Richard Laurita was the greatest third-party administrator (TPA) salesperson I have ever known and I had the pleasure of working with him at 2 TPA firms for almost 10 years before his death in 2007. Almost 15 years later, people still talk fondly of him. Even someone like MLB Hall of Fame member Goose Gossage remembers him, even after just meeting him twice. The most important lesson that I learned from Rich was that the retirement plan business is relationship-driven. It’s such an important lesson, it’s the topic of this article