, 20 or even 30 advisory
firms, and when the sponsor looks at the responses, " probably
only 25% of the advisory firms really distinguish themselves, "
Middleton says, noting that he bases that assessment
on several things, including feedback from the sponsors. It
is likely that all of the advisory firms offer services such as
investment reviews, plan design consulting and participant
education. " It's the ability to give examples of how you can
deliver that service, to 'evidence' that, that will distinguish
you, " he says. " It's like test-driving a car. "
3) Have an informative, not promotional, tone. " With
my team, I try to eliminate the fluff in an RFP response, "
Donnelly says. " You can create an eight-paragraph answer
to an RFP question that sounds like good marketing, or you
can just give them the answer. "
When Kelly thinks about Compass Financial Partners'
differentiator, she sees it as the firm's very results-driven
orientation and strong track record of producing results for
clients. And the results sought are not the same for each,
so an example her firm would include in a response would
discuss specifically how Compass had partnered with a
client to achieve the particular results it wanted. " The more
we can illustrate solutions, as opposed to just listing our capabilities,
it's definitely a differentiator, " she says. -Judy Ward
Talking Upfront
" T
here's a lot of finesse in figuring
out what potential clients say
they want and what they actually
need; oftentimes, those two things
are not aligned initially, " says Tony
Franchimone, founder and managing
partner at Retirement Benefits Group
(RBG) in San Diego. So before committing
to answering a request for
proposals (RFP), he says, try to talk with
the sponsor doing the search.
" First and foremost in an RFP process,
you need to determine what they're
looking for and whether you are a good
fit, " Franchimone says. " For us, whether
a prospect is willing to have a conversation
with us about the RFP, prior to us
spending many hours putting together
a response, will help determine if that
sponsor is really interested in hiring a
new adviser or is just benchmarking its
adviser. If somebody is not willing to
spend time talking with you-someone
who has responsibility in the decisionmaking
process-to give you 30
minutes to ask questions, that might
not be somebody who is looking to
make a change. "
The conversation also helps
Franchimone figure out if the sponsor's
service needs mesh well with
RBG's holistic, in-depth service model.
So he not only asks if the employer
currently offers a financial wellness
program and one-on-one employee
meetings with an adviser, but he tries
to get a sense of how much effort that
employer makes to stress the importance
of those programs. Are these
meetings mandatory for employees?
Does the employer offer some type of
credit or reward for participating in
meetings?
Further, Franchimone wants to get
a better sense of that employer's fiduciary
knowledge and comfort. Is that
plan still using investments that pay
revenue sharing? If so, how important
is fee equalization to the sponsor?
Does the plan committee feel comfortable
maintaining control of investment
decisions, or is it interested in an
adviser taking discretion as a fiduciary
investment manager? " Questions such
as those allow us to understand, to a
degree, what's important to that plan
sponsor, " he says. -JW
planadviser.com July-August 2021 | 19
http://www.planadviser.com
PLANADVISER - July/August 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of PLANADVISER - July/August 2021
