For 14 years now, I have had an ERISA practice of my own and my favorite part of the job is meeting people across the retirement plan industry. Part of my practice is helping advisors and third-party administrators (TPAs) with free content they could use and the answering of a question or two, on the house.

So what drives me nuts is when I get contacted by a new advisor and their only concern is getting my business to be a client of theirs or that I have referrals for them. First off, I handle my assets and second, if I have clients to refer to advisors and TPAs, I’m going to refer it to advisors I have known for years, and not someone I just connected to on, LinkedIn.

The retirement plan business is relationship-driven. That means building relationships, that take time and effort, not something that can be created out of thin air, in a day.