SingleSourcing-Local Outsourcing For Fun And Profit

The only problem was the people I hired were not as good as the entrepreneurs who own their own businesses and do estate planning and group benefits as their specialty. After a year of little success, my company downsized to doing retirement plans again, but I did not forget the idea.

Almost three years ago, I was introduced to someone who successfully had put together a company that he took public that did almost what I envisioned. He retired from that business for three days and decided to do it again. With the help of others, we founded a company to bring together partner firms to do all the financial services needed by successful small- to middle-market companies (those with from 25 to 500 employees).

Though all I do is deal with qualified and nonqualified retirement plans, I am happy and driven to bring in experts to do payroll, workers’ compensation, group benefits, human resources consulting, property-casualty insurance, worksite marketing, estate and financial planning, banking, etc. We are all partners by written agreement, and we share revenue as long as we are properly licensed to do so.

We have an employee who acts as a facilitator to encourage partners to refer clients, as appropriate, to one another. The partner who brings in the client acts as the point person and generally provides the single point of contact with the client.

We have bundled products and services to give us a market advantage. For example, combining payroll services with 401(k) plans allows us to reduce the client’s time spent on providing employee census data to us. And it eliminates the client’s need to write a check to the plan’s vendor whenever a payroll is done; now our payroll company does that, saving the client and my company time and money.

To illustrate the importance of this concept, which I call SingleSourcing, consider the following example. One of our salespeople made an appointment with the CFO of a well-known business in our area with about 100 employees. We discussed SingleSourcing, which thrilled the client. He recognized that a single point of contact for managing workers’ compensation, 401(k), p-c, payroll and voluntary benefits would save time, energy and money compared to his experience up to that time: dealing with six unrelated and sometimes competing firms.

Summing up

SingleSourcing is a concept whose time has come. It is not easy to pull together, but when done properly, it provides an elegant solution for your upscale business clients and you. And think how happy John would be knowing his group benefits clients are getting expert care from the partners with whom he is now associated.