It's been another tough year for the market, and your clients may have suffered some serious financial blows. Now is the time to show them how grateful you are that they chose your services over your competition. A little gratitude can go a long way in retaining your clients. Show your gratitude by thanking your individual clients, plan sponsors and participants.

Showing Your Gratitude

There are a variety of ways that you can show your individual clients or plan sponsors that you care, including:

• Thank you cards
• Client appreciation events, such as wine tasting or investment talks
• Personalized gifts, such as a helpful investment book (a list of which is on my website)

Since there may be hundreds or thousands of plan participants whom you help, your gratitude can be expressed in a different way. These individuals have continued to invest in their 401(k), even though most of them have probably lost a certain amount of their savings in the past few years. By holding an individual meeting with each of your top 100 participants, you can lend a sympathetic ear to show them that you care.