PLANADVISER - November/December 2017 - 8

practice development
How to
Make
The Leap
What to consider when
trying to move upmarket
O
ne might think attracting
clients with greater assets
under advisement (AUA) would
call for a complicated game plan. But, as
two seasoned retirement plan advisers
suggest, the answer is much simpler:
Serve your current clients well.
For Ken Catanella, founder and
managing director, wealth management,
of The Catanella Institutional
Consulting Group of UBS in Philadelphia,
this means welcoming innovation-in
plan design, communication,
technology, etc.-to help grow his
clients' plans and better serve their
participants.
" You've got to take care of them
first, " he says. " If you do a good job for
them, everything else follows its own
course. You're going to get referred to
a $250 million plan. Then you can use
that as a reference. "
His own firm's advancement is a
case in point. In 1994, three years after
his team joined UBS, one of his two
plans totaled $17 million. Today, his
smallest plan is $100 million.
Building a strong reputation aided
that ascent, he notes. At UBS, for
instance, he shares his team's success
stories with private wealth consultants
who serve large corporations;
they, too, provide referrals. " You can't
go after larger plans unless you have
larger plans, " he says. " You'll be asked,
'How many $100 million plans do you
consult to?' If you can't answer that
question, it's over before you start. "
Like Catanella, Grant Arends, president
of Intellicents Inc. in Kansas City,
Kansas, watched his business evolve
until the next step was naturally up. " It
starts with an opportunity presenting
" If you do a good job for them, everything
else follows its own course. You're going
to get referred to a $250 million plan. "
itself, most likely from a referral or a
center of
influence where someone
brings you into a larger plan, " he says.
Arends' varied experience working
with small plans-notably with the
participants-proved to be invaluable.
" When we bring that level of
consulting, regarding participant
services, to larger plans, we get a
'Wow' factor because they're not used
to hearing that from consultants, " he
says, adding that many large-plan
advisers focus only on investments,
fees and fiduciary coverage-they
outsource the hands-on tasks. " To me,
[serving participants] is the ticket into
the larger-plan market, " he observes.
But a lack of specialization can also
slam the door, he says. Intellicents does
plan consulting exclusively, he notes
and cautions investment managers
and generalists against tackling this
market without a specialist on their
team. " Even in the $10 million space
[today], you'd better know what you're
doing; if you're in a competitive situation
with advisers who are specialists,
they're going to clean your clock, " he
says.
He cites a further caveat: Not all
advisers can provide services competitively
in the current fee environment.
" You need scale and team work to
deliver those services to a large plan
profitably today. " Therefore, performing
due diligence is key, he says.
Still, there is an alternative way
to make the climb-one Catanella
prefers: " Grow your small plans, and
you will grow. " For example, he says,
" by working with [one] company to
improve communications and participant
education and bring the match
to where it should be, we enhanced all
those things to make it more attractive
for people to save. " Today, that
$17 million plan he mentioned has
AUA of $200 million. -Karen Wittwer
8 | planadviser.com november-december 2017 Art by Jack Dylan
http://www.planadviser.com
PLANADVISER - November/December 2017

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