1) ADVISOR INSIGHTS | JANUARY 2016 WORKING WITH REPS: 4 BEST PRACTICES FROM TOP TAMPS It’s a basic business tenet: you can only grow so quickly doing everything yourself. When you can scale effectively, that’s when you start seeing real returns. It’s no different in the TAMP world. And that’s why you need to be selling through others if you want to really grow. It’s the most direct way to drive AUM and revenue — without doing everything yourself. Whether you call them reps (as we do in this paper), advisors, investment advisor representatives or solicitors — you’re probably aware the benefits of selling through them could be enormous. But like with any relationship, there are a few keys to making it work. We talked to our top RIAs who’ve achieved success by expanding through reps and compiled a list of four things we believe to be the most important. “ Seven years ago, we had approximately $90M in AUM at Horter Investment Management. We realized that to grow significantly over the next 5 to 10 years, we had to do two things: establish our own investment management platform that conformed to our market niche, and bring on new advisors whom we could mentor, coach and train with our practice standards and procedures — and make it a repeatable process. Today we have 270 advisors, 25 employees and over $1B in AUM. “ – Drew Horter, Founder & Chief Investment Strategist, Horter Investment Management, LLC 

2) WORKING WITH REPS: 4 BEST PRACTICES FROM TOP TAMPS 1. HELP YOUR REPS WITH THEIR VALUE PROPOSITION It’s essential that you and your reps are telling a consistent and meaningful brand story to customers — existing and prospective alike. Successful businesses are the ones where everyone agrees with the WHY of what you do and understands that WHY well enough to effectively communicate it to others. That’s because people don’t buy WHAT you do; they buy WHY you do it. Every organization knows WHAT they do, because that’s easy to define. They explain what they do, say how they’re different and expect some sort of customer behavior. But the inspired organizations that achieve long-term success are the ones that start with the WHY. So it’s crucial to make sure that your reps believe in your WHY as much as you do, but can also evolve their WHY to be specific to them and their values while still staying complementary to yours. To learn more about how to define your WHY and build your value proposition, you can refer to one of our previous Advisor Insights reports, Building a Meaningful Brand as an RIA, which can be found at trustamerica.com/resources. 2. Learn more about inspirational leadership and starting with the WHY by watching Simon Sinek’s TED Talk, “How great leaders inspire action.” http://www.ted.com/talks/ simon_sinek_how_great_ leaders_inspire_action GIVE YOUR REPS THE RIGHT TECHNOLOGY AND TOOLS Technology has drastically transformed the way you can do business. Without it, you simply cannot work as efficiently or effectively. New software and tools have streamlined the necessities of the RIA business, freeing you up to focus on what matters most: clients. Now you just need to ensure your reps also take advantage of efficiency-driving technologies and make more time for their clients. Even a smaller-scale rep can seem like a giant with the right tools. If you haven’t already, consider implementing the following for yourself and your reps: • Tools that simplify or automate core actions such as proposal generation • E-signature capabilities • Pre-populated forms • A CRM (Customer Relationship Management) solution to aid in tracking activity and following up with warm leads Tools like these can make it exponentially easier to sign new clients. Under the right circumstances, they can even make a single-meeting close a reality. Picture this: Your rep goes to a meeting with a client and walks them through a proposal as usual; at meeting’s end, when the client is interested in moving forward, the rep can get an e-signature on an iPad and fund the account immediately. It can be that simple. Advisor Insights 2 

3) WORKING WITH REPS: 4 BEST PRACTICES FROM TOP TAMPS 3. HELP YOUR REPS WITH PROSPECTING Even armed with the latest technology and sharp brand acumen, your reps can’t close deals without leads. However, by offering the right guidance and support, you can give your reps the confidence they need to reach their full potential. Here are a few ideas for how you can help your reps prospect: Marketing Materials Start with advice on creating materials that are helpful for prospecting. Brochures, email templates and call scripts are all fairly simple to create and have on hand, but are also powerful tools. If they do not already have a website, or have a website that’s not yet optimized to drive leads, ensure that your reps take steps to improve it. Offer advice on building an effective site that speaks to their business offerings and encourages engagement. Seminars The right seminars can bring together a specific target audience, encourage networking and promote your services. For example, several top TAMPs are actively helping their reps host seminars for federal employees. Federal employees are an underserved market in our industry, and as a result, one that is hungry for financial advice. A seminar geared toward federal employees with 457s is a great method to engage them and nurture leads. Networking Events Encourage your reps to host and attend different kinds of networking events. Events such as wine tastings, for example, encourage the community to come out and network. In this more casual setting, everyone can have a good time and discuss potential investments without the pressure of a formal meeting. Community Meetings Local community gatherings — such as chamber of commerce meetings — are another good networking opportunity. Attending these enables reps to network with other leaders in the community and establish themselves as a hub for financial information and advice. They could also meet other financial professionals and take advantage of cross-referrals. The list above is just a start. If you’re doing something that works well for you — share it with your reps. And don’t forget to encourage them to share their own ideas and leverage their own unique style and talents. Have faith that the people you hire will take your advice, adapt it and do great things with it. Advisor Insights 3 

4) WORKING WITH REPS: 4 BEST PRACTICES FROM TOP TAMPS 4. COACH YOUR REPS ON BEST PRACTICES Speaking of best practices, the sharing of advice and information shouldn’t begin and end with prospecting. If you or anyone in your organization knows of a better way to do something, share it. Identify Value Drivers You should already be keeping track of how well all your reps are performing, so take that information and use it. Identify who your top performers are and what they’re doing right. Then share those practices with all of your reps, especially those trailing a bit behind the rest of the pack. Encourage Friendly Competition Ours is an industry where those who embrace a competitive edge often find success. Make clear to your reps what it takes to be a top performer and set goals for them. You could even introduce transparency among all of your reps so they can see how everyone is performing. In doing so, you’ll kindle the fire of competition that lies in all of us. Who among us isn’t driven when given a goal to reach? Look Beyond Your Industry You don’t always have to focus specifically on your industry when it comes to best practices. For example, when it comes to sales in general, the National Association of Sales Professionals published some very interesting data worth sharing with any rep who doesn’t understand the value of following up a third time, a fourth time, a fifth time and so on: 2% of sales are made on the 1st contact 3% of sales are made on the 2nd contact 5% on the 3rd contact 10% on the 4th contact 80% on the 5th to 12th contact BUT 48% of sales people never follow up with a prospect 25% of sales people make a 2nd contact attempt and stop 12% of sales people only make 3 attempts and stop 10% only 10% of sales people make more than 3 attempts Advisor Insights 4 

5) WORKING WITH REPS: 4 BEST PRACTICES FROM TOP TAMPS HOW TCA HELPS YOU ACHIEVE SUCCESS WITH REPS Hopefully the advice in this report primes you for TAMP success, and Trust Company of America (TCA) can help you even more. We offer a variety of solutions to help you find and work with reps as effectively as possible. Here are just a few ways we can help: • Our new, one-of-a-kind prospecting database helps you recruit top representatives. • Our technology platform has built-in analytics so you can monitor individual rep performance and create transparency for reps to see how they rank across multiple categories. • We have added the latest innovations to our technology, including e-signature, automatic proposal generation and customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities. • Our technology allows you to create commission rate structures and simplifies the reporting and accounting side of things. • We create great value for reps with a mobile app that allows them to see their entire book at a glance on any device — and offer the same capability to their clients for their individual portfolios. • We are always there to offer advice or consulting on how to best work with reps — or answer any other questions you may have. Please contact us at 1-800-955-7808 or trustamerica.com/contact-us to learn more. About Trust Company of America Trust Company of America (TCA) is the only independent RIA custodian offering fully integrated real-time technology, consultative services and back office support exclusively to RIAs. Since 1972, TCA has been a dedicated champion of RIAs, committed to personally helping them optimize their portfolios, streamline their business processes and achieve their full potential — all without competing for their clients. Visit trustamerica.com to learn more. © Trust Company of America (TCA). All Rights Reserved. Member FDIC Insured – No Bank Guarantee – May Lose Value. Advisor Insights 5