Your dialer is sitting on 5,426 Form 5500 filings — the annual return every 401(k) plan files with the Department of Labor. 1,289 of them are Bay Area. For each one you can see the fees, the compliance findings, the participation rate and the named plan sponsor. Almost nobody calling these businesses has that.
"I'm looking at your 5500 — that's the filing your plan makes with the Department of Labor every year, it's public. You've got 14 people in the plan and $23,144 in administrative fees. That's about $1,650 a head. The median plan your size around here pays $83. You're probably the biggest balance in there, so most of that is coming out of your money. Has anyone ever shown you that line?"
That's not a pitch, it's a disclosure — about their money, from a public filing, with a number they've never seen. And it ends in a question they can only answer one of two ways, both of which keep you talking.
I built you the list. 567 Bay Area companies that each have a specific, quotable problem — 394 you've never called. Every row has the fees, the headcount, the named sponsor contact, and a pre-written opening line for that exact company. ~/401k-hitlist-2026-07-29.csv, also in OneDrive → Documents → ADP.
Quick question and then I'll get out of your way — has your 401(k) provider ever sent you a written fee disclosure? Not a statement, an actual document breaking out what they're paid.
They will almost always say no, or "I don't know." Then:
That's the normal answer, and it's the reason I called. They're required to send you one — it's a rule called 408(b)(2), and if they never did, the arrangement technically stops qualifying for the exemption that makes it legal for them to be paid out of your plan. I'm not saying anyone's done anything sinister. I'm saying you're the fiduciary, you're the one on the hook, and you've never been shown the number. Twenty minutes and I'll show you where to find it.
I'm looking at your 5500 — the filing your plan makes with the Department of Labor every year. You've got [12] people in the plan and [$38,450] in administrative fees. That works out to about [$3,200] per person. The median plan your size around here pays eighty-three dollars a head. I'm not calling to tell you you're doing something wrong — I'm calling because most owners have never been shown that number, and since you've likely got the biggest balance in the plan, most of that fee is coming out of your account. Has anyone ever walked you through it?
If they say no one has: "That's the normal answer. It's not on a statement anywhere — it's buried in the filing. Would it be worth twenty minutes to see where it's going?"
If they get defensive about their advisor: "I'd expect them to have a reason for it, honestly. I'd just want to hear it — because at that number there usually is one, and if it's a good one you should know it."
Your plan issued corrective distributions last year. In plain English, the plan failed its annual testing, so money had to be paid back out of the 401(k) — normally to you and whoever else is highly paid — and you'd have picked up income tax on it that year. Did anyone explain why that happened, or did it just turn up as a cheque?
Then, once they engage: "The reason it happens is almost always low participation among everyone else — if the rank and file aren't putting money in, the IRS caps what the owners can. There are two or three plan designs that fix it permanently. That's the conversation I'd want twenty minutes for."
Your 5500 puts your participation rate in the bottom ten percent for a company your size. That matters twice over — low take-up is the thing that makes plans fail testing and force money back out to the owners, and separately you're paying to run a benefit most of your staff isn't actually using. Do you know why the take-up is that low?
Bridge to the ask: "Auto-enrolment usually moves that from thirty percent to eighty in one cycle, and it's what protects your own contribution limit. Worth twenty minutes?"
One small thing on your filing — your ERISA fidelity bond is showing below the required amount. The rule is ten percent of plan assets, minimum a thousand dollars, capped at five hundred thousand. It's usually a couple of hundred dollars a year to fix, so it's not a big deal financially, but right now it's an open item on a federal filing with your name on it as the sponsor. Did whoever runs the plan flag that to you?
The turn: "Honestly, if that got missed I'd want to know what else did. That's really why I'm calling."
Your filing shows a late-deposit finding on employee contributions. I'll be straight with you — I'm not your lawyer and I'm not going to dramatise it. But that one is treated as a prohibited transaction rather than just paperwork, because technically the company held employee money, and the fix runs through a Department of Labor correction programme rather than just being tidied up next year. It also sits with you as sponsor, not with your provider. Has anyone walked you through how it's being corrected?
| They say | Survived | Died | Save rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Send me an email" | 6 | 0 | 100% |
| "I'm busy / bad time" | 5 | 1 | 83% |
| "We're happy with who we have" | 3 | 2 | 60% |
| "Not interested" | 3 | 10 | 23% |
Small numbers, but the ranking is clear and it's counter-intuitive: "send me an email" is not a brush-off for you — it's a 100% save. Stop treating it as a loss. The only genuinely fatal one is a flat "not interested," and the data says pushing on it is what kills you.
"Send me an email" → "Happy to. So I send you something useful rather than a brochure — how many people are on the plan right now?" Then the email is a real answer to a real question, and you've got a reason to ring back about it.
"I'm busy" → "Course. I'll be quick or I'll go away — which is easier?"
"We're happy with who we have" → don't argue. This is the exact pivot that worked on your tape: "Fair enough. Maybe later in the year then, before you renew — when is your renewal?" That one question turned a dead call into a dated callback repeatedly.
"Not interested" → stop selling and harvest. "No problem at all. Before I let you go — how many employees are you at these days? And what was your name, by the way?" Twenty-three percent is the worst save rate you have; treat these as data collection, not as calls to win.
"How did you get this?" → the sympathetic version that defused three angry prospects on tape: "Your number's on the 5500 your plan files every year — it's a public filing. That's not me being clever, anyone can pull it, which is honestly why you get so many of these calls."
Before you get into any of the above: "Are you still the person who handles the plan?" It appears in 27% of your bookings and 3% of your callbacks — a nine-to-one signal, the strongest single differentiator in your month of calls. It qualifies the decision maker out loud, it's a yes/no, and it quietly implies you've spoken before.
Each of these maps onto a real legal obligation, which is why they land differently to sales questions. Use one as your qualifier when you don't have a red flag to read from.