Retirement plan providers love technology. They love talking about their new portal, their app, their payroll integration, their participant experience, and whatever artificial intelligence tool they added last Tuesday. Technology is great. It makes our jobs easier and can make the client experience better. The problem is that providers sometimes think clients care about technology as much as they do.
They don’t.
Most plan sponsors aren’t sitting around admiring your website. They want their 401(k) plan to work. They want contributions deposited correctly. They want their Form 5500 filed. They want participants to get answers. Most importantly, when they have a problem, they want somebody to answer the phone or respond to an email.
I’ve seen providers with tremendous technology lose clients because their service was terrible. I’ve also seen smaller providers with technology that isn’t particularly impressive keep clients for decades because the client knows exactly who to call when something goes wrong.
Technology should enhance relationships, not replace them. A portal isn’t going to calm down a plan sponsor who just received an IRS or Department of Labor notice. A chatbot isn’t going to explain why a compliance test failed. When something goes wrong, clients want a human being who understands their plan and can tell them what needs to happen next.
Providers should absolutely invest in technology. But don’t make the mistake of thinking technology is your competitive advantage if everyone hates dealing with you.
The retirement plan business is still a relationship business.
Your technology may help you win the presentation.
The person who answers the phone is usually the reason you keep the client.