Westwood's Cold Call Journal
I have been cold calling for about a month now. I have been able to get a couple of appointments and open a couple of accounts, but it just seems like it is not happening fast enough for me. So I have decided like many others here to try and keep an update to journal of my activities. I have lurked for a while and “roogled” my good topics on this forum and have tried to incorporate many of the best practices mentioned here. I would truly appreciate all your feedback.
I am currently using this script:
Hi Mr. _____________, this is _______________ from _____________. The reason for my call is that we currently have limited supply of Insured, “Tax-Free” bonds that paying ______ %. I would like to see if you are an investor and if you so, would you me interested in hearing more about these bonds?
I find that this script is opening up some conversations, but more than not it seems that some simply say “not interested” and hang up on me.
My number for this week so far are as follows:
Monday
Dials 240
Contacts 22
Prospects 4
Appts 1
Tuesday
Dials 315
Contacts 34
Prospects 9
Appts 0
Any thoughts?
[quote=Westwood]
I am currently using this script:
Hi Mr. _____________, this is _______________ from _____________. The reason for my call is that we currently have limited supply of Insured, “Tax-Free” bonds that paying ______ %. I would like to see if you are an investor and if you so, would you me interested in hearing more about these bonds?
I find that this script is opening up some conversations, but more than not it seems that some simply say “not interested” and hang up on me.
Should shorten.. asking to much...
[/quote]Hi Mr. _____________, this is _______________ from _____________. The reason for my call is that I currently have supply of high quality Insured bonds that paying ______ % tax free. How does that compare to the rates you are seeing at your bank?
Hi Mr. _____________, this is _______________ from _____________. I will be brief. Are you an investor and if so would you be interested in new ideas from time to time? (if no, I understand, let me ask you a question, do you have a backup plan when another year like 2008 happens?)
Hi Mr. _____________, this is _______________ from _____________. I know you are probably busy so I will be brief. The reason for my call is that i have been finding 4% yields that are completely tax free, in high quality municipal bonds. THat is the same as a CD yielding 6%, are you currently earning at least 6% on all your money?
Try different ones... do 100 dials, until you find something that works..(take into account, list, time of day, etc)
Squash, thanks for the feedback. I will try and incoporate some of these into my daily calls.
Let you know how it goes.
Don't thank me.. Bond Guy, Primo, Gaddock etc... have posted these or a variation of these in the past... I just copy them down..
i assume you would primarily be calling residences with this pitch....what time of the day is working best? i have noticed during hte day its mostly housewives who get on the phone and they are usually clueless.
also have u used this while calling businesses? and what has been your experience?
I have only been calling on residentials. I have not found a good source to call businesses yet, and not sure sure what pitch I would call them with.
I have found that the best times for me to reach people is during the week, 9.30am-11.30am and 3.30pm-6.30pm. I have also found that on Saturdays from 9.30am to 11.00am works well too.
You are right though, I find that I do reach a lot of housewives, that have no clue on what I am calling on. They either say not intersted and hang up or sometimes defer to calling their husbands at a later time.
what is your source for residentials?
Just using a list of residential numbers that the firm purchased from a lead company for now...
Ya I got a list too but no answers during the day. Are you calling these people during the day or at night?
Wednesday
Dials 369
Contacts 25
Prospects 4
Appts 0
What a terrible day! I couldn't get anyone on the phone. I am really trying to make a strong consertive effort to pound the phones more, but days like these make it really tough to stay motivated...good night all...
[quote=ricky32478]
Ya I got a list too but no answers during the day. Are you calling these people during the day or at night?
[/quote]
I am calling all day long from 9am-8pm depending on if I have meetings or appointments.
Here we go...another day of dialing for dollars. Wish me luck!
[quote=Westwood]
I have only been calling on residentials. I have not found a good source to call businesses yet, and not sure sure what pitch I would call them with.
I have found that the best times for me to reach people is during the week, 9.30am-11.30am and 3.30pm-6.30pm. I have also found that on Saturdays from 9.30am to 11.00am works well too.
You are right though, I find that I do reach a lot of housewives, that have no clue on what I am calling on. They either say not intersted and hang up or sometimes defer to calling their husbands at a later time.
[/quote]
Residential is good in the am(8:30-10:30) for people over 55
Also good from 4:00-8pm for anyone else on your list (I wouldn't call anyone younger than 45 though).
So from 10:30-4pm... Business or corporate directories.... If not you are just burning numbers.
Break down your call sessions for a week.. You will find that a large percentage of your contacts came at the above mention times and calling residential from10:30-4pm just increases your dials and not your contacts.
[quote=squash2]
[quote=Westwood]
I have only been calling on residentials. I have not found a good source to call businesses yet, and not sure sure what pitch I would call them with.
I have found that the best times for me to reach people is during the week, 9.30am-11.30am and 3.30pm-6.30pm. I have also found that on Saturdays from 9.30am to 11.00am works well too.
You are right though, I find that I do reach a lot of housewives, that have no clue on what I am calling on. They either say not intersted and hang up or sometimes defer to calling their husbands at a later time.
[/quote]
Residential is good in the am(8:30-10:30) for people over 55
Also good from 4:00-8pm for anyone else on your list (I wouldn't call anyone younger than 45 though).
So from 10:30-4pm... Business or corporate directories.... If not you are just burning numbers.
Break down your call sessions for a week.. You will find that a large percentage of your contacts came at the above mention times and calling residential from10:30-4pm just increases your dials and not your contacts.
[/quote]
I do find that I am just dialing through numbers during that mid-day gap from about 11am-3pm. I get nothing but answer machines and faxes.
What source do you reccomend for directories and business numbers?
those are good inputs....i have been calling businesses and the contacts are higher. the only issue in most cases is getting past the gatekeeper or having to leave voicemails (which makes no sense).
westwood - u can try polk directories for business contacts.
[quote=vintalk]
those are good inputs....i have been calling businesses and the contacts are higher. the only issue in most cases is getting past the gatekeeper or having to leave voicemails (which makes no sense).
westwood - u can try polk directories for business contacts.
[/quote]
I don't leave voicemails anymore, I tried that when I first started cold calling and dialed maybe a 1000 times and got 2 callbacks. So I didn't see any value in that.
I have heard about the polk directory mentioned many times on here, so I plan to visit my library this weekend and see what I can use.
What is your ptich or opening when calling businesses?
what is at the library?
You have 17 prospects in three days of calling!
Don't change anything!!!!!
Your contact rate will vary day to day list to list.
Go back and review Tuesday's calls. Your prospect rate was up. Was there anything different about Tuesday's calls?
Most likely not, but that's what you need to pay attention to to refine your process.
With your current rate you will end the week with 25 prospects. over the coming weeks that will equal at least two new accounts and two or three money in the future leads.
Again, don't change anything!!!!
[quote=palmpre]
what is at the library?
[/quote]
From what I hear, the libraries give you access to directories that the large lead companies pull from.
[quote=BondGuy]
You have 17 prospects in three days of calling!
Don't change anything!!!!!
Your contact rate will vary day to day list to list.
Go back and review Tuesday's calls. Your prospect rate was up. Was there anything different about Tuesday's calls?
Most likely not, but that's what you need to pay attention to to refine your process.
With your current rate you will end the week with 25 prospects. over the coming weeks that will equal at least two new accounts and two or three money in the future leads.
Again, don't change anything!!!!
[/quote]
Thanks for the advise Bondguy! I have been using the same bond script to lead with. From what I can tell, I haven't really done anything different from Tuesday, other then really trying to ask open-ended questions and keeping my mouth shut. I'm am really trying to get the prospect talking and it seems to be working somewhat. It's just all the hang ups that get you thinking that you are saying something wrong, but I guess it's a numbers game.
i have been using the appointment / service pitch rather than product. not much luck though....even if u do get to the prospect, u mostly get not interested!!
i plan to try residential next week....just that scrubbing the data is too time taking and i thought businesses might be better. but not so far
reference usa in libraries seems like a good source for residential..
Thursday
Dials 279
Contacts 30
Prospects 4
Appts 0
Another exhausting day...good night.
People are hanging up on you? Gee, you must be doing something RIGHT!!!!!!!!
West, why do you think so many people fall out of this business?
I worked 70 hour weeks with my ear glued to the phone for the first seven years out of the gate. I can't count my 500 plus dials days. More than not. Back then opening 25 to 40 new accounts a month was doable because of higher contact rates. Today, that's been halfed. So, less accounts means go for bigger accounts. So what! Penetrate the accts more quickly to add assets. Don't be a one trick pony and add other marketing channels once the cold call pipeline is a finely honed machine delivering the goods month after month. If i Knew then what I know now i probably could have climbed off the 70 hour a week horse two or three years sooner.
As for the drudgery of the task at hand. Many on these boards read my posts and other who have cold called their way to success and figure to do the same. Only, once in it, and seeing how really hard it is do they realize how much easier said than done completing the task is. Yeah, tell me about it!
Good luck!!!
Bondguy This is soooo true. I thought cold calling would be way easier. its not but I m not going to give up. I make sure I get on the phone everyday no matter what my schedule looks like. I have only been cold calling for 4 days and I have got 19 prospects. going on my first meeting today. Its hard but I know it will work
Been following ricky and west's journals. Keep it up guys. Stay with it. You'll get there. I bet everyone on this forum is rooting for you.
Thanks very much Still calling 8 at night on friday
Thanks IndyBDguy! Need all the motivation we can get!
Ricky32478, you must be on the east coast? Keep on dialing!!!
Friday
Dials 244
Contacts 16
Prospects 2
Appts 0
I think I'm going to have to get another list or something, my contact ratio really sucks. I try to call during th prime morning and afternoon times, but it seems like these last couple of days nobody is answering.
Have a great weekend guys, I'm out of here.
im a newbie so I don't really have any say but I get the same results you get when calling from a list I brought. Nobody picks up the phone and I spend all day dialing. I found out when I get creative and make my own list I dial less and get more contacts. Now granted It takes time throughout the day to find the numbers but it really works so far. If you look at my journal you see the numbers I got in my first week cold calling. I'm sure i suck on the phones too, because it is only my first week. i'll give you an example of what I do to get leads. I find companies that are downsizing and ask to talk to the HR department (never works but I try everyday). What works is to find SMALL COMPANIES that are down sizing and talk to the owner and tell him you want to drop by. Buy two Pizzas and BS with him for a little and ask for contact info of people that might be interested in rollovers and say you only want individuals with 250,000 assets or more. It works best with Blue collar works not executives. I did that today and it worked great. Westwood, PM me privately and we can share what works and what doesn't work. I have some more ideas but I rather keep them private.
[quote=ricky32478]
im a newbie so I don't really have any say but I get the same results you get when calling from a list I brought. Nobody picks up the phone and I spend all day dialing. I found out when I get creative and make my own list I dial less and get more contacts. Now granted It takes time throughout the day to find the numbers but it really works so far. If you look at my journal you see the numbers I got in my first week cold calling. I'm sure i suck on the phones too, because it is only my first week. i'll give you an example of what I do to get leads. I find companies that are downsizing and ask to talk to the HR department (never works but I try everyday). What works is to find SMALL COMPANIES that are down sizing and talk to the owner and tell him you want to drop by. Buy two Pizzas and BS with him for a little and ask for contact info of people that might be interested in rollovers and say you only want individuals with 250,000 assets or more. It works best with Blue collar works not executives. I did that today and it worked great. Westwood, PM me privately and we can share what works and what doesn't work. I have some more ideas but I rather keep them private.
[/quote]
You have some good ideas there. I sure you will continue to see some good results from that. I've thought of some ideas similar to those...I just haven't been able to put them on paper as an organized plan of attack, but you got me thinking now. The way I look at is, one of the most common problems right now is unemployment. So if you can find a way to capitalize on that then you're on to something. It kind of reminds me of training where they keep harping on how X amount of BabyBoomers are retiring in the next few you years, this is one of the best times to be in the business, there's going to X amount of trillions of dollars to manage, blah blah blah...
I would forget about the actual dials and just concentrate on the number of prospects and appts. Making 200 dials a day, you will burnout just by looking at the number. I just look at how many hours I put in and go from there.
[quote=Otane]
I would forget about the actual dials and just concentrate on the number of prospects and appts. Making 200 dials a day, you will burnout just by looking at the number. I just look at how many hours I put in and go from there.
[/quote]
Good point. I try not to aim for a certain number of dials, but I always try to maxmize the time I do call. So it may be 7 hours or it may be 3 hours. I just try to maximize my time with dialing, because when you don't have many clients, then what else are you going to do...that's the way I look at it.
you calling today westwood?
[quote=ricky32478]
you calling today westwood?
[/quote]
Yup, probably gonna do a call block or too. I tend to get a much better contact ratio on Saturdays. Also gonna get a little organized and research a few things.
How about you?
Cold calling is hard. I know a cold calling coach who tells me it is still hard for him. If he takes off a week, then it is that much harder,
Just do it everyday, and you will get to where you want to go. Just look around the office and 99% of the people are doing everything else but prospecting.
I love it when FA's tell me they are a good closer. What a joke...they hardly get a prospect to practice their close on a consistent basis. I think every FA's who doesn't call says the same dumb statement.
soo true!!!!!!
ya westwood I am on call 79 for today. I got to do way more I am stay off this site till tonight so i can concentrate
Once you start calling....scumbag senior FA's will come to you to "partner" up with them. Pick and choose carefully, since a majority of them are a waste of time.
The typical scam is we will split the account 50/50. Of course, they wil establish the relationship and they count on newbies dropping off. If I had a bullet for every statement an FA said this I would have a pile of lead higher than Mt. Everest.
Saturday
Dials 117
Contacts 5
Prospects 0
Appts 0
Alright guys, not a great Saturday for cold calling for me. I arrived at the office 2 hours later than I usually do. Lesson learned, calling from 8.30am to 10.30am is a lot better than calling from 10.30am to 12.30pm. Also on another note, I need to get better at not letting dead leads take up my time on worthless conversation. I had one call today that took about 20 minutes of my time, just complaining about his mortgage and how he can't get the bank to do a loan mod for him. I guess I'm too new to realize that sometimes these kind of conversations go nowwhere...ugh!
Well I'm out of there, gonna go to the library and see what I can dig up on some new lead sources.
[quote=Otane]
Once you start calling....scumbag senior FA's will come to you to "partner" up with them. Pick and choose carefully, since a majority of them are a waste of time.
The typical scam is we will split the account 50/50. Of course, they wil establish the relationship and they count on newbies dropping off. If I had a bullet for every statement an FA said this I would have a pile of lead higher than Mt. Everest.
[/quote]
Thanks for the heads up. I will have to keep this mind, just in case it happens. Being a newb, sometimes you don't know no better.
hahahhah ya mad FA's asking if I want to hang out and go out to dinner. I know what they are up too. Im not a dumb rookie.
Monday
Dials 257
Contacts 24
Prospects 2
Appts 0
What a day....looks like I'm going to be calling an early night. I feel like I been dragging all day today, like I'm hungover or something, maybe depressed who knows. Anyways catch you guys later.
hang in there bud. I look for to you for inspiration. Were gunna get through this together. I have faith. You now know 2 more people that you did not know this morning. have a great night!!!
[quote=ricky32478]
im a newbie so I don't really have any say but I get the same results you get when calling from a list I brought. Nobody picks up the phone and I spend all day dialing. I found out when I get creative and make my own list I dial less and get more contacts. Now granted It takes time throughout the day to find the numbers but it really works so far. If you look at my journal you see the numbers I got in my first week cold calling. I'm sure i suck on the phones too, because it is only my first week. i'll give you an example of what I do to get leads. I find companies that are downsizing and ask to talk to the HR department (never works but I try everyday). What works is to find SMALL COMPANIES that are down sizing and talk to the owner and tell him you want to drop by. Buy two Pizzas and BS with him for a little and ask for contact info of people that might be interested in rollovers and say you only want individuals with 250,000 assets or more. It works best with Blue collar works not executives. I did that today and it worked great. Westwood, PM me privately and we can share what works and what doesn't work. I have some more ideas but I rather keep them private.
[/quote]
Ricky, whether this works or not, it's good stuff!!! This shows that you are thinking out of the box. Sooner or later that creativity will lead to success.
I knew of two guys who would sneak into large firms where the HR dept wouldn't give them the time of day. They would sneak in and post flyers advertising their custom retirement workshop at a nearby restaurant. Most infamously they posted flyers above the urinals in the mens room. Sweet! Hr finally called them and told them to knock it off. They said Ok, but they didn't listen. HR could only threaten them. Thus a million dollar plus money managment practice was born.
That story makes me smile
It seems like you could do that in any office building(I would think a company building would be hard to get in)...may have to try that
Ricky, without a doubt, you "got it". Never give up, keep firing, your strategy will work. Might be some dark days, but trust me, you're on the right path like many of us have not seen before.
Thank you so much. I was having a bad day but I am going to stick with it and keep motivated. You guys Rock. Lets do it Westwood we can show all these senior guys we got what it takes!!!!
[quote=ricky32478]
Thank you so much. I was having a bad day but I am going to stick with it and keep motivated. You guys Rock. Lets do it Westwood we can show all these senior guys we got what it takes!!!!
[/quote]
Lets do it!
I took sometime to step out of the office today, just to try and clear my head and get out of this funk that I've been in. It worked and I am feeling a little more relaxed and confident, now back at it!
has anybody had any success with mailers? is it a waste of time. I wanted to switch it up today so I went reference USA and did a New Movers search with people who make more the 250+ per year and sent them out a brochure,letter,bio and busienss card. Is this a waste of time? or just another way to prospect?
I heard mailing salesmen are starving salesmen thats why I am asking this questions.
P.S I only mailed to people in the town where my office is
[quote=ricky32478]
has anybody had any success with mailers? is it a waste of time. I wanted to switch it up today so I went reference USA and did a New Movers search with people who make more the 250+ per year and sent them out a brochure,letter,bio and busienss card. Is this a waste of time? or just another way to prospect?
I heard mailing salesmen are starving salesmen thats why I am asking this questions.
P.S I only mailed to people in the town where my office is
[/quote]
I've heard the same thing about mailers, total waste of time. I only mail to people that I've talked to, and even sometimes that feels like a waste of time.
I am only going to mail to people who move in my town who make money. I think it might be nice to introduce myself that way. besides, I just mailed everyone who moved in the last 6 months so now if I stay on top of it its only going to be 30 mailers a month at most. I let you know how it works!!!
Tuesday
Dials 298
Contacts 15
Prospects 4
Appts 0
nice numbers
Westwood,
Your contacts per dial is more in line with what I see daily when I dial. I still can't understand how others are getting 7 or 8 contacts with the decision maker per 100 dials. I know the Judge in older posts talked about 50 contacts per day for two years. Gaddock talks about 40 contacts per day and I think it took him on the order of 367 dials to do it. So the question to those who have actually built a book dialing in recent times, how in the heck do you increase the number of contacts to get on the order of 40 to 50 contacts per day? Is it simply dialing all day long? Using Westwood's numbers (which are similar to mine when dialing residential), you would have to roughly DOUBLE the daily dials to even come close to where The Judge, BondGuy, and Gaddock says you should be in terms of contacts per day. I have been pumping out 250 dials per day lately so am I just missing something? Thanks in advance.
If you are calling residential you have to call at night..4-8pm... when people are at home...A guy at my old firm would come in during the morning (7am-12pm) got to lunch, go home and come back at 4pm and dial til 8pm..
4 hours at night @ 50 calls/hr= 200 dials
3hrs in the mornings(8-11am) @ 60 dials(less people answering)=180
So 380 a day should get your 40 if you call at these times..
Also your list should be broken down by age.... not just assets/income.. call 60+ in morning and 45+ at night..
There is no use calling someone who is 45 at 1pm on a thursday afternoon(the only way that person is home is if 1. Unemployed 2. Sick and possibly 3. works from home(although probably won't answer if he does this)..
****Disclaimer***** This is only for residential calling... If you are doing business I have no frame of reference but have been told early am (6-8am) and later evenings(after employees leave) and weekends are best..
Mailers, and mail something....
Forget it...
Mail something? Sure, I'll get it right out to you....click, next dial....
I'll admit, one time in my 19 yr career, I mailed something. The guy came in, and invested about 20 grand. I was shocked, shocked I tell you....
Instead of mail stop by...
"Can you just mail me blah blah blah?"
"Sure I will have it out to you by the end of the week"
Then stop by on a friday afternoon/morning(depending on when contacted him) or at the very least saturday morning(everyone is home)..
Then make an excuse..
"Was in the area to see a client in 30 minutes thought I would stop by and give this to you personally"
Wednesday
Dials 218
Contacts 20
Prospects 2
I think were talking mailing more as an alternative channel to cold calling
Two ways to work it:
mail 25/50 per day of either a product IE UIT/Mutual fund or mail an invite to recieve info or be put on a special list. For example i would mail invites to be put on my Monday Morning Bond List. I included a copy of the latest list.
using this method paves the way for a call roughly one week later. The call is a follow up to ask if they want on the list and then to qualify. it flips the call/mail/call process to mail/call/call or mail/call/mail. I no longer do this but it was effective for as long as i did do it. Doing it forces activity. once you mail the mailer you have to make the calls.
This method can also be mailing invites to a once a month workshop, dinner or lunch seminar.
The second way to do mail is ala Bill Good mass mailing that include return mailers. Same mailers, invites, product info, introductions, whatever, mailed to 5000 people a month. Usually included is a if you aren't interested in what i've mailed check off what you are interested in option. The return mailer includes a check off list of every investment under the sun.
The beauty of this type of mailer is once it's set up you are free to keep running the program every month with little or no time input. An assistant or temp can get the mailing out with just a couple hours work every month.
Again, this isn't a channel i'm using right now, as in today, but as recently as two or three years ago, My response rates were roughly one percent. BGM reports response rates between one and two percent.
Once set up you have leverage, no time for 50 leads showing up in the mail month after month.
Mail and fail? maybe. But you don't know until you try. And, it could take several months of tweaking to get the right messege on the right prospect group. The only way to find out is to do it.
5000 pieces of mail, is equal to $5,000 or so. Few firms are going to let you do that, without accountability. No harm in asking, but man, you'd better keep it totally on the low down, or other reps will stab you in the back worse than JC. The rate of return you'd get on something generic, is less than 1%. Done RIGHT, my guess, you'd get maybe 8-12 really good prospects out of that.
[quote=BondGuy]
I think were talking mailing more as an alternative channel to cold calling
Two ways to work it:
mail 25/50 per day of either a product IE UIT/Mutual fund or mail an invite to recieve info or be put on a special list. For example i would mail invites to be put on my Monday Morning Bond List. I included a copy of the latest list.
using this method paves the way for a call roughly one week later. The call is a follow up to ask if they want on the list and then to qualify. it flips the call/mail/call process to mail/call/call or mail/call/mail. I no longer do this but it was effective for as long as i did do it. Doing it forces activity. once you mail the mailer you have to make the calls.
This method can also be mailing invites to a once a month workshop, dinner or lunch seminar.
The second way to do mail is ala Bill Good mass mailing that include return mailers. Same mailers, invites, product info, introductions, whatever, mailed to 5000 people a month. Usually included is a if you aren't interested in what i've mailed check off what you are interested in option. The return mailer includes a check off list of every investment under the sun.
The beauty of this type of mailer is once it's set up you are free to keep running the program every month with little or no time input. An assistant or temp can get the mailing out with just a couple hours work every month.
Again, this isn't a channel i'm using right now, as in today, but as recently as two or three years ago, My response rates were roughly one percent. BGM reports response rates between one and two percent.
Once set up you have leverage, no time for 50 leads showing up in the mail month after month.
Mail and fail? maybe. But you don't know until you try. And, it could take several months of tweaking to get the right messege on the right prospect group. The only way to find out is to do it.
[/quote]
Two things
#1any examples of your mailers BondGuy :
How about a postcard
NJ Residents earn 7.55% Tax-Free call 212-555-1212 or email [email protected] for more information
#2 you could add this to your cold calling.
PS Put a diclaimer on the back for compliance.
A few years back, sensing a need for serious account reviews, we sent a letter out to clients. Our response rate was 90%, TOTALLY unheard of.
We did one thing, and that basically tripled our expected response rate.
Anyone curious what this stupid little difference maker was? Take a guess if you'd like.
I'm thinking one might triple the expected response rate on a generic mailer using the same tactic. Go from 1% to 3%.
With most of you all working on people around your office and trying to set appointments, can anyone give some help on talking to people out of state?
[quote=BigFirepower]
A few years back, sensing a need for serious account reviews, we sent a letter out to clients. Our response rate was 90%, TOTALLY unheard of.
We did one thing, and that basically tripled our expected response rate.
Anyone curious what this stupid little difference maker was? Take a guess if you'd like.
I'm thinking one might triple the expected response rate on a generic mailer using the same tactic. Go from 1% to 3%.
[/quote]
Calling to follow up...
[quote=BigFirepower]
A few years back, sensing a need for serious account reviews, we sent a letter out to clients. Our response rate was 90%, TOTALLY unheard of.
We did one thing, and that basically tripled our expected response rate.
Anyone curious what this stupid little difference maker was? Take a guess if you'd like.
I'm thinking one might triple the expected response rate on a generic mailer using the same tactic. Go from 1% to 3%.
[/quote]
Offering something for FREE.
Thursday
Dials 349
Contacts 24
Prospects 4
Good night...
Friday
Dials 231
Contacts 17
Prospects 0
Scored a big zero on prospects today..oh well.
I did get an open account today though, very small 401k rollover. Every little bit counts, right!? Till tomorrow guys. Good night!
The difference maker, was a hand written"Please Respond", and highlighted in yellow.
People get so much junk mail, that many of our own clients didn't know the difference between something important from us, or not.
Any mass mailing, you must hand write envelopes, or use those nice window envelopes. A real stamp is also a good idea. Letters should be 12 point font, if not 14. I got lots of little things I do beyond that even. But that highlighted "please respond" was like a "moment" that struck me.
Oh, and never title a letter "Dear Deceased...."
Westwood you haven't post since 15th? I am interested in your numbers. If you need some motivation PM and we can help each other out. Look forward to you response!!!!!!!
[quote=ricky32478]
Westwood you haven't post since 15th? I am interested in your numbers. If you need some motivation PM and we can help each other out. Look forward to you response!!!!!!!
[/quote]
Sorry, haven't had a chance to post in a couple of days. I had a couple of things going on this weekend.
Thanks for the encouragement though. I will post my numbers for the last couple of days.
Saturday
Dials 0
Contacts 0
Prospects 0
Only came in for a couple of hours on Saturday, just to get organzied and ready for a couple of appointments this week.
Monday
Dials 240
Contacts 32
Prospects 3
Nothing too exciting for a Monday. I do have an appointment tomorrow, so wish me luck!
You don't need luck. You are the future swinging dick of your firm. Go get em tiger!!
how are you getting these appointments . I have been cold calling for a solid two weeks and have 55 people interested in hearing back from me. How do I close some of these prospects on appointments? Any suggestions?
" How do I close some of these prospects on appointments? Any suggestions?"
Yes, ask for the appointment. Not meaning to sound like a d!(*. But you can’t get something unless you ask. If they say no, ask them why. Just make sure you are not considering people as prospects who really are not.
“Add me to your mailer/email” does not mean prospect. A prospect meets 3 things (at least to me):
need
desire
money
missing one? I’ll add you to my list and call a couple months later to see if you have all 3. If I call you over 12 months, and nothing has changed, and I don’t see it changing shortly (retiring and 401k rollover, wealthy parent dying, current advisor is old and soon to retire) then I drop you off my list.
Life in this business can end quickly if you are chasing people who won’t do business with you soon.
very true but I qualify everyone before I put them on my email list. They have to have at least 250+ in investable assets.
Westwood and Ricky, my hats off to you guys. You guys are a great inspiraton, and I respect your consistant efforts to survive and succeed.
I will be starting in this industry as well as soon as I choose a firm, and I plan to keep a journal just like you folks.
Keep us updated, we are all rooting for you both to succeed!
What is a prospect...
According to Dave Mullen...He wrote the book The Million Dollar Financial Services Practice...He also trained many million dollar producers at Merrill Lynch meets the following 3 criteria:
1. Has has an appointment with you
2. Meets account minimum (He says $100K)
3. Will return you phone call
I agree with him.
He also says that you should not have more that 100 prospects in your pipeline and it takes 12 mos to create.
Not trying to be an a**..asking if they can go on your mailing list or can I call you in the future is not a prospect.
You might want to change your definition of what a prospect is. I would use what I listed above. Your results will not look as good for the first 3 mos however you will be happier and wealthier in the long run.
Again I think you guys are doing a great job and you have motivated me to start calling again.
what happens if I have 2 & 3 down. I haven''t been doing this long enough to have many appointments.
[quote=ricky32478]
very true but I qualify everyone before I put them on my email list. They have to have at least 250+ in investable assets.
[/quote]
How do yo do this? Don't tell me by buying a list that has people with investable assets of over $250k, because those lists are crap(generally some mathmatic equation factoring in, zipcode average salary, home value, etc)
[quote=ricky32478]
what happens if I have 2 & 3 down. I haven''t been doing this long enough to have many appointments.
[/quote]
I forgot to add on step 3...Sitdown for another appointment and return phone calls.
According to Mullen...the Merrill Lynch trainer...it all starts with step #1...setting the appointment....he says anything that delays this is a waste of time. You have to have all 3 criteria met or it is not a prospect.
How to get an appointment...call for an appointment.
Develop a script to set an appointment and scripts for Not interested, I already have an advisor, I don't have any money, I don't have time. These handle 99% of the objections you will receive. Once you get this down so it does not sound like you are reading and you have it down cold... 1 out of 10 contacts will set an appointment if you can get thru the entire call script and the entire objection script.
Another hint...you are probably in your 20's...deepen your voice a little when you call...makes you sound older and more confident. I'm in my 40's and I still deepen my voice. It's like I have a split personality. I have my cold call phone voice and my appointment voice( which is the way I normally talk). Customers will not remember what you sounded like on the phone when you meet them.
Also pitch the wife for an appointment...Wives are decision makers as well and they will tell more about their money then the spouse will. Example...husband is successful and works all the time. Wife stays at home and handles the finances. If the wife likes you then it is a slam dunk. Alot of times the wife will be offended if you don't think if she can make the decision.
These are just my opinions. Everyone on this board will have a different opinion. Be careful who you take advice from. You have to find what makes you comfortable and don't change it. Just sharing my 18 years of experience.
after the person tells me they are interested in the newsletter. I say great
We have three different types of newsletters, one for people with less than 100,000, one for people with 100-250, and one for 250+. The reason mr or mrs prospects we separate them like that is because the newsletter with 250000 really drives home on how to generate tax free income. Now mr or mrs prospects what one would you like me to send you.
Works like a charm every time. I don't count any prospects under 250
Good advice ON MY OWN
[quote=ricky32478]
after the person tells me they are interested in the newsletter. I say great
We have three different types of newsletters, one for people with less than 100,000, one for people with 100-250, and one for 250+. The reason mr or mrs prospects we separate them like that is because the newsletter with 250000 really drives home on how to generate tax free income. Now mr or mrs prospects what one would you like me to send you.
Works like a charm every time. I don't count any prospects under 250
[/quote]
That is terrible... good idea... But you are accenting the the $250k newsletter..The reason mr or mrs prospects we separate them like that is because the newsletter with 250000 really drives home on how to generate tax free income. Also psychology says "we want what we can't have" so if I have a portfolio of $75K, I will tell you $250k so i can get the juicy details of the $250k portfolio..
Maybe you should say something like.. for clients under $250k the info is geared towards mutual funds, bond funds etc, where as with portfolio larger than $250k we can invest in individual issues of bonds, and stocks, however for diversification and risk purposes you must have over $250k to do this.
Or simply if you are pitching muni bonds... For clients under $250k we use bond funds to insure adequate diversificaiton and risk tolerance.. For Clients over $250k blah blah blah..
[quote=on my own]
[quote=ricky32478]
what happens if I have 2 & 3 down. I haven''t been doing this long enough to have many appointments.
[/quote]
I forgot to add on step 3...Sitdown for another appointment and return phone calls.
According to Mullen...the Merrill Lynch trainer...it all starts with step #1...setting the appointment....he says anything that delays this is a waste of time. You have to have all 3 criteria met or it is not a prospect.
How to get an appointment...call for an appointment.
Develop a script to set an appointment and scripts for Not interested, I already have an advisor, I don't have any money, I don't have time. These handle 99% of the objections you will receive. Once you get this down so it does not sound like you are reading and you have it down cold... 1 out of 10 contacts will set an appointment if you can get thru the entire call script and the entire objection script.
These are just my opinions. Everyone on this board will have a different opinion. Be careful who you take advice from. You have to find what makes you comfortable and don't change it. Just sharing my 18 years of experience.
[/quote]
yeah man, we all read the book... why don't you just post each chapter in a separate topic instead of listing what he says here.
Squash-
I don't think he read the book.
Ricky was asking "how do I set and appointment" and is counting anyone who he can put on his mailing /can I call you again list a prospect.
Hacksaw and I were just trying to tell him what a prospect truely is.
I actually did ready the book. I am calling it a prospect for argument sake. To much time wasted arguing what a prospect was. Who cares. Im going to keep dialings and forget about it. I know the prospects are "hot" right now. But I know they all have money and after dripping on them for 6 months somethings got to give.
Tuesday
Dials 336
Contacts 28
Prospects 2
Appts 1
Well I had one appointment today, this was from a person that I cold called about a month ago and followed up with them a couple of weeks ago and asked for the appointment in the second call. I didn't seem too confident in them showing up, as I have had a couple of flakes before, but they did. Long story, it looks like it might be a 200-250k account!
In my case, it really helps to get the appointment. I think I do a better job of closing them in person, even though I can't stop talking sometimes... I do get the feeling that the people I'm calling on don't like to do business over the phone and I just have to get the balls to straight up ask every prospect for a meeting every chance I get. Just thoughts...still learning, everyday.
Did a presentation/seminar for a firm today. I know the head person and know everyone in attendance makes 6 figures. I had everyone sign in and put their email address and whether they want to receive my monthly newsletter. I also told them I’d stick around an hour after my thing to talk one-on-one. All 15 people said yes to the newsletter and one talked to me about setting an appointment for next week (28 years old and ~$100k).
So do I have 15 prospects? No, I have one. Now maybe the other 14 will do business with me in the future but for right now they are just people on my newletter list. It’s taken me a couple months of production to realize this (I’m < 1 year production) but I’m looking to build a list of the 100 prospects.
If you are just using the term prospect loosely on here fine. Just make sure you aren’t doing it in real life. It will spell the end of your career.
Westwood and Ricky are doing well. So far, so good, very impressive. They just need to keep it up, not get frustrated or burned out before they hit the other side. To a degree, if you throw enough $hit against the wall, some of it is going to stick. And boy are they both throwing it! Anyways, that is my 19 yrs worth of two cents talking...
I agree Big. They are killing it on the calls. But if they are not asking and getting appointments but are happy with their “prospect” number they could become delusional. I know because I was there a couple months ago.
For 9 straight weeks I called 200+ a day and made 25+ contacts a day. I worked 7am til 8pm and everyother Saturday. I considered anyone who didn’t say no a prospect. That led to 2 accounts worth a total of $125k. I was chasing ghosts (too busy right now, want to feel more confident in the market, worried about my job). If it wasn’t for me landing a $1million+ account from connections I would have already failed out of the business.
Now my cold-calling is paying off. I have about $10.5 million in my pipeline and I hope to close 1/3-1/2 within the next 6 months.
So does cold-calling work? Heck yeah. It just takes patience and time for these to become clients. But to keep your job you need accounts now. So what really matters are your true prospects. For me that is people I could do business with in the next 90 days so I can keep my job.
I’m just a few months ahead of these guys and have gone through what they are going through. The key is business now to keep your job, but also keep prospecting for tomorrow. Cold calling works and these guys are busting it on the phones. Just make sure you are always asking for an appointment and at the appointment asking for the business.
That’s just my 6 months of production talking.
Good Post....
Wednesday
Dials 200
Contacts 23
Prospects 1
Hacksaw, great post. I'm operating under the assumption that Ricky and Westwood are calling on decent numbers, wtih a decent presentation. So, Ricky, Westwood, are you?
By the sheer volume of calls, I'd also assume like anything with mass repetition, the learning curve kicks in fast.
Hacksaw and all, a special weapon you should all employ, is the "hand written note". 5 per day. Do that for 90 days, and you tell me how much biz you did. It will be the little thing, that makes a big difference.
hahahhah so funny you should mention that. Everytime I get a "prospect" I write them a hand written note. I hope it works
[quote=Hacksaw]I agree Big. They are killing it on the calls. But if they are not asking and getting appointments but are happy with their "prospect" number they could become delusional. I know because I was there a couple months ago. For 9 straight weeks I called 200+ a day and made 25+ contacts a day. I worked 7am til 8pm and everyother Saturday. I considered anyone who didn't say no a prospect. That led to 2 accounts worth a total of $125k. I was chasing ghosts (too busy right now, want to feel more confident in the market, worried about my job). If it wasn't for me landing a $1million+ account from connections I would have already failed out of the business. Now my cold-calling is paying off. I have about $10.5 million in my pipeline and I hope to close 1/3-1/2 within the next 6 months. So does cold-calling work? Heck yeah. It just takes patience and time for these to become clients. But to keep your job you need accounts now. So what really matters are your true prospects. For me that is people I could do business with in the next 90 days so I can keep my job. I'm just a few months ahead of these guys and have gone through what they are going through. The key is business now to keep your job, but also keep prospecting for tomorrow. Cold calling works and these guys are busting it on the phones. Just make sure you are always asking for an appointment and at the appointment asking for the business. That's just my 6 months of production talking.[/quote]
Great Post!
Thursday
Dials 136
Contacts 8
Prospects 0
For a serious prospect, I don't think I've ever not closed a deal when I employed my hand written notes strategy.
Harvey MacKay is big on that. How To Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive is a must read...
Friday
Dials 316
Contacts 22
Prospects 2
Another week down the tubes...
westwood your work ethic amazes me. You are going to do great!
[quote=ricky32478]
westwood your work ethic amazes me. You are going to do great!
[/quote]
Thanks Ricky, I feel that the most control I have is the effort and activity, so I try and do the best that I can, but I feel that I can always do more. I just wish the other parts would fall into place a lot faster.
Saturday
Dials 72
Contacts 10
Prospects 1
Have a good weekend!
Monday
Dials 357
Contacts 32
Prospects 1
What gives! All my contacts today were, "not interested!...click...." @#&^#&@*(@&$(@*
Good morning to all!!!
New to this forum and love it, I recently started cold calling and glad to find this forum. I look forward to listening/reading everyones success stories aswell as frustrations. I will post tonight my numbers tonight and any advice/suggestions would be appreciated.
Just left BNI now its time to hit the phones hard. I wish everyone a great and productive day.
Hi guys thought I add my numbers for the day. I think I need to find more time for cold calling.
Tuesday
dials 66
contacts 19
prospects 5
appointments 2
Hey guys, I can appreciate your hard work. I started three years ago. If your contact ratio (to dials) is low, I would suggest going out and knocking on doors. Face to face contact, still hard to do, you can reduce dials by 75% to make the same amount of contacts. The real problem though, is that the prospects are not pre qualified from a list. Try it for a couple days, at least a break from the phone. Good luck
Do both...
Call in am from 8-11am.. Knock in afternoon from 1-3/4pm (look for houses with developed trees and when school buses start rolling around look for buicks and not minivans (drive down street, pull in front of house with buick or 'signs' of "retired/older" people) don't canvass entire neighborhood by walking takes too long..
Get back to office pound phones from 5-8pm..
Tuesday
Dials 300
Contacts 15
Prospects 2
My contact ration sux, I am going to have to do something different...
Westwood, are you leaving voice messages?
At my place, we have caller id. I get so many calls to my office, we've gotten to the point we don't answer unless we know who it is, or suspect it is a client.
[quote=BigFirepower]
Westwood, are you leaving voice messages?
At my place, we have caller id. I get so many calls to my office, we've gotten to the point we don't answer unless we know who it is, or suspect it is a client.
[/quote]
I stopped leaving voicmeails. After a few weeks of leaving vm's, I only received 2 callbacks...
2 is better than none...
If your message is any good, then I'd think that 1/3 of your prospects would come from leaving a message. Simple, to the point, something of serious interest to the recipient, 35 seconds long/or shorter.
West where are ya?
[quote=BigFirepower]
Mailers, and mail something....
Forget it...
Mail something? Sure, I'll get it right out to you....click, next dial....
I'll admit, one time in my 19 yr career, I mailed something. The guy came in, and invested about 20 grand. I was shocked, shocked I tell you....
What is your approach then? The only purpose of my call is to ask them if I can send something. Low key and it gets my foot in the door before I call back.
Stonewall, you want to call them about something they're already interested in, just need a little push, that has an attractive bent to it.
If you were a Benz kind of guy, on the last miles of your current Benz, and Mr. Joe Benz calls you about the new model, you're going to be all ears. If you already own a car, or the Kia dealer calls, or some goofy consultant guy calls and says he'd like to talk about cars over a cup of coffee, you're going to be racing to hang the phone up? No?
Call; 35 seconds, name recognition, sexy/safe, free/special offer, tangible benefit, sense of urgency. Put all of that together, multiply significantly against qualified prospects, and you open accounts.
Later on, you become their consultant, but first you need a customer.
Above is the "wheel", and I did not invent it. I just rolled with it...
[quote=newregrep]
West where are ya?
[/quote]
Still here, just plugging away. Don't really have time to post much, but I will have an update soon.
Hey guys, I wanted to provide a quick update. Things have been going OK, still picking away at this massive glacier. Things have not been easy. Sometimes I feel like I'm getting nowhere and other times I feel like it all clicks and I can see the light. I have good days and I have bad days, some days I know exaclty what I'm doing and other days I feel so clueless. The biggest problem I'm facing is truly qualifying the people I'm talking too. It seems like too many people want to be nice and politely say "yeah send me your card and call me another time." Then we I call back they either continue to push me off or totally forget we had a conversation.....I need to have more conviction with people on the phone. I think someone else in this thread mentioned it, I need to ASK for the appointment and/or the business on EVERY call. Lessons learned.
Peanut Butter Sandwich: A guide to the worlds greatest sandwich, in 30 strategic steps
Vs
Peanut Butter Sandwich: 3 easy steps to a satisfying meal
Never make the process more complicated than it has to be.
WEST it's so good to hear from you. Ricky stopped posting on this board, and I'm a little saddened.
How are you doing numbers wise?
[quote=newregrep]
WEST it's so good to hear from you. Ricky stopped posting on this board, and I'm a little saddened.
How are you doing numbers wise?
[/quote]
To be honest, I have not been keeping track of my dials anymore. I have been trying to concentrate on contacts, my daily goal is 50 contacts per day, but I have been averaging about 20-25. I am dialing though Gryphon, so if I really wanted to find out my dials per day I could. I would think that it probably is around 200 dials per day. I have been leaving voicemails, so that takes away time from dialing. I have a very little response rate to the voicemails that I leave, but something is better than nothing, right?
How much assets have you gathered so far? Considering you are still dialing and have a job, you must be doing OK!
Westwood, Ricky, NewRegRep and anybody else new to this game (lets face it until we have a book, its a game),
I've commented on a couple of your posts but have not really introduced myself. I too just started cold calling. I appreciate all your posts because it feels good to know i'm not the only one feeling like crap one day and great another and trying to make numbers goals on contacts and dials. Although i'm at a large firm, i'm the only one that is new and prospecting. rest of the FA's seem to just do referral business which is where i hope to get to.
I see it helps you guys to have these posts to keep yourselves accountable and motivated and i think its a great tool. What i propose is we work together to keep each other motivated, accountable, and reaching for higher goals in a slightly more formal way. we can open up a shared google doc that tracks our statistics that we update at the end of each day and we can share ideas with each other. i know in this business theres a lot of secrecy to keeping your best tricks to yourself but honestly i think we're all in different geographic markets so doubtful that we'll be calling the same prospects. you can still stay pretty anonymous by just creating a new google ID that isn't what you currently use if that is important to you.
might be a stupid idea but let me know your thoughts. i find these forums helpful but the format of them is hard to keep track and i'd rather spend my day calling than flowing through hundreds of messages.
[quote=smokey]
Westwood, Ricky, NewRegRep and anybody else new to this game (lets face it until we have a book, its a game),
I've commented on a couple of your posts but have not really introduced myself. I too just started cold calling. I appreciate all your posts because it feels good to know i'm not the only one feeling like crap one day and great another and trying to make numbers goals on contacts and dials. Although i'm at a large firm, i'm the only one that is new and prospecting. rest of the FA's seem to just do referral business which is where i hope to get to.
I see it helps you guys to have these posts to keep yourselves accountable and motivated and i think its a great tool. What i propose is we work together to keep each other motivated, accountable, and reaching for higher goals in a slightly more formal way. we can open up a shared google doc that tracks our statistics that we update at the end of each day and we can share ideas with each other. i know in this business theres a lot of secrecy to keeping your best tricks to yourself but honestly i think we're all in different geographic markets so doubtful that we'll be calling the same prospects. you can still stay pretty anonymous by just creating a new google ID that isn't what you currently use if that is important to you.
might be a stupid idea but let me know your thoughts. i find these forums helpful but the format of them is hard to keep track and i'd rather spend my day calling than flowing through hundreds of messages.
[/quote]
that sounds good. I agree with you Smokey, PM me and we can schedule this together.
I'll send you something tonight, in the meantime anyone else who is interested, speak up. it can be like a fantasy football league for new advisors, except it really counts.
I'd be interested in doing this...I am fairly new to prospecting as well. Please include me on the details in a PM and we can be in touch that way.
I've gotten a bunch of messages already so here is what probably is the easiest thing to do. I'll set this up using Google Doc's. Anybody who is interested, PM me their google ID that they want to use for this (again you can create one just for this to maintain anonymity..., and I will share the file with those google ID's that I get). I'll create a basic template in excel and a word document that we can share ideas on. I'm not 100% fluent with google docs so i'm not sure if it HAS to be a google id or just any old email address.
Obviously with everyone having collaborator rights, anybody can change any number so lets agree to abide by some sort of ethical standards, at the very least not change each others stuff....and be honest with your own.
i'm thinking of getting this formally kicked off on Jan 2nd because if you've been out there calling right now, with holidays on peoples minds, people seem to be a little more impatient on the phone, or my own attitude sucks but success rates are way down for me.
to summarize, action item for you, if you're interested, PM me your Google ID and we'll move from there.
Hey guys, I will help you, be a cheerleader for you.
A good number of years ago, I went to a national meeting, the key note speaker that year was talking about something like your proposal.
The idea, is to have a partner, and be personally accountable and in touch with each other. You identify goals, production, and activities that generate the results. It is intense, like getting into a work out schedule. The chances of success are high.
One thing I'd say, is you must truly, and I mean TRULY be committed to your success. So, have no B plan in life, give that crap up... Shave your head, get a tatoo, yell it out the window, "being a financial advisor is who you are for life".
No quitting, no "bad days", no fear. Have a plan, then just EXECUTE it. Fear comes from lack of action, as a busy man never has time to be afraid.
KILL< KILL<KILL!
For musical motivation, go to youtube and watch (Raised Fist, Friends and Traitors)... You'll need it.
Thanks for the support BFP!
Smokey: I'll make an ID tonight and PM you. This is a great thing we're doing guys!! I'm excited to keep a log of our journey and one day we will break out of our resistance level and succeed!
Cheers!!
what metrics should we use? luckily with holidays coming up, there will be some time to set this up so lets set it up correctly, although as anything, it will probably change with time...
the metrics i currently use are:
# Dials - (while annoying to track, its a good thing to monitor to see how many dials it takes to get you to the numbers you want on the below metrics)
#contacts (how do you want to define a contact?) my firm defines it as on the phone for more than 30 seconds, i define it as someone who at least has given me permission to call back, email or mail
#leads (again how to define) is this once you qualify a contact
#appointments (face to face or phone appointments where you actually discuss material things
#accounts open (pretty obvious)
any other suggestions? (emails, mail sent, seminars, networking activities?) or do you want to keep it simply cold calling. i've found i have to have at least 4-5 prospecting activities to keep sane, but we don't have to include those.
i've gotten a couple google ID's so far but the more people we get involved, the more interesting this will be so start sending those ID's. i'll most likely set this up on the weekend.
This is how I define different metrics in my own practice...this is just how I've done it, so maybe just think about it as food for thought:
1. # of Dials: (obvious)
2. # of Contacts: I consider a contact as someone who listens to my pitch and then gives me an answer. For example, I start my pitch as "are you and investor?, and if so, would you be open to a new idea?" If I get past this point, I qualify that as a contact.
3. # of Leads: Also # of prospects...I qualify someone as a prospect if they let me send them information.
4. # of Appointments: Obvious...mine are all phone appointments.
5. # of Accounts Open: Again...obvious.
I think it would be a good idea that, before we start, people outline their initial phone call scripts, who they're calling, and follow-up process(materials mailed, when to go for appointment, frequency of contact, etc etc). This way we can get a good critique before starting to track on the 2nd.
Thoughts?
[quote=ComBroker]
This is how I define different metrics in my own practice...this is just how I've done it, so maybe just think about it as food for thought:
1. # of Dials: (obvious)
2. # of Contacts: I consider a contact as someone who listens to my pitch and then gives me an answer. For example, I start my pitch as "are you and investor?, and if so, would you be open to a new idea?" If I get past this point, I qualify that as a contact.
3. # of Leads: Also # of prospects...I qualify someone as a prospect if they let me send them information.
4. # of Appointments: Obvious...mine are all phone appointments.
5. # of Accounts Open: Again...obvious.
I think it would be a good idea that, before we start, people outline their initial phone call scripts, who they're calling, and follow-up process(materials mailed, when to go for appointment, frequency of contact, etc etc). This way we can get a good critique before starting to track on the 2nd.
Thoughts?
Hey guys,
I think this is a great idea. I will also set up a google id today. I will also reach out to Ricky because I think it'll be great to have all the callers on this forum.
Sounding interesting. I will PM you guys.
finally should dollars be tracked? Assets brought in? Net new assets? AUM? however yu want to define it?
I would be open to that, but I am also not an FA. I trade my client accounts which will be mainly transactional, and of course the payout from everyone else(assuming you guys are all FAs) will be much different.
For what we are doing together, I will be mainly fund-raising for a managed futures program(at first) and then will look to bring in AUM for myself.
I don't mind sharing exact assets brought in, incentives collected, commissions collected, etc etc
Dollars should definitely be tracked. I will have all these information by this weekend, why don't we all agree on a time to set this up, let's say by sunday evening?
1) # of dials
2) Who are you calling, and how? (product vs service, your minimum $)
3) # of contacts (whether or not they are interested)
4) # of prospects (qualified for dollar, interest and willingness to invest)
5) # of appointments
6) # of accounts opened
7) Monthly AUM.
Let me know your thoughts gentlemen.
the setup should be easy, just an excel document with the metrics that we've agreed on. Each rep will fill out their daily numbers and we can see whats working and whats not. Sunday is a good deadline.
[quote=newregrep]
Dollars should definitely be tracked. I will have all these information by this weekend, why don't we all agree on a time to set this up, let's say by sunday evening?
1) # of dials
2) Who are you calling, and how? (product vs service, your minimum $)
3) # of contacts (whether or not they are interested)
4) # of prospects (qualified for dollar, interest and willingness to invest)
5) # of appointments
6) # of accounts opened
7) Monthly AUM.
Let me know your thoughts gentlemen.
[/quote]
I agree with this, especially your definition of whats a 'contact' and whats a 'prospect'. I have not been qualifying my prospects thus far, leading to A LOT of wasted time and effort.
i've got about 4 or 5 google ID's now. Who I dont have is rickey and newregrep, or bigfirepower if you're just interested in monitoring it. please send it soon or let me know if you're not joining. also open to anyone else who reads this.
I'd love to charge you each $50 to play and give the total to the winner but unfortunately there is no possible ways of checks and balances to it will just have to be integrity with no prize at the end other than your own success :)
I know the $50 buy in made my fantasy football season a lot more interesting...
Guys, I'll volunteer myself to mentor, be a sounding board, referee, etc.
If you guys are doing "activity" based goal setting, make sure NOTHING is subjective.
For example, what is a "prospect"? That is subjective unless clearly defined.
Contacts, dials, appointments, new accounts, aum, gdc, those are not subjective.
If I was doing your project, I'd create a point system for each, as a way of leveling the playing field. That way you can go for total score, and do a little bit of apples to oranges comparisons. Granted, your first effort might need some tweaking later, so be flexible.
If anyone needs confidential communication, by all means PM me.
Smokey, I will create that ID by this weekend! I tried doing it at work but of course, it's blocked!
BFP you should join us
I'm a phase three rep, you guys are phase one.
My goals are quite different. This next year, I've got a couple major issues to deal with, after that, life's gravy. So, in a way, I've got the gun to my head too.
I think we can all agree that that prospect is, as stated above..
4) # of prospects (qualified for dollar, interest and willingness to invest)
i do understand the point system, because once somebody gets a ton of prospects, they will spend more time closing accounts than dialing, and their numbers will go down on contacts and up for accounts.
scoring system we use here is.
0 points for dials, to be tracked, not counted
1 point for contacts
5 points for prospect qualified
10 points for appointment
15 points for close.
our goal here is to get over 50 points a day.
anyway thats one option open for discussion, and once set up it should be all automated because this should not take more than 5 minutes a day to update.
[quote=smokey]
I think we can all agree that that prospect is, as stated above..
4) # of prospects (qualified for dollar, interest and willingness to invest) I think we should leave this off as everyone will be qualifying for a different amount/product etc..
i do understand the point system, because once somebody gets a ton of prospects, they will spend more time closing accounts than dialing, and their numbers will go down on contacts and up for accounts.
scoring system we use here is.
0 points for dials, to be tracked, not counted
1 point for contacts
5 points for prospect qualified
10 points for appointment
15 points for close.
our goal here is to get over 50 points a day.
anyway thats one option open for discussion, and once set up it should be all automated because this should not take more than 5 minutes a day to update.
[/quote]
- 1 point for every new contact
- 1 point for every hour worked
- 5 points appointment
- 1 point for each marketing piece/mailer sent out (10 points maximum/day)
- 10 points for a new account
Edited a little for newbies(took out calls to existing clients etc) MINIMUM 62 pts (40 contacts/12hrs worked/10 marketing/mailer pieces)
Someone posted this before
While you can develop a system that works for you, here is what worked for me: The goal is 100 points/day and 500 points/week. Here is the point system I devised:
- 1 point for every new contact
- 2 points for every follow up call to an existing prospect
- 1 point for every client call
- 1 point for every hour worked
- 5 points for arriving to work by a set time (think early morning here)
- 5 points for each 30 minute appointment (i.e. 1 hour appt. = 10 points)
- 1 point for each marketing piece/mailer sent out (10 points maximum/day)
- 5 points for a new account
[quote=palmpre]
[quote=smokey]
I think we can all agree that that prospect is, as stated above..
4) # of prospects (qualified for dollar, interest and willingness to invest) I think we should leave this off as everyone will be qualifying for a different amount/product etc..
i do understand the point system, because once somebody gets a ton of prospects, they will spend more time closing accounts than dialing, and their numbers will go down on contacts and up for accounts.
scoring system we use here is.
0 points for dials, to be tracked, not counted
1 point for contacts
5 points for prospect qualified
10 points for appointment
15 points for close.
our goal here is to get over 50 points a day.
anyway thats one option open for discussion, and once set up it should be all automated because this should not take more than 5 minutes a day to update.
[/quote]
- 1 point for every new contact
- 1 point for every hour worked
- 5 points appointment
- 1 point for each marketing piece/mailer sent out (10 points maximum/day)
- 10 points for a new account
Edited a little for newbies(took out calls to existing clients etc) MINIMUM 62 pts (40 contacts/12hrs worked/10 marketing/mailer pieces)
Someone posted this before
While you can develop a system that works for you, here is what worked for me: The goal is 100 points/day and 500 points/week. Here is the point system I devised:
- 1 point for every new contact
- 2 points for every follow up call to an existing prospect
- 1 point for every client call
- 1 point for every hour worked
- 5 points for arriving to work by a set time (think early morning here)
- 5 points for each 30 minute appointment (i.e. 1 hour appt. = 10 points)
- 1 point for each marketing piece/mailer sent out (10 points maximum/day)
- 5 points for a new account
[/quote]
Not a bad idea there...
I like the idea of a point system....that's actually a GREAT idea!!
62 points daily sounds tough, but it seems like that's what we all need to hold each other accountable to succeed.
Let's do daily reporting on points, I will get a spreadsheet up, once we get all the names of our members who will be joining in us in our journey.
newregrep, a few people have already sent me their google ID's. if you'd like to set the spreadsheet up , that'd be great, I can just send you the google ID's to share it with.
Ok folks, the 4 of you who sent me your ID's have had the document shared with them. I've also created a word document which for now can be used for instructions but later we can share ideas on what is working and what is not.
The few of you who said you would send your Google ID to me, send it and I will share the file with you also.
Obviously Jan 2nd is a Sunday so we will start Jan 3rd and the more people we have doing it, the better.
Just PM me your Google ID and I will share the file with you.
A closed-end question (question that requires only a Yes/No answer) is the quickest way to end a convo on the phone with a prospect. Especially, a cold prospect.
How would getting 6% tax free on your money fit in with the rates you're already getting?
West how much AUM do you have thus far? Great thread!
will report tonight!
Anyone have some good phone scripts that they could share? I know it's a rather personal and style thing but I'm just looking for some ideas to help me in finding my calling voice. I've been making many more calls the past few months and I found a legit big fish, but I'd like to be more structured in my approach.
Hi guys.
Just found this forum a couple of days ago and found this post yesterday. Definitely a great idea and one which I want to be a part of. I just started my cold calling campaign and this competition is a great way to keep me motivated! I requested access to the Google Doc and hope to be putting up my numbers soon.
Hey guys, can a girl also join this goal setting group. I'm also trying to build my aum. I work at a indy firm as a sub rep so i need to build my aum. I will pm smokey as well.
bullishfuture and anyone else interested, send me a message with your Google ID and I will add you to the group. sorry fell behind these past couple of days but am happy to add anyone who wants to join in.
[quote=smokey]
I think we can all agree that that prospect is, as stated above..
4) # of prospects (qualified for dollar, interest and willingness to invest)
i do understand the point system, because once somebody gets a ton of prospects, they will spend more time closing accounts than dialing, and their numbers will go down on contacts and up for accounts.
scoring system we use here is.
0 points for dials, to be tracked, not counted
1 point for contacts
5 points for prospect qualified
10 points for appointment
15 points for close.
our goal here is to get over 50 points a day.
anyway thats one option open for discussion, and once set up it should be all automated because this should not take more than 5 minutes a day to update.
[/quote]
This scoring system seems backwards to me. There should be points for making the dials. Picking up the phone is not only the most important part of the process, but the hardest part to do. IMO, not only should there be points for dials, dials should get the most points.
That brings me to the backwards nature of this points system. The highest points are awarded for actions over which we have no control. For example, appointments. On any given day you can ask for one appointment and get it while i ask for ten and get none. Granting the appointments is out of our control. Why so many points for something over which we have no control?
A reward system, whether points, or a dinner out on the town, should recognise only those aspects of the process for which we have total control. Dials, any close that progesses toward an account opening etc. After-all, I can only ask for the order, I can't say yes for the prospect or client.
Bondguy i see ur point on appts. because there have been times where i will have an appt and it may be cancelled. so ur correct i no control over that.
You do have control over how many appointments you set. By asking for them. Adjust your point system to reflect activities - not results. How many calls, how many asks for the orders, how many ask for the apts, etc. etc.
After you get a few weeks of data you'll be able to really dig into the metrics and make tweaks to your scripts to increase your %s,
[quote=SuperMan]
You do have control over how many appointments you set. By asking for them. Adjust your point system to reflect activities - not results. How many calls, how many asks for the orders, how many ask for the apts, etc. etc.
After you get a few weeks of data you'll be able to really dig into the metrics and make tweaks to your scripts to increase your %s,
[/quote]
Asking is the action over which you have control. Thus you have control over how many times you ask. Asking for appointments comes under the more general heading of closes. It is a type of close that moves the process forward. That's what should be counted.
While rewarding results, such as opening an account or getting an appointment is the way most of the sales world works, the advisor has no control over those actions. Those are client actions. The advisor should be rewarded only for action they control..
And, while I generally agree with "The more you ask, the more you get" the asking is the only part of the process under the advisor's control.
That is not totally true. How you ask is although not as important as the action has an impact on your % of people agreeing. It's why some have much better close rates than others.
Calling all Senior Members. As you can tell by the username I am still in training and cannot yet start on my cold call blitz. I fully understand that I am facing a 3-5 year steep uphill battle but am looking for suggestions on limiting time wasters and ideas on what works best. I have bought some books and been searching online and so much of what I find talks lead lists, cold calling, networking but not really which lists seem to be any good and which are waste of money and time, best places to Network (organizations to join etc). Can you point to some good research sources for me within the forums or elsewhere? I know there is no magic bullet and am not looking for anything to be handed to me...but being a mid-life career changer I really need to be able to come out of the chute running full steam and appreciate any input that will prevent me from running a marathon only to hit a wall at the end. Thanks.
most likely we can agree there is no right answer. In my opinion, dials are important, but they should only be tracked, not counted as points. I don't honestly see the difference. In the end it doesnt matter who gets the most points, it matters who keeps their job and becomes successful.
if someones script or delivery is flawed, they could make 1000 calls, get the most amount of points, and then fail out of the business in 3 months. therefore the points leader is not the best producer. we want production and points to somehow correlate. and giving appointments the most points is how that can be done.
again there is no right answer, but our specific group has decided to track dials and not count them towards points. in the end does it matter? no.
Smokey .. the most sucessful people in the business. Those that have made fortunes and build super practices have said you track activity - not results. Infer what you want from that. Go buy some Nick Murray books, read them, commit them to memory, and then rethink your post. I'd suggest The Game of Numbers. It's super.
It is your group and you can run it however you'd like. Rewarding results is one of the flaws of the wires. It neatly shows why they are unable to motivate their trainees via the carrot. The stick part they've got down to a science, but they don't understand the carrot.
While it is possible for someone to continually fail by making flawed dials, it is unlikely that any serious producer would do so for long. These forums are testament to that fact. How many "What am i doing wrong" threads fill these pages? In my book he who dials most, wins!
Or, you can be like the guy who's father bought him the books of two retiring brokers. Overnight he went from one foot out the door to the office's biggest producer. He would win your contest hands down.
Lastly, why so much weight on appointments? Not that there's anything wrong with appointments, but they are so unnecessary in opening large accounts. Why the weight on an unneeded part of the process?
Bondguy - Remember, they're just starting out :) . Everyone is taught that no business is done over the phone, and you only open an account after a thorough financial planning face-to-face appointment with the prospect.
Ahhh, I look back at the hour-long appointments full of risk questionnaires, explainations of mutual fund breakpoints, and systematic investing speeches and I can't help but smile. So young. Not a clue. $1500 American Funds Class A ticket if you're lucky and can delicately explain the sales charge.
$100k tickets now. Cold call. They buy. Have never even seen me. Tax free bonds.
It's so simple yet it can't be taught. You've got to touch the stove. Gotta burn for at least a year before the only avenue left before termination is to give cold calling with munis a shot.
Remember guys, you want 60+ year old millionaire retirees.
Do they want to gamble in the stock market?
OR
Do they want 1) TAX FREE... 2) INCOME CHECKS IN THE MAIL. Hmmmmmm
Remember, once you've made you're money, growth is far less of an issue. You're now focused on preservation of wealth.
I can't believe they still teach, to this day, to go door to door and ask for phone numbers, then to call prospects with an equity. ReferenceUSA + muni bond. 15 second phone call. "Wasn't sure if you had the funds available today, but I'd suggest you reserve a portion while we still have it." That's your training course. Takes an hour.
In call sessions, I've heard new guys call on annuities. It just makes my head hurt.
Also, appointment? Why?! What are you going to talk about???
Here's your phone call: "Ok Mr. Jones. I'll put my assistant on the line and she'll open the account. Afterwards, I'll place the buy. The bond settles on Thursday, so you'll need to drop by before then to sign the new account form and drop off the check."
Here's your appointment: Mr. Jones comes in on Wednesday to pay for his $25k bond order, you step out of your office, shake the man's hand, tell him it's nice to meet him and that if he has any questions regarding his account, do not hesitate to call. Mention that you have a few phone calls to make, tell him once again that it was great to finally meet him, and excuse yourself. Mr. Jones can now put a face to the name. You in a suit, no small talk, you're busy and have phone calls to make. He's going to take your call the next time you call about a bond.
When I started out, I'd talk about god knows what for an hour, maybe he'd open an accout, I'd walk out to my BOA's office with him and stand there akwardly for 30 minutes while she talks to him about where he grew up.
Maybe it was because I was 22 and had no clue what I was doing. But I knew there was a better way. Less is more. Don't offer him a coffee. He'll camp out for an hour. Do your business, then head back and do more business.
I will share the best script I've created. It's unobtrusive, and this complete stranger, whose day you interruped with a sales call, thinks you're doing them a favor. You're letting them know about a bond your state had issued. You're on their side. You're no longer fighting them for their investment dollars.
"Mr. Jones? Hi this is ____ with ____ here in town. The reason for my call is the State of __(your state)__ has just issued a __% tax-free bond and I was calling to see if you'd like to hear about it." Then you SHUT UP.
They'll ask a few questions. You tell them the bond price, rating, and which municipality it's with.
Then, you say this. This is CRUCIAL. "It's selling in increments of 25 bonds, and we started today with $3 million and we're down to about $600,000 left." Then you SHUT UP.
DO NOT SAY "THE MINIMUM IS $5,000." YOU WILL ONLY GET $5000. I've tried $5k increments, $50k increments, $100k increments. $25k is the sweet spot.
THIS BOND IS SELLING IN INCREMENTS OF 25 BONDS. <------ This. This is what changed my business. 2 point bond = $500 day. 2 orders = $1000 day.
here's the miscommunication, we're not having a "contest". There is no reward. its just to keep each other motivated. i dont have any other rookies in my office so good to at least see what others in other offices are doing.
this debate of what activity should get what amount of points is pointless. we're all adults, we all know that the person who makes the most amount of calls will be the most successful, and the person who resists the phones, makes excuses, etc will fail. I don't need anybody to reward my results or activity, but its good to see others are going through the same misery and finding out what works and what doesn't.
as far as I can tell, we are tracking activity. we enter in the amount of dials we make daily. whether they are worth points or not? there must be something more interesting we can discuss.
As much as I'd love to get into a new back and forth on why so much weight on appointments, really why does it matter? There is no prize. everybody needs to just get out there and do what works for them. I hope nobody is turning business down over the phone so they can get an appointment and score more points :)
Bondguy, you are right concerning metrics and points. My background is in B2B sales including developing two SME sales teams where I developed an effective metric system that was key in raising up many new sales people into higher income opportunities in big boy sales territories. There has to be a payoff - points - for the activities directly related to client acquistion. I found this was true for new people. They need a payoff. They need positive feedback while they are ramping up their pipeline.
I have a question for you, GHGR and others. I'm LOS 0 at a wire in the far flung reaches of the realm. When I caught a moment of the local managers time I laid out a Reader's Digest version of your posts as a major part of my marketing plan. I got push back on several fronts:
- He/she didn't want me to call outside our smallish market area. "How would you feel if someone sold an order of bonds from "X" area, he said" My personal thought was, I would feel like I missed out and ought to get on the phone...and further, I would think if someone from outside the area can cold call and close business so can I!
- "Cold calling for product doesn't work. People don't buy that way anymore, she/he also said." Let me hasten to say that I've read enough on this site to know this is patently false. I offer it purely for context.
- People don't want to buy bonds unless they can get them as they are issued. Is this true? Are most of your sales selling newly issued bonds? I'm guessing not.
What do you do for closing when you sell to out of staters? How do you take their funds?
Do you keep your selling of Georgia bonds to citizens of Georgia, North Dakota bonds to citizens of ND?
For a little more context: the office I'm in saw a large exodus of big producers in '09. I recently found out from someone in the office who has been around 10+ years that the people who are, with two exceptions, still there got their books by inheriting them from parents (mutliple FA's), sticking around long enough to pick up accounts from departing FA's.
Finally, I want to tell you how much I appreciate all of the freely offered input from so many on this site, especially BG.
Haven't been on lately, I had a disaster at home but having some success at work here.
I have been dialing using Bill Good's pitch along with BondGuy's method and have landed 4 accounts..
This is my first month in production and I have 536k under my belt as of right now.
I also read 500 day war, but co-workers are looking at me like I'm some kind of a madman and antisocial since I
don't BS with any of them...but I don't really care.
I'm qualifying for minimum of 100k, but I feel I should up it to 250k considering I'm in NYC...
My stats
40 contacts daily..calling strictly business from 8am-6pm, 6pm-7:45pm residential.
I'm calling with a product, 15 second pitch, my objection is always "thankyouverymuch" unless there is a chance for a fall back.
any input would be appreciated...back to work.
newregrep,
those are awesome numbers as far as I can tell and at that rate, you will be living the easy life in about 2 years. Thanks for joining the group and looking forward to hearing from you there also. let me ask you a couple questions,
1: what specifically is the bill good pitch, or more specifically, what are you saying when you call these prospects
2: you say you are calling from 8am to 7 45pm. you must be getting in 1000 dials? are you calling all day long or do you use any other prospecting methods to mix things up and make sure you don't burn out from all the dials?
Smokey,
Thank you. To be fair though, I brought over 150k from a previous client I dealt with and the rest was strictly from Cold calling.
1. Bill Good pitch is very simple. Instead of leading with a service, you lead with a product. I call with two different products. I call with a structured CD or a muni bond. My structured CD pitch "Mr. xxx this is new with new securities. The reason for my call is we are currently offering FDIC INSURED (say it firm) CDs whose rate of returned is tied to the market. Have you ever heard of these before?
(prospect answer yes or no).
Basically, it works just like a traditional CD at your bank. Meaning your money is invested for a certain period of time. The yield is determined by the performance of S&P 500. It is FDIC insured, so your principal is 100% protected all times. So if the S&P 500 is down, you've lost nothing. A great way to participate in the market with no risk of losing your initial investment. Would you like me send you some information on it?"
(IF yes qualify, IF no thank you very much, IF he says he doesn't do CD, do a fall back and ask what does he invest in currently)
Muni pitch that I'm using.
" Mr xxx this is new with new securities. The reason for my call is we currently have a tax free bond for xyz school district yielding 5%. How does this compare to the rates you are seeing at your bank?"
(Qualify)
Another one that I used a few times but I currently do not have the cojones to " Mr. xxx, this is new with new securities. I'm currrently looking for an investor who can raise 250k for the right idea. Am I speaking with the right person?"
I called probably 350+ numbers daily. I do calls in 50 minute blocks 10 minute rest. Right now I'm strictly cold calling due to insane weather here in NYC. I would probably mix in some cold walking to local businesses back home once the weather gets a little nicer.
I have not felt a burn out yet, but as time approaches toward 7pm, I do get tired and want to go home as I have a 1.5 hours commute.
The more I call the more I realize, it does not really matter what you say, it's purely based on how many people you are reaching out to. I also build my own lead from penny savers, newspapers, magazines, and reference USA.
[quote=ZwingDing]
Bondguy, you are right concerning metrics and points. My background is in B2B sales including developing two SME sales teams where I developed an effective metric system that was key in raising up many new sales people into higher income opportunities in big boy sales territories. There has to be a payoff - points - for the activities directly related to client acquistion. I found this was true for new people. They need a payoff. They need positive feedback while they are ramping up their pipeline.
I have a question for you, GHGR and others. I'm LOS 0 at a wire in the far flung reaches of the realm. When I caught a moment of the local managers time I laid out a Reader's Digest version of your posts as a major part of my marketing plan. I got push back on several fronts:
- He/she didn't want me to call outside our smallish market area. "How would you feel if someone sold an order of bonds from "X" area, he said" My personal thought was, I would feel like I missed out and ought to get on the phone...and further, I would think if someone from outside the area can cold call and close business so can I!
Ok, ask if you can expand to call your state and the closest neighboring state. Believe me, there will be enough to keep you busy. After reviewing a list of your firm's locations, if possible, try to concentrate on areas that might not be covered.
- "Cold calling for product doesn't work. People don't buy that way anymore, she/he also said." Let me hasten to say that I've read enough on this site to know this is patently false. I offer it purely for context.
Absolutely this is not true. We open on bonds and other fixed income products every day. And, at levels that would make your BOM's eye's pop. Your BOM sounds like a typically clueless company suit who parrots what the company wants.
Look up on this site, DMAN. He started about 3 years ago and is doing in the half mil range. All product calls to start the process.
Leading with product is a process that leads where it leads. Sometimes there is product sale over the phone and others it's an appointment leading to full blown FP meetings. I prefer the phone sale, but it goes where it goes.
- People don't want to buy bonds unless they can get them as they are issued. Is this true? Are most of your sales selling newly issued bonds? I'm guessing not.
The opposite is true. Almost all my biz is in the pre-enjoyed bonds market. I work out of inventory or I work with traders to find what i need. What people want is yield .
What do you do for closing when you sell to out of staters? How do you take their funds?
For existing clients we have margin accts set up to cover late pays. We also work with extended settlements. To everyone, clients and new accounts we send a copy of the confirm by UPS with a return envelope. We have payment back in three days. I have yet to be burned by a late pay. And, though you didn't ask, In my time in the biz, I can count on one hand the number of renigs. Just not an issue.
Do you keep your selling of Georgia bonds to citizens of Georgia, North Dakota bonds to citizens of ND?
Yes and no. Yield and rating is what matters. So, a good quality bond at a great price will sell anywhere. That said, most of my biz is concentrated in NJ,PA,MD,NY, and FL. I will try to find bonds from those states to match up with clients.
How do i decide? Well, it depends on the situation. If a great bond comes into inventory I get on the phone to those who I believe will have an interest. From there it's a race to place as much of that bond as i can before inventory runs out. At times, if I can, I take down a certain amt of the bonds. In this situations the bond can be anything from anyplace.
If, OTOH, the reason I'm looking for bonds is to replace a bond that has matured or been called, then I'm looking for a specific state or type of bond. The bond will have many of the characteristics of the departed bond.
For a little more context: the office I'm in saw a large exodus of big producers in '09. I recently found out from someone in the office who has been around 10+ years that the people who are, with two exceptions, still there got their books by inheriting them from parents (mutliple FA's), sticking around long enough to pick up accounts from departing FA's.
Finally, I want to tell you how much I appreciate all of the freely offered input from so many on this site, especially BG.
Not surprising to hear how most of the big producers in your branch got big. The between the lines read is that they, as well as the manager, are clueless on how to build a book from the ground up.
That your manager is clueless doesn't change the fact that he/she is the boss. If you go against the flow you need to make sure you are at least as successful as those going the accepted route. The manager is going to give you less leeway than those taking the other route. So, as DMAN says, there is no plan B. Make sure it works.
[/quote]
still going strong.....does this ever get easy!?!
westwood how are you doing?!
[quote=newregrep]
westwood how are you doing?!
[/quote]
I am doing good, could always be doing better. Seems like my contact ratio and prospect ratio has gone up since I started dialing businesses and not residential. My closing ratio is what is hurting me. I really need to improve that. I have been having a good response to pitching service, i.e. retirement/financial plan, as opposed to product, i.e. muni.
How about you?
Westwood, yes it does get easier, and then it gets easy.
One day, you'll realize you have enough "accounts".
Then, you'll come to this brilliant conclusion, that with all of those accounts, all you got to do is gather assets by adding value, profiling, consulting, etc. See, that is "easier".
Gee, then, after like 2-4 yrs, you'll realize you've got a ton of accounts, AND assets. You'll fire your dead weight accounts, then "manage" the clients money, and meet with them 2-4 times per year. You'll make a ton of money, and you'll say..."wow, this job is easy".
[quote=Westwood]
I have been having a good response to pitching service, i.e. retirement/financial plan, as opposed to product, i.e. muni.
[/quote]
What pitches, cold call lines, have been working for you when you pitch service?
I'm doing ok. I'm alot younger than you in this business as I'm in my 3rd month of production and I will reach my first 1 million AUM this friday it looks like.
Now when you say your closing ratio is low, is that with products or retirement planning?
I've had pretty good closing ratio with products so far, but I also do a bit of Equity linked CD, EIA, muni bonds, and a few fee-based business.
But my pitch is always the same, I use Bondguy's pitch and say it to 40 people a day.
If your closing ratio is not good, then maybe we need to fine tune your sales process. When the client comes to see you, what do you do?
These are the two pitches that I have been using… “Hi Mr. _____________, this is _______________ from _____________. The reason for my call is that I currently have supply of high quality insured bonds that paying ______ % tax free. How does that compare to the rates you are seeing at your bank?” “Hi Mr. _____________, this is _______________ from _____________. The reason for my call is that I calling small business owners, (professionals), like yourself to see when was the last time you had a retirement/financial plan performed?” I have been using the retirement pitch when calling on businesses and the bond pitch when calling residential. On the product, I have solely been using a muni. I tried using a high-yield preferred, and that seemed like it got more of a response. My problem is my follow-up. I usually offer to mail something out to them and follow-up in a few days to a week. When I follow-up, I can’t get a hold of them, or if I do they say they never received my info or that they haven’t had a chance to review. Then from there, it’s like chasing a ghost, they disappear, and if and when I do get a hold, it’s like a new cold call, they forget about our initial conversation. What’s the deal??? So frustrating…. When I say that my closing ratio is not good, I would say it’s for both pitches. The ones that I am able to pin down and get a meeting with. I usually run my initial meeting as follows: Agenda, I give them an agenda typed out that states, time frame (20-30 min), intro, gather info, questions, and schedule follow-up. Once I give them an agenda and idea of how I structure our meeting. I do as follows’” Intro, myself and firm and my process. Gather info, job, family, etc. small talk to get know them and get them talking. Then I seaway to investments oriented questions. Investment goals/objectives, time horizon, risk tolerance, investment experience, assets, past experiences/preferences/bias. Lastly I circle back with what initially brought them in, service/product, and talk about that and how that would fit in or not fit. Questions, then I have then ask any questions the may have for me. Schedule Follow-up. I think my main problem is that I am not closing for the account on the first appointment. I explain to them that my process is to get to know on the first appointment and then follow-up with a second appointment to give my recommendation and open the account then. Is this the wrong way to go about it??? Maybe I need to come up with a recommendation on the first meeting and close it then. The problem is that sometimes I feel like I don’t have enough info over the initial call to make a suitable recommendation. I don’t know…Maybe I need to better qualify them over the phone… What do you think?
West - Sounds like you're afraid of the "no." You call them up, interrupt their evening, and then they say "yes" to hearing about the bond... they're interested. Mailing, following up, etc is just prolonging the "no." Just say this "If you're truly interested, I suggest you reserve a portion today while we still have it." Then STFU. If they say yes, "Ok great. I'll open the account right now so we're sure we'll get this bond today. I need your full name, address, I have your phone number, birthdate and social security number. Once the account is open, I'll buy the bond. All you need to do is drop by tomorrow to sign the new account form and drop off the check."
You're doing your appointments by the book, but the book don't work. Get them to open an account and buy something, then call them up a month later and suggest another appointment regarding their long term retirement goals. Like my regional used to say, a AAA 5% muni is suitable for a 5 year old, a 15 year old, a 50 year old, and a 90 year old. It's not some hot stock nonsense investment.
This has easily been one of the top 5 threads for me, the wannabe that I am.
You guys really dig in so people like me know what it's like on the front lines. Keep it going!
bump
"Like my regional used to say, a AAA 5% muni is suitable for a 5 year old, a 15 year old, a 50 year old, and a 90 year old."
I completely and I mean COMPLETELY disagree with this. If you bought one in Nov. How’s the value of that bond doing now? Oh and when rates rise back to 6-7-8% and they still have 25 years left on the bond how will the value be? Hell what if their tax bracket is 15%? GHGR Jones taught you some things it will take a while to get out of your system. I have faith you can do it though.
The question is all about how you want to build your business. Do you want to “sell” them something or manage their finances? I steal Jones clients left and right because of this. I want to manage their money, not sell them a bond or a-share anything.
Find out why they want the muni. Is it truely because it is an alternative to a cd? Buy one that mature in a year and discount the commission (I just did an insured muni that matures in 5 months with .8% APY). Is it tax free income, well here’s a MF or CEF with a short duration to protect you then those interest rates rise.
There is no right or wrong, and GHGR seems to have done well doing business the way he wants to do it. You have to figure out how you want to do yours.
But it kills me when I hear people say a muni yield 5% today is suitable for everyone.
[quote=Hacksaw]"Like my regional used to say, a AAA 5% muni is suitable for a 5 year old, a 15 year old, a 50 year old, and a 90 year old." I completely and I mean COMPLETELY disagree with this. If you bought one in Nov. How's the value of that bond doing now? Oh and when rates rise back to 6-7-8% and they still have 25 years left on the bond how will the value be? Hell what if their tax bracket is 15%? GHGR Jones taught you some things it will take a while to get out of your system. I have faith you can do it though. The question is all about how you want to build your business. Do you want to "sell" them something or manage their finances? I steal Jones clients left and right because of this. I want to manage their money, not sell them a bond or a-share anything. Find out why they want the muni. Is it truely because it is an alternative to a cd? Buy one that mature in a year and discount the commission (I just did an insured muni that matures in 5 months with .8% APY). Is it tax free income, well here's a MF or CEF with a short duration to protect you then those interest rates rise. There is no right or wrong, and GHGR seems to have done well doing business the way he wants to do it. You have to figure out how you want to do yours. But it kills me when I hear people say a muni yield 5% today is suitable for everyone.[/quote]
Shut up!... How does your "managed money" pitch go over the phone?? THought so..
[quote=squash2]
[quote=Hacksaw]"Like my regional used to say, a AAA 5% muni is suitable for a 5 year old, a 15 year old, a 50 year old, and a 90 year old." I completely and I mean COMPLETELY disagree with this. If you bought one in Nov. How's the value of that bond doing now? Oh and when rates rise back to 6-7-8% and they still have 25 years left on the bond how will the value be? Hell what if their tax bracket is 15%? GHGR Jones taught you some things it will take a while to get out of your system. I have faith you can do it though. The question is all about how you want to build your business. Do you want to "sell" them something or manage their finances? I steal Jones clients left and right because of this. I want to manage their money, not sell them a bond or a-share anything. Find out why they want the muni. Is it truely because it is an alternative to a cd? Buy one that mature in a year and discount the commission (I just did an insured muni that matures in 5 months with .8% APY). Is it tax free income, well here's a MF or CEF with a short duration to protect you then those interest rates rise. There is no right or wrong, and GHGR seems to have done well doing business the way he wants to do it. You have to figure out how you want to do yours. But it kills me when I hear people say a muni yield 5% today is suitable for everyone.[/quote]
Shut up!... How does your "managed money" pitch go over the phone?? THought so..
[/quote]
Great contribution squish. I have no problem if people want to make a living selling bonds to people. You can make a great living off of it. It is just not how I choose to run my practice. But what GHGR said is ignorantly false. As for how my managed money approach pitch working over the phone, not too bad so far. I know who it is I am calling because I make my own lists. Having brought in 3m+ all fee-base from cold calling, 9 months into production is fine by me. Again it is how I chose to do my business, right or wrong. The EJ mantra of Munis are suitable and great for everyone bothers me.hacksaw do you mind sharing your pitch and your process to sell managed money? You can pm if you'd like or share it in this thread. I personally do not like managed money so much but I feel it's essential to building a practice, and it's ideal for some clients. But I have not found a great way to position it yet.
I use similar pitch as GHGR but I do not go out 30 years. I usually ladder them with different maturities so we always have something coming due.
I have a spelled out process:
Step 1 meet to learn about eachother. If we are both interested we move to step 2
Step 2 (within 7 days of step 1) meet to gather statements and confirm needs
Step 3 (within 7-14 days of step 2) meet to go over current holdings and how they accomplish goals/needs. Go over suggestions is any. If agree to work with me, sign paperwork then.
Step 4 (when account(s) transfer) meet to implement changes and new investments.
Step 5 (45 days after step 4) meet to review investments and talk about additional items that affect investments (life insurance, LTC, mortgage, etc).
Step 6 review meetings and ongoing communication.
For pitch on cold call I just lead by asking if they are working with an advisor already (if not, why not?). If so ask what they feel their advisor could be doing better. I ask if they have a higher balance than they did before the economy turned in '07. Then just ask questions until they either tell me no and hang up, or set a meeting with me. I then email them my process and a copy of the investment process that I do (Dorsey Wright).
It took me a while to create this but I have landed 2 decent clients ($250k+) out of it in the past 2 months that signed paperwork within 21 days of first meeting (28 days from cold call).
[quote=Hacksaw]I have a spelled out process: Step 1 meet to learn about eachother. If we are both interested we move to step 2 Step 2 (within 7 days of step 1) meet to gather statements and confirm needs Step 3 (within 7-14 days of step 2) meet to go over current holdings and how they accomplish goals/needs. Go over suggestions is any. If agree to work with me, sign paperwork then. Step 4 (when account(s) transfer) meet to implement changes and new investments. Step 5 (45 days after step 4) meet to review investments and talk about additional items that affect investments (life insurance, LTC, mortgage, etc). Step 6 review meetings and ongoing communication.
For pitch on cold call I just lead by asking if they are working with an advisor already (if not, why not?). If so ask what they feel their advisor could be doing better. I ask if they have a higher balance than they did before the economy turned in '07. Then just ask questions until they either tell me no and hang up, or set a meeting with me. I then email them my process and a copy of the investment process that I do (Dorsey Wright).
It took me a while to create this but I have landed 2 decent clients ($250k+) out of it in the past 2 months that signed paperwork within 21 days of first meeting (28 days from cold call).[/quote]
This helps me. Thanks.
Hack,
Very nice. I will certainly incorporate that into my practice.
Step 1 meet to learn about eachother. If we are both interested we move to step 2
Step 2 (within 7 days of step 1) meet to gather statements and confirm needs
Step 3 (within 7-14 days of step 2) meet to go over current holdings and how they accomplish goals/needs. Go over suggestions is any. If agree to work with me, sign paperwork then.
Step 4 (when account( transfer) meet to implement changes and new investments.
Step 5 (45 days after step 4) meet to review investments and talk about additional items that affect investments (life insurance, LTC, mortgage, etc).
Step 6 review meetings and ongoing communication.
Step 1 - 1hr meeting, ask a crap load of questions
Step 2 - 45min meeting: Show them where they are screwed up and how you'll do better. CLOSE
Step 3 - 30mins - Show them how you're going to run their $$$$
Step 4 - 3mth scheduled meeting planned right then
KEEP IT SIMPLE. You are two steps too long. Schedule a follow up meeting everytime the clients are in your office. Just like the dentist.
[quote=Hacksaw]I have a spelled out process: Step 1 meet to learn about eachother. If we are both interested we move to step 2 Step 2 (within 7 days of step 1) meet to gather statements and confirm needs Step 3 (within 7-14 days of step 2) meet to go over current holdings and how they accomplish goals/needs. Go over suggestions is any. If agree to work with me, sign paperwork then. Step 4 (when account(s) transfer) meet to implement changes and new investments. Step 5 (45 days after step 4) meet to review investments and talk about additional items that affect investments (life insurance, LTC, mortgage, etc). Step 6 review meetings and ongoing communication.
For pitch on cold call I just lead by asking if they are working with an advisor already (if not, why not?). If so ask what they feel their advisor could be doing better. I ask if they have a higher balance than they did before the economy turned in '07. Then just ask questions until they either tell me no and hang up, or set a meeting with me. I then email them my process and a copy of the investment process that I do (Dorsey Wright).
It took me a while to create this but I have landed 2 decent clients ($250k+) out of it in the past 2 months that signed paperwork within 21 days of first meeting (28 days from cold call).[/quote]
First of all… I didn’t mean you should pitch muni’s forever, though there are people that do and do very well. But it is a great qualifying product to start with.
Second… Looking at your past posts, it seems that you pitched muni’s before too, So let’s not cut off your nose to spite your face.
Third… How does 2 clients with $250k+ add up to $3M in fee?
Fourth… I understand your steps… but the pitch doesn’t make any sense? So you ask people if their statement balance was higher in 2007 than it is now(most will say yes) and you pitch what? You have the answer to avoid the bear markets and predict the future?
Squash-
1- you are correct. It can qualify, but most muni buyers I have found are only willing to do that. My fear is being looked at as a 1 trick pony. It might be a warrentless fear, but it is one now none-the-less.
2- you are correct again. As a newbie I’ve been trying a lot of different things to find what I am comfortable with. Unless you are comfortable, you cannot succeed.
3- those are just two in the past month+ since I changed approaches (process). 2m was brought in before. Everything I bring in, I do fee based.
4- I agree that people should be better off than they were before the downturn, but you would be amazed by how many are not. I only get to that question if they are happy/completely satisfied with their current advisor. I take a tactical offensive approach and that has done well. It lags in up markets and outperforms in down. After 08 that seems to resonate well with people.
Hacksaw...
Keep doing what you are doing...it will pay off longterm.
Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
PM me if you have doubts.
OMO
Westwood, this is one of my favorite threads, I also like your muni bond cold calling lines. Would you be able to share some of the rebuttals you use. Thanks
Think about using your time more efficiently by understanding the potential clients prospective of you. The client will invest their money with those who are most successful in their game. The client wants to look at you and know you are successful. If you are successful, the client believes you can make him or her rich. You must look successful in your appearance and drive a car that say you have made it. Follow these guidelines. First, go after the big ones. This means doctors, dentists and big investors. Dress the part. Know that the big ones know brands and quality of clothes. Invest in yourself, it can be done inexpensively. Second, drive up in a prestigious sports car. Successful people have sports car toys they like to drive occasionly. Do not lease or rent a car, client can see through this quickly. Acquiring a prestigious car is easily a doable. The first day we used this approach, we made twelve cold calls on doctors and opened over a hundred new accounts through referrals.
Hey newbies, hope all is well. Just a couple general comments on some recent posts.
Be really careful to make your client acquisition plan too many steps. Each time you meet a person, there is a risk factor in losing them along the way. I'd be very opposed to any strategy that asks the client for more than 2 meetings to seal the deal. Remember folks, you can go back to the client for the REST OF YOUR CAREER. Don't be so intent on trying to get everything all at once, that doesn't happen as often as getting a meaningful amount.
Also, the BEST advice you really new guys can get, is from folks that have been in the business, and survived/succeeded, during the last 3-5 yrs. So, you want to really pick the ears of guys that got licensed in 2004-2008. The prospecting playing field is still the same for the most part. Then there are guys like me, long term veterans, that can't offer you the same, because sooo much has changed. For example, I never had to deal with the national do not call list. Where I can really help a guy, is the guy that has about 3-5 yrs experience, that now wants to maximize his client relations.
When you are new, one thing that hasn't changed, is that you need to focus on opening quality households. Even if you only get 50-100k, if that money comes from a quality source, it will greatly assist you later.
GHGR's advice is solid. I think he's been in the biz the time period I've mentioned. He's tried all sorts of ideas no doubt, and has come to a universal conclusion. Sell people an instrument they have a high inclination to want/need. He's right, munis have a very, very broad appeal.
Clients need cash flow when they're retired. Don't get too caught up in the semantics of guessing about interest rates. If you sell a bond the RIGHT way, you'll not have to apologize about the price later. They bought it for the income, that is tax free. Remember too, that while interest rates may go up, muni rates are still unusually high compared to treasuries and where they've traded at for the last 20 yrs. More important, TAXES ARE GOING HIGHER, along with rates. Higher taxes will mean that the price of these bonds will go higher, or at least offset the detriments of rising rates.
Make hay while the sun is shining. Right now you can sell munis without too much distraction, that might not be the case a year or two from now. Pound it, get the accounts open, then develop the relations for full asset management and asset allocation.
I'd rather hire a guy that could open 25k to 100k quality households like a mad man, than some guy that could pull in one or two 500k relations per 4-6 months. I can get all the money LATER...
[quote=BigFirepower]
GHGR's advice is solid. I think he's been in the biz the time period I've mentioned. He's tried all sorts of ideas no doubt, and has come to a universal conclusion. Sell people an instrument they have a high inclination to want/need. He's right, munis have a very, very broad appeal.
Clients need cash flow when they're retired. Don't get too caught up in the semantics of guessing about interest rates. If you sell a bond the RIGHT way, you'll not have to apologize about the price later. They bought it for the income, that is tax free. Remember too, that while interest rates may go up, muni rates are still unusually high compared to treasuries and where they've traded at for the last 20 yrs. More important, TAXES ARE GOING HIGHER, along with rates. Higher taxes will mean that the price of these bonds will go higher, or at least offset the detriments of rising rates.
Make hay while the sun is shining. Right now you can sell munis without too much distraction, that might not be the case a year or two from now. Pound it, get the accounts open, then develop the relations for full asset management and asset allocation.
I'd rather hire a guy that could open 25k to 100k quality households like a mad man, than some guy that could pull in one or two 500k relations per 4-6 months. I can get all the money LATER...
[/quote]
True, you can get the money later, but in today's environment, most firms will fire your arse quickly for not meeting your goals because most rookies simply can't open accounts fast enough (no matter what the size) to meet the hurdles without the benefit of "gifting" from an established team or family money. I think your advice is on point, and you will naturally run into larger accounts by the simple fact that you have a large amount of activity, but I have a rookie working for me now and the clients he is bringing in for the most part are unsuitable for individual bonds (most are still in the accumulation stage). So what would be your suggestion for a fresh out of the pack rookie to make it? All management seems to talk about is fee based, fee based, fee based. But even if a rook does hammer it on the fee based side, the fees won't accumulate fast enough for them to meet their year one goals because most need some ramp up time before they start closing accounts. By that time, the first hurdle is coming up and momentum in this business either works for you or against you. Crazy!! Thoughts?
find a client that is willing to do syndicate business with you if you work with a major wire. You won't be able to get any shares on your own if you are rookie so partner up with your syndicate coordinator. Do enouch secondary & Ipo business for quick production and cold call on non deal days and build up your lead database to about 400. Do a monthly email drip, mail drip, and phone drip to all those 400 people and you should have accoutns rolling in. This is my exact process and I really hope it works. I do not see how I can fail if I work it.
P.S. make sure all those 400 people have more than 100K of investable assets with the majority having over 250K
welcome back ricky we missed ya.
The wirehouse is all about fee-based now. I did exactly 300 calls today with muni bonds qualifying at 100k. I had 24 contacts and 6 interested prospects. I'm having trouble pitching managed money though over the phone, I think fee-based is something that comes with relationship.
I also pitch ELN over the phone with FDIC coverage, about to close a small account tomorrow for 50k,
newregrep, you only calling on residential or businesses, or both...also what types of muni's are you calling on, i.e. preminum, discount, term, rate, etc. just curious.
[quote=newregrep]
welcome back ricky we missed ya.
The wirehouse is all about fee-based now. I did exactly 300 calls today with muni bonds qualifying at 100k. I had 24 contacts and 6 interested prospects. I'm having trouble pitching managed money though over the phone, I think fee-based is something that comes with relationship.
I also pitch ELN over the phone with FDIC coverage, about to close a small account tomorrow for 50k,
Managed money is a relationship sale and the only way to sell it is face to face. If you can get a face to face you can sell them anything and get their serious money.
[/quote]
I call businesses mainly. Today I only called dentists and doctors near my home area and pitched a par bond I found in the inventory. It was a AA water rev bond from NYC 5% tax-free return.
How many contacts are you guy shooting for on a daily basis?
and on my own, I agree with you...I need to start shooting for appointments because without managed money I'm fired.
[quote=newregrep]
welcome back ricky we missed ya.
The wirehouse is all about fee-based now. I did exactly 300 calls today with muni bonds qualifying at 100k. I had 24 contacts and 6 interested prospects. I'm having trouble pitching managed money though over the phone, I think fee-based is something that comes with relationship.
I also pitch ELN over the phone with FDIC coverage, about to close a small account tomorrow for 50k,
You can pitch managed money (I have done it successfully), but I have found that when you pitch a bond, you will get exactly that, bond buyers. Nothing wrong with that at all, but if you are in a wirehouse, I know what your hurdles are and they come fast and hard so you need to go after the "big money" early on so congrats on qualifying for at least $100k. $25k here and $50k there will get you fired quickly in my experience.
I did pitch an internal covered call portfolio and got really good mileage out of that because it is a great story. However, I have never had success pitching bonds...I must just suck at it! Everyone of my clients (prospects too) gets a financial plan and I get so involved with them during my sales process, that it is hard for them NOT to move the managed money at the end of my process. So, I try and stuff as many people as possible into the top of the funnel so that I can wait for them to fall out of the bottom. However, when I was calling and would take any kind of account, I got exactly that...$25k here, another $38k there, and so forth. My biggest client is a "nice" 7 figure couple that I cold called and the funny thing is that it actually takes me LESS time to deal with them than the small peanuts guys. The small peanuts guys call you for all kinda silly stuff and want you to come pick up $5000 checks (when they could easily EFT the cash). With gas at darn near $4 a gallon, it just doesn't make sense and isn't how I want to continue building my practice.
There are plenty of ways to get the job done in this business, but leading with the small product trades has just never worked for me. Either way, your activity level is high and in my opinion, a high activity level trumps everything else.
[/quote]
Have you considered a short personalized web video to attract new clients?
[quote=newregrep]
I call businesses mainly. Today I only called dentists and doctors near my home area and pitched a par bond I found in the inventory. It was a AA water rev bond from NYC 5% tax-free return.
How many contacts are you guy shooting for on a daily basis?
and on my own, I agree with you...I need to start shooting for appointments because without managed money I'm fired.
[/quote]
I also primarily call on business, just a way better contact ratio. I have tried calling on all dr's, dentists, general, etc. The problem I find though is that I can never get a hold of them, they are always with patients per the gatekeepers, and they never have voicemail. I think out of all the calls I've made to dr's, I got one on the phone and he was a chiropractor and he wasn't interested. So I kind of stopped calling on them, any tips on getting through to dr's???
I have good contact ratios with lawyers though, they seem to always be available.
I have been trying to reach at least 50 contacts a day, but realisticaly I average about 25-35 contacts a day.
What term are the bonds you've been pitching? I usually try not to pitch anything longer than 10 years.
Stone, ok, my advice is that your junior is calling the wrong people. Fact is, we are NOT in the business of helping people accumulate wealth. There is NO money in that. We are in the business of managing wealth, retaining it, generating income from it, and helping clients with the administration of their assets, helping them keep it all organized and matching their goals and risk tolerance. Have your Jr. call wealth people, or retired people...
Crazy? Yes, the Majors and wires are completely lost in the woods, and the numbers of defections to indy support that. Managed money is 2x as profitable for a firm, than a non managed account, that is why they preach that to nauseum. Insurance, the same thing..
I believe that if you serve the client, you succeed. But, you have to find a firm that agrees, or create one yourself...
I don't envy the newbies of today. Dang, was tuff enuf when I started in 92, and bounced around for years. I find today's environment to be far more difficult. Still, if you take the simple base models of what I've written, Bond Guy, and several others, with extremely hard work and some luck, you can make it.
I've always believed that if your firm is bad, or your manager is bad, you are DOOMED. Doesn't matter how much production you do either, they'll kill you. When confronted with a no win situation, show yourself the door, it's cheaper.
If I was a newbie today, and I felt like I had the right stuff, I'd find a killer indy rep that is a good guy, and convince him to hire me under a mutually beneficial contract. If someone is interested in that concept, PM me, and I can give a few tips on how to find a guy like that. Right now, the big are getting bigger and better, and at some point the big are going to want to expand, buy out books, and do all sorts of other things that might mean hiring a young, sharp hard working licensed newbie.
I'm pitching a fairly long term bond...I never close on em though. It's only there as a bait for me. I use that bond to get their attention, then shoot for a suitability meeting, and usually close with something else.
On the plus side, the guys who actually buy bonds are income buyers, so some of them do not mind that it's long-term.
I put together a list on google...and called them and got 2 prospects out of it. I'm meeting one today, and the other I'm dripping on. I think it boils down to how you are talking to the "gatekeepers". I usually say, "Hi is Jim in?" "This is newRR please put me through"
It's all about being casual imo.
When you guys reach the gatekeepers and you say, "hi, is jim in"? and they say who is this and/or what is this regarding? What do you guys say.
I usually say this is "jim", or "jim from abc brokerage". Some times it works and other times it doesn't , and when they ask what the call is reagrading, I have been saying it's personal and that kind of works.
Westwood. Usually, the business owner is the hardest working guy in the office. So, you can reach him when the others are not there. It might be earlier than 8 or 9 am, or he might like to work late, or he comes in on Saturdays to shuffle paper on his desk, get away from the wife. If you live/work in a neighborhood that you can walk/drive, why not create a master prospecting list, and observe the habits?
There is a balance between smart prospecting, and smile and dial physical prospecting. If you don't blend the two together, it's hard to find statistically meaningful results.
Calling with product, for example tax free bonds, doesn't have to be mutually exclusive to managing wealth. Build the book with TF bond clients and then penetrate those accounts. Who is more likely to hear you out on managing their money, someone who knows you and trusts you or a complete stranger? Once i open an acct on a TF bond the client's other advisors have a huge problem. I now have a seat at the table. I begin the wonder of me campaign to give them service far above anything they are likely to be getting from their existing advisors. After some time we approach clients to talk about the other three corners of the investment table. If we are unsuccessful, we've still got a bond buyer client. If successful, we take it as far as we can.
Still, if you just want to do product sales and nothing more, there is nothing wrong with that plan. Plug in the need to raise about 1 million in new assets per month, with a 3 to 6 month lead time to get up to speed. Work all the numbers backwards to figure out how many dials, hours of calling, acct sizes etc. Put it all together and call it a business plan. Show it to your BOM and let him tell you it won't work. Prove him wrong because he is wrong.
I'm not a big MF fan but there are some good tax free MF out there. One could build a book with some of these funds and get instant traction in production. For those who need/want instant gratification do A shares. For those thinking they want more of an annuity do C shares. There are funds with very good management yielding north of 6% tax free. That's a tough act to beat. Raise 9 million in year one, that's $90,000 in C share production or$360,000 in A share. Year two ramp it up to 12 million new money and the numbers start to get exciting, about $210,000 c share and $500,000 A share. I know , sounds crazy, might work!!!
Goodness I hope I get hired so I can put all of this amazing insight to work. Westwood, keep it up, man! Your work is inspiring to someone on the outside.
I went through the interview process, was told in private that they would be making an offer. Did the background check stuff yesterday....hope to find out soon!
Bond Guy's first paragraph above, is like gold. That's how it's done.
Westwood, how are things going? Always like to hear updated info on what's working/not working TODAY.
BTW, I got a very fair offer and I start mid-April :)
[quote=BigFirepower]
Bond Guy's first paragraph above, is like gold. That's how it's done.
[/quote]
Agreed! That is the connection, many of the "anti cold callers" miss. The muni trade is not the end goal, but merely the first step in the journey to manage the entire pie for very wealthy people.