Rock 'n' Roll Train - 1%

Good idea! I would join you guys, but I am a BD recruiter...alright, no hissing. Look forward to reading the progress. Good luck!!

I’m laying down a track to run up 10-15M by the summer, strictly and exclusively from cold calls. I will not be including business from introductions or existing account, solely new assets from phone prospecting.

I am breaking the campaign down into 6-7 week Blitz’s with a few days or so off in between to re-charge and set up the following wave of activities.

This thread is open to all who would like to add some new assets and also for the helpful feedback that often enables one to adjust and improve. Basically, this is meant to help myself and other brokers stick to the activities that add business, regardless of distractions and so on…….

First Wave (6weeks) Monday November 7th to Friday December 16th.

Overall goal: since my business in done face to face and takes on average 3 meetings to conclude, the first wave is to set up as many 1st , 2nd and 3rd meetings as possible before Christmas. This will make sure that new accounts and strong prospects are lined up for  the end of this years and the start of the  next year.

Goal:

I’ll post weekly results on Friday’s at 6pm and add a few comments during the week.

All The Way

Done!! Got the 50 contacts in....good day!!!!!!

Alright.....got another 50 contacts done today , so......so far on track for 200 contacts this week. will be sticking around  a bit later today to get a few call backs done.

OK, did the 50 contacts for today, leads are looking good, will post complet results on Friday....just 50 more contacts to go to have 200 done for this week...

Thursday....all done, Got the 50 contacts and now will be lining up these prospects for the second filtering....will post weeks total numbers, Friday.

 Posting early as I won't be here later on.

Recap week 1/6

 Prospecting activities;

 Based on the 1%, there should be between 1 and 2 new accounts in the batch of 16 prospects. I have sent out a brief intro letter to each of them this week and will be calling them all back next week.

 The goal is to put them through the second filter to identify the good potential clients. There should be between 300K-600K in assets to sign up. Best to get them back on the phone ASAP to not clog the pipeline with uninterested prospects and isolate the good ones.

Next weeks goals are the following:

Alright....today, Monday......50 done. tomorrow, Tuesday....big day as I'm calling back all of last weeks prospects to get a reading on who is worth pursuing. Probably got 3-4 meetings somewhere in there and 1-2 accounts. Should be a fun day of peeling off another layer............

Squeezed in 50 more contacts,  did the call backs, eliminated a couple from the pipeline, others on stand-by and booked 1 in for a meeting. All good.

[quote=All The Way]Goal:

What are you qualifying for on the first call, $250,000?

Way to go on the contacts.

Are you leading with a product or financial planning?

The Machine,

yeah...I keep it at around 300K

I lead with risk management and generating income....

Today, did my first meeting from last weeks cold calls. Very good.......booked back-in for next week with statements and all.

From last weeks 16 leads, 5 won't be moving forward and the rest are still to contact...

Fell behind with todays contacts as I had 2 meetings,,,,will be dropping the hammer hard Thursday to nail 50 and pull in the slack from today's miss.

I;m still 2-3 meetings off from the original goal of 4 meetings from last weeks 16 hits, so I will be doing all posible to re-connect with them to line up meetings with the good one's and leave the others in the someday file......

Ok, found another meeting from todays calls. Got the 50 contacts in, got to get back on the phone in the morning to round out to 200. Will only be posting on Fridays from here on in will with total weekly results. All the best to all of you who are out there and making those calls....good for you!!!!!

@AllTheWay: I work for Edward Jones currently. My entire town of 2500 people has been doorknocked by 6 advisors since 2002 including myself. I bought a list with parameters that I intend on working with the hopes that I will be able to reach these people in a different manner. I have a few questions for you:

1. How do you make 50 contacts in a day and still have appointments and research and so on? I struggle to make 15 to 20.

2. Are you opening accounts over the phone? If so, do you work a specific region? Or do you call the entire state(s)?

3. What type of advisor are you? RIA? Transactional?

In other words, how are you running your business that allows you to make so many contacts? If I could make that amount of contacts on a daily basis, I am confident I would blow this thing up. Your input is appreciated.

One more question: Where do you get your names and are they business or residential?

MadMatt

I build my own residential lists. Takes longer but I know the areas, thus cut out those that are not really qualified asset wise. More often than not, the calls hit the homes that fit my market. I only call homes that are no more than 20 minutes drive to the office.

I also do corporate, but do not included those calls in the 50 daily contacts.

I am a RIA.

I can't open on the phone, accounts must be opened face to face, so....meetings is my main goal.

Yes, maintaning 50+ contacts takes time, about 3-3 1/2 hours of dialing, gets tricky with meetings, but my thoughts are, everything else must fit in....around those 50 contacts. Dosen't always work, but the goal here is activities.....daily activities.

On a personal note, I've heard about enough about how hard, how imposible, how improbable it is to build a good book from cold calls, that I have decided to run this thread, solely tracking cold calls and the assets captured.  It's just starting to generate meetings and will soon generate assets, so at 200 plus contacts a week, it's all about numbers.

As for you, got yourself a great brand name with EJ, a nice friendly, personal market. Put some time aside to call around, but differentiate yourself from the others. Maybe something VERY specific for business owners, and retirees,.....and either go see them or call and talk about it.........but it has to be very specific and you must be confident in conveying the benefits to them.

Either way.....even if you did 25 contacts a day....with a good delivery and confidence, you will be well sought out in your community for your expertise......try this........from next Monday and for the next 10 business days.....do 25 contacts on anything....you'll soon see things moving........just keep moving.......and it shouldn't take more than 90-120 minutes to make them by phone....so plenty of time for the rest of the business. Good luck and keep us posted on how you are doing......always great hearing from someone who is out there  building.

Recap Week 2/6

200+ contacts

New Prospects: 13

New meetings booked: 2

AUM: 0

Total to Date (2 weeks):

400 + contacts

Prospects found: 29

Prospects eliminated:  8

Active prospect pool: 21

Meetings booked: 3

Meetings completed: 2

AUM: 0

1 - Keep pushing the 200+

2 – Book 4 meetings next week

3 – open new account within 10 days.

Good weekend to all

AllTheWay:

Thanks for the feedback. I will do exactly what you are suggesting. Since you are calling residential, I am assuming you are having better luck reaching folks in the early evening?

MadMatt,

I don't call in the evenings, mainly mornings from 10-12pm, then more after luch......that's pretty much it. Talk to retirees, home business owners, .....a lot of good people.....

Anybody know how we stop notifications for a specific thread only? Checking the box below does not seem to work.

Got the 50 contacts done...lot's happening....should be a very exciting week.....can't wait to open up an account from these calls......should be soon

Recap Week 3/6: Monday November 21 to November 25

For the week:

 Total to date (3 weeks)

 Good week, got statements and files to work on and present proposals next week. Looks like accounts should be opened within a week or so. Been getting meetings and also purging the pipeline of dead wood.  Been a challenge keeping the 200 contacts going but definitely creates activity and opportunities. Will continue posting results from cold calls.

 The goal is to get 500K-1M wrapped up from these cold calls before Xmas and have good meetings and prospects lined up to drop the hammer hard second week 2012.

Good weekend to all….

All The Way

Can't beleive this is already the fourth week of the  blitz....man time flies. Did 2 new meetings yesterday, been working on statements and portfolios, more meetings tommorow.......all good, and all from 3 weeks of 200 plus contacts......but.........trouble......falling behind in my contacts this week. As soon as the mornings meeting is done, back on the phones to catch up........

Recap Week 4/6: Monday November 28 to December 2

For the week:

 Total to date (4 weeks)

 *** opened a slice on a new account. Going back in 2 weeks for more.

Best of all, got in front of some excellent potential clients, and kept the ball rolling. Also picked up 2 referrals from this week’s meetings.

The meetings booked for next week look great, got  around 800K of potential business so pretty confident on getting  1M in new assets by Christmas  from these cold calls.

Next couple of weeks are crucial.  Thanks to DashOver for his post this week…..really kept me fired up…….well worth checking out.

 Good Weekend to all

Go! Go! Go!

What's your closing question and how many times were you able to get to your closing question out of those 800 plus contacts so far?

On track with this weeks contacts, Got a new account today...did 315 in AUM, so got about 400K since starting the Blitz. Also got a good 400K lined up for next week, and a pending 80K who needs new ID!!! whatever....anyways, need to keep going because there's a strong chance to get 1M done by Xmas....and then.......Phase II....really need to book some more good meetings this week for the next 2 weeks to hit the target.......next 2 days.....CRUCIAL!!!!!!!

All The WAY

Recap Week 5/6: Monday December 5 to December 9

For the week:
• Contacts: 200+
• Prospects: 12
• Meetings Booked: 4
• Meetings completed: 3
• New accounts: 1
• AUM: 315K

Total to date (5 weeks)
• 1000 + contacts
• Prospects founds: 70
• Prospects eliminated: 27
• Active prospect pool: 43
• Meetings booked: 15
• Meetings Completed: 9
• New Accounts: 2
• TOTAL AUM: 395K

Overall, good week….out of new names so building a few lists this weekend. Got good meetings for next week. Fingers crossed, could get 500K more in AUM….would get pretty near the 1M……really helps logging results weekly to see how fast time flies and how important daily activities are.

Good weekend to all

All The Way

Wow great work, I am assuming you are getting accounts of 100K+ right, 401k's and things, not small time mutual funds investments and stock accounts with 25k+ investments

AAArrrgg.what a day!!!!!! Is it Xmas yet?????

400K done today.....back on the phones in the morning to wrap up this month/year.

^^^^^ Nice goin!

Hey King,

Thanks.....

Ok, started these 50 contacts a day / 200 a week thing on November the 7th.....got just under 800K done in assets.....could get another 250K just after boxing day, which would bring me to the goal of 1M. It's encouraging....names on a sheet of paper.

I will over Christmas make sure I got enough names lined up to start dropping the hammer hard come 2012, and between now and the 23rd of December will try and contact all past prospects. Thanks to all of you for your ecouragement....it helps.....bit on a lonely part of the job doing cold-calls and keeps me fresh reading comments and posts of others.....

2012 belongs to us cold callers.....let's set our sights high....'cause here we come  R-I-N-G...R-I-N-G

Ok, started these 50 contacts a day / 200 a week thing on November the 7th.....got just under 800K done in assets.....could get another 250K just after boxing day, which would bring me to the goal of 1M. It's encouraging....names on a sheet of paper.

I will over Christmas make sure I got enough names lined up to start dropping the hammer hard come 2012, and between now and the 23rd of December will try and contact all past prospects. Thanks to all of you for your ecouragement....it helps.....bit on a lonely part of the job doing cold-calls and keeps me fresh reading comments and posts of others.....

2012 belongs to us cold callers.....let's set our sights high....'cause here we come  R-I-N-G...R-I-N-G

mmm look at that....double entry....oh well....

Well, there goes Blitz #1.

Ended on a good note, did the contacts, got some business and a handful of decent prospects to start next year. All in all, got to just shy of 800K in new assets from the calls.

Going to start up Blitz # 2 next week, kind of want a little heads start going into 2012…….seems that momentum is key so might as well get going on the phones and aim higher this time around.

The way I figure it, best to keep the 50 contacts a day, 200 contacts a week going. Some of the assets picked up this time round were from those calling days where it’s miserably dark out, energy is running low, list of names looks a mile long, and then somehow…..the activity of that day led to the assets…so best to keep on the wave.

Blitz # 2 is going to go down like this. Overall goes is to get 10-15M by June 23rd, so I kind of work short sprints to keep it within reach.

Blitz #2

Monday December 19th to Friday March 1st

 So, best to get started next week……..hit hard, then a week off in Mexico….but first….R-I-N-G…R-I-N-G

Good weekend to all

All The Way

Would you mind sharing your script?

Best wishes to all the rep’s out there building their books and I really hope this year will be your best yet in gathering new assets and enjoying your work.

There’s been some mention about why some of us post our call numbers on this site. For me, it is mostly out of loneliness. I am the only person in my office doing cold calls (no point in getting into the why’s), and truth is I find the going tough by myself. Being able to catch up on other brokers doing the same helps keep me on the saddle and I really enjoy reading all of you posts.

I wanted to thank all of you who have taken the time to read a few of my entries and for your support. It’s pretty brutal calling everyday and having the support from fellow brokers who are also out there in the arena makes a world of difference for me……

I set a target last year to raise an additional 10-15M strictly from cold-calling over a 6-7 month period…ending this campaign on Friday June 22nd………

My first run went for 6 weeks and I generated just over 800K in new assets and got about 50 or so prospects to work with….I was off from the  3M that should have come out of those calls, but will call the remaining pipeline to focus on the good leads and convert some accounts.

Blitz #2 is up until end of March.  The activity goal is 200 contacts per week. Factor in 2 weeks to get up and running, there is a good possibility with momentum to get to the 10-15M by June……..what I need to do is build up the momentum and see what happens….

So……Blitz #2 ‘till Friday March 30th. (12 weeks)

Total Contact: 2,400

Prospects found: 240

Total Accounts: 15

Total AUM: 5M+

This is really testing for me and I will make every effort to stick to the program and post weekly numbers around noon on Fridays.

I will be tuning in. I am inspired by your work ethic. Keep it up. 

All the Way-

Forgive me if you have already stated this, but are you with a wire or are you indy? Not that it matters, just curious.

All The Way, good luck on the 2nd blitz my man.  I have found your posts inspiring, coming from someone that plans to build a business from scratch from cold calling in about a year or so.  You can do it.

DTA...i'm at a wirehouse.....

6yearsin....thank bro...yeah...it's brutal...by the way...is that 6 years in or a 6 Year Sin......must be a good story behind either.....

All The Way

All the way,

Great post bud.  I am at a wire too, and just got my production number and started making calls.  I would be interested to see what kinds of lists you are building, what you say, and how many dials it is taking you to hit those 50 contacts a day.  Yeah, no one at my office cold calls...even the rookies.  Im not gonna be one of them. 

ECD,

Thanks for your comments, much appreciated.

Yeah.....pretty simple pitch, I call homes during the day, no more than 15-20 minutes drive from office. Basicaly mention information sessions, income, dividends, cautious investors and invite them in  for 30 minutes.

Only been hammering away at this for 7-8 weeks or so, so usually get a couple who off the bat book the meeting and the others are either......a letter, a call back and a meeting, or...pipeline....or....because of mis-qualifiying.......off the island.

As for lists, built them myself and with a college student I hired last summer to put them together.... i know the areas I'm calling and all good people to approach..

Today was my first day back on the phones and felt like I was looking at a mountain of calls, anyways, got to it and banged out 50+ contacts. I don't count calls but figure it must be around 250+ dials, can't say for sure...maybe more...maybe less.....really don't keep track of calls....

Anyways, got 6 leads and not paying much attention to qualifying until Monday...just wanted to get back in the saddle. As of Monday......probably fewer leads, but better.  Also next week....catching up and tidying yp the pipeline from last Blitz.......got  prospects (60+) from the last Blitz and need to prune and book meetings.

Keep us posted ECD on you activities, post important numbers and since you just got the green light to build........build. Too bad there's not much stimulus in your office, best to keep your head down and work....you'l find great help here with some of the regular's.....all waging their own battles and taking the time to help out.....

Looking forawrd to following your progress....

All The Way

[quote=All The Way]6yearsin....thank bro...yeah...it's brutal...by the way...is that 6 years in or a 6 Year Sin......must be a good story behind either.....

All The Way

[/quote]

6 years in, as in 6 years in the business. not quite the same though. i work at a discount firm, manage a book of clients there that i will not be bringing with me anywhere if/when i leave. my plan though is to try and hook up with an indy/ria in the next year or so, and plan to build from scratch, using cold calls and then just working referrals off the clients i can grab in the first year or two of calling. i've made contacts with a couple indy/rias in my area already, just trying to find out where i will have the best chance to succeed 

Thanks All the Way.  Is your name due to your past life as an Airborne soldier?  I am a prior Army officer myself, and went to Airborne School and Rigger School.  Seems like a billion years ago, lol. 

ATW - great thread!!!!  A new must read for anyone looking to build their business!

Good luck in 2012. I'm looking forward to reading as your adventure continues.

ECD.,...no mate, name is from the drive I got to get this thing to work. Pretty cool though your background......compared to jumping out of planes....this should be a walk in the park...keep going.

Bond Guy....thanks.......the good feedback from this site keeps me going......have read a lot of your posts and all are very valuable....good advice  all around.....

Hopefully we can hear from 2011's calling crew and keep up to date of each others efforts......2012 is the year of the cold callers.....We Will Rule.......

It's been a nasty start to the year...got the dials and the contacts and the meetings and took all the effort in the world to get back into the groove after the Xmas break...will post numbers next Friday....glad to have read some of the superb post of fellow cold callers-business builders....it's going to be a phenomenal yer......hats off to all of you out there doing the activities....got some good one's on the go..........God bless cold calls....really works.

All The Way

Boom.........that the sound of me hitting the wall.....didn't get any calls done either Monday or Tuesday.....been in a daze.....hate that on/off crap. Best I tighten up things asap.....should have stuck to posting more often....really helped keep me on track.......things I learn about myself and this business........back to work in the morning.

Later,

All The Way

Alright...well back in the saddle.......been on the phones this morning and booked a good meeting...starting to get back in the swing of things......back on the phones after lunch....good luck to all.

All The Way

Pretty happy, got a second meeting booked this afternoon. Really am happy with how today turned out...put a lot of effort into the calls and got my goal done of 2 new meetings booked. Back in the morning to book 2 more.....this is the key for me......to get 2 meetings booked per day....so R-I-N-G   R-I-N-G

All The Way

I need to step up my closing for appointments.  I feel like I have been soft about it lately.  Still getting some results, but my numbers have been down (dials) which means my results have been down...

Only getting about 20 contacts a day over the last 3 weeks, which is obviously my problem.  Need to pump back up to 35-40 and I'll be cruising again!

ATW, keep rocking.  bringing in 3-4 million in 90 days is an awesome goal.  Do you annuitize almost everything?

FADavo,sure do buddy...no way in hell I'm going to have to hit the phones for the rest of my life and generate income.....pretty much all goes to managed money and some pure stock holdings.

i've read your threads and there is no doubt you got what it takes. good for you pointing out that the contac ts need to go up....pretty simple and will make a lot of difference,..try and get to 40+ contacts a day......please keep us posted as you are a true business builder and it's great to catch up with a winner.....good luck mate....

All The Way

I shoot for 35-40 contacts a day.  Sometimes that takes as little as 85-100 phone calls for me.  I made 118 and contacted 36 today.  I intended to hit 40 + but got interrupted by a vet that stopped by to tell me a story (which was fine - he kicked me a few accounts and is a nice guy helping me along).  

Anyway - I have found that a certain # of contacts takes almost the same amount of time no matter how many dials I make.  I have had 90 dials take me 5.5 hours before - no joke.  I have also blown through 150 dials in 2.5 hours - all seems to depend on the number of gatekeepers and then number of actual contacts.  

I feel like I can sustain (without burnout) that 35-40+ number, so that is what I shoot for.  I have a pretty substantial "side prospecting" system that I do in addition, so its about all I can fit into an 11-12 hour day. usually about 4.5-6 hours of calling.  Some can do it more - I have found that I cannot do it consistently more than that - so I don't.  

Anyway, I would be tickled if I brought 6-8 million a year in on pure cold calling as my other methods will afford another 6-8 a year, I believe.  I think some 401Ks will obviously get those numbers up higher as well.

Cheers.  Thanks for the compliments!

[quote=FADavo]I have had 90 dials take me 5.5 hours before - no joke.  I have also blown through 150 dials in 2.5 hours - all seems to depend on the number of gatekeepers and then number of actual contacts.[/quote]

Dude, you're taking way too long, and you said you have to 'step up your closing for appointments?' What are you chatting about? You should easily get through 90 dials in less than 2 hours. Call and close for what you're calling about, (appt., product info, bond sale etc). Plenty of time to chat them up after they're clients or they rightfully take advantage of your offer.

When you say annuitize your business are you simply referring to doing fee-based biz and C - Shares?  

[quote=KingBobby]

[quote=FADavo]I have had 90 dials take me 5.5 hours before - no joke.  I have also blown through 150 dials in 2.5 hours - all seems to depend on the number of gatekeepers and then number of actual contacts.[/quote]

Dude, you're taking way too long, and you said you have to 'step up your closing for appointments?' What are you chatting about? You should easily get through 90 dials in less than 2 hours. Call and close for what you're calling about, (appt., product info, bond sale etc). Plenty of time to chat them up after they're clients or they rightfully take advantage of your offer.

[/quote]

whoa whoa whoa...  Do you know the details of those 90 calls?  Do you know my contact ratio?  Do you know anything about what I do on the phone or why those calls took so long?  Seems a bit presumptuous...

As in, if I told you I talked to 45 people, created 8 prospects (2 of which I have closed for over 7 figures total) that I qualified on the phone, that day,  for a total of almost $3 million and added an additional 3 people to a drip list?  

I understand that most would look at my numbers and say they are "down" because my dials are not high, but thats because I am a champion list maker and on bad days my contact ratio is 20%.  My average contact ratio over the last month is almost 30%.  Im pretty good at getting past gatekeepers and I am very good at making lists that have no bad numbers.  I bet I only get a fax machine or dead person once out of every 150-200 dials.

I think your "thoughts" are predicated on a paradigm "average" created in your head or in the industry as a whole.  Thats fine, but it doesn't apply universally.  

That day was the absolute best cold calling day I have ever had thus far (in my infant career).  

I understand this is a numbers game but, though I am "new", I picked up very quickly that DIALS mean absolutely nothing.  You can dial 4500 numbers a week and get nothing accomplished other than get a trophy for the rawest fingertips.  The "numbers" that matter in this "numbers game" are those that count how many people you talk to.  Thats it.  You can take the rest of the freaking numbers and shove them.

Dials numbers (Y) as you see them on this website represent nothing more than the average that it commonly takes someone to reach X number of people, X being the number you need to succeed.  You are simply looking at the wrong variable.  Y doesnt matter.  X is all that matters, and beyond X its how many people you close out of X.  

If I can Dial half the numbers, talk to twice as many people and close 50% better than the average person, than who gives a shiz how many dials I make? 

also, I will add that 45 minutes of that was spent with a person that eventually ended up literally ASKING if I would help them with there 750K in investments while they ran their business that is going to kick another 6 figures a year at us to manage.  

Time well spent?

[quote=FADavo]

whoa whoa whoa...  Do you know the details of those 90 calls?  Do you know my contact ratio?  Do you know anything about what I do on the phone or why those calls took so long?  Seems a bit presumptuous...

I think your "thoughts" are predicated on a paradigm "average" created in your head or in the industry as a whole.  Thats fine, but it doesn't apply universally.  

[/quote]

No moron, my advice was based on you saying this,

"I need to step up my closing for appointments.  I feel like I have been soft about it lately.  Still getting some results, but my numbers have been down (dials) which means my results have been down..."

^^ If that's not true and you're ratio's are in fact solid, then disregard my advice and go on feeling better. Cheers.

Cool, so you made the assumptions and I am the moron.  Got ya.  Carry on.

FYI, this is generally a thread for encouragement, not one where we attach pre-existing notions to people we don't know.  

I admitted that I need to close better.  How that relates to my best and worst day is the same way Ted Williams AVERAGE batting average relates to his best day (hitting 5 home runs in 6 at bats) and his worst day (striking out 5 times).  That is, there is nearly ZERO correlation and absolutely no causation.

Making assumptions is one of the three things I promise my clients I will never do, which is one of the reasons they love me.  

So call me a moron all you want.  I'll wager my Doctorate and acquisition rate says otherwise.  

[quote=FADavo]

Cool, so you made the assumptions and I am the moron.  Got ya.  Carry on.

[/quote]

You said you need to step up your closing and that your numbers are down. You followed that with,

"I have had 90 dials take me 5.5 hours before - no joke.  I have also blown through 150 dials in 2.5 hours - all seems to depend on the number of gatekeepers and then number of actual contacts. "

Anybody with a lick of successful call experience would be able to quickly decipher your problem here. If you didn't preclude your activity by saying your numbers are down, closing is down etc, I'd think ok, it's different but working for him. But that wasn't the case. Going forward I'll be sure not to direct advice or possibilities of improvement your way champ.

I hate to see a really upbeat thread ruined by childishly snide pokes.  In addition, calling someone a moron due to a misunderstanding seems radical.  C'mon guys.  Don't make reading this thread a poor use of our time.  Great effort All The Way!

[quote=Itainteasy]

I hate to see a really upbeat thread ruined by childishly snide pokes.  In addition, calling someone a moron due to a misunderstanding seems radical.  C'mon guys.  Don't make reading this thread a poor use of our time.  Great effort All The Way!

[/quote]

What a valuable post, keep up the great work!

Just taking a few minutes away from the Super Bowl to update…been a while. I’m in the rhythm and getting ahead with this blitz. Been booking meetings and finally this week got some closing meetings. I said that I was going to nail between 10-15M in new assets from cold calling by June 22nd and I will…..

I’ll update on a more regular basis and to keep it simple. I will only mention meetings booked and business done and won’t post contacts and prospects as just to keep it focused of the key aspects…

I just wanted to thank all of you for your support and look forward to reading about all of your successes going forward.

 Appreciations to KingBobby, Harkham, TheMachine, MadMatt, Push Forward, Albertp86, DTA, 6yearsin, ECD, BondGuy, FADavo, YounGun, LongShot and Itaineasy for your comments…..helps keep this guy going when the call sheets look a mile long and the dial fingers starts to hurt……..All The Best to you All

All The Way.

Thanks for the mention ATW.  I have been doing a call campaign myself.  Made the list myself, and has been pretty rich so far.  Good contact and qualified prospect lead ratio.  There is not really enough data to say these are statistically significant, but so far I have had a 32% contact ratio, and of those 21% are qualified prospects.  So dials to prospect ration is about 7%.  My goal is to get 5 prospects a day...qualified for money and interest.  If it takes 5 dials on one day and 400 the next who cares?  Bottom line is to get the prospects and put them in the pipeline.  I will keep doing this until I get 100 solid prospects that are actively followed up and closed for business.  It is essentially Mullens model from "Million Dollar Financial Services Practice".  Rock and roll and keep dialing!

This is really starting to look good. Been getting pretty good at getting new meetings from the cold calls and now i'm doing the 2nd-3rd closing ones. Got 200K done this evening and must say....it's taken a sh#& load of work and stuff to get confident with the process.

Anyways, just wanted to say thanks for all the encouragement....there;s a big hill to climb till the summer and time flies by....so back on the phones in the morning.....just want to get 10-15M done by then and catch my breath......hope everyone is having a good week....keep working...

All The Way

Pretty good week.

Got 200K in new assets.

Did 4 new meetings this week with about 1.4M is potential business, and got 5 meetings booked for next week. so all in all, a good week.

Next week, the goal is to book 8 new meetings during the week from cold calls and open another new account. Momentum is building and good prospects are coming in so this should be an interesting end of month.

Good weekend to all

All The Way

Great posts. How are you building your cold call lists? are you purchasing them? my branch manager is getting me a list to split with the other trainees, we'll end up with about 1,300 each but that won't last me very long. Thanks!

Ulairi,

Yeah….I build my own residential lists. Takes longer but I know the areas. More often than not, the calls hit the homes that fit my market. I only call homes that are no more than 20 minutes drive to the office.

Usually I get my first meeting booked from a cold call after about 25 contacts. And out of 100 calls I get about a 30 contact hit rate…takes time to build a list, but all my meetings are held in my office so I stick to homes that are close to the office. So far it is working.

And yes...1300 names will go fast so best to get something up and running to keep the calls flowing....

Good luck with your efforts, keep us posted.

All The Way

[quote=All The Way]

Ulairi,

Yeah….I build my own residential lists. Takes longer but I know the areas. More often than not, the calls hit the homes that fit my market. I only call homes that are no more than 20 minutes drive to the office.

Usually I get my first meeting booked from a cold call after about 25 contacts. And out of 100 calls I get about a 30 contact hit rate…takes time to build a list, but all my meetings are held in my office so I stick to homes that are close to the office. So far it is working.

And yes...1300 names will go fast so best to get something up and running to keep the calls flowing....

Good luck with your efforts, keep us posted.

All The Way

[/quote]

Great job ATW you are killing it.  What script are you using right now to get people into your office off a cold call?  I have been using a preffereds script but am not having much luck getting second contacts.  Would love trying something new for a little while to mix it up

[quote=BigRedFan]

[quote=All The Way]

Ulairi,

Yeah….I build my own residential lists. Takes longer but I know the areas. More often than not, the calls hit the homes that fit my market. I only call homes that are no more than 20 minutes drive to the office.

Usually I get my first meeting booked from a cold call after about 25 contacts. And out of 100 calls I get about a 30 contact hit rate…takes time to build a list, but all my meetings are held in my office so I stick to homes that are close to the office. So far it is working.

And yes...1300 names will go fast so best to get something up and running to keep the calls flowing....

Good luck with your efforts, keep us posted.

All The Way

[/quote]

Great job ATW you are killing it.  What script are you using right now to get people into your office off a cold call?  I have been using a preffereds script but am not having much luck getting second contacts.  Would love trying something new for a little while to mix it up

[/quote]

What are you pitching on your calls? I'm pitching fed tax exempt income and I get pretty good responses with that.

Greetings to my buddy Cold-Callers,

Had a good day. Booked a new meeting and had  a meeting, got the Ok to present a proposal next week, could be 300K.

Also got 2 meetings in the morning, going to get an agreement to make a proposal for 80K and the second meeting is to sign 70K.

Been slugging away, truth is....a bit tired...got crap hitting the wall because i didn't build enough business and I'm off the dole. Oh well......as Pacino said to that young lawyer in The Devils Advocate....how to you deal with pressure......take a BIG WIFF.....I'm going all the way....all the way.

All The Way...I said

Ok, picked up the 70K this morning and got the other prospect receptive to review a proposal for 80K. Tomorrow...no meetings and a clear day of cold calling , calls backs and appointment setting.

Got some momentum going, hopefuuly will get some meetings with bigger prospects to build AUM faster...either way......just  focussing on activities and not thinking much of anything else...it all adds up and sales attract sales...so R-I-N-G...R-I-N-G.

All The Way

Are you leaving voice mails on cold calls? I'm thinking about trying just leaving my name, my firm, and that I would like them to call me back at my number. It just adds 30 seconds to a call and if they do call back at least I'll know they have interest, which is one of the big three requirements I have. Just wondering if you've tried that and have had any luck.

No, never did. I just focuss on talking to people...if no answer after 3 rings...phone goes down, next dial until I get a meeting....just focussed on getting meetings....end result...is to have them come to the office....so I dial until I get a meeting, no counting dials ...just contacts......conversations that lead either to nada or a meeting....

Theres a guy in my office who leaves messages on cold calls, takes about 30-40 seconds, I suspect he counts that as a contact.....no much NNA lately.........either way......you got to focuss on the end result........either meeting or open account on phone.....counting dials and other activities that can lead one to beleive it was a great day.....it ain't great till there's a meeting or an account opened.....

You'll get what you focuss on....if it's dials, then you'll be focussing on dials, hoping that in the pile ..out comes an account. focuss on accounts, meetings, closing while on the phone....takes time...but it helps attract the end result.....that's my view

All The Way

I'm not trying to open accounts over the phone because I won't work with someone that doesn't have $500,000 in investiable assets. So, I'm much more selective on whom I call. I never understood that people actually get accounts opened on the phone unless you're doing a majority transactional based business. I'm trying to build a 90%+ fee based businesses. How do you get meetings on the first call? I takes me about 2-3 phone calls to get a meeting. 

Using this approach I get a meeting every 25-30 cold call contacts or so.

I’m part of the private client division at XXX,  you familiar with my firm?

And the reason for this call is in light of these frequent downturns in the markets,; we’re holding information sessions in our (your town) office

 More importantly, the focus here being…measures to  (safeguard capital) & generate regular and predictable, income, (such as dividends and interest) …..That is paid monthly and quarterly into client’s accounts.

 These sessions last about 30 minutes and appeal to people who feel that at this junction, it would be of benefit to talk with someone else than their current advisor and get some information that suits a more cautious  investors.. I’m calling to see if this would be a timely invitation for you.

That it. For me the key is that I believe this is a good approach so I sound relaxed, detached and confident….and I’ll say the same thing till there’s a meeting booked.

 This site is full of pitches, all of them better than this…but this….works for me.

All The Way

[quote=Ulairi]

I'm not trying to open accounts over the phone because I won't work with someone that doesn't have $500,000 in investiable assets. So, I'm much more selective on whom I call. I never understood that people actually get accounts opened on the phone unless you're doing a majority transactional based business. I'm trying to build a 90%+ fee based businesses. How do you get meetings on the first call? I takes me about 2-3 phone calls to get a meeting. 

[/quote]

Even if someone's goal is fee based/500k minimum etc etc... those 50-100k fixed income transactions done over the phone just gave that advisor a leg up on a potential big account, and will be building that and servicing that relationship over time to gain more and more. Meanwhile, the advisor that didn't provide anything except fee based planning with high minimum will remain a stranger in this scenario and likely remain on the sidelines. I'm not saying this is the 'best way' by any means, (though that's what I do) just explaining the reasoning.

I’ve really been enjoying reading the post of all of you out there slugging away, day-in, day out, building your business and sharing how you go about it.

Since there are quite a few of us regulars out there, how about we tighten up things and use this thread to help each other hit our own targets.

If you would like to share what your new asset target would be from now till end of June and post it, we can keep track of each others efforts and results. Funny how fast each week goes by, so we can tally numbers weekly and watch assets grow.

It’s not a contest…just a way to make the most of each golden week……take the weekend to mull it over….we can begin clocking assets gathered from cold calls as of Tuesday.

Whatever past prospects you have in the pipeline count as they still need to be converted to clients so if you got a good pipeline, great…if not….still great ‘cause cold calling as we all know works.

For me it’s 10M by end of June, basically 500K per week, give or take. I need to have 8 new meetings booked each week. Typically 5-6 will show up, and I should get 2 accounts. My average ticket needs to be around 250K. I know I can do it….

Good Weekend to all

All The Way

[quote=KingBobby]

[quote=Ulairi]

I'm not trying to open accounts over the phone because I won't work with someone that doesn't have $500,000 in investiable assets. So, I'm much more selective on whom I call. I never understood that people actually get accounts opened on the phone unless you're doing a majority transactional based business. I'm trying to build a 90%+ fee based businesses. How do you get meetings on the first call? I takes me about 2-3 phone calls to get a meeting. 

[/quote]

Even if someone's goal is fee based/500k minimum etc etc... those 50-100k fixed income transactions done over the phone just gave that advisor a leg up on a potential big account, and will be building that and servicing that relationship over time to gain more and more. Meanwhile, the advisor that didn't provide anything except fee based planning with high minimum will remain a stranger in this scenario and likely remain on the sidelines. I'm not saying this is the 'best way' by any means, (though that's what I do) just explaining the reasoning.

[/quote]

I haven't hit production yet so I'm still learning my way around. I have a CPA background and when I was recruited by the wirehouse they really wanted me to push for high network households from day one and all of our training is about that. 

Yeah...good day on the phones. Time is just flying by.......got 300K done so far this month......aaarrggggg.......today booked a new meeting and got 2 meetings lined up  in the office tomorrow. Really need to up my game.......got to get those accounts opened.....if I don't get 1.5-2M done in March.......it won't be looking good......so ...back to work.

All The Way

alright, did 70K this morning.......there's a posibility of getting this 1.5 shortfall raped up in March from a 700K prospect from this morning and a few others from the last couple of weeks....got to keep pushing and booking meetings.....small accounts are small acounts so todays dosen't really make a big difference, all month has been under my average account size....anyways.....I'll take it and build from there. Just keep the activities going.......I rerally would love a nice 500K account,or two, or three over the next few weeks....let's see what happenes....back to work.

All The Way

[quote=Ulairi]

I'm not trying to open accounts over the phone because I won't work with someone that doesn't have $500,000 in investiable assets. So, I'm much more selective on whom I call. I never understood that people actually get accounts opened on the phone unless you're doing a majority transactional based business. I'm trying to build a 90%+ fee based businesses. How do you get meetings on the first call? I takes me about 2-3 phone calls to get a meeting. 

[/quote]

I'm curious to know, once someone finally decides to do business with you, how much of their $500K+ portfolio do they send you for starters? As well as over the next 1-2 yrs?

[quote=iluvgold]

I'm curious to know, once someone finally decides to do business with you, how much of their $500K+ portfolio do they send you for starters? As well as over the next 1-2 yrs?

[/quote]

No reason to be curious, he said in post 85 he hasn't hit production yet. (Although in post 76, he said he's pitching fed tax exempt income and getting pretty good responses, so go figure)

Your goals seem pretty high ATW.. I like.

Yeah King......goals are high alright.......I'm just putting myself to the test.......had a weird February...average account size fell off the clif.....but got a couple 700K plusses out there that I am working to convert....should bring average AUM per account back to over 300K.  Really plugging way and trying to stick to fee based account, all I got to do King to hit my targets is book at least 8 new meetings a week...that's my challenge.....really appreciate all your support and enjoy reading your posts and comments.

Have a great week bud,

All The Way

[quote=KingBobby]

[quote=iluvgold]

I'm curious to know, once someone finally decides to do business with you, how much of their $500K+ portfolio do they send you for starters? As well as over the next 1-2 yrs?

[/quote]

No reason to be curious, he said in post 85 he hasn't hit production yet. (Although in post 76, he said he's pitching fed tax exempt income and getting pretty good responses, so go figure)

Your goals seem pretty high ATW.. I like.

[/quote]

We have a three month window where things do not count but we can sell. So, call that what you will. 

I cleared one million this month and I received my production number just three weeks ago. 

Ulairi,

Great on those numbers....keep it going......this is a great time to get new accounts.

All The Way

[quote=All The Way]

Ulairi,

Great on those numbers....keep it going......this is a great time to get new accounts.

All The Way

[/quote]

thanks! How did you get over the fear to cold call? I still havne't hit calling that hard because I feel like I'm not very good at it. Did you hit a certain number of dials and things just started feeling natural?

Thanks!

I put about 1% emotional energy into cold calling, the other 99% is repeating the same activities, no one call can make or break....but the cummulative effect from talking to large numbers of people on a regualr basis carries you up the earning curve.

My recommendation, a short, simple clear pitch...invest hardly any time into all the hocus pocus of finding a sequence of magical words, that put together, melt all objections. Just call, think of nothing but talking to at least 30-40 people a day if needed.... and let the numbers make your day.

Keep the time saved from studying tons of crap on calling and use it to know some key benefits of whatwever it is you are promoting. The biggest lie in this business is finding the magic pitch.....there ain't one, so to get over the fear , is to embrace the fact that most....nearly all calls don't work out and relax knowing that eventually, someone in a large sample....will say yes.....we're paid to find that person....the kiss of death is beeing good at cold calling, but either crappy at following up...and even worse when conducting a face to face meeting or closing on the phone...because of focussing on dials and re-writing pitches all weekend....you're off to a strong start.......you'll be fine.

have fun and keep us posted.

All the Way

If the activity is the most important thing, what is second? Managing the pipeline seems important, which goes together with following up. What is your process for that? Do you generally seem to have an average number of 'prospects' in the bucket to follow up with? What is your comfort zone with all this. Obviously the sale rarely happens on call one, so just wondering your approach after the first call.

How often do you follow up with your top prospects?

How quickly do you get to booking the meeting? One call? Two? Just wondering how quickly you aim to not waste time.

You are right this is a business of doing. No money is paid for knowing it all.

Great point 

[/quote]

[quote=bmp135]

If the activity is the most important thing, what is second? Managing the pipeline seems important, which goes together with following up. What is your process for that? Do you generally seem to have an average number of 'prospects' in the bucket to follow up with? What is your comfort zone with all this. Obviously the sale rarely happens on call one, so just wondering your approach after the first call.

How often do you follow up with your top prospects?

How quickly do you get to booking the meeting? One call? Two? Just wondering how quickly you aim to not waste time.

You are right this is a business of doing. No money is paid for knowing it all.

[/quote]

Managing your pipeline is every bit as important as cold calling - what does it matter if you have "5 prospects" from your 500 dials if you F up the follow up?  

I classify my "leads":

Call backs - people that request a call back

Leads - want more info and give me email

Prospects - have IMMEDIATE interest.

Call backs get scheduled for requested time same day.  Leads hit an email drip list (after I send out an intro email SAME DAY).  Prospects get intro email and get a follow up call 3-5 days later or as requested. 

build a list of email address for drips.  1% become clients and its FREE mass advertising that takes you 15 minutes a month to manage.  If you add 150 emails a month to the drip then that means you get 1.5 clients a month for 15 minutes of time.  18 clients a year for less than a days work...

WOrk hard, but work SMART first.  

Quick update....been going at it hard....got 3 deals more done....total tally this year 1.9m. Taking more time than I thought with the proposals and all. pretty sharp guys  coming in (sorry Amber_M….)and had to really read up and sharpen my pencils........had a feeling 2 would come along...the third was a LongShot  (another longshot) and he came on-board....big upswing in confidence as I didn't think he would. He sent an email, saying that he wanted to pick up from where we left off.......we left off in  December.....

Really been giving her hell.....tired, frustrated by my lack of consistency on the phone...got a big ZERO meetings for next week and ain't got the energy to do another cold call this week. been hiding under proposals and closings.....still happy with the numbers, just haven't got a clue how you all keep up the energy to hit the phones and handle all the paperwork, compliance meetings and all...plus family, kids, beer, do-nothing time...and still hit the phones.

I have a new found admiration for anyone who is plugging away, chipping away......day-in and day-out.

Anyways, still got 8.1M to nail down between now and June 22nd. won't be doing much prospecting this week, still got a few good one's on the go to finalize...2 meetings tomorrow. But....as of next week, with pretty much a clean diary......best to get back to finding new potential clients. Really enjoy this web site and all the ideas and comments gong back and forthy....think you are all great......really hope it's working the way you want it to....

The truth is….I like this site….like reading about your efforts, the ideas, the disagreements, the Ciber fights and all. You know….building a business that generates 500K to us….ain’t easy. It’s really lonely at times…..but we will do it….at times…some of us are at each others throats….that’s Ok…..we are slugging away…..doing things that most people could never-ever do…so….just nomal that we get some financial credit and lifestyle for chipping away at the mountain…

Anyways…..I still got 8.1M to do by June……aaarrggggg….but hey……I’ll get there….one call, one meeting at a time…R-I-N-G-   R-I-N-G.

All The Way

Good job All the Way!

I am hosting my first event this Saturday. I rented out the cinema and I'm doing a private showing of the new Lorax movie, going to have around 120 - 150 prospects/kids, so I'm hoping to close 5 accounts from this event. I'm now just figuring out how to call them after and transition from the movie to getting their business.

[quote=FADavo]

I classify my "leads":

Call backs - people that request a call back

Leads - want more info and give me email

Prospects - have IMMEDIATE interest.

Call backs get scheduled for requested time same day.  Leads hit an email drip list (after I send out an intro email SAME DAY).  Prospects get intro email and get a follow up call 3-5 days later or as requested. 

WOrk hard, but work SMART first.[/quote]

* You're waiting 3-5 days to followup on a prospect that has an 'IMMEDIATE' interest?

* You're putting 'leads' that requested or agreed to accept more information into a drip list rather than following up 3-5 days later and attempt a close and/or appointment?

Big week, good calls, really plugging away…..starting to get back to that “it’s all going to work out” feeling.

I tell ya….it’s uphill, lots of crap….but it works. Did one deal and got 300K from a guy I’d met with and chose to go ahead. Brings me to 2.2M and still got 7.8M to do by June 22nd. I really don’t know…..got a decent amount of good one’s in the oven……if they go…great….if not..still able to pick up the phone to find more.

The crap I got to deal with in the office with some losers…..just taps a guys energy. I really don/t care……I really hate them….smug faces…..empty gas tanks, know it all, always got a angle on cold calling…yet…don’t do it……anyways   all that matters is to get that 10M done by end of June….seriously…..I’m tapped……tomorrow, hiding in paperwork and planning….Monday…..Monday….dropping a nasty hammer on cold’s and call backs….I’m going to 10m…..like it or not……the dials will carry me to the meetings…from there…..I’m fine……just more  dials…..

All The Way

Just read this entire thread.... ATW you definitely give me some motivation to kick my butt into gear!  Been in the biz 9 yrs now and reading your posts just reinforces the activities I know but haven't been practicing enough.  Going to implement my own blitz to get a jump start and looking forward to reading about your progress.  You'll hit that bogey, no doubt!  Keep pounding those phones.  Good luck!

Advisorgal,

Good for you......nothing like a bit of positive energy to get things going.....keep us posted......had a good week, and this week coming up. lots of calls to get more meetings...going to keep plugging away till end of June.......I'll make it...

All The Way

ATW, you get it. Keep pushing the rock uphill, if you do it right, once will be enough.

I especially enjoy reading your posts as your mood moves up and down the scale. Like getting knocked down by a wave and popping right back up and going for it with the I will not be denied attitude. That is what it takes. Motivating!!! Good stuff!!!!!

You know what Bond Guy…..you’re the real thing. Read a few of your post…..some guys giving it large at you…… about how cold calling don’t work…bla,bla…….work the golf, charity circuit and there you are….still sticking to your beliefs.

 On top of the fact, you take the time to check in with the rookies who are out there day in and day out fielding the boomerangs and building a profitable business on the phone. Really…hat’s off to you mate and thanks for taking the time to always, post something encouraging and positive……if only…there were more influences similar to yours not only in forum, but in general.

 It’s hell building on the phone…not actually doing the phone calls, it’s that waste of energy building up to getting going. Anyways…….not complaining, off to a decent start…..but truth is…looking at the gap to fill between now and June…..puta madre……que mierda……….I keep hearing that old song from who knows who….”Baby….you’re out of time”.

So I guess I battle my demons and stick to the plan.

All The Way

Keep rocking it all the way. You and me we are gonna make it. I started cold calling church directories today without using the dnc and my contact ratio went up a million times and people were friendly too. Just gotta keep finding new people to call. That’s half the battle

Well...punching 'em tickets pretty good. Got 650 more in the book, brings it to 2.85M......got a good ride going......will be hammering hard next week, pipeline is strong, working on converting,,,,should be a great couple of months.....

All The Way

ATW,

It’s crazy how things develop. I had a solid week numbers wise. Never made less than 300 calls, conducted 4 prospect discovery meetings with the typical “oh-that sounds great” attitude from the clients but by Friday I’d only brought in one account this week and it was sub par. So I say to myself, those weeks happen. Move on… Haha, then I left the office last night and met up with a client for drinks and just so happened to walk into a colleague of her’s who was having a retirement party. Long story short, my client ends up selling my services to her friend, she pulls out her I phone, and schedules an appointment to come in with an 800k rollover that next Monday! Gotta love how the golfing gods somehow have conversations with the net new gods. No matter the activity, do your job and leave your heart at home. It’s just business :).

Itainteasy,

Great story, just goes to show, activities bring results...keep it up, well done. Here, got 40 + contacts done today, well worth it and going home happy with a good day under the belt.....back at it in the morning.

All The Way

ACAT signed, goals mapped out and had time to hit 300 calls.  Gotta love those lay-downs.  

Bring tommorrow ATW!  

Aaarrrggg...what a week......really want a break.

Had a superb day on the phone, got some meetings from the pipeline....going back from cold calls done in November..... The November Nostalgia Files...so what...still good stuff.

I can't express how much i'm aching to get this done....really chomping at the bit.....no hold barrels......hammering away.....will post more often as final stetch in closing in.....going to 10m......missing just over 7m...and 3 months to go.......puta madre.......ya guey....this is it!!!

You gotta love this job...just found out...my mentor does 1M +.....after splitting with the firm.........keeps me fired up...he did it all ... by cold call......1M+ to him and his family....annuitized.....says to keep at it....I keep at it.

All The Way

All The Way,

Do you try to close on the phone or just get the meeting? I haven't had any luck closing anything on the phone and sometimes if I try to close on the phone it kind of kills my ability to get the meeting.

I'm avg 150 - 200 calls a day and 2-3 meetings each day. Kind of sucks when people don't show up.

Ulairi,

Those are great numbers, that's 8-10 meetings booked a week, sounds like you got it figured out....the rest will come. I don't sell on the phone, only book meetings. I have very few no-shows and hope to have the consistency you have in booking meetings, well done...keep at it.

All The Way

Ulairi,

The need to expand the pliability of your sales techniques is about one hundred times greater in this industry than others.  I understand the delima; product or appointment....  The true answer is:  whatever the hell you can get!  I used the word 'plyable' because that's just what you need.  Agility!  I always go for the phone close but I do it with the upmost ponderance of suttleness and tact.  I use trigger words to feel the client out, if he starts pulling back I keep him still and advert to his family and things he enjoys.  When I've got him where I want him, I go in for the close again.  The name of the job is Gross.  Whether its a 600 FI ticket today or 10k in a managed account that took 6 months to close, search for it like your life depends on it.  Not the smartest guy in this biz but I'd say it kind of does.   We're not selling to aliens.  Clients, both ideal and the opposite, are just human consumers.  The true concern you have is not whether one or the other will yield greater results.  Subconsciously you're really pondering which one has the greatest potential to dampen the fear you have with prospecting and rejection.  

Agility is the key my fellow colleague!

Think of a heavy weight boxer.  The boxer would love to load up on his back foot and give everything he has in one punch.  A reall Ali KO hook.  However, most professionals know that if they miss, an entire side of their body will be exposed and vulnerable.  A real death wish at its finest.  Instead, Ali used to walk his opponents down round after round until he found the opportunity.....  Then he would knock the hell out of them with his strongest effort.  Ha, he'd hit them so hard he'd have to say his first and last name after.

Thats what it takes Ulairi.  An acute sense of awareness, tactical positioning and then....  A strong close.  When you can accomplish that you can call yourself a pro.  Until then you'll be spending your wheels woundering if you should hit your opponent hard or softly.  Ha!  In reflection, it sounds stupid as all hell!  You're in a fight and you're wondering how you should hit someone that's trying to conquer your soul.   Haha.  Just freaking hit e'm!

Thanks for the advice. This is the first sales job I've ever had so a lot of these things are very new to me and my CPA background really doesn't help me or matter (at least right now) when I'm trying to get to 10 million assets in my first year of production.

Ulairi,

You've got a great attitude.....go for the 10.0M in the first year....stick to your activities and keep us posted on progress.....I love it.....go big!!!

i'v got a good pipeline and meetings on the go, going to get my 10M rapped up before end June....been plugging away and just keep doing what's got to be done.......

All The Way

Great job. Keep it up. It is possible to succeed by working hard and working smart.

The hardest part for me has been getting the pipeline up and running. I'm young and I don't have years of professional experience so I'm having to build the pipeline from scratch. Also, at my firm we have to open $250,000+ accounts to get paid. I'm going to try to start calling on individual muni bonds and see if that helps get more action.  I'm at 1.25 MM right now and I start LOS 1 next month.

[quote=Ulairi]

The hardest part for me has been getting the pipeline up and running. I'm young and I don't have years of professional experience so I'm having to build the pipeline from scratch. Also, at my firm we have to open $250,000+ accounts to get paid. I'm going to try to start calling on individual muni bonds and see if that helps get more action.  I'm at 1.25 MM right now and I start LOS 1 next month.

[/quote]

The hardest part is starting. Not only is the pipeline empty you have to figure out how to fill it, and what to fill it with. Once you've figured out the what and the how it will take three or four months to fill the pipeline to the point that it reliably produces accounts. Which neatly explains why, once you've got it filled , you don't stop prospecting. Who wants to push that rock uphill again?

As for your minimum acct size, no problem. Just make sure your target prospects have the dough to make that work. If you target those folks with the ability to invest at that level or higher you will have no problem getting to your goal.

AAArrgggg, what a ride.....ok....should have posted more often...but didn't...been going full out, lots of calls, meetings, ....and for for some strange reason, had 2 no-shows since I posted that I don't get many no shows......strange.....anyway......got 2 more done, brings in 750K, so tally so far is 2.95M.......

What can I say......it's a lot slower than I wish...mainly because of lack of consistency on the phone, some days, on....others day...not........and Zap....there goes another week......getting sick of turning the calendar pages and realizing how fast a month goes by......I'm really up againts the wall....so........will do my best.....have fun.....and commit to 50 contacts a day, for 4 days next week, regardless of meetings, stuff, and whatever........cold calling works....just need to stop mucking around.....still off by over7M....and 2 months to go....granted got a good pipeline and meetings ,but.............tick-tock......keeps going. .......back on the phone i the morning.........I do enjoy though....not moaning too much....just get a bit desperate..........Get really fed up of hearing left and right of how cold calling does not work, heard it again this week in my office.......I'm going to beat them on AUM........from cold calls.........chinga tu madre gueys!!!!

All The Way

All the way - I have two questions:
What part of the country are you in?
Why are 90% of your posts typed like a twitter feed?

Ok I have a question for whomever wants to answer 

I have been in training for about a month now and will begin to produce within the next month or so.. 
I live in a small city about 300k residents, do you think its possible to bring in 4-6m my first year? I am a big believer in cold calling and want to kill the phone, I want to tap residentials as well I dont think theres many business owners in this area but i could be wrong. Any suggestions from any ofyou would be greatly appreciated! 

ps sorry for high jacking

[quote=Mase]

Ok I have a question for whomever wants to answer 

I have been in training for about a month now and will begin to produce within the next month or so.. 
I live in a small city about 300k residents, do you think its possible to bring in 4-6m my first year? I am a big believer in cold calling and want to kill the phone, I want to tap residentials as well I dont think theres many business owners in this area but i could be wrong. Any suggestions from any ofyou would be greatly appreciated! 

ps sorry for high jacking

[/quote]

don't just prospect in your city but try for your whole state. i even picked a couple other states that my wife and i like to travel to or may want tto move to (I'm in my mid 20's) and prospect there as well. the harder thing going out of state is that you're not there to open accounts in person but it's good for me because it helps me learn how to open accounts over the phone, which is harde.r

Thanks Ulairi

Thats exactly what I was considering, didnt know if it were possible, I am going to prospect in at least two of the biggest cities in my state. Opening over the phone does sound pretty hard I may have to work my way up to that...im also in my mid 20's... what kind of aum goals do you set for yourself...other than the minis at your firm

I want to do 10 MM in fee based my first 12 months of production.

Hacksaw

Funny comment about the Twitter....I type like I think....kind of slow and get off track, so when I get off track….hit the dots… and.....oh yeah.....there I was….and off I go again….

  Had a good day, did 280K so getting there. Really a bit pisesd with someone in the office, starting to get to me.....and ...it's a good thing. I’m more determined than ever to get these assets by cold calling. I don't go around farting what's signed so I suspect he thinks it ani't working.....either way.......still happy with the results, could have been faster had I done more...so more effort on the plate.

Anyways. up to 3.2M and  something…..

Been putting names together to call over the next few weeks, starting to scrape the barrel and need to bring in new names, helps the ratios.

Ulari is a true animal, going for 10M in the 1st year.....someone give the kid a medal, and now with Mase getting fired up...should be a great summer with some good posts.

Keep it up guys. Always enjoy reading anything posted by BigRed, KingBobby, FadAvo, Itainteasy and Bond guy…to name a few……..said it before, I say it again, lonely out there on the phone, so logging on and catching up on what you guys are up to is part of my daily routine, we’re all out there rowing….row,  row, row.

All The Way

Hear, hear.

Keep rocking atw. It’s a long road but success will taste so sweet when we are finally there

Good read ATW, starting my training in August.  Will definitely have contributions to this thread.

Mr. Swaeters,

Go get them .....keep us posted as you are moving forward.

AAArrrggggg...........what can I say.....dud of a week, did good with the meetings booked but......AAArrrgggggg that's where I'm at.

Anyways, hammering the  plan......loading fresh new names to call next week...still very much in the running.....full speed ahead.....got some very good on'es on the go...just.....frustrated, tick-tock....but hey......I'll make it.

how's everyone else doing out there?

Good weekend to all

All The Way

This week was a bad week for me.  I have season tickets to our local ball team and we had a game every day this week. I did take a prospective client to two of the games and I woke up today feeling really under the weather. I'l lbe back on in Monday with the dials and meeting setting. 

hey man,

check your pm's....

Quick update, stuck around 3.2M....got 8 weks to go, said i'd get 10M by June 22nd....soooooo, as soon as I polish opff the Six-pack and watch a movie with my wife......off to bed, up early, quick run...in the office early, on the phones and see what happens...had a lot of fun, glad to have made the calls, wish i had more AUM, but...hey...still time to turn a couple of good one's around. probably will post daily as there's only a few weeks left......Best of sucewss to all the cold callers out there.....

Kinda miss LongShot's post but there's a new sherrif in tow...Murdoc,,,, anyone who refers to The Jusge is off to a good start......worth following. Anyways.......as for me...I've re arranged my schedule and cleared a lot of time for calls and meetings for this blitz, went in on Saturday and Sunday at 7am to get lists ready and clear wreakage to give me a clear line of sight......this is it.

All The Way

All The Way - How many months have you been in production?

Keep it up ATW! You are keeping me motivated with these posts and I m running with you.

The Machine,

Thanks to you, this is what this forum is about....keeping things going in the right direction.

Hit the phones hard on Monday, got exactly 50 contacts done and one meeting booked, no leads, been getting low numbers on Mondays for some reason, don't care, got a 10am meetings this morning then back on the phones.Some good one's in the pipeline to move ahead also, but mainly the energy is in getting meetings with as many as posible....

All The Way

All The Way,

I'm a very big fan... your enthusiasm seeps through the computer!

Keep the rest of us young cold callers updated and inspired.  We'll do the same.  Best of luck today on the phones.

Best,

LtC

The "new sherrif" may be a little early All the Way, but looking forward to contributing.  Good luck to Long the Call, if you ever want to bounce ideas back and forth let me know.

It seems like incorporating the munis into the arsenal is good timing with these Bush Tax Cuts (lack of) being extended in election year.  Tax rates rising and Social Security seem to be decent talking points as you develop these relationships.  Just my two cents, but in my 4 months experience so far prospects seem to be asking about these.

yesterday I had 4 new prospects and of those 4 new prospects, two agreed to meetings for next week. That's based on 74 calls. Not bad at all!

Thnks Long The Call, nice to get good feedback.

Been a good week on the farm, got 450K done, up to 3.65M. Been working a different schedule, arriving at my desk at 7am to get my reading and paperwork done, then on the phones. I'm keeping Mondays free of everything but the phone so as to get as many meetings posible booked. had a look at the posibles for this month and there's another 2.something that could make it over...so I'm going to keep on top of them, convert pipeline to meetings and and find new meetings and prospects from calls.Been a lot of good post lately and it's pretty encouraging reading comments from those who are sharing their experience.

All The Way

Good to see you are approaching 5MM.  You talked about a new schedule....

Any insights on how you are slotting in the call backs in addition to the 50/day?  Are you making new calls in the morning, then making call backs around lunch (intial interest prospects to ask for appointments).  Just curious on how you manage the pipeline to get those meetings, or if they say no how do you reclassify them?

Murdoc,

Thanks…those are great questions. I always start my calls with call backs, for the simple reason to make sure I get back to them soon enough to make sure they are good prospects. So basically I aim for +-30 minutes of call backs, then hit the cold calls.

As for those that say no…well…no to what. If they have no interest, they are deleted. If it’s a timing thing, then they get re-scheduled. If good to go, then the meeting is booked. Really getting better at keeping the pipeline cleaner.

I kind of have to force myself to start with call backs, for some reason, cold calling is easier for me, so I push to start with the tasks that give me a bit of trouble first, get it out the way and then move on to the easier one’s. Sounds odd….but….that’s the way I am.

All The Way

Pretty happy about today. Because I booked 3 meetings straight there and then on the cold call.

The last few weeks have been a bit discouraging when it comes to calling on Mondays. Two weeks ago, on a Monday...did 50 contacts and nada de nada. Last Monday, again 50 hits and 1 meeting. Today, had 3 booked by the 30th contact. Just goes to show, it all averages out.

Anyways...got good files on the go, good meetings lined up and should get some decent numbers this month...more to come.

All The Way

All The Way/Ulari/Murdoc.... are you calling all business or do you do any residentials?  When calling business whats your pitch to get through the gatekeeper?  Or do you even have that problem?  Logically it seems that the contact ratio for business would be lower than residential because of the GK, but what do i know!

@all the way

What pitches are you using? You seem to be doing very well!

Mase,

Calling both.  It seems like residentials are good from 10am-12pm.  After that, they are usually out and about till 5pm, in time for dinner.  That being said I'll call businesses from 8-10, then from 1-5pm.  Contact ratios are better for businesses for me.  Someone wrote before that they are getting a 1:7 ratio for businesses and 1:10 for residentials.  That has pretty much been the case for me.  For residentials I always pitch the wife if the husband is unavailable.

Gatekeepers: If they ask what it is regarding, repeat your name and state Prospect is "familiar with our company".  Easier to drop this line if you are at a Major Wire.  If the Gatekeeper insists say, "It is regarding a personal financial matter, is so and so available?"

Remeber you always have another number to dial on the list and only so much time and energy on a daily basis..simply move on.  If a gatekeeper wants to be a pain in the ass, who cares...next

ALW - I have adopted your pitch (from when you posted it back in DEC/JAN...I have made a couple tweaks to fit my personality. I am no where near the dial and contact rate you guys keep up, I am lucky if I do 40 dials in a day...lots of reasons for this...

Anyhow, I would be curious to see what your pitch looks like now after 4 more months of working your system. Would you mind posting the current version?

Thanks!

Stealthall, 40 dials a day really doesn't meet the minimum of calling yourself a cold caller.  If you are not consistently hitting a minimum of 150 a day, why even do it?  The numers just aren't going to justify the pain.  Think of cold calling as trying to get a plane to take flight.  To get that hunk of metal in the air it takes a massive amount of energy and power for a prolonged amount of time.  Puttering down the runway making quick hits to the throttle is never going to get the plane to take flight.  You're simple wasting runway (time) and It just isn't going to work! 

There is do and there's don't.  There is no try. 

The whole it is a numbers game is BS fed to you by managers (once they hit your pipeline, yeah its a numbers game), it is all about who you are calling and when you are calling.  I have been cold calling into the same market for going on 5 years now.  I make 30 calls a day and talk to 30 qualified people.  It takes me just about two hours.

When I was calling random businesses or households you might reach 30 people in 300 calls, efficiency is key.  Now if you are only gathering assets and do not offer planning or hourly fees my strategy would not be the best for you.

There are a number of markets that I can think of where you can guarantee a contact ratio of of at least 50% thus not needed to waste hours on end "smiling and dialing".

Mr. Net New - I do it because I enjoy it and target very high net worth people. I also manage a good size book and do not have a lot of time during the day. I am in the process of restructuring my week to allow me to dial 100+. I do about one seminar every other month and a couple other unique networking events every month. I added in cold calling a month ago and am still trying to figure out the best schedule. 

Stealthall, Spike101x & Mase

 Yeah…still using the same pitch, short and works for me.

I only call residential, from 10am onwards, really good in the mornings and over lunch….today got a meeting, did call backs and eliminate 9 prospects from the pipeline, glad to see them go, kind of hate seeing some names show up, again and again on the call backs, and not really get anywhere.

I don’t claim to be an expert at this, got a pitch and market that works for me, still need the volume of calls to get it moving and it seems that at 40-50 contact a day things happen….

I only wish I would have started this sooner as I’m kind of under the gun. Management  this week or next, will be giving me a deadline and an asset target to get…or else…so I’m really putting in the effort…….just aren’t any rookies left in my office and I probably need to get another 15M in the books by the end of fall. I thought I would have got 10M done by end of June, will be short so there a gap to fill and I want  to stay here. I’m ending my 2nd year and am the last rookie here, seen 5 go….and I don’t want to go.

Anyways, I’m the only one cold calling in my office, all the others are veterans and pretty much set and the other guy is in his 5th….so I really enjoy this site , the feedback and reading how others are doing…..just helps a lot to keep hammering away. When guys come on and tell what they’ve done with the phone……man….it’s great….keeps me going….  

All The Best

All The Way

This is XXX calling from XXX.

Is this ___________

I’m part of the private client division at XXX,  are you familiar with my firm…

 And the reason for this call is in light of these frequent downturns in the markets,; we’re holding information sessions in our XXX office

 These sessions last about 30 minutes and appeal to people who feel that at this junction, it would

I’m calling to see if this would be a timely invitation for you.

[quote=Mase]

All The Way/Ulari/Murdoc.... are you calling all business or do you do any residentials?  When calling business whats your pitch to get through the gatekeeper?  Or do you even have that problem?  Logically it seems that the contact ratio for business would be lower than residential because of the GK, but what do i know!

[/quote]

I do businesses in the morning, meetings in the afternoon, and residentals between 5:00pm and 7:00pm. It depends on whom you're contacting for businesses, many times you'll get the owner of a small business. Corp execs can be harder but you never know. I do leave messages which many don't do but I have had good luck with that and I think it's more professional.

I’m currently calling on this script but I’m going to try calling on a specific product for a month and see how that does.

“Hi  Mr/Mrs Prospect

My name is Ulairi at firm XXXX in downtown CITY. I help people keep more of what they earn, how do you feel about the amount of income taxes you are paying? (pause) If I could show you away to potentially keep more of your money, would you be interested in hearing more? (pause) If they are interested I move into questions trying to qualify them and talk about munis and the benefits of holding individual securities.

I’m thinking about changing it to:

My name is Ulairi at firm XXXX in downtown CITY. I help people keep more of what they earn, how do you feel about the amount of income taxes you are paying? (pause) I have access to bonds paying X% tax free, how does this compare to what you’re earning now? Then get more into the bonds.

Hey the replies you guys gave are all great and really helpful,  I see a lot of guys that are smartasses on this site you guys are keeping it professional and people benefit from it.  I see theres a mix between calling business and residential, im in the process of building my giant list to start pounding away at.  Thanks for the feedback and good luck on those phone lines fellas!!

Ulairi,

Sounds week and timid.  Maybe it's just me but why not just come right out and say what you're selling!  In my opinion, the worst scripts are the ones that smell like fear.  Don't be afraid to hear NO! 

Good morning!  My name is Bud and I'm calling from Bernie's chop shop.  I'm calling individuals in your area because I've been told by a few of my clients that people in your area love investing.  From what I see thus far, most of your neighbors like A rated Bonds.  Are your favorite securities solid yielding bonds or dividend paying stocks?

From there......  Don't be afraid!  Keep going!  Keep asking questions.  Personal ones are best!  If you feel uncomfortable you're doing it right!  

Worst case?  You've got to pick up the 10lbs pound phone and dial again.  

Maybe you need to lift some weights.  

[quote=Itainteasy]

Ulairi,

Sounds week and timid.  Maybe it's just me but why not just come right out and say what you're selling!  In my opinion, the worst scripts are the ones that smell like fear.  Don't be afraid to hear NO! 

Good morning!  My name is Bud and I'm calling from Bernie's chop shop.  I'm calling individuals in your area because I've been told by a few of my clients that people in your area love investing.  From what I see thus far, most of your neighbors like A rated Bonds.  Are your favorite securities solid yielding bonds or dividend paying stocks?

From there......  Don't be afraid!  Keep going!  Keep asking questions.  Personal ones are best!  If you feel uncomfortable you're doing it right!  

Worst case?  You've got to pick up the 10lbs pound phone and dial again.  

Maybe you need to lift some weights.  

[/quote]

I'm not afraid of sayinig anything. I'm the only one who cold calls in my office so I was just posting what I was trying to do. I have no problem being direct, but being a newbie I thought being too direct may turn prospective clients off.

‘This is KingBobby from SlipperyRock Investments.
We have a tax free bond fund that pays the equivalent of 10%. It pays monthly and is easy to redeem at any time.
Is this something you want?’ (Or for training wheels), ‘If this is something you want, I can send over some information.’

Stealthall, Spike101x & Mase

 Yeah…still using the same pitch, short and works for me.

I only call residential, from 10am onwards, really good in the mornings and over lunch….today got a meeting, did call backs and eliminate 9 prospects from the pipeline, glad to see them go, kind of hate seeing some names show up, again and again on the call backs, and not really get anywhere.

 

I don’t claim to be an expert at this, got a pitch and market that works for me, still need the volume of calls to get it moving and it seems that at 40-50 contact a day things happen….

 

I only wish I would have started this sooner as I’m kind of under the gun. Management  this week or next, will be giving me a deadline and an asset target to get…or else…so I’m really putting in the effort…….just aren’t any rookies left in my office and I probably need to get another 15M in the books by the end of fall. I thought I would have got 10M done by end of June, will be short so there a gap to fill and I want  to stay here. I’m ending my 2nd year and am the last rookie here, seen 5 go….and I don’t want to go.

 

Anyways, I’m the only one cold calling in my office, all the others are veterans and pretty much set and the other guy is in his 5th….so I really enjoy this site , the feedback and reading how others are doing……just helps a lot to keep hammering away. When guys come on and tell what they’ve done with the phone……man….it’s great….keeps me going….  

All The Best

 

All The Way

This is XXX calling from XXX.

Is this ___________

 

I’m part of the private client division at XXX,  are you familiar with my firm…

 And the reason for this call is in light of these frequent downturns in the markets,; we’re holding information sessions in our XXX office

The focus here being…measures to generate regular and predictable, income, (such as dividends and interest) ……That is paid monthly and quarterly into client’s accounts.

 These sessions last about 30 minutes and appeal to people who feel that at this junction, it would

be of benefit to talk with someone else than their current advisorAnd get some information that suits a more cautious investors going forward…  

I’m calling to see if this would be a timely invitation for you.

Don’t worry about management’s decision or whatever. They’re not exactly helpful resources in your office regarding your prospecting. Your career will be fine even if you jump ship, or better just go Indy and call. You’re gathering the assets!

[quote=KingBobby]'This is KingBobby from SlipperyRock Investments. We have a tax free bond fund that pays the equivalent of 10%. It pays monthly and is easy to redeem at any time. Is this something you want?' (Or for training wheels), 'If this is something you want, I can send over some information.'[/quote]

What tax rate do you guys use to find the equivalent? I was going to use the 28% bracket.

Don't worry about being new commerade.  You're the only one who knows that.  Work on being great at giving advice and prospect like crazy.  Once you turn it on you'll see what I'm saying.

[quote=All The Way]

Stealthall, Spike101x & Mase

 Yeah…still using the same pitch, short and works for me.

I only call residential, from 10am onwards, really good in the mornings and over lunch….today got a meeting, did call backs and eliminate 9 prospects from the pipeline, glad to see them go, kind of hate seeing some names show up, again and again on the call backs, and not really get anywhere.

I don’t claim to be an expert at this, got a pitch and market that works for me, still need the volume of calls to get it moving and it seems that at 40-50 contact a day things happen….

I only wish I would have started this sooner as I’m kind of under the gun. Management  this week or next, will be giving me a deadline and an asset target to get…or else…so I’m really putting in the effort…….just aren’t any rookies left in my office and I probably need to get another 15M in the books by the end of fall. I thought I would have got 10M done by end of June, will be short so there a gap to fill and I want  to stay here. I’m ending my 2nd year and am the last rookie here, seen 5 go….and I don’t want to go.

Anyways, I’m the only one cold calling in my office, all the others are veterans and pretty much set and the other guy is in his 5th….so I really enjoy this site , the feedback and reading how others are doing…..just helps a lot to keep hammering away. When guys come on and tell what they’ve done with the phone……man….it’s great….keeps me going….  

All The Best

All The Way

This is XXX calling from XXX.

Is this ___________

I’m part of the private client division at XXX,  are you familiar with my firm…

 And the reason for this call is in light of these frequent downturns in the markets,; we’re holding information sessions in our XXX office

 These sessions last about 30 minutes and appeal to people who feel that at this junction, it would

I’m calling to see if this would be a timely invitation for you.

[/quote]

Alltheway, if you have 5MM AUM and it's your first few months your doing amazing. Our goals here are  only 1.25-1.5mm in the first year. Granted they go up pretty fast after that, but still your doing amazing.

Tomorrow I'm doing an all day cold session to business owners. The only problem I have here is that I have to make the lists myself and that takes time. I don't know what companies to trust when buying a list.

Double post. Sorry

I think your managment will be able to extend you simply based your recent run since December.  I can't speak personally for your situation, but I'm sure at the minimum some senior advisor would make you an offer long before management can even threaten your existence.

Great thread...keep it going

[quote=KingBobby]‘This is KingBobby from SlipperyRock Investments. We have a tax free bond fund that pays the equivalent of 10%. It pays monthly and is easy to redeem at any time. Is this something you want?’ (Or for training wheels), ‘If this is something you want, I can send over some information.’[/quote]

 

What tax rate do you guys use to find the equivalent? I was going to use the 28% bracket.

No, use the top bracket, that’s even what the funds print on the materials, if your firm lets you that is. It also makes a good avenue to at least somewhat qualify when you ask about their tax bracket to see how much they may benefit from a tax free investment.

[quote=KingBobby]‘This is KingBobby from SlipperyRock Investments. We have a tax free bond fund that pays the equivalent of 10%. It pays monthly and is easy to redeem at any time. Is this something you want?’ (Or for training wheels), ‘If this is something you want, I can send over some information.’[/quote]

 

What tax rate do you guys use to find the equivalent? I was going to use the 28% bracket.

One more thing, for 28% tax bracket definitely look at the taxable bond funds too. (Not just Ulairi) The yields are in the same ballpark as the muni TEY, (or much higher for those not in the top brackets), but the 10-yr etc total returns are killing the munis. For prospecting they both work great.

On Monday I'm going to start calling on muni bonds, I am working on my script this weekend (and praciting it Sunday night by calling my dad as if he was a cold call) you guys have had good luck just being straight and to the point about the product, the yield/tey and the buy in? I was going to call saying it's a $50,000 minimum investment. I am hoping that once I get a client to buy a couple bonds from me I can talk to them about their portfolio overall. I think I wasted three months going after the whole pie. 

Keep hitting it ulairi. I think that the whole bond approach works two ways you either sell some bonds or you develop a relationship for the whole pie and then pitch that. I have been hitting the cold calling hard again and it really is taxing. I am so down in the dumps right now about my prospects my leads, my cold calling list. Anyone who said that there isn’t major ups and downs in this business is a liar. I just try and keep making my dials and from that contacts and then hopefully leads. One thing I have noticed is for 85% of the people that answer it doesn’t matter if you were offering something paying 50% interest they would just say no thanks.

The other group I can’t stand is the people who say their insurance agent is taking care of them. Absolutely can’t stand that but they prolly don’t have any money anyways.

In the major dumps with everything right now, I always think back to my previous sales gig and how when it got really bad and i kept hitting the walls, I was just around the corner from a record month.

How does everyone else handle cold spells. My ultimate goal is to bring in just 1.5mm more of managed money by the end of July. That puts me 8 months ahead of my targets. Pretty sad when you look down the pipeline and think where the heck is this going to come from.

The script i am using is the bill good tfree bond script and i am using his methods of cherries and different Tempature levels. Sometimes all it takes is a small account to turn your attitude around

OK my rant is over.

BRF,

Gotta keep pushing?  Throw those devils out of your mind.  This entire week I've been in the same position.  1. I cleaned my pipe and have a better idea of who is till a prospect.  2.  I've opened accounts on the prospects that were pending.  3.  I've ditched the time wasters that are either lying about having money, will never do biz with me or don't have anywhere near the same timing as me.

So where does that leave me?  Ha!  Really with not a piss to pot in.

In my opinion, that's what you want.  Understanding your real position is the only way to initiate change and ramp up.  Just make sure you don't beat yourself down.  Use you're good sense and realize that the vet that pulls up to the parking garage with an s600 and spends his weekends at the lake house was just like you when he was a rookie.  The difference is he kept fighting and more importantly kept being innovative.  

 I'm a firm believer in cold  calls.  I'm also a firm believer that just one thing doesn't and won't work.  What sucessful listed  biz has one marketing source?  

I use every damn resource I can get me hands on.  I'm the guy covertly pitching stock at the  BBQ or charity event.  Last month I even joined a freakin co-ed book club (go figure people with money read) and got a look at 600 from it. I'm on every social  net site their is, even go to my childrens school mates bday parties with a goal to tactically hand out and receive 5 biz cards.

The odd thing about this biz is if you're busy working you don't realize what you don't have, only what you're hunting to get.  Gatherer's sit around and piss in place about how what they are doing, who they are with or who they are selling to sucks.  Not hunters.  Hunters spend their time hunting.  That ?hit takes focus, stregnth and swiftness.  When you're hunting you don't have time to tool around.  

Plain and simple: If you have time to say to yourself 'just keep pushing self' you're not working hard enough!  Get out of your mind and start doing more.  Be the top 1 percent.  Be the best!

Signing out: gotta go to a bday party :) 

^^ Wow sleazyeasy on the loose ^^ j/k

BRF- aren’t you averaging 2 leads per day according to your journal? 3-5 would be more ideal, but 2 ought to land you a new account per week on average. And your numbers will only improve from there. If your not getting close to that, then your problem is NOT with your calling its with followup (questions, process, timliness, product/service etc)

Ulairi-absolutely.

[quote=KingBobby]^^ Wow sleazyeasy on the loose ^^ ;) j/k

BRF- aren’t you averaging 2 leads per day according to your journal? 3-5 would be more ideal, but 2 ought to land you a new account per week on average. And your numbers will only improve from there. If your not getting close to that, then your problem is NOT with your calling its with followup (questions, process, timliness, product/service etc)

Ulairi-absolutely.[/quote]

Without a doubt my biggest problem up to this point was the follow up. I have developed a profile that gets the prospect talking now and I am expecting that to help. Before my call backs were very very weak now I have a plan. I am fortunate that I decided to devote a full month to nothing else but developing a full pipeline again. I think it will really pay off this time

[quote=KingBobby][quote=Ulairi]

[quote=KingBobby]'This is KingBobby from SlipperyRock Investments. We have a tax free bond fund that pays the equivalent of 10%. It pays monthly and is easy to redeem at any time. Is this something you want?' (Or for training wheels), 'If this is something you want, I can send over some information.'[/quote]

What tax rate do you guys use to find the equivalent? I was going to use the 28% bracket.

[/quote]

No, use the top bracket, that’s even what the funds print on the materials, if your firm lets you that is. It also makes a good avenue to at least somewhat qualify when you ask about their tax bracket to see how much they may benefit from a tax free investment.[/quote]

KingBobby what fund is paying 10% tey at the top bracket?? Most of the high yield muni funds I see are paying 8-8.5%

[quote=KingBobby][quote=Ulairi]

[quote=KingBobby]‘This is KingBobby from SlipperyRock Investments. We have a tax free bond fund that pays the equivalent of 10%. It pays monthly and is easy to redeem at any time. Is this something you want?’ (Or for training wheels), ‘If this is something you want, I can send over some information.’[/quote]

 

What tax rate do you guys use to find the equivalent? I was going to use the 28% bracket.

No, use the top bracket, that’s even what the funds print on the materials, if your firm lets you that is. It also makes a good avenue to at least somewhat qualify when you ask about their tax bracket to see how much they may benefit from a tax free investment.[/quote]

KingBobby what fund is paying 10% tey at the top bracket?? Most of the high yield muni funds I see are paying 8-8.5%[/quote]

ORNAX is over 10 even with the sales load. The I shares if your fee based may be over 11. As long as you don’t mind having the conversation about the returns being low. You have to really understand the fund and their strategy to prospect with it, but it’s good. Also some people won’t get it regardless or will be put off at the price fluctuations. That’s why I also say for funds, look at some of the taxable ones too.

For me, I decided to take the next 4 weeks and pitch individual Munis. Switching over from time to time is always refreshing for me. I get tired of answering questions (when prospecting) regarding the unpredictable nature of funds… it’ll be nice dealing with coupons again. In 4 weeks or so when I get sick of answering default or liquidity type questions (when prospecting), I’ll switch back to funds.

I am always worried about mutual funds that someone will just take the fund, log into scott trade and make the purchase. One thing that changed my mind about pitcing individaul munis is that they are a lot harder to purchase on their own and there is no comission or sales charge. It's built into the price. 

I am always worried about mutual funds that someone will just take the fund, log into scott trade and make the purchase. One thing that changed my mind about pitcing individaul munis is that they are a lot harder to purchase on their own and there is no comission or sales charge. It’s built into the price. 

I completely agree. That’s a huge benefit to the individual bond.

Although with the other comment I let them know about the commission and then quote them after-commish figures. And then let them know there’s no ongoing fees. (Fee-based would be opposite of course)
Another big plus over the funds.

I am getting much better results pitching munis, it's completely changed my practice and it fits me more. I am an accountant by training and personality. I get taxes and I believe in what I'm doing more and I'm not charging people a lot. I would feel bad putting people buying bonds into a fee based business. The fact that I'm calling people and offering them a good product, with a good yield and safety and I'm not "selling them" like I thought calling on a product would be. When I was calling and trying to capture someone's life savings, I was selling them and I'm not a good salesman. But, when I call and say "Hi Mr. James, I help people who are looking for tax free income" and find out what sort of bonds they like, I'm really doing more of a service. No different than when I help people with their taxes.

Also, I wouldn't trust anyone who called me on the phone and was trying to get my life savings. I can build a relationship little by little and then talk to them about how I can help them with more than just bonds. I really wasted three months doing the other thing. Just this week by calling people and saying I help them keep more of their money and get tax free income, I'm building a pipleine and I am removing the $50k floor. If someone is interested in munis, most likely they have more money and if they have a CD coming due, I don't care if it's $25,000 or $100,000. Let me get them a bond that is a good fit for them. I also learned that by doing these detailed investment proposals, people would take it to their guy and he could implement it for them. I have added 6 people to my pipeline this week and will be doing a $75,000 muni order when one of my clients comes in next week to fill out the paperwork. He has another $50,000 in a CD that will come up in August. That's a $125,000 relationship that I got by just asking if they would like some ideas on how they can keep more of their money. 

I have been calling people and if they aren't interested in buying something today, I am getting a good response about adding them to my drip list and following up with some ideas. I had one woman say, she told me to, call on July 1st because she will be closing on her house and moving into an apartment. She is pocketing $200,000 from the sale of her home! She was worried about the fact that a bond may have a 20 year term, she didn't know that a properly constructed estate can pass these assets on to her kids without having to sell the asset. Her kids would love 4.25% tax free. 

A big problem is that the muni market has had a run and the investory can be a little dry but I found some good bonds for a big university with a great endowment. If this college defaults we have bigger problems than that. I should have been doing this from day one. 

Another great thing about the bonds: I can call anyone at anytime. It works for businesses, exects, residentals all. I am even leaving a message saying 

"Hi, I'm Ulairi from FIRM X and I help clients invest safely and earn tax free income, if you're interested please call me at XXX-XXX-XXX. Have a great day" I had two call backs! Now, I am making a lot of dials but that's still two. I did $75,000 (will close next week) which is great progress for me. If I can get 20 clients the rest of the year, I'll be able to build in a referal business, work towards doing some equity business and actually make some real progress. 

Good for you Ulairi...you've found what works for you and it shows that you're fired up and going to make a good run of this. Really enjoy reading your posts and comments...keep us posted on how the weeks progress...i'm sure your do great.

All The Way

Ulairi,

Are you sticking with the pitch in your other post, or have you modified it like above.  I've been trying a few different things and am curious what you are using now to be so successful so quick?

Also, what kind of bonds is everyone pitching?  Are you pitching in state for double tax free, or just finding high yields nationally?  Are you comparing them to CD type money for the sale?

Thanks in advance for any and all help.

Thanks for all your help

[quote=Winning]

Ulairi,

Are you sticking with the pitch in your other post, or have you modified it like above.  I've been trying a few different things and am curious what you are using now to be so successful so quick?

Also, what kind of bonds is everyone pitching?  Are you pitching in state for double tax free, or just finding high yields nationally?  Are you comparing them to CD type money for the sale?

Thanks in advance for any and all help.

Thanks for all your help

[/quote]

If I can get state double tax free, I will but I haven't seen it. I'm looking for AA/AAA bonds with call protection and I'm comparing it to what they are getting at the bank and I'm disucssing what has happned in the equity markets and the safety and the compound interest. I don't know if I have found success but with this pitch, I feel like I will be more succesful and I now have an easy thing to say what I do. When I'm out and about and people ask me what I do, I have a 20 second reply that makes sense. 

Ulairi,

 

Are you sticking with the pitch in your other post, or have you modified it like above.  I’ve been trying a few different things and am curious what you are using now to be so successful so quick?

Also, what kind of bonds is everyone pitching?  Are you pitching in state for double tax free, or just finding high yields nationally?  Are you comparing them to CD type money for the sale?

 

Thanks in advance for any and all help.

 

Thanks for all your help

Highest Yield.

Baa/BBB Munis have a lower default rate than AAA Corporates! If they have a problem with the rating, maturity, state etc, no prob find what they want. Ulairi’s AA/AAA vs CD’s or treasuries pitch ought to work real well too. Just find what you like and be ready to shift gears.

Thank you for this thread.  I have read many but this is the one that finally broke the camel's back and has made me ealize I have to stop making excuses and start a call campaign.  First step is building a list.

ATW. You are the man. 

I just skimmed over the whole thread again and couldn't find anywhere that mentioned how old you were. Would you care to share? I apologize if you already answered that.

Keep up the good work!

Whoa!!! you guys are all pretty busy....keep up the good work. i'm up to 4.25M and feeling horrible. sat down with my manager at gave me the gist.....more AUM or I'm out. Anyway, have been meeting with him weekly for the last couple of weeks, good man, very supportive and it does help.

I lost some good pipeline, too afraid to do anything, sideliners.....not good.....so been on the phones lining up more meetings, today booked 3 more, 2 call backs and a cold call. Getting pretty good with the call backs and enjoy doing them. The cold calls are a bit more of a slug fest but..hey...that's life.

I don't see how I'll get that next 5M by end of June....not looking good. Whatever, I got to get some good assets over the next 2-3 months or so....so will keep at it. Have had a lot of fun reading everyones comments, there are some busy breokers out there....keep it up....

All The Way

So, you brought in 4.25 mil in 6 months and your manager is threatening you. No offense but he's a douche. Successful FAs in this business averaged 5mil a year in their early years. I would say you are doing very well. Why don't you move to another firm and bring your assets with you where they would appreciate your hard work...just saying. 

[quote=stealthall]

So, you brought in 4.25 mil in 6 months and your manager is threatening you. No offense but he's a douche. Successful FAs in this business averaged 5mil a year in their early years. I would say you are doing very well. Why don't you move to another firm and bring your assets with you where they would appreciate your hard work...just saying. 

[/quote]

I second that.  I'm guessing if you're at a wire they're going to make it hard for you to take them with you, so that could be tough.  But, if there's any way you can move somewhere else I would do it.  My mentor would be thrilled if I had brought on 4.25 million in the last 6 months.  I'm about to start my calling war next week and while my goal is 6mm in 6mo, 4.25 would not be a "you're out of here" situation, not even close. 

Then again, I don't get a salary, either.  So far I have mostly been paying the bills and keeping my mentor happy by bringing in hourly financial planning customers. 

So, you brought in 4.25 mil in 6 months and your manager is threatening you. No offense but he’s a douche. Successful FAs in this business averaged 5mil a year in their early years. I would say you are doing very well. Why don’t you move to another firm and bring your assets with you where they would appreciate your hard work…just saying. 

X3.

All The Way, I hope you’re not gettin screwed on the payouts. lol

Either way you’ll be fine if you know how to bring in assets, (and you do.)

KingB,

Just read your recent posts on other threads.....as usual...good stuff. Actually enjoy your comments and there are quite  few gunners out there hammering hard and gathering. Nice to see the threads are helping all of us. As for me...i'm alright mate. My boss is great and is just making things move faster.....which is good for me and my family. Thruth is...said it before...and i say it again...this site is a lifeline for me.....keeps me fird up reading posts of others out there making it happen.

I'm convinced that after a certain time of building it up.....that it just kind of...takes off......hopefully....that's just  around the corner for all of us.....until then....R-i-N-G...R-I-N-G

All The Way.

Hey Registered Rep…nice new format…gracias for the update. Looks good.
As for me, well having trouble to get the money moving…lots of anxiety out there, some coming in to meet but also not making any changes. Anyways…still plugging away, booked 2 new meetings today on cold call…been going full blast, will be updating numbers by end of week, pretty happy even though i’m off from the 10M I set out to do, still got a good shot at a good year…Hopefully everyone is well and doing good business…
All The Way

Hola a todos,

Doing good…doing pretty good. Just shy of 5M and got this baby firing on all cylinders. Really did a good job these last few weeks, strong pipeline, meetings, pretty steady on the calls, actually having a bit of fun.

The call backs are coming in, some are off the list for good…like that, hate seeing same names come back, over and over, and nothing…so…adios cabrones…i move on to the next.
Too bad i won’t hit the 10m by end of June, i tried, really did. I’m going to reflect on what went well and what didn’t …and make a better run of it for the next 6 months……still got the gun to the head as to my employment, but …what can I do, crappy markets, big firms looking to trim, whatever……i’m back in the office on Monday and will let her rip.
Hopefully, all of you are doing well and will have a chance to update. Always enjoys reading posts of those who are plugging way…one dial at a time.
All The Way

Hola a todos,

Doing good…doing pretty good. Just shy of 5M and got this baby firing on all cylinders. Really did a good job these last few weeks, strong pipeline, meetings, pretty steady on the calls, actually having a bit of fun.

The call backs are coming in, some are off the list for good…like that, hate seeing same names come back, over and over, and nothing…so…adios cabrones…i move on to the next.
Too bad i won’t hit the 10m by end of June, i tried, really did. I’m going to reflect on what went well and what didn’t …and make a better run of it for the next 6 months……still got the gun to the head as to my employment, but …what can I do, crappy markets, big firms looking to trim, whatever……i’m back in the office on Monday and will let her rip.
Hopefully, all of you are doing well and will have a chance to update. Always enjoys reading posts of those who are plugging way…one dial at a time.
All The Way

Don’t you just hate those double post…must have been the 6-Pack…might have been the gin….could have been the 24, six pack…I don’t know…but look at the mess I’m in….my heads like a football……and you guys probable know the rest.
ATW

All the way… did you really do 5 million in 6 months, and with that script?

Do you let them answer before you finish? Seems like a lot of words to get out, but I’d like to try it. I’ve been prospecting attorneys for the past 3 months and its really gone nowhere… I’ve really got to stop calling attorneys I think.

I’m wondering, do you get it all out before you start getting objections? do people ever say yes or do you have to go through some objections and then invite them again? cheers

Wild_Cat,
Yes as to the numbers and as for the pitch…I probably get through it about half the time. i don’t get into the rebuttal thing much.
Yesterday, I did 43 contacts, I booked my 1st meeting on the 15th contact and my second meeting on the 41st contact. also i got 2 more into the pipeline and today, will be doing about 15 call backs then on the the cold calls.
If anyone has success with some good lines to come back with for objections, I woulb be very gratefull as it would probably help my numbers…but all in all, it’s working alright, just got to put in a minimum of 3 hours a day on the phones to get some results…it’s all about time spent on the phone and making the most of it.
All The Way

I do 4 hours on the phone on average. I call from 9:00 AM to 11:00am (Sometimes, this starts at 8:00 AM) and this is strictly businesses. Then I call residentials from 5:00pm to 7:00pm.

My response if someone says they have an advisor is this:

That’s exactly why we should sit down and meet. One of two things will happen, one is that I’ll confirm everything your current advisor is doing for you and you’ll feel more confident and the second is I’ll show you some ideas on how you can improve your portfolio. Either way, you win.

That is just a rough way of saying it.

I call purely on FI and if someone says they aren’t interested in muni bonds, it probely means they are not qualified but I’ll ask if they’re interested in taxable bonds and if they say no, I ask what their greatest financial concern is and then move on.

It takes a good two weeks of calling to get good at it.

If you want to know how to handle rebuttals, THIS IS THE GUY!!

I’m with All The Way on this one. I realize it might be unique in this aspect but I certainly don’t handle objections or use rebuttals. (on a prospecting call) It seems they wouldn’t be qualified for interest. To be a prospect or appointment (which is time consuming), they have to qualify for money AND interest. The ratio that’s most important to me is buying clients/contacts. Spend your time finding interested people (unless of course you’re extremely good or enjoy handling objections). But just don’t think it’s a requirement. Most new people think it is, and therefore quit. haha

King Bobby,
Where have you been Top-Dog….it’s been a while since your last post. Glad to know you’re still around.
Hey….been hammering away as you know, had a superb meeting with a 1M+…looks pretty good, more new to come. In the meantime….more calls……how are you going? I’m under a bit of pressure…but……hey……what can I say……
It must feel great having 30-40-50M under the belt and having the revenue come in…until then……arrrgggggg…R-I-N-G…R-I-N-G.
Give us an upate KingB…always been a fan.
All The Way

I’m with All The Way on this one. I realize it might be unique in this aspect but I certainly don’t handle objections or use rebuttals. (on a prospecting call) It seems they wouldn’t be qualified for interest. To be a prospect or appointment (which is time consuming), they have to qualify for money AND interest. The ratio that’s most important to me is buying clients/contacts. Spend your time finding interested people (unless of course you’re extremely good or enjoy handling objections). But just don’t think it’s a requirement. Most new people think it is, and therefore quit. haha

The only objection I’ll handle is “I already have an FA” because it means they’re willing to pay for my service. since i have switched to pitching FI it’s a lot easier for me because a lot of it has to do with the product I’m offering and then once I have them as a client I can demonstrate my CPA/CFA skills and win their other business.

Hola Banditos,
How’s everyone doing? I’m on a bit of a roll. Got some good stuff in the pipeline and …so close….so close.
Anyways, not going to hit the 10M by Friday….BUT……if I keep going the way I am going……maybe mid August??? Wouldn’t be bad at all.

Should have some good numbers to post soon, been sticking to the 50 contacts a day, and as hard as it was months ago, just seems to get a bit easier.

Hats off to all of you with your efforts, hope you are all well, let’s have a productive summer and thank you for all the encouragement.
All The Way

Hey guys, I just found your site/ blog last week and I got pretty excited when I started reading these entrys and will be getting the cold calling campaign rolling as of today. ill be sure to update my weekly stats with yall. If your calling down in Floirda you know these retirees are gonna be sitting next to the phone with this tropical storm. Juice!

This week I have a short week for vacation but I’m going to get 200 dials in today and tomorrow.

Day 1
50 contacts
3 leads
0 appointments

all on muni used old beatup list that was in the bottom of drawer. Built updated one see how it works out tommarow

How are you building your lists?

50 contacts and 3 converts? Not so bad. How many dials?

I didnt keep track of the dials but it had to be around 300-350 Like I said it was an old list I bought from a list broker when i got started and it was not really good then and def not now. Im building lists through different country club member directorys that Ive aquired…i also did some research and found various lists of networking groups on the web that list the member names and contacts info. If your calling biz you can go to your local chamber of commerce website and bang out dials on small biz owners or use Manta.com to find the owner if the names arent listed…Going to hit 50 contacts a day and weed out my pipeline. For every call on my pipeline I will dial 3 cold calls to keep momentum. Lets hit our goals!

57 contacts
3 leads

Ran into a good 401K roll over opportunity that will be generated into an appointment after the 4th of july. Also did a small mailer on an estate planning seminar and got a couple call ins to supplement my cold calling. Im gonna keep banging away on the phones. juice

Really great thread guys. I’m new to the industry, working for a wire, and studying for my 7. So basically that means I spend 8 hours a day with my nose glued to a computer screen studying.……But reading these posts is really getting me fired up for calling and prospecting. Once I’m a few months into production, I’m sure I’ll miss the gold ol’ days of studying for the 7 & 66…… but as of right now, production can’t come fast enough…… but anyway, thanks AllTheWay, bond guy, KingBobby, Ulairi, Etc… this has been a positive, helpful, inspirational thread. KEEP IT UP!!! And keep those Calls Up!!!
P.s. multitude of periods was an ode to our host ATW……

Question fellas. Curious as to what typically are sending these prospects after the first contact and they say “send me some info” and let’s use pitching a muni bond?

What stuff are you mailing?

[quote=stealthall]Question fellas. Curious as to what typically are sending these prospects after the first contact and they say “send me some info” and let’s use pitching a muni bond?

What stuff are you mailing?[/quote]

We have a fixed income piece that I send them and I follow up two weeks later to see if they have any questions/ready to meet/ready to buy.

I dont send them anything unless they give me an email address. or if they are really old and dont have a computer) I like to try to win something on every call. I would send them the information on the bond plus your email should be set up so they can click on your website and check you out. This will make them more comftorable that your a real person with a real company. If you cant generate the appointment on the follow up call or sale then you can drip on them via email. I know a lot of guys on this site try to go for the kill after the first or second call but it takes me at least 6-7 contacts (mailings, email drips, seminar invites, or phone calls) sometimes to get them in and open up. By getting the email it would help you at least achieve an easy drip system.

[quote=stealthall]Question fellas. Curious as to what typically are sending these prospects after the first contact and they say “send me some info” and let’s use pitching a muni bond?

What stuff are you mailing?[/quote]

Well you don’t send over a dozen roses, send over a copy of the bond offer sheet with the details. I also sometimes send the description from munipoints. Then, if I’m feeling thoughtful, give them a courtesy call within 48 hours letting them know the bonds are going fast, they won’t last. This further emphasizes how outstanding the muni opportunity is that you presented to them and makes them realize they have to make a decision or they’re out. All accomplished by being thoughtful and reaching out. If they don’t buy however, they’re done until the next time their name is my list, with everyone else.

Keeping track of my progress. on last weekI hit 202 contacts with 8 leads ( a lil low contact to lead ratio but they are 8 solid ones)

this week my contacts have been low because of poor time management with office admin work and others.

Ive hit 124 contacts but have generated 10 leads and 1 appointment for 600K of opportunity assets. and some longer conversations on the phone which hurt the contact number.

i need to hit 76 more to hit my 200 week contact goal. whatever i cant hit today will come in on saturday and hit goals.

would love to know how everyone else is doing so I can guage and compete with yall. let me know.

Teeks19,
Your doing great activities…whoa…keep it up, and it will come back to you…2X…I’m transitioning out of my firm, will take a few weeks to get things sorted but will be sticking to the 50 contacts a day pretty soon. had a good run, got deals done but there are lay offs on the horizon and chose to get ahead of it…very happy with the change,very.
All The Way

All The Way, Did you go Indy? Looking forward to your posts.

Def. having a good response from Market linked Cds. i sold 50K of them yesterday. I open with the muni…instead of No/click/dial tone I counter and ask if they prefer CDs instead? and get in convo about our Market linked Cds. Im going to keep working with it becuase of such great conversations. and the fact i am having an easier time qualifying the lead bc it is 150K net worth/50K annual income to own one of them. Im able to tell if theyre a prospect much easier. Also much to my suprise people have not heard of these before and really read into the matieral i send them when I follow up. I will not count the production due to it was a previous idle client sitting in cash and not from my current cold calling campaign. good luck with the 50 contacts a day guys and i will keep posted how my results go from week to week

Def. having a good response from Market linked Cds. i sold 50K of them yesterday.

What’s the commish?

37$ a cd

37$ a cd

Is it round lots of 1000 or something? That’s not too bad, especially if there’s somewhat attractive rates. What get prospects to jump on that but not the muni, safety/guarantees?

absolutly safety/guarantees is the main sell in these Cds. however there are no rates on these. You get paid a lump sum at the end of maturity. and it holds a basket of etf from stocks/bonds/gold/alt investments/real estate. and it rebalances monthly. There are no lots or minimal investments with the one we are issueing. I think its just a good alternative to people whose cds just came due that were earning .5-1% not even keeping up with inflation. At least you can get a convo out of it and find out if theyre a prospect. Also another quick story I ran into a board member on my last call yesterday that is responisble for a 35MM pension. Wanted to know i could put munis in the plan (you cant btw)…but we talked about new regulations from the Frank dodd act and investing…he will be coming in next week to talk about protecting his plan. (these are obviouslly long lead times that I will refer to another team in my firm but an interesting contact for a home dial none the less)

What do you guys think of the idea of pitching a good muni bond fund with a decent yield, im considering going this route for a change up any of you guys pitching funds?.. any thoughts?

UITs for the high potential yield and monthly income.

You guys (and gals…Amber_M…oh yeah!!!..oh yeah!!!) know how much this forum means to me….it’s a lifeline and I thank you for all your input.
The last few weeks have been a bit on the stressful side. Made the move, then contacting clients, old firm sending in the guns to keep the assets and all the crap and anxiety that kind of comes with making a move. Haven’t made that many changes in the past and…well…I know why….not that pleasant to be in limbo and having past clients stall from the pressure of the cannons gunning to keep the assts.
Lessons learned:
The clients who really had an appreciation and a need for serious investment management…made the move over.

The clients who had unrealistic goals and were desperate to catch up, either through misfortune or other….didn’t……even though the level of service…was pretty darn above and beyond what was required.
So……bitter…a bit……disappointed….yeah…a bit…but that’s the way transitions go….and I’m happy with where I am and look forward to getting back to doing new business in a couple of week or so.

What a ride……what a ride……you know…people sometimes complain about how much dosh we make in this business….my answer……hey pal…ride my coat tail for a month……if you ain’t got the frame and the Monroe shocks to ride it……well/….stick to your side of the equation…here…we generate……rain or shine dog.
No one said it would be easy…… ….that’s why I sighed up….

All The Way

Welcome back All the Way…looking forward to hearing your progress on the next campaign!

Welcome back ATW! Awesome post and I myself am looking forward to pushing the pedal to the metal to close the year out strong.

To say that in this business you arent learning like crazy the first 6-7 months is just wrong. You luck into a few accounts here and there and try and figure out your process of how you find prospects, how you present to them and how you close them.

Well I finally found something that works that is setting me up to finish my first year with about 5.5 mm in managed assets.

One thing Im having trouble with is how to approach the people who you cant get that second call with. I give my pitch and send info with an agreement to followup in about a week or so. I set all my callbacks on my calander for monday morning. Lets say I have 15 people to call back. If someone doesnt answer I try again in the afternoon then leave a voicemail. I then schedule another call about 3-4 days later.

How many tries do you give someone before you stop calling them back? Should I keep them on the schedule until I finally get ahold of them? what is your process for this?

[quote=BigRedFan]To say that in this business you arent learning like crazy the first 6-7 months is just wrong. You luck into a few accounts here and there and try and figure out your process of how you find prospects, how you present to them and how you close them.

Well I finally found something that works that is setting me up to finish my first year with about 5.5 mm in managed assets.

One thing Im having trouble with is how to approach the people who you cant get that second call with. I give my pitch and send info with an agreement to followup in about a week or so. I set all my callbacks on my calander for monday morning. Lets say I have 15 people to call back. If someone doesnt answer I try again in the afternoon then leave a voicemail. I then schedule another call about 3-4 days later.

How many tries do you give someone before you stop calling them back? Should I keep them on the schedule until I finally get ahold of them? what is your process for this?[/quote]

Right now, if I do a call back and they don’t answer. I’ll try twice that day, wait 3 days, try one more time, if still no response, I move them from my prospect list back into my “lead” list and set to call them again in three months.

But, I just finished my 3rd month of production so I could be completely rong.

Hey there…SuperStars in the world of business building. hope all of you are well. i’ve been reading your posts…you all seem busy.
things are Rock’n’Rolling on my end, assets are in and up, great pipeline, meetings…been going full blast. Should be getting up to about 500-750K a month in production within 6 weeks or so.
Really have the most respect for all of you out there building, it ain’t easy but it works…hope you are all well and hitting your numbers. Thank you for all your posts, there’s a lot of talent out there…and it helps keeping in touch with you.
All The Way

All the way, new FA here, just wanted to ask, what do you recommend doing to start out and get your first few accounts? My Senior Advisor gave me a cold call list and said to call everyone and invite them to a workshop on retirement planning. Do you think thats a good approach to start? Or should I just be focusing on small business, my natural market, etc??

Mr. Bateman,
Who’s book are we talking about building here…yours or the Senior advisors…???

[quote=All The Way]Hey there…SuperStars in the world of business building. hope all of you are well. i’ve been reading your posts…you all seem busy.
things are Rock’n’Rolling on my end, assets are in and up, great pipeline, meetings…been going full blast. Should be getting up to about 500-750K a month in production within 6 weeks or so.
Really have the most respect for all of you out there building, it ain’t easy but it works…hope you are all well and hitting your numbers. Thank you for all your posts, there’s a lot of talent out there…and it helps keeping in touch with you.
All The Way[/quote]

Do you mean $500-$750k in new money? When you say production I think you mean revenue which if you’re doing that much, you’re a 6 - 9 MM producer.

Things really slowed down for me over the summer but I’m ramping back up for the fall. I live in a battleground state so I have about 6 weeks of production time before we’ll have too many calls from the political campaigns. One thing I have done is volunteered for the Republicans as a way to network with business owners/people with cash. It has gone well. Our firm has some great research reports about the election that I can hand out. I’m already setting meetings for after the election.

ATW, well im looking for new clients for my Senior Advisors practice. They will be my clients because I will meet with them and prepare their strategies, but the AUM will go to his book.

Starting out…cold calling on seminars to give poeple a free lunch/dinner. I believe is the easiest call to make. Just make sure to get their emails and make sure you qualify them. you dont want to be a charity for people looking to pike a meal (which you will always get 1-2)

ATW, well im looking for new clients for my Senior Advisors practice. They will be my clients because I will meet with them and prepare their strategies, but the AUM will go to his book.

How do you get paid? If they go on his book then they are his clients.

He is paying me a base salary now, but after about 6 mos to a year the salary is dropping and he will move those accounts that I brought in to my own book.

Ok, got it…i’m pressed for time but will get back to you…BUT…heard that type of deal a 1000 times…always the senior who seems to come out on top…anyone else out there got a few words on how Bateman can protect himself and gain from this…i’m just short on time and trust a lot of fellow posters here to help.

All The Way

Bateman- if you’re compensation if through salary, AND you’re not credited the AUM, you’re an employee and your options consist of what you’re told to do. Not that it’s good or bad, but not the same business as what many of us are doing. (Besides maybe the title.)

Anyone’s calls going well today? I’ve been dialing for 4 hours and I’m getting no one/nothing. Just finished lunch and I’ll try again but man…worst day calling ever.

Keep pluggin away. Ive had a few days like that but then pop you land a big appointment…

kingbobby, im trying to figure out if my Senior is trying to screw me or not. Here is the basics. He is paying me a “training” allowance for about 6 months while I build a list of prospects and throw a few work shops and such. He said once I drop my salary we split each new account I bring in 60/40 and the assets go to my own book. My question is, while im making a salary (a small salary) should I expect to make a split of commission if I bring in a new account?? Or is it normal to not make any commission while you are getting paid salary?? I am trying to learn this as I go and make sure im not getting screwed!

Your boss is taking all the risk by paying you a salary. If I was him there would be minimum comp on new accounts unless you validate 150% of your base.

Thank you for the input njh at ifg. Anyone else have any insight??

What time have you guys found the best time to call?

I have been starting at 8:00am but I get a lot of VM prior until around 9:00 to 9:30. I was hoping if you get early enough, I’d miss the gate keepers but that isn’t working out the way I hoped.

I’m calling primarily residential and specifically retirees age 60+…I’ve found between 10-2 I get best contact ratios.

In the past week I have closed a $900,000 account and a $400,000 account. The $900,000 is for muni bonds and the $400,000 is going into fee-based. It was a great week. How is everyone else doing?

Been doing ok. Landed a 350k account this week but I had two appts this week, one with a 4m and 3m. Been rough lately, kind of been dragging a little bit. Only been making a 100 dials a day as of late. Phone is getting heavy I need a pick me up anybody got any ideas for some motivation? Been doing this about 6 months landed about 6M have another few million in the pipeline that needs to be closed. However my pipeline is pretty dry outside of that. I blame myself for this. I need to work harder but I’ve just hit a minor wall. Need some help.

Hello Registered rep followers,

Been away for a while…all’s good, been hammering away and happy to report back to HQ that the assets and more importantly, the momentum is there. Glad to read that the callers and business builders are doing well.

Amber_M has gone silent……come on Amber_Mmmmmmm a little something to keep us guys going……a little post with those pretty eyes……it’s lonely out there on the phone…….something.

I’m go to to post a new Rock’n”Roll Train Blitz by Monday morning, fired up and ready to post some good numbers….keep it tight ….I love reading your posts……the next blitz will be a killer…something to have a great Spring by…you guys are great…keep it up!!!
All The Best

All The Way

Im not sure if this is a common day for any of the bloggers on this thread but I wanted to share my day today. I actually cranked out 102 contacts generating 7 leads and 3 phone appointments for tommarow. I lead with a muni bond and took some of the guys on this blogs advice of just trying to open the account over phone. Ive sent information by email and will try to close on phone tommarw. I already qualified how much they’re willing to spend. I have no idea if I will get anything of closed business from today other than the satisfaction of just getting in at 8am and ending at 630pm while basically never leaving my desk or checking the market (because it is closed) I also used a different strategy of calling the business owners in the am till 930; 45 min after lunch and late from 4:30-5:45, then residential to hit the 100 contacts I also called residentials on the times between. I think by alternating the list it gave me umpf. I just thought to share this with everyone. I hope to keep ridingthe momentum the rest of the year. Along with everyone else whoes been grinding it out in here.

Teeks19,
You are a monster…100 plus contacts in a day…man, ain’t no stopping you. Seriously, keep us posted on results, they tend to follow effort pretty close.
Well Done,
All The Way

Interesting thread. I learned a lot reading all of that.

Im very new, finished college in June, Passes my 7, working on the 66 now…
I work for a family member right now, he is an IAR. Right now I am a part time assistant until he can justify registering me with the company required a minimal 50k/yr in production. Until then if I find clients, the business will go through him and he’ll pay me comp. I don’t go on very many apts yet, but I hope to soon, I mostly do scheduling, customer relationship mgt, paperwork, profiles, illustrations, stuff like that. He is independent and has a flexible schedule.

Besides my employer who is established and doesn’t do a ton of new client meetings, mostly continues to plan for with 400 clients and ride that wave, I have no one else to learn from in the same stage of theit career. Going forward I will be able to work with some of his smaller clients, and he has a 13mill pension plan that I can call for additional planning needs, so those will be huge helps. But I would like to get out there and find clients of my own too…

Because of the nontraditional setting and the way I am getting started, I am asking for a little advice on how you all started out…I already have been in networking groups, chamber of commerce, stuff like that.

How did you first learn what to say in an inital meeting with a prospect?

Also can someone please explain “pipelining”? I would like to start cold calls, but don’t know where to start or what to say.

What is your method and the timeline of your calls? Messages? Call backs?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hello SuperStar,
How are the crème de la crème of business builders doing/ I’m doing great. Picked up 7M so far this year and going full blast.
Been dong a lot of diferent activities.

Been doing all kinds of different things to get business in.
Took a page from a buddy at EDJ and went door knocking close to my office, mainly focusing on homes on the DNC as they don’t hear from anyone.

If they got kids, I drop off a report on Disney, call them the same evening, pretty amazing how easy to get a meeting.

Also, got some client appreciation diners going, sending out 2 tickets that look like ticket to a concert, send 2 for clients and 2 for clients friends,been working great.
Also been hammering the phones, as usual, it works.

Really got the wave going, tons of pipeline and happy with the process, not letting any of the greens go yellow and moving the yellows to green, drip, drip, drip.

I miss ya all at lot, haven’t been around much, but do enjoy the hunting, keep us posted on what you guys and gals are up to….this site rules.
All the Best,

All The Way

Kelcied123,

Just read your post. Looks lie a decent set up. If possible, sit in on those meetings, take notes, find any excuse to get in to learn. The family member will probably say yes.

As for pipeline, pipeline is lifeline….the key is to understand the process. First call….they really don’t know you from a whole in the wall, then drip by email or post, then follow up by phone, dig deeper, so what are you working with, got some ideas, will get back to you. Then hit them with something real good, well know, and visible, say Disney…listen for their feedback, if they are close to your office, say, you know what works best, we get together, have a look at Disney and see if it fits into your long term plans, if so….great, if not, then lets focus on what does, fair enough?

Don’t judge results on first, second, third contact, as long as the relationship is moving forward, you are on track……start with that……, because pipeline is like having inventory……also good to have it.
Keep us posted,

All The Way

Thanks for the response all the way. I will begin in January after I take the 66 and get registered.

Until then I will keep learning and try to get in on some meetings!

hello everyone!

I’ve been in the business for about 8 months. haven’t done any straight cold calling yet. I’m curious where you are getting your lists from? My firm has pre-approved companies but I can only get about 2500 leads. my area has a population of about 200k. Im thinking that when i start to cold call those 2500 leads will go pretty quick and Im looking for different avenues to get more leads. any tips are much appreciated. Thanks!

kelcied 123

You want to be calling as many people as possible. Get your face out there! Your pipeline is the list of contacts you plan to call. The after hours networking can be helpful but dont count on it. Use that to develope your communication and people skills. Most people at those events just want to sell their products too. Call your natural market first then start cold calling individuals and businesses. You first have to learn what your pitch is when you call people. This is a useful website.

Thanks Donbateman, good advice.

The pitches here seem to be oriented towards selling a certain stock or bond/munis. I will start working on pitches, but it will be something more broad.

What process do you use when calling? How many times do you call without message or before giving up. Do you keep track of names you don’t intend to call again?

The advisor I work for doesn’t do cold calling and so I don’t get much guidance in that area. He did 20 years ago, but now works with his current clients and gets a lot of referals.

Kelcied

Pitching with a particular product is good because you have something specific you want to talk about, But some people dont care or know what the hell a muni bond is. They dont know preferred stock from livestock-Gordon Gecko. So you have to pitch to the everyday person. If you are calling qualified referrals that are experienced investors use a product. I use to call and say my office is hosting a workshop on retirement planning at the local library in 2 weeks and there will be food and drinks you can bring 2 friends. Make sure you know the venue you want to host at is available. If you get enough people that want to show up call and reserve the room. Some people will say I cant make it that night, then you say ok well we host events like this fairly regularly so I will keep you in mind for the next one. Then call them back in a month and say there is another. If you get one person that sounds interested keep calling them every few weeks until they tell you to stop or till they say ok ill meet with you. If you dont get a ring try maybe 2 more times then move one, depends how many numbers you got.

where are you guys ordering your lists from?

Thanks, thats a good idea to event them to an event, everyone likes free stuff .

I think pitching to the everyday person and making sure everybody understands the offer is great way to diminish results. A focused effort using a specific product you’re excited about to penetrate a market will yield better results regardless of % of people that understand the product. Seek the buyers with laser focus and throw out the rest.

Words of wisdom King…I agree…anyone with kids, I talk about Walt Disney,…cracked open a tons of accounts…specific, sniper focuss yields results as opposed to …second opinion on your portfolio…yawn…
All The Way

I’m really sorry for not being more present on this thread. Last year, around this time, I was really under the gun….and needed some kind of outlet or support to keep going…it was rough.
I’m going to finish this year close to 10M, somewhere around 9.2M-9.6M……and am really happy. It’s been a bloodbath and I kind of got caught up in tunnel vision getting the numbers to hit the book. Damm, I did just about everything from seminars, client’s appreciations, cold calls, door knocking…you name it.

Now, closing in on Christmas, once again ……getting a bit fired up for 2013…………go for 15M……more…less….not sure, but will make it a point to start the campaign on this forum,….and , this time….I will post daily on activities, can’t control anything else.

Really have enjoyed the back and forth … all the great ideas and activities you have shared and posted. I’ve used them. I don’t know any of you personally, but thank you for helping me get back on my feet.
Thank You,
All The Way.

ATW. I just joined but reading this thread has gotten me very inspired! No one in my office does straight cold calling so reading about your year and how productive it was is an eye opener.

I look forward to hearing your updates over the next year. congrats on a year of hard work and bringing in close to 10m!

I am still struggling to find a place for lists of names, are you guys going through the phone book and scrubbing them against the DNS?

Well Friends,
Another year coming to a close.
I really tried to get the 10M in by last June from cold calling, well…I didn’t. Took a year to get it done. So…if at first you don’t succeed, I’m going to try it again, granted I got a much better pipeline at the end of this year than last year, but still got to find the focus and discipline to keep working the names while adding new ones.

Anyways, I’m going to give it another shot, 10M by June……should be able to avoid some of last years mistakes…….the main one being, not being consistent enough with the calling activities, that’s all it really came down to, the pitch was good, follow up’s where good, but I didn’t keep the foot on the pedal.

Let’s see if this time around I can keep my focus……hope all of you had a year that met and exceeded your expectations and I look forward, as always to read about your progress and thank you for all the phenomenal ideas you have passed on.
All The Best,

All The Way.

Is anyone calling companies and pitching their individual employees via cold calling? I see people doing a lot of residential phone calling and pitching with individual products. Won’t work for my business. We are fee only so we only go after the whole account or partial. Thoughts?

Riaassociate,
Help me here Superstar….and the difference between going after all/partial of employees and all/partial residential is…….???
Residential is easier to get someone on the phone and corporate employees are good to get accounts…mix it up and see what happens.
Keep us posted,
All The Way

All the way,

Sorry my previous comment didn’t make much sense after I read it. My main question was regarding whether anyone on here was specifically prospecting corporations. Trying to see what was working what was not? I guess if you’re prospecting residential are you going after retirees? Seems they would be the only people home during the day mon through fri? What I meant to say was that it would be tough trying to call with an individual product for our business because we’re not allowed to make commissions. Anyways just trying to see if anybody was prospecting corporations and if so what was working? ie time pitch etc?

Thanks,

riaassociate,

You know…does it really matter…at the end of the day, if you’re TALKING to 50 people a day, either at home or working…you will grow a fantastic book.
Also, don’t dismiss residential, there’s more than retires home, guy off sick, home business people , wife who hates husbands broker…there’s life in there.

I’m not too clear on what model you are working, but I used to pitch a 30 minute information sessions geared on income, visible, predictable, income paid monthly into your account, no product…and it worked, the entire pitch is somewhere on this thread.
Also, if you know they have kids, don’t hang up until they agree that Walt Disney would make sense for their portfolio, kids love the stuff, stock is up , like 60% and you can link that to the type of value you add when managing accounts.
Work on a hook to get there attention, then book the meeting or agree on a follow up, either way….move the relationship forward……sounds like you’re doing fine, keep us posted.
All The Way

JrWrangler,
Welcome to the worst 50K job in the world…and the best 300K a year job in the world. Good luck in Jan 2013 and good for you to join, because there are a lot of very talented builders out there and they are working the numbers and passing on tips and insight that can literally save you years of grief and upsets.

Leads, man…I’ve called on a dialer……a gift from Heaven……if you can get one…go for it, it’s amazing.

As for me, I build lists of names of people close to the office, easy in….easy out, run the DNC, then call those who are good, and go out and door knock those on the DNC…because…they don’t get calls and are more often than not receptive. You’d be amazed by what a face to face door knock does, never would have thought of it, but a buddy does it, so ….gave it a try……blows my mind each time,…hate doing it but it works….so….i do it….
As long as the activities are there…the results follow, it’s just the way this business is……enjoy the holidays’, charge the batteries and keep us posted, JrWrangler, keep us posted on your progress
All The Way

Still smilin and dialin All the Way. I have some big goals this year and ready to rock it in 2013!

I have not been dialing. Kind of stuck in a rut. Started April 2012 with fee based asset management. I was able to get $2.3 mil on the books. I work for a very large life insurance company and am affiliated with their wealth management arm to do fee based advising. Some times I feel like I’m an adviser stuck in an agents company. None the less, reading about what everyone is doing is a breath of fresh air. Courage is what I’m in need of most. Everyone here gives me a little more courage. I also have been busy with the family,(3 year old and 2 month old). I have been doing this now about 9 years with the same company and I have no complaints. I feel as if I’m independent but under a big company. Need to figure out what style of prospecting will go along with my personality. Cause if your not comfortable, it will come through. Thanks for calling me out.

Alberp86,
Sounds like your in a good situation, if you’re looking for more assets, they are out there, just give a few NEW ways of building the business a try, you’ll see money come in.

Anyone checking out Takingnames……this hammer is on fire, loved his post from last week, always very encouraging.
As for myself, got some events lined up for next week and should get decent results. Had a good start so far and will be back on the cold calls next week.

It’s uphill and takes patience and focus but well worth the effort, hope everyone is on track, keep us posted, there are a lot of people who tune in to pick up on what we are up to and get some ideas to build….we’re all about building, the book, relationships, successful outcomes, friendships and a careers.

All the Best….all The Way

ATW,

What investment process are you using to to manage the assets? I need to ramp up and outsource the investments in order to have a big year gathering the assets.

Im with bondguy ATW, you are killing it go treat yourself.

Things are good hear. Developing a solid pipeline. Sitting at almost 5.5million wrapped and I am only 14 months in. Goal is to hit 8 million by End of may. Got some good stuff in the pipeline. Some days lots of calling, other days not much. All it takes is one lead, one connection. They arent interested no big deal, have a prospect with lots of money, they are interested but dragging their feet. Push them over the edge. Keep calling until they either tell you I am going to take my initial 500k elsewhere or fine lets do it!

Its a fun business. Waiting for 500k from a client whos parents passed. Nice to get little things like that.

Keep Working it!

Bond Guy, Big Red……this is why I come to this site.
It’s all about encouragement, chin up, cheer up, gear up and keep going.
I really appreciate all the good on this site, Big Red going for 8M by May; Bond Guy checking in to keep an eye on the guns in the trenches…love it.
YES, I should get it and YES I will…but….got to open new accounts and get new assets first. Had a good start to the year on the comm. But am a bit behind on the accounts and new assets…….besides, it’s minus 40c here….obviously I’m north of your border……puta madre, pinche frio de mierda!!!

Presently I drive a low key Nissan and a people carrier for the kids, this baby, The Challenger….it’s for Papa Bear, private time and no flash in front of clients……but…….oufff….really, I’ll get it by end of %^$# winter……
You know what Bond Guy, you’ve coached a lot of people along the way, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you, clearly, checking in to marketing and prospecting to post sensible and actionable comments is worth a mention and to all of us who at times struggle through the fog, your help keeps us on track……hat’s off Big Man.
Seriously folks, there have been a few pricks popping up here and there, but this guy has been a constant source of support.

THANKS GUYS FOR THE THUMBS UP…KEEPS THIS GUY GOING….
All The Best,

All The Way

Bondguy or anyone, have any of you been using secondary market BABs lately (or ever)? I’ve seen some pretty attractive yields, thinking about doing a campaign pitch. 5, 6, 7 % locked in is pretty good relatively speaking.

I’ll echo ATW with a thank you to all of you!

I’m having trouble dialing these past two weeks. had a really good two weeks to start the year then got a bit lazy since it put me ahead of schedule.

I guess its true that ya do something till it works, then stop.

I do appreciate the motivation from you guys very much though! keep it up

Has anyone used a Predictive dialer? Its supposed to increase the number of calls you make when prospecting. just wandering if its worth the money?

ATW - did you get my pm?

I’m in a funk, a daze…a cloud….loosing my way….arrrgggggg. did some good numbers in January, had 50+ people show up for dinners….and I’m……well…not really hammering the phone. Will be having serious pipeline problems 3 months from now……in the Spring…arrrggggg….Purple STR8….I’ll be lucky to get a Pinto (my mom had a Pinto, green)…….noooooooo!!!

How many times have I said, I’ll post numbers……Friday, Monday…someday……damm…it eats at you.

Been following Takingnames and Teeks19 on the Call to Action post….aaarrggggggg. How come I’m not hammering like they are? Those post are super inspirational….ok….enough with the tears and the phone too heavy crap………Chin Up and Cheer Up……Shamone……motherf%$&*##

I’m posting as of…………Monday…fed up……going back to basics, no more coasting……time just flies by way to fast….already Feb……

Thanks to all of you for postings results and efforts, Takingnames been at it since 2007, Teeks19 fresh out the gate. …both going full blast……

All The Way

Been cold calling this month also. Easy to get off track…Let’s keep going.

ATW, take it easy on yourself. You are climbing a mountain. Everyone has down cycles. As long as you realize it and get back on the bike you’ll be fine. A week or two of not pedalling isn’t going to make any difference. If the down cycle last longer or keeps coming back, then you need to do something about it.

This business is hard and it is not for everybody. Even strong performers. It is not worth your health or your mental well being. It is merely an avenue to a goal. That goal being financial independence. And, it’s a fine way for those not born to wealth to get there. However, the truth is it’s not the only road. Not one of our clients is a financial advisor. Yet all are rich. And, even if you wouldn’t qualify them as rich they are at least financially successful. How else would we meet them? So chin up!!! You are success driven. Reaching your goals isn’t a matter of if. It is a matter of when! You are already successful!!!

Thanks Bond Guy…as always, you’re post are always encouraging………a real trouper. I got the message and fell better about myself…just that at times, it’s hurdle after hurdle…never stops, easy to to get lost.

Nailed this week down hard. Got 50 solid contacts in per day, bagged 200 for the week. Got some pretty good one’s on the go, a 500K, another 1m, got a few in the 50-70k range…and added good inventory to the pipeline.

I hope to post some decent new assets numbers over the next few weeks, thanks to all for your encouragement, glad to see that most of the regulars are doing well and the newer members are going full blast.
All The Way

Way to go, ATW!

Way to go, ATW!

TakingN,
Been going full blast, got a 80K coming in, a few smallers…and a couple of nice one’s in the pike. really been hitting 'em phones. Glad to follow your progress…keep at it and keep us posted. you’re a true trooper…vamonos…adelante…cabrones
All The Way

ATW, could you please elaborate on who you contact? How are you getting 50/day? Do you call strictly small businesses from the yellow pages or a niche market or corporate directory? I can never get past the gatekeepers and when I call someone without a gatekeeper, they tell me they have no money. Im calling businesses in the DC area. And how are you qualifying for this amount of money? I’m confused as shit and no one can give me any advice in my office cuz no one does any prospecting at all. Still trying to get meetings but Failing hard here

Zzzzzz…helll no. Been a good summer and I look forward to catching up again with the hammers out there who are the source of inspiration for many…time flies folks…hope you are all well.
All The Way

Kinda stuck again…I’m at $5,510,000 so far and just can’t seem to speed up the process. Pipeline is good, and so is my focus but still nowhere near pulling off $10M in 6 months from prospecting.
Anyways…down to the last 4 months of the year and would be content getting to $10M by the time Santa starts his rounds.

i’m time blocking 8am till 11am for prospecting only, call backs, new contacts, the same ol…didn’t get the car, got a people carrier for the family, had fun…but realizing that 10M + a year ain’t too bad after all. i’ll have to give this a push to get the balance in…been reading a lot of good posts out there and this really helps…let’s see what happens…
All The Way

Did you pull that $5 mil + just from cold calling? What kind of lists did you use? What was your script? If you pulled in nearly $6 million just from the phone, that is good in my book.

Just wanted to thank ATW and everyone that’s contibuted to this thread. Awesome stuff. I’m just starting off on the phone and hit a small slump but this got my pumped up. Like others, I’m the only one prospecting in my office so this is a great resource.

To all. Keep at it. It’s a. Numbers game.

SuperStars,
Seems kind of quiet out there…hope everyone is doing well. I’m building back up to 35+ contacts a day. it will take about 2 weeks to get there. Had a good year and will be timeblocking to add new business via cold calling.
hope all of you are doing well…keep posting as it’s always inspiring to read your posts.
All The Way

Just a quick head count…who’s still out there???

TakingNames, Hacksaw, Harkham, TheMachine, MadMatt, Push Forward, Albertp86, DTA, 6yearsin, ECD, BondGuy, FADavo, YounGun, BigRedFan, Ulairi, Stealthall,Teeks19, Amber_M

All the Way, Still here, I check the blog once in a while and would be up for a little cold calling competition to get the juices going.

Teeks you Top Dog,
Glad to hear from you. I’m slowly building back up the contacts, haven’t cold called in a while, lets aim for start February and go from there. I’m aiming to baseline around 50 contacts a day, for 4 days…200 a week for a couple of months to grow the biz…whats your target?
All The Way

Yes , I haven’t either or at least launch a serious campaign. I traditionally went for business owners but couldn’t get in a groove, would like to get back on track. I’ll go at it with you 50 a day 200 a week residential. Post weekly? Phone/mail/phone
I will just have one week in The month where I do exclusively client calls but rest will be cold and seminars

Yes , I haven’t either or at least launch a serious campaign. I traditionally went for business owners but couldn’t get in a groove, would like to get back on track. I’ll go at it with you 50 a day 200 a week residential. Post weekly? Phone/mail/phone
I will just have one week in The month where I do exclusively client calls but rest will be cold and seminars

Teeks,
Same here bro, it will be good to get back at it.
I’ve also got a book so for the Blitz i’ll only be tracking new business from the calls and not counting any existing pipeline. I’ll run 50 a day, 4 days a week for 5 weeks…don’t think there will be much in the way of new accounts as it usually takes 2 meetings to open the accounts. But I will be happy doing the activity and will probably end up with 50-75 good potential clients to work with.

Lets call it Blitz #1 from Monday Jan 27th to Friday Feb 27th, 200 contacts a week.

Thanks for joining in as it helps make it pleasant and also for saying you will post weekely as it’s good to see progress.
All The Best,
All The Way

Competition? I could get into that

lets do it

Sounds good!

BigRed & Teeks,
Thanks to you both, I’m really rusty and not really looking forward to starting this…kinda got out of the habit…not good.
it really helps having you both on board…let’s do it because it works.
All The way

believe me ATW I am with you there. I need to add about $3500-$4000 in Gross per month by END of Year so my wife can stay at home.

I think we can do it. Lets get out there and make it rain

I hear ya Big Red. Good for you on the drive and wanting to have your wife care for the hone.

As for me, the motivation is family trips;( I’m married and have a son and daughter) to London early summer with the family to see some friends as I used to be a stockbroker there , and then back to Ixtapa, Mexico which is where we tend to spend Christmas. We see my wife’s family as she is Mexican.

There are other things such as Scuba diving with my son, Motorcross with him, plays with my wife and daughter, weekend breaks with them…just want to enjoy it while we are all happy and healthy…

It dosen’t get any easier picking up the phone again. I don’t think I’ve done a steady campaign on the phone since the summer and I want to get back at it as it’s always worked for me and is pretty predictable as to results.

Thanks for joining in BigRedFan…it does help a lot…
How about you Teeks, what 's driving you???

All The Way

The question is…is it really posible, from a cold start,a shhet of names on a piece of paper with a lot of effort and a bit of good 'ol lady luck shinning…to add 10M to a book in 6 months…seriously…oufffff. seriously…can it be done…I’m curious.
Stay tuned to find out…I have tried but didn’t…maybe this time…
All The Way

My question is what script is everyone going to use??

My script is very generic. My compliance will not allow me to recommend a specific product site unseen due to suitability. I simply introduce myself and my firm. I ask if I can mail them some information which includes a non-specific piece on investing, along with my bio, a letter and a picture of my office. I include a million dollar bill thanking them for taking a moment to consider myself and my firm and I tell them when I will call back. On the call back they typically remember my info due to the million dollar bill and I have just begun a very non-threatening dialogue. The call back ranges from not interested to discovering their unique situation. Vince Lombardi told his players to run the play but to also “run to daylight.” I don’t hammer one particular investment. I “run to daylight” and follow up on where the openings might be as we talk.

What motivates me? It’s simple, I want to be the best and never worry about my family needing money. That’s it.

Also just for fun ill share my marketing plan for 2014 been running numbers for these campaigns last three years so results are pretty close if the work is inputed

Cold call
Hours 15 a week
20 leads
2 appointments

Seminars
10 k mailers/insert in paper - 10 attendees
1 out of 5 set appnt = 2 appointments

Clients
Social events (bring a friend referral opportunitys)
Nna current clients
Referrals

Roughly goal is
250k from existing client base
250k cold calls
250k seminars

750k overall a month * 12 = 9mill 90k fess based

Obviously will never be this cut and dry but these are the targets

Great numbers and also different activities to capture new accounts. Good stuff…I haven’t done mailers in a while Teeks, so thanks for showing the ratios.
Good luck warrior, keep us posted on results. i’ll catch up with you all later in the week.

Big Red, I’m using different pitches based on headline news, markets off like now, regular steady income, things like that. I’ll let you know how it goes this week.
All The Way

Hi! I’m a new guy here…see below(this is just to erase a duplicate post). GL to everyone out there all day grinding!

Hey Guys. Been distracting myself from coldcalling and getting myself inspired over the last week reading your thoughts and experiences from the frontline. I am starting with pretty much exclusively cold calling, and I already know that I need to get my dial(200/300) and contact numbers(7% per dial) up. I am going to be shooting for 2,000 dials my first week and see where that leaves me(I’ve been at 30dials/hour due to spreadsheet and other distractions). Focusing on refining my speed for the rest of the day and Saturday. Also, I am a new FA with 0 clients and doing business development for a PWM team and we need accounts to be $1mm and up or we don’t get paid. If anyone has any ingenious ideas to complement the grind let me know. Thanks again for all your contributions to this site it has really given me perspective on what it take to make it in the biz. Best!

Felt a little bit like the Broncos out of the gate from the get go for our campaign last week.

Stats 1/27-1/30
6 hours
81 contacts
7 leads
all on muni script

The numbers are actually right on once I put in 3x time for 3 hr days in dials to reach the 20 lead mark. Thats the goal going to keep moving towards it!

Felt a little bit like the Broncos out of the gate from the get go for our campaign last week.

Stats 1/27-1/30
6 hours
81 contacts
7 leads
all on muni script

The numbers are actually right on once I put in 3x time for 3 hr days in dials to reach the 20 lead mark. Thats the goal going to keep moving towards it!

Is it a waste of time to merely try to get prospect to allow you to mail information on Portfolio Manager/Team if I face account min. of $1 million? Calling residential for now. Any feedback is appreciated!

Thanks for the thoughts Teeks. Good luck this week on your numbers!

Good afternoon all. I have never posted on hear before. I have been reading these forums for years (BondGuy, 500 day war and all). Kudos to you all for being supportive of one anothers’ efforts. I wanted to ask if any of you could provide answers to a few questions. My business is being built solely on cold calling. I have had some success with calling off of the “Financial Planning” angle, however, everything I am seeing indicates it is best to lead with a product. Would any of you comment on a possible Municipal Bond Script that you have had success using? I wanted to mix it up and see if I could improve my conversion rate. Also, my firm preaches “fee based” business and that is great but, I am realizing I will hit their numbers and still not be where I want income-wise without blending in transactional business, also. Sorry for being long-winded and thanks in advance for any responses.

Good afternoon all. I have never posted on hear before. I have been reading these forums for years (BondGuy, 500 day war and all). Kudos to you all for being supportive of one anothers’ efforts. I wanted to ask if any of you could provide answers to a few questions. My business is being built solely on cold calling. I have had some success with calling off of the “Financial Planning” angle, however, everything I am seeing indicates it is best to lead with a product. Would any of you comment on a possible Municipal Bond Script that you have had success using? I wanted to mix it up and see if I could improve my conversion rate. Also, my firm preaches “fee based” business and that is great but, I am realizing I will hit their numbers and still not be where I want income-wise without blending in transactional business, also. Sorry for being long-winded and thanks in advance for any responses.

This Campaign needs to be worked in more time during the week.
Results:
3.5 Hrs on First Cold Call contacts
50 contacted
5 leads
( all on Seminar calls 2 of the 5 leads rsvp for event)

This is an excellent thread.
I find myself under the gun after my first year of selling at EDJ; in a similar place All The Way was in when he first started this thread. Starting from scratch, I had success doorknocking in the beginning, but this form of prospecting as an end all became stale quickly. Not that it isn’t incredibly effective, I just need some variation. I recently purchased a list and will be supplementing with some ideas that I’ve gleaned from the regulars on this post and will be conducting a blitz of my own starting tomorrow. I’m going to start at the EDJ prescribed 25 contacts and ramp up to 40-50.
I would be very happy with 5M AUM in 6 months… and ATW proved it can be done…(shout out with the ellipses).
It’s time to start hunting or hang it up. Who’s with me?

ATW - about to start same campaign for rest of the year. What did your results turn out to be for your June deadline?

hi everyone im from santiago of chile and i am fp since 2008,i need a advise of how you self motivate with cold calling ( so much time that i dont cold calling with strenght i think i cold call like 10-20 times per week), i am desmotivated since december of 2013 =/

thank you very much =)

A few days ago it was nothing to do, began to look for how to make money on the internet and came across this seven WebMoney purse
Number: Z272096239460
Said that the need to put 77 to 7777 dollars and come back at 7 times more! I thought it was just another divorce, but $ 77 was not sorry to go.
Already thought lost money, but in 7 hours by going to the page I saw that I had 539 dollars! Sent a second time, it’s over. Sent a third, also came. But only 7 times a day, you can send money

Hello Top Gunners,
Anyone still using the phone to bring in business???..its incredibly quiet out there…maybe a little 50 contact a day Blitz to help keep things moving. I’ll be back.
All The Way

Hey All The Way,

I’m new to this side of the business. I’ve read all kinds of stuff on these forums (I’ve read through this thread several times in he past couple of months) and have been procrastinating for quite some time with picking up the phones. I started dabbling last week, made some calls yesterday and officially started a 500 day war of sorts today.

I’m independent and am going to start a thread because I could sure use motivation and pointers! But today’s #'s were 278 dials, 14 contacts 2 leads.

I’m on production starting in 2016. Spent the last week reviewing this thread as I am in search of the best possible way for me to get my business off the ground. I will be mining through the bottom of my partners books to try to bring in more assets but have become convinced that I need to get myself in front of more people. It sounds like some guys out there are still having success dialing the phone.

I want to join anyone in 2016 that will be making a conceded effort to pound the phones. I can sacrifice about 2.5 hours a day for this. Just need a direction in terms of a list. ATW - How are you creating these lists from scratch? I know you’re using residential areas 20-25 min within your office location… But where are you getting this info in the first place? Phone books? Online?

Hi BigEatz,
Your plan looks solid. 2.5 hours a day will get you there. I’ve made some changes in how I build my business and will start a new thread on the weekend to focus on the prospecting activities that I’m doing, mainly seminars and 1 on 1 meetings. Yes, the phone still works and I look forward to following your progress. Be active, call 4 days a week and post often as it can get a bit lonely out there.
All The Way

ATW, Looking forward to reading about your updated prospecting strategies. I will keep you updated on the calling.

I’m about to embark on an aggressive cold calling campaign myself. 100 Contacts Per Week until August 1st. I’m hoping to bring in 1 million per month in new assets. I have a funnel that is ripe from calls last year, just need to start bringing in the assets.

I’m on board for posting stats, results and sharing ideas. I’ve been calling on general wealth management, specifically asking them to let me review their portfolio. I’m interested in hearing about how and what products people are calling on.

I call small businesses and corporate directories

Browndog, where are you getting your lists? Do you send out any mailers prior?

I’m going to focus on general wealth management as well as financial/retirement planning.

Business owner lists come from a public database, corporate direct dials are purchased

Browndog, just got my hands on a local corporate dial list. Are you getting anyone asking you how you got their business number? What is your response for that?

I just tell the truth, “I work with a company that creates direct dial lists for companies in the area that I’d like to work with”. I figure that if you are trying to build someone’s trust, it’s best not to lie to them in the first conversation.

Also, if you are saying that you work with select employees of XXXX Company… be prepared for someone to ask you who you work with. If you don’t have a reference it can put you in a bad spot. I got called out on that one before.

bigeatz are you calling on product?

browndog - I’m calling on financial planning and portfolio reviews. If they’re not interested, I ask them if they would be interested in attending a seminar (running one first week of may) or if I can send them some more information.

What are you calling on?

Hi Vortex,
I see you want to do biz owner seminars. I run them on a regular basis and have a check list of what and when to do it. Let me know if you want it uploaded. it may seem a bit overloaded at first but once you’ve done a couple it’s pretty much…easy going.
I got one planned for this Thursday, so far 15 people in.
Go get them Big Man.
All The Way

ATW,

Been following your posts for years now, but just now registered for the site. Great Stuff. I’d like to take a look at that checklist if you’re offering.

Hello Indy,
It’s a bit exhaustive but once you’ve done it 2-3 times, its pretty much second nature. good luck.
Seminar Planning Checklist

5 Weeks before your Seminar:
Select the message for your seminar and the target audience (geographically or by profession)
Determine the number of guests you and the venue can service comfortably.
If appropriate, invite a guest speaker and verify dates available.
Select the date and time of seminar (preferable not conflicting with important sport games and/or holidays).
Choose location. Make sure you have seen or know the location. If needed, inquire as to parking or valet parking services available
Reserve location and reserve guest speaker.
Get logo of who is co-sponsoring.
Get logo of restaurant who will be hosting event. If including menu in your invitation, have restaurant send you choices with the restaurant logo on menu.
Have a short bio ready of yourself, presenter and special guest.
Send your seminar invitations to compliance & marketing for invitation set up and approval.
Reserve your companies Seminar Banners.
Ensure the office has enough envelopes for mailing.
Ensure the office has enough labels for envelopes.

4 weeks before your Seminar:
Update your web site and LinkedIn to announce seminar date, topics and location.
Make arrangement for pens, note pads, and gifts. (Wholesaler)
Prepare seminar feedback form.

3 Weeks before your seminar
Wash all residential phone numbers through the Do-Not-Call
Have invitations printed.
Mail all invitations.
Reconfirm with venue and guest speaker that all is set.
Practice your part of the presentation.

2 Weeks before your seminar
Begin calling all the people you have sent invitations to.

1 Week before your seminar
Determine room set up.
Make arrangements for any refreshments,
Discuss with your team plans for greeting and registering guests.
Practice your presentation again.
Go to venue and check lighting, audio-visual and sound equipment

1 DAY before your seminar
Reconfirm by phone all attendees and keep a list of all guests attending.
Practice your presentation again.

Seminar Day
Arrive at restaurant/ venue early
Place welcome banners
Set up registration table if needed
Check lighting, audio-visual and sound equipment
Check heating /air conditioning
Set out pens, pads, marketing material, seminar feedback form, etc
Prepare water for guest speakers.
Do not drink alcohol before event.

At the end of event.
Thank attendees and personally talk to each and every one of them.
Explain the importance of filling in the feedback form
Clearly explain the next steps; you will be getting a call.

2 Days after event.
Start calling attendees.

By the way, did a seminar 2 weeks ago, had 13 people which is fine. so far 11 booked into meetings and follow up on the 2 stragglers this week. For biz owners, I just cold called and then emailed Pdf of invitation, then followed up. Once in a while I’ll do a large residential mailing but prefer professionals and owners of business.
All The Way

ATW, what is your current aum?, just curious. Im getting set at HDVest and going into production this year. Looking forward to slamming some calls.

All the way,

I’ve been following this thread for a while and figured I’d put in my two cents as I’m a big fan of running seminars as well but believe I’ve found a much more efficient means of marketing for them over direct mail. I wanted to post this as it is something I recently tried as our direct mail response rates continued to go further and further down (below 0.5% on some campaigns). We were continually having to spend more and send out more pieces simply to get a decent number of people in our seats for our dinner seminars.

Eventually I stumbled upon someone who specifically did Facebook advertising for filling seminars for financial advisors and I can attest that this change alone basically will double my production I will do this year, and he will have done so for less than half the cost of what I was paying for direct mail. Prior to using this person I was spending almost $6,000 a month on direct mail advertising for my seminars and continuing to see a declining response rate from the direct mail. Once I got setup with The Facebook ads on average I spend around $2,000-3,000 in order to fill two nights of seminars with around 30 people each.

Even greater than this massive reduction in cost though in my mind is the flexibility that it has given me. With direct mail you have to plan out very far ahead of time which can be difficult and often times one night would get a much heavier response rate than the other night. This would lead to frustration as we would try to roll people from the slow night into the busy night or have to cancel days all together etc. With the online ads if this scenario ever begins to arise I can simply ask my marketing person to shut down the ad for the night that we are full and instead push the ad for the night we are light a bit harder to equal them out. That along with the fact that we generally only have to plan and advertise events around 2-3 weeks out has made all the difference in the world to my practice. Once the ads are setup and you have a couple of locations you like to use it has been pretty much as easy as authorizing a spend budget on my card and having the registrants flow in over the weekend for my assistant to follow up with the next week. I almost never would post about things like this but I have been so happy with the service and have found that so many other advisors have had questions around Facebook ads and how I’ve used them that I would try and help out some others. As long as you are not in my territory I am happy to provide the name and contact info of the person I use for the ads. You can email me at [email protected] if you’d like more info.

Are you still in the business today?

aaron222 wrote:
All the way,
I’ve been following this thread for a while and figured I’d put in my two cents as I’m a big fan of running seminars as well but believe I’ve found a much more efficient means of marketing for them over direct mail. I wanted to post this as it is something I recently tried as our direct mail response rates continued to go further and further down (below 0.5% on some campaigns). We were continually having to spend more and send out more pieces simply to get a decent number of people in our seats for our dinner seminars.
Eventually I stumbled upon someone who specifically did Facebook advertising for filling seminars for financial advisors and I can attest that this change alone basically will double my production I will do this year, and he will have done so for less than half the cost of what I was paying for direct mail. Prior to using this person I was spending almost $6,000 a month on direct mail advertising for my seminars and continuing to see a declining response rate from the direct mail. Once I got setup with The Facebook ads on average I spend around $2,000-3,000 in order to fill two nights of seminars with around 30 people each.
Even greater than this massive reduction in cost though in my mind is the flexibility that it has given me. With direct mail you have to plan out very far ahead of time which can be difficult and often times one night would get a much heavier response rate than the other night. This would lead to frustration as we would try to roll people from the slow night into the busy night or have to cancel days all together etc. With the online ads if this scenario ever begins to arise I can simply ask my marketing person to shut down the ad for the night that we are full and instead push the ad for the night we are light a bit harder to equal them out. That along with the fact that we generally only have to plan and advertise events around 2-3 weeks out has made all the difference in the world to my practice. Once the ads are setup and you have a couple of locations you like to use it has been pretty much as easy as authorizing a spend budget on my card and having the registrants flow in over the weekend for my assistant to follow up with the next week. I almost never would post about things like this but I have been so happy with the service and have found that so many other advisors have had questions around Facebook ads and how I’ve used them that I would try and help out some others. As long as you are not in my territory I am happy to provide the name and contact info of the person I use for the ads. You can email me at [email protected] if you’d like more info.

2019 Update for Activity Requirements (for one of the big wirehouses)

numbers are monitored for reporting and coaching


Starting list of names to have by 1st day of production: 1,500 - 7,500 names [scrubbed], depends on when you started relevant to when you were moved into production…

Initial contact: 75+/wk, defined as speaking with a decision maker who told you yes, no, or maybe…

Prospects: 100-400 in active pipeline each year…

Relationship meeting (1st appointment): 5/wk

Fact finding meeting (2nd appointment): 2/wk

Close/Sale/Recommendation/Presentation meeting: 1/wk

Any thoughts on this? Any updates that anyone else can share about the industry or is there anything someone here is willing to share about that can help new advisors get a better start with prospecting, marketing, sales in this new environment?

Thanks,

SAJ