You know the feeling, you’re competing for a retirement plan and you’re fairly confident that you are the best person for the job. Yet when the choice is made, you’re not picked and someone who won’t do as good as a job as you would get it.

On paper, decisions should be easy. We all have a belief that the best person should get the job. However, there is a thing called reality. While you might be the best provider to be hired, the ultimate decision-maker is a plan sponsor whop may not understand what they need to find in a plan provider. People are strange beings because many times, they defy logic. There are so many things that go into decisionmaking and there are several nuances that we can’t anticipate. Maybe one of the providers is related to a decisionmaker, maybe a plan provider and a decisionmaker belong to the same social club, Whatever the reason is, you will never get the insight as to why you weren’t picked and a lesser capable provider was.

I have a saying that you explain irrationality from a rational viewpoint. Just grin and bear the bad news. Ultimately, you will find plan sponsors that are more rational in picking plan providers.