Category: Finance
It’s All In the Details: Can Micro-Interactions Make or Break Trust? (Ep. 36)

It’s All In the Details: Can Micro-Interactions Make or Break Trust? (Ep. 36)

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You never get the chance to redo a first introduction, so make sure you can control as much of it as you can!

In this episode of the 401(k) Marketing Podcast, Rebecca Hourihan shares her recent encounter with a local attorney, which highlighted the profound impact of seemingly minor details during a first meeting. The episode explores key lessons for advisors to build and maintain client trust.

Rebecca discusses:

  • How micro-interactions can make or break the trust of a client or prospect
  • Incremental adjustments to improve your onboarding process
  • The escalating need for robust cybersecurity measures
  • Her views on regaining trust after a mistake
  • And more

Resources:

Connect with Rebecca Hourihan: 

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SMART Strategies for a Year-End Review and 2024 Kickoff (Ep. 35)

SMART Strategies for a Year-End Review and 2024 Kickoff (Ep. 35)

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Advisors, are you ready to wrap up 2023 with an insightful year-end review and kick off 2024 with a SMART action plan?

In this episode of the 401(k) Marketing Podcast, Rebecca Hourihan shares ideas and suggestions for a productive year-end evaluation of your business.

Rebecca discusses:

  • The first step for a comprehensive year-end review
  • The importance of SMART goals (with examples for retirement plan advisors)
  • Actionable ideas to improve accountability and avoid running off-track
  • Why you should incorporate client feedback in your evaluation process
  • And more

Resources:

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Elevating Advisor Standards Through CEFEX Certification with Carlos Panksep (Ep. 34)

Elevating Advisor Standards Through CEFEX Certification with Carlos Panksep (Ep. 34)

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In financial services, trust is paramount. Certification programs are a great way to strengthen your client’s trust and stand out to plan sponsors!

In this episode of the 401(k) Marketing Podcast, Missy Schoedel speaks with Carlos Panksep, Vice President at Broadridge and General Manager at the Centre for Fiduciary Excellence (CEFEX). They highlight the benefits of CEFEX certification for retirement plan advisors.

Carlos Panksep discusses:

  • The significance of getting certified
  • CEFEX’s rigorous assessment process (and how it helps improve the internal processes in your practice)
  • How to effectively incorporate your certification into your marketing
  • CEFEX’s new DOL cybersecurity verification
  • And more

Resources:

Connect With Carlos Panksep:

Connect With Missy Schoedel: 

About Our Guest:

Carlos Panksep is VP, CEFEX at Broadridge Financial Solutions. He is responsible for operations for CEFEX’s global assessment and certification programs, including a network of analysts. Carlos ensures the integrity of the CEFEX brand and the adherence to the principles of the international standard for performing certification assessments: ISO/IEC 17021. 

Carlos is from QMI, a division of the Canadian Standards Association, where he was responsible for Corporate Operations, including registration, certification, continual improvement, information technology and international operations. Carlos brings to CEFEX the management skills required to run an independent third-party registration program, similar in design to ISO 9001. This includes the assurance of audit quality control, audit consistency, customer satisfaction monitoring and information transparency.

Carlos also has over 20 years of high-tech management experience. He held senior product management, sales and marketing positions at Bell Canada, Canada’s largest telecommunications company. He has also managed a very small high-tech start-up during the dot-com boom. Carlos has a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. He is active in sports, music, and photography. He lives in Toronto, is married and has 2 sons.

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Powerful Branding Strategies for 401(k) Advisors (Ep. 33)

Powerful Branding Strategies for 401(k) Advisors (Ep. 33)

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A consistent brand that resonates with clients translates into greater influence, business opportunities, and profitability. But how do you build one?

In this episode of the 401(k) Marketing Podcast, Rebecca Hourihan shares actionable strategies to build a strong brand presence in a competitive marketplace. She also talks about creating and implementing a long-term marketing strategy to scale your business.

Rebecca discusses:

  • What it takes to rise above the noise (on average, we’re exposed to 10,000 ads daily!)
  • How to align your personal and corporate brand with authenticity
  • Key elements of an effective marketing strategy 
  • Two questions to kickstart marketing strategy conversations in your firm (some of 401(k) Marketing’s secret sauce!)
  • Creating a 360-degree influence
  • And more

Resources:

Connect With Rebecca Hourihan: 

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How Financial Advice Preferences Have Changed Across Generations (Ep. 32)

How Financial Advice Preferences Have Changed Across Generations (Ep. 32)

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The way people seek financial advice and consume information has changed tremendously. Are you keeping up?

In this episode of the 401(k) Marketing Podcast, Rebecca Hourihan talks about the evolution of financial advice preferences across different generations — and why an advisor’s digital presence matters more now than ever.

Rebecca discusses:

  • The generational divide in financial advice preferences
  • How the 401(k) industry can collectively tackle misinformation online
  • Why it’s crucial to maintain an “up-to-date” online presence
  • The current state of payroll integration in 401(k) plans (and where we are headed)
  • And more

Resources:

Connect With Rebecca Hourihan: 

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Simplified Reporting and RFX Solutions with Justin Witz (Ep. 31)

Simplified Reporting and RFX Solutions with Justin Witz (Ep. 31)

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Are you struggling to keep up with the ever-changing landscape of the retirement plan industry?

In this episode of the 401(k) Marketing Podcast, Rebecca Hourihan interviews Justin Witz, co-founder of PlanTools, LLC and Catapult HQ, Inc. Justin shares his insights on where the 401(k) industry is headed and how technology can help advisors stay ahead of the curve.

Justin Witz discusses:

  • The importance of building trust with clients
  • How PlanTools helps advisors streamline their retirement plan reporting
  • How Catapult, as an RFX platform, helps bring automation into your practice
  • Why you should take a “consistently good, occasionally great” approach
  • And more

Connect With Justin Witz:

Connect With Rebecca Hourihan: 

About Our Guest:

A Veteran of the U.S. Air Force, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, Justin is the Co-Founder and CEO of Catapult HQ, Inc., a universal Request for Proposal (“RFP”) platform which caters to every industry and project type to include RFP’s, RFI’s, RFQ’s, DDQ’s, Cybersecurity, Government and more. Catapult has won a plethora of awards within the local community as a top startup to watch and globally for its innovation, time and cost saving technology across the Fortune 500. Catapult reduces the RFx workflow by over 90% for organizations worldwide while standardizing their internal processes.

In addition, Justin has been widely recognized for the technology solutions he has built that brought three Target Date Solutions in the Financial Services – Retirement sector for AllianzGI, Merrill Lynch and the widely successful Principal Financial Groups Target Date Analyzer. In addition, he has built custom solutions for Vanguard, Nationwide and many others alongside publications by Google, Atlassian, Balsamiq, Forbes, ASPPA’s Plan Consultant Magazine, Bloomberg BNA, 401kWire, 401k Help Center, StartCharlotte, Charlotte Stories, Charlotte Business Journal and he has spoken globally on project management, team empowerment, collaboration, entrepreneurship and additional topics at industry related conferences for Google, Atlassian, Startup Grind, NAPA, Excel 401(k), and CFDD.

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Podcast Image showing the title "401k Marketing Podcast" and headshots of Josh Itzoe and Rebecca Hourihan
How Fiduciary Works Helps Advisors Work Smarter with Josh Itzoe, CFP®, AIF® (Ep. 30)

How Fiduciary Works Helps Advisors Work Smarter with Josh Itzoe, CFP®, AIF® (Ep. 30)

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We’ve all heard it a thousand times: Work smarter, not harder. Discover how to work smarter and become a hero to your clients with FiduciaryWor(k)s.

In this episode of the 401k Marketing Podcast, Rebecca Hourihan interviews Josh Itzoe, CFP®, AIF®, founder of FiduciaryWor(k)s and former co-founder of Greenspring Advisors. Josh discusses the challenges that advisors face in their business, including visualizing their value and creating efficiency and repeatability in their practice. 

Josh Itzoe discusses:

  • The importance of creating a consistent process
  • Why “casting a vision” is important for financial advisors to do with clients
  • How to leverage technology to increase efficiency and profitability
  • Ways you can become a hero to your clients
  • And more

Connect With Josh Itzoe:

Connect With Rebecca Hourihan: 

About Our Guest:

Josh Itzoe is the Founder & CEO of FiduciaryWor(k)s, where he focuses on developing insights, research, technology, fiduciary consulting, and practice management coaching to assist retirement plan advisors and employers in the areas of fiduciary responsibility and workplace retirement. As the creator of FiduciaryRx™, a web-based tool, he helps retirement plan advisors diagnose, prescribe, and improve Fiduciary Wellness™ for corporate retirement plans.

An Amazon Best Selling author of two books, “The Fiduciary Formula: 6 Essential Elements to Create the Perfect Corporate Retirement Plan” and “Fixing the 401(k): What Fiduciaries Must Know (And Do) To Help Employees Retire Successfully,” Josh is also the host of the Fiduciary U™ Podcast and a frequent industry speaker.

With a track record of excellence, Josh has been named a Financial Times Top 401 Retirement Advisor three times (2016-2018) and nominated for the Top 100 Most Influential People in Defined Contribution survey by 401kWire. He is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional and Accredited Investment Fiduciary®.

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Leveraging Social Media With Bruce Johnston (Ep. 29)

Leveraging Social Media With Bruce Johnston (Ep. 29)

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Engagement, Updates and Education! Three really compelling tips for success on LinkedIn!! 

How often are you active on LinkedIn? When was the last time you posted to your network? 

In this episode, Rebecca Hourihan welcomes social media guru, Bruce Johnston of Two Dogs Social, to the podcast to talk about why social media has a growing impact on lead generation. He shares how you can leverage your LinkedIn to grow your client base.

Bruce discusses:

  • How advisors can use LinkedIn for prospecting
  • Why you should ALWAYS check your inbox
  • Who the “Power Users” of LinkedIn *really* are
  • Social media strategies that can help grow your network
  • And more

Connect With Bruce Johnston:

Connect With Rebecca Hourihan: 

About Our Guest:

Recognizing the impact social media would have on Financial Advisors and RIAs, Bruce  has spent the past 14 years perfecting how they can compliantly leverage LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and now Instagram, to acquire and retain clients.

Traveling extensively in the field, Bruce has educated over 20,000 financial services professionals on the power of LinkedIn and other social media platforms as efficient brand-building, retention, and acquisition platforms. 

Additionally, in his role as Social Media Advisor to Two Dogs Social, Bruce has witnessed first-hand how they work closely with Financial Advisors to provide the strategy, planning, management, execution, and training for LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. The Two Dogs Social Team can assist Financial Advisors and businesses of all types in creating an effective social media strategy or fine-tuning and taking their current strategy to the next level. Their main focus is to help business owners develop strategies that allow them to acquire and retain clients.

Bruce’s ability for “early trend recognition” was instrumental in being recognized as Institutional Investor’s Fund Marketer of the Year.

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Mastering Your Money: The Importance of Financial Wellness in Today’s World with Peter Dunn aka Pete the Planner (Ep. 28)

Mastering Your Money: The Importance of Financial Wellness in Today’s World with Peter Dunn aka Pete the Planner (Ep. 28)

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Financial success and failures can both boil down to one thing: financial wellness.

In this episode, Rebecca Hourihan welcomes Peter Dunn a.k.a Pete the Planner® on the podcast to share with listeners the importance of financial wellness when helping clients. He explains that it’s more than just math and how sometimes, behaviors have just as much impact. 

Peter discusses:

  • Why he created Your Money Line and how it helped thousands of Americans
  • The direct correlation between behavior and retirement outcomes
  • How advisors can better serve their clients when financial wellness is taken into account
  • Who is accountable for an employee’s ability to retire
  • And more

Connect With Peter Dunn:

Connect With Rebecca Hourihan: 

About Our Guest:

Peter Dunn a.k.a. Pete the Planner® is an award-winning comedian and an award-winning financial mind. He’s a USA TODAY columnist and the author of ten books, six of which were featured in a nationwide launch at Barnes & Noble stores in January of 2015. He is the host of the popular radio show The Pete the Planner Show on 93 WIBC FM and is a columnist for the Indy Star. Pete has appeared regularly on CNN Headline News, Fox News, Fox Business as well as numerous nationally syndicated radio programs. Pete is regularly considered one of the top four national financial broadcasters in the nation.

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Artificial Intelligence Opportunities and Challenges for 401(k) Advisors (Ep. 27)

Artificial Intelligence Opportunities and Challenges for 401(k) Advisors (Ep. 27)

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In recent years, you’ve probably heard about how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is taking over different industries – but it can’t fully replace human intelligence… can it?

In this episode, Rebecca Hourihan shares some of the exciting benefits and cautionary challenges of using AI-produced content. She talks about Chat GPT and how it can be a useful tool for financial advisors and ways to use it effectively in your practice. 

Rebecca discusses:

  • The ways AI has been revolutionizing business
  • How large language models work
  • A story about why large language models are never the most reliable source
  • Why certain professions are uncertain about this new development in technology
  • How Chat GPT and other AI models could be used to improve communication between 401(k) advisors and their clients
  • And more

Resources:

Connect With Rebecca Hourihan: 

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