You are here: Home » Member Focus » 403(b) Advisor Releases Winter Issue

403(b) Advisor Releases Winter Issue

admin | February 8, 2012 | 0 Comments

Face Time

Arlington, VA (February 8, 2012)—Last summer I was invited to a company sales congress. Advisors from the local region, of all ages and levels of experience, gathered for two-and-a-half days of speakers and seminars, networking and golf.

The conference was very efficient and highly informative, with about the standard level of technology. Throughout the PowerPoint presentations, many attendees divided their attention between the speaker and their laptops.

Although I haven’t made a presentation to a group like that in many years, I can’t help but wonder what it must be like for the speaker. In a relatively small, open, well-lit room, it’s easy to see that many in your audience are focused on something other than you. It must be hard not to wonder what it is. Are they taking assiduous notes about everything you say? Are they checking email? Surfing the web? All of the above?

I also couldn’t help but wonder what one of those speakers might be thinking as he made his presentation. His message was fairly radical: Advisors forget the technology. Technology does not build relationships. Face-to-face contact builds relationships. If you want to reach out to clients and become part of their lives, don’t text them, don’t email them, don’t even send them fancy brochures or reminders. Talk to them. Meet them. By phone if you must, but make it personal. Technology is not personal.

It sounds good and it’s easy to say. But technology is here and it’s difficult to resist. After all, efficiency and cost effectiveness have to be part of the equation, too. But they aren’t goals in themselves; they’re means to an end. And that end has to be the personal touch.

Tyler Liechty, this month’s cover author, understands that. His business is built around contact, whether it’s in the client’s home or classroom or office. Tyler’s clients know what he looks like and what he sounds like. They know where he lives and how to find him.

“One of the things about Tyler that’s amazing to me is how accessible he is,” says Alan Gabel, one of Tyler’s retired clients. “If you email him or call and leave a message, he’ll get back to you within an hour or half a day. Tyler’s an avid sports fan and I called him one time from school with a question. He was somewhere in New York on his way to the World Series. I told him the question wasn’t that important, it could wait. But he had the time and he took it to deal with my question right then.”

Tyler’s model for success is eminently transferrable and it should be, particularly in a time when some legislators, administrators, and even large providers are questioning the need for advisors at all. Who needs all that face time, anyway? Keep it short, keep it simple. Rely on the efficiency of technology and the rest will take care of itself. Never mind that saving for retirement is a scary proposition, full of uncertainty and complex processes that are difficult to understand. And the nail-biting doesn’t end with retirement. What do I do with my money now that I’ve worked so hard to get it? How do I make sure it lasts the rest of my lifetime, however long that may be?

Nobody has any easy answers to these questions. Not even advisors. But I know I’d rather have a trusted advisor there to help guide me through the thicket, rather than rely on the automated voice of a phone menu that kicks me out, no matter how many times I press “O” for operator.

Steve Sullivan is editor of 403(b) Advisor magazine. He lives in Baltimore, Md.

Contributions of letters to the editor, story and sales ideas, opinions, and finished articles are welcome at the editor’s email box: stevensullivan08@comcast.net.

To view 403(b) Advisor online click here or to receive a complimentary subscription visit our website.