Who can forget Alec Baldwin’s speech in Glengarry Glenn Ross on how salesmen should “Always Be Closing” and how coffee is for closers only? It was the highpoint of a great movie.

I’m not going to go through a discussion on sales, but a cautionary tale that you have to advise your clients to navigate a path where other plan providers will try to sell you client products or services that they don’t need. So instead of Always Be Closing, you should “Always Be Watching” what happens with your client.

I once had a retirement plan sponsor client trying to terminate his retirement plan. The retirement plan had a fully paid up insurance policy and the sole owner participant wanted to purchase that policy from the Plan. So my client talked with a salesperson with the insurance company about the policy. Of course, the new salesman wants to sell my client another insurance policy that he didn’t need because the business was folding and he was 71.  So I always watch and my client avoided buying that new policy.

I advised my client that he should open a new bank account for his retirement plan at the local bank when dealing with transferring the life insurance policy. So my client went to the local bank to set up a bank account for the plan’s trust. The bank told him that he has to meet with the financial advisor at the bank, i.e, the broker. Why does anyone have to meet a broker to open a bank account? Not to talk about how my Mets will do in 2018.

It’s not enough to service the client, you always have to watch and make sure that the client doesn’t end up buying retirement plan services and products that they don’t need.