I always say that the retirement plan business is relationship-driven. It’s a business built on trust and it’s built on time. One of my dear friends in this business is James Holland, an advisor based in North Carolina. We started with a phone conversation nearly 10 years ago and it took time to develop.

I’m a fiduciary of a $100 million multiple employer plan, we recently switched our 3(38) advisor. So I was kind of shocked when I got a LinkedIn message from an advisor I don’t know who wanted to talk to me about this plan. It was clear that if this was about the plan so that he can be an advisor, I told him that we just made a change. I handled it professionally, but I’m just kind of shocked that as a pretty well-known ERISA attorney (that would be) would get an advisor prospecting the plan through a LinkedIn message. Even if the plan wasn’t attached to an advisor, there are a lot of advisors that I know and worked with over the years that could be a fit. Have LinkedIn messages replaced the cold call?