Katrina Mood, ERPA, QPA, QKA & Mike Zahariades, APR
One simple sales tactic has led Retirement Plan Administrators (RPA) to impressive growth: follow up. “It’s just something TPA firms traditionally haven’t been good at,” said Katrina Moody, founding partner at RPA. “We’re not salespeople, we’re technicians.” But Moody and her partner, Peggy Smith, changed that.
They hired a director of sales and marketing who both pounds the pavement and provides the necessary follow up. “As owners, Peggy and I wear a lot of hats. We review compliance work, handle employee issues, a lot of our time is spent being reactive to issues,” she explained. “We now have someone dedicated to being proactive, it’s made a huge difference.”
RPA’s sales have increased year over year with 75 new plans in 2014 and continued to add 110 new plans in 2015, and 140 new plans in 2016.
When RPA’s director of pension sales and marketing, Mike Zarahiades, came on board in 2014, he requested an important tool. “The spreadsheet just wasn’t cutting it,” said Zarahiades. He knew the firm needed a better Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. RPA had previously used a CRM, but found it difficult to adapt to TPA work. PensionPro’s SalesPitch, custom built for the TPA industry, allowed them to move quickly.
Moving from prospect to sale and onboarding has also become seamless. “Because we gather so much information in the system up front, we can use the conversion tool to make it a ‘plan in progress,'” explained Zarahiades. “It’s pretty simple.”
“I have it on my desktop and phone, all of my contacts are there,” he said. “We have the ability to see all contacts, top influencers, notes, fees, see what is outstanding, do a quick report, or follow up.”
Looking to maximize your firm’s potential just like Retirement Plan Administrators did? We can’t hire a director of marketing for you, but we can show you the potential of SalesPitch, a PensionPro add-on. Click the button below to register for a webinar so you can learn more.
