K Plan Participants Open to Cross Selling

May 16, 2005 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - While only a scant 14% of 401(k) plan participants recently polled have purchased other products from their employer's plan provider, most of those surveyed said they'd like to hear more about what else the provider offers.

Four of five K plan participants in a survey taken earlier this year were open to “cross selling” of other products and services, said the Spectrem Group, a Chicago-based financial services consulting firm, in a news release. This group includes individuals who already own additional products as well as those who are either familiar with their providers’ additional product offerings or unfamiliar but willing to learn more, Spectrem said.

That wasn’t all the good news for providers in Spectrem’s survey report “Cross-Selling to Plan Participants: Can it Work?”. According to the announcement, participants who do not yet own additional products are extremely high on their 401(k) plan provider; 70% said they were satisfied with their provider’s service and just over six in 10 (63%) were satisfied with plan performance.

“Cross-selling represents a tremendous opportunity for the providers of 401(k) plans, yet it remains largely untapped by these firms,” Spectrem Group President George Walper, Jr. said in the release. “Plan participants tell us they are generally satisfied with their providers and overwhelmingly open to the marketing of new products by these organizations. At a time when scandal has tarnished so many areas of the financial services industry, positive relationships like these are worth their weight in gold. New sales seem to be there for the asking.”

Participants who wanted to know more about what their provider had to offer said they would prefer to get that information via:

  • mailings to their homes
  • statement stuffers
  • links off their plan’s Web sites.

The report was based on telephone interviews with 401 plan participants in January and February 2005.

To purchase the report, contact Spectrem Group at 641 W. Lake Street, Suite 402, Chicago, IL 60661, (312) 382-8284 or go to  http://spectrem.ecnext.com/coms2/summary_0235-1681_ITM .

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