A retirement plan provider can have a twenty-year relationship with a company and a twenty-minute relationship with the person who now decides whether to keep them.
That’s what happens when your longtime CFO or human resources contact leaves.
You might believe your years of service make the account secure. The new contact might know nothing about those years. They inherited a retirement plan, a stack of invoices, and providers they didn’t select.
They may also have an advisor or TPA they liked at their previous employer.
Suddenly, your longstanding relationship needs an introduction.
The biggest mistake is assuming the departing contact’s confidence in you automatically transfers to the replacement. It doesn’t. Neither does their understanding of the plan, your responsibilities, or the reasons behind its design.
Reach out early. Schedule a conversation. Explain what you do, what the sponsor needs to do, and which deadlines are approaching. Give the new contact a clear picture of the plan without burying them in documents.
Ask about their experience and priorities. Someone administering their first retirement plan needs different support than someone who has managed plans for twenty years.
Avoid treating questions as an insult. “We’ve always done it this way” is a weak answer when the person asking wasn’t there when the decision was made.
This is also an opportunity to identify problems that your previous contact had learned to tolerate. A cumbersome process doesn’t become a good process because everybody got used to it.
You don’t need to panic or immediately offer a discount. You need to establish trust.
The company may be the same. The decision-maker is different.
If you want the relationship to continue, give the new contact reasons to value it. Longevity deserves acknowledgment, but it doesn’t excuse making your new contact discover your value alone.