Gillis
works with clients on setting and reaching goals and objectives and resolving
issues in employee benefits. With a background in underwriting health insurance,
she specializes in complex financial analysis such as stop-loss and alternative
health care plans. She is experienced in the Consolidated Omnibus Budget
Reconciliation Act (COBRA) and flex spending account (FSA) issues. Gillis was a
lead consultant with Strategic Benefit Advisors, a senior underwriter with
HealthNet Northeast and a group underwriter of major accounts with Blue Cross/Blue
Shield of Rhode Island. She holds bachelor’s degree in economics and a bachelor’s
of science in finance from Rhode Island College.
McDermott
is responsible for creating new business opportunities, meeting with
entrepreneurs, financial executives, and HR professionals. Most recently he was
a managing director and sales representative with consultancy McDermott &
Thomas Associates, working with group health plans. Before that, he was an
investment adviser at Boston Partners Financial, a general agency of John
Hancock. McDermott is a graduate of The Catholic University of America.
While some marketing workshops focus
on theory, Voilá takes a hands-on approach to brand definition and design. In a
competitive industry, a
lot of the growth has been coming from advisers who are adding more advisers to
their practice, Sheri Fitts, founder and owner of ShoeFitts Marketing, told
PLANADVISER, but their marketing and branding are not keeping up.
“Branding
can help David battle Goliath,” Fitts said, “especially in the environment we’re
in.” For one thing, she said, effective branding can help a practice appear
bigger, which is half the battle when you are going after those big plans.
During the full-day workshop, retirement
plan advisers will learn what makes a good brand better and how design can
transform a corporate image. Retirement
plan advisers will work with experienced retirement plan branding and marketing
experts Fitts and Ann Schleck of Ann Schleck & Company to create a tangible
and easy-to-implement marketing plan along with a complete set of customized
marketing materials.
A simple, effective brand, well
thought out and executed, helps build credibility, Fitts said, and it helps
convey confidence to an adviser’s prospects and clients. At the end of the
workshop, advises will have their own brochure and other materials to use
during prospecting. “We will walk them through a very tactical
marketing plan,” Fitts said.
Hands-On Brand
Building
Instead
of speaking theoretically, Fitts and Schleck discuss the idea of an editorial
calendar, and then spend half an hour outlining the next 12 months of a
calendar with blog and Twitter topics, and marketing. Retirement plan advisers will learn what makes a good brand
better, and how design can transform a corporate image. Advisers will learn how
an effective marketing plan and a related system of support materials— including
a professionally written and designed full-color brochure, customized personal
and team bios and introduction sheets, and a branded presentation deck—can
transform their brands.
Leveraging that plan and the
materials through social media (also discussed during the workshop) will amplify
the power of the retirement plan adviser’s brand, resulting in increased
awareness of each adviser’s distinctive value proposition, leading more
powerful engagement with prospects and an opportunity to increase retirement
plan sales.
“Marketing
doesn’t have to kill you. It doesn’t have to be hard,” Fitts said. “It just has
to be consistent. Having a marketing plan already mapped out for you helps with
consistency. Advisers say they help simplify the complex nature of retirement
planning. We’ll be helping simplify marketing for advisers.”
Registration for Voilá, open through June 10, is restricted
to qualified retirement plan advisers in the defined contribution space. The first full-day workshop is slated to take place in
Boston on July 23. Workshops are planned but not yet scheduled for Atlanta, Chicago and San Francisco. The cost is $1,500, and space is limited. To learn more
about attending, contact Sue Kelley, sue@annschleck.com or 651.236.8280.