I'm Gary Burczek, and for my entire career, spanning over two decades, I've worked solely with defined benefit plans. On this topic of differentiation, I asked five plan sponsors, how many calls do you get from an advisor or consultant offering to take a look at your 401(k) plan and provide commentary? And now, compare that to how many calls do you get offering that same advice or counsel on the defined benefit plan side?

The most typical response I get, 40 to 1. 40 offers to take a look and provide some thought capital on 401(k) plans, 40 of those for every 1 call these plan sponsors get on the defined benefit plan side of the house. In this way, advisors tell us time and time again, defined benefit plans give me a chance to be different. I'd rather be part of the conversation one of my competitors is having versus 40 others, and we can help you have that conversation.

Defined benefit plans, unlike your typical 401(k) plan, are oftentimes under the header of finance. So even though we'll have a conversation with HR or finance, this is an excellent opportunity for advisors out there that have deep relationships with either, A, finance at plan sponsors, or, B, maybe they have a real good reciprocal relationship with a CPA or ERISA attorney out there who might typically deal with the finance side of the house at these companies, just another different way to make inroads to some of these plan sponsors. As an advisor, you can add terrific value. Now, if you want to learn more about how to differentiate yourself specifically through prospecting defined benefit plans, please go over to advisors.principal.com for further information. Thank you.