1st two years
I am starting next month and have read a lot on this site. For those of you who have been out 1-2 years, what was the key to building your business in the beginning. From what I have read referrals are key, however when starting off with $0 assets and 0 clients, not exactly ideal.
I have read in magazines(On wall street) top 40 under 40, that most of those people either inherited or built there book by cold calling. Is cold calling still relevant(to those who started in the last 2 years) and does what Bill Good preach about calling with a product still work?
First 2 years I built my book on office seminars and referrals. Here's a strategy that helped me out early: Go to Yahoo or Google, type in certain industry names in the title line and click "local" so you'll get a listing of local offices only. Type in some ones you know are good, like architects. When you call these people ask for the person that deals with setting up seminars with the office. When you get this person on the line give them your schpiel about specializing in financial planning awareness or what have you, and that you want to offer complimentary lunch for up to 10-15 for the office (Pick Subway or something cheap so you don't go broke). Talk to them for 10 minutes about what you do and how you can help and hopefully your company can make compliant comment cards for them to fill out. You'll get a client for every 3 or so lunches you do so it will be profitable as long as you are good in front of people.
You'll get the receptionists that you swear dropped out of school in 3rd grade and those that give you the run around but early on I'd estimate I set a seminar for every 3 or 4 people I talked to (People in charge I talked to, not simply the receptionist that may or may not be mentally challenged). Hope this helps.Where did you start out working? I like that concept. I am trying like he11 to get more seminars, but I can’t seem to get good attendance. I like the employer route. Any more thoughts on that? What kinds of topics hold people’s attention that you can do in only 10-15 minutes?
I’ll tell you where I started working but you have to promise to keep your attention past that point, and keep in mind that I didn’t follow the company mantra to a T…Ameriprise. Their concept is for those starting out you should do lunch and learns, by setting up a fishbowl at restaurants and then calling the cards when they are dropped in. I’d get like 8-10 of these a week and set 3-4 of them, which was not enough to live on, so I used the local directory through Yahoo and only looked up businesses who had offices in non-rough areas of the city and weren’t staffing agencies or car dealerships. Fortunately at the time we would get reimbursed on our lunches, but that has gone the way of the dodo bird.
During the presentation I'd talk mostly about taxes and retirement planning. I'd stay tight with the hot button issues and was careful not to drone on with any script and if successful, the presentation would turn into a 5-10 minute Q&A at the end. That night or the next morning I'd follow up with them and get an appt. set. The key when you set up the presentation is to ask some questions about their company and get the HR person on the other end talking and laughing. Send a quick follow-up e-mail with a menu and sign-in sheet and call again 1-2 days before the presentation requesting peoples orders and asking for a headcount. Schedule them no more than 7-10 days out if you can. Anything past 2 weeks and you're asking for a cancelled lunch.[quote=B24]Where did you start out working? I like that concept. I am trying like he11 to get more seminars, but I can’t seem to get good attendance. I like the employer route. Any more thoughts on that? What kinds of topics hold people’s attention that you can do in only 10-15 minutes? [/quote]
Why is your attendance so bad?
Don’t know. I live in an average populated suburban area (nowhere near any major city). There’s money, but there are a LOT of wirehouse advisors in my area (I live in a rather affluent state). But nobody is doing seminars, so it’s not seminared out. One of the problems I think is that the older retired people are all hooked up already with advisors, and the younger people are too busy working. But that also sounds like an excuse to me. I am trying different things, but none seem to work real effectively. I am actually good at presenting, but can’t seem to get any traction with regular attendees. I have done the mass-mail thing, the client-event thing, the teaching classes thing, etc. They all end up resulting in some clients, but not always enough to justify the cost. I need to find a way to get 20-30 people in the room consistently, without breaking the bank on postage and dinner.
[quote=B24]Don’t know. I live in an average populated suburban area (nowhere near any major city). There’s money, but there are a LOT of wirehouse advisors in my area (I live in a rather affluent state). But nobody is doing seminars, so it’s not seminared out. One of the problems I think is that the older retired people are all hooked up already with advisors, and the younger people are too busy working. But that also sounds like an excuse to me. I am trying different things, but none seem to work real effectively. I am actually good at presenting, but can’t seem to get any traction with regular attendees. I have done the mass-mail thing, the client-event thing, the teaching classes thing, etc. They all end up resulting in some clients, but not always enough to justify the cost. I need to find a way to get 20-30 people in the room consistently, without breaking the bank on postage and dinner.[/quote]
You need to find a way to be different.
Do lunch, not dinner. They’ll appreciate the quick in-and-out style, and since they’ve already seen your face, albeit for 10 minutes, the follow-up phone call will be a breeze, especially if you remember a specific question they asked during the presentation. (“Great seeing you yesterday, Fred. You mentioned yesterday that you’re the “new guy” at your current office and that retirement savings is important to you. Do you mind me asking if you were saving in any 401(k) or 403(b) in yoru previous job?”). Dinner is too much of a commitment for some people, fighting traffic after work and maybe the spouse has to stay late at her job, etc…
Think of the seminar as the first appointment. When they come in to meet with you, it’s closing time. That means you have to be very clear about what you believe in, what you do, and what you sell in the seminar. Then they can do the thinking it over between the seminar and the first appt.
I have asked several advisors in my old region about seminars. They seem to frown upon them because, from what I can tell, they have their BOA set up the whole thing and then sit and wait on people to show up. If someone purposly goes to a seminar then they have a need somewhere in their head floating around. It maybe in the front but probably in the back. It is hard to find enough people with a current need to come to a seminar.
Now on the other hand if you don't give your audience the chance to back out, then you can find current needs and more often then not you can plant seeds. Both parts are important in the early going. Let as many people know you and what you do as possible. So, doing something like 3rdyrp2 suggests is a good idea. You only have to convince one person to let you have the seminar instead of trying to get a dozen convinced they need to come. Also, you can use this same approach with any group of people you can think of. Especially groups or clubs you may have common interest in such as hunting clubs, HOA meetings(B24 how many HOAs are in your town), even a four man scramble at the golf course. Think of where you can find a dozen or so people that are regularly together then find the one person that will let you in. This information is part of what I have gathered in my short time thus far. I have no proof that it does or does not work. I personally like the seminar approach over cold calling or walking. It may be I am somewhat partial to seminars because people that can't sell, teach.How much up front money does that cost?
If you do a sandwich and soda platter than bank on about $75-$90 per presentation.
[quote=3rdyrp2]If you do a sandwich and soda platter than bank on about $75-$90 per presentation. [/quote]
Do you do it in their conference area? Off site?
Cold calling 100% for me now pretty much all referrals. This is the last month in year two for me. If you cold call and make 40 contacts a day you will easily make it.
Conference room. Minimizes amount of people that cancel last minute. No one has an excuse to not be able to run down to the conference room for 10 minutes.
Cold calling 100% for me now pretty much all referrals. This is the last month in year two for me. If you cold call and make 40 contacts a day you will easily make it.
Did you call residential or business or both?
Both
[quote=3rdyrp2]
First 2 years I built my book on office seminars and referrals. Here's a strategy that helped me out early: Go to Yahoo or Google, type in certain industry names in the title line and click "local" so you'll get a listing of local offices only. Type in some ones you know are good, like architects. When you call these people ask for the person that deals with setting up seminars with the office. When you get this person on the line give them your schpiel about specializing in financial planning awareness or what have you, and that you want to offer complimentary lunch for up to 10-15 for the office (Pick Subway or something cheap so you don't go broke). Talk to them for 10 minutes about what you do and how you can help and hopefully your company can make compliant comment cards for them to fill out. You'll get a client for every 3 or so lunches you do so it will be profitable as long as you are good in front of people.
You'll get the receptionists that you swear dropped out of school in 3rd grade and those that give you the run around but early on I'd estimate I set a seminar for every 3 or 4 people I talked to (People in charge I talked to, not simply the receptionist that may or may not be mentally challenged). Hope this helps.[/quote] Man , that sounds like a great idea. Thats pretty ballsy to jump into that, brnd new to the business. I guess you could classify that as being willing to do the things that others wont do. good for you.How much up front money does that cost?
I think Jones pays like 75% of the cost back and if you have a wholesaler speak for any reason, they pay some too.
Both
Where did you get the names for business? residential?
At first Sales Genie. After that all over the place. Lord Abbet has free records. I have over 17,000 records in my database. I would highly recommend getting ACT on Ebay. Probably $20 or $30 and get the tech support deal for around $300. That way your work is YOURS. Not to mention it’s 10x than any wire-house CRS I know of.
What type of criteria did you use to target business on Sales Genie(sales employees)
WHen you called residential, did you call anyone not on the DNC or break it down by income/networth.
Did you ever try using corporate directories?
[quote=Speedynew]
1) What type of criteria did you use to target business on Sales Genie(sales employees)2) WHen you called residential, did you call anyone not on the DNC or break it down by income/networth.
3) Did you ever try using corporate directories?[/quote] 1) I targeted business with up to 25 employees. Reason is I believe it's small enough that one person can make a decision. 2) I used Gryfin (spelling?) even after scrubbing list. I targeted people that had over $500k in equity of their home and people that just moved to the area. 3) I did not but I know people who do with good success.
At first Sales Genie. After that all over the place. Lord Abbet has free records. I have over 17,000 records in my database. I would highly recommend getting ACT on Ebay. Probably $20 or $30 and get the tech support deal for around $300. That way your work is YOURS. Not to mention it’s 10x than any wire-house CRS I know of.
Where on the Lord Abbet site did you find this?
You can try www.manta.com as well. (It’s free.)
Speedynew, you are going to hear dozens of things that work and dozens that don't work. The reality is that everything works if you do enough of it. I don't care how you do it, but there are only 2 activities that count. 1) Seeing people 2)Fighting to see them. I would suggest that between 9:00-4:00 every day you only do those two things. If you do anything else, you are screwing up. Example of activities that are considered screwing up: 1) Getting the mail 2) Answering the phone 3) Having a meeting with your manager 4) putting together a phoning list 5) sending out a mailing 6) preparing for your big meeting 7)having lunch with a wholesaler 8)reading this board 9)preparing for your seminar 10)responding to an e-mail 11)reading e-mail Activities that aren't screwing up: 1)Having a meeting with a prospect/client 2) Calling a prospect/client to sell a product or set an appointment 3) Cold walking to sell a product or set an appointmentI am starting next month and have read a lot on this site. For those of you who have been out 1-2 years, what was the key to building your business in the beginning. From what I have read referrals are key, however when starting off with $0 assets and 0 clients, not exactly ideal.
I have read in magazines(On wall street) top 40 under 40, that most of those people either inherited or built there book by cold calling. Is cold calling still relevant(to those who started in the last 2 years) and does what Bill Good preach about calling with a product still work?
I think it's called "Intelligence" you have to sign up for it. I've not done this but you can go to the library and pull names from the five databases Sales Genie pulls from for free. You can also use the electronic version of the Polk Directory. If you use your imagination you can get lists from all over the place.[quote=Gaddock] At first Sales Genie. After that all over the place. Lord Abbet has free records. I have over 17,000 records in my database. I would highly recommend getting ACT on Ebay. Probably $20 or $30 and get the tech support deal for around $300. That way your work is YOURS. Not to mention it’s 10x than any wire-house CRS I know of.[/quote]
Where on the Lord Abbett site did you find this?
Start at the end. Who do you want to serve and what do you want your business to look like. If you’re like most of us, you’ll want to manage wealth for your clients and get referrals from your clients. So think about what kind of clients you want and then prospect exclusively for them.
If you want to help retirees manage their income and arrange their legacy, do nothing but offer tax free bonds until you have two hundred households and then start providing more services to your clients.
If you want to help working families, then start by selling life insurance and then after a while expand your services.
If you want to help the boomers prepare for retirement, get your head examined because the boomers are irrational.
If you want to do 401k rollovers, schmooze your local big employers.
I would really try to specialize and find some niche.
A word about cold calling – even Bill Good writes that cold calling is harder now than it was five years ago and much harder than it was 10 years ago. Advisors have done it, and I respect the hell out of them, but most of us don’t have the patience to do it. If you are going to cold call, you should call on something specific like tax frees, or be like Gaddock and have a unique type of service.
Once you’ve figured out what you want to do, then do what Anon says and just prospect all day long until you have enough clients to dig deep and get referrals.
Great post. I've had some pretty good success. I had zero contacts and built what I have by cold calling. It works better than most think that don't do it. When I fist started I would start calling at 8 am and not stop until I had made 40 contacts or 8 pm which ever came first. I would add to the above that you may want a specific type of client and that's great BUT you'll have to kiss every toad that hops until you have a foundation to stand on.Start at the end. Who do you want to serve and what do you want your business to look like. If you’re like most of us, you’ll want to manage wealth for your clients and get referrals from your clients. So think about what kind of clients you want and then prospect exclusively for them.
If you want to help retirees manage their income and arrange their legacy, do nothing but offer tax free bonds until you have two hundred households and then start providing more services to your clients.
If you want to help working families, then start by selling life insurance and then after a while expand your services.
If you want to help the boomers prepare for retirement, get your head examined because the boomers are irrational.
If you want to do 401k rollovers, schmooze your local big employers.
I would really try to specialize and find some niche.
A word about cold calling – even Bill Good writes that cold calling is harder now than it was five years ago and much harder than it was 10 years ago. Advisors have done it, and I respect the hell out of them, but most of us don’t have the patience to do it. If you are going to cold call, you should call on something specific like tax frees, or be like Gaddock and have a unique type of service.
Once you’ve figured out what you want to do, then do what Anon says and just prospect all day long until you have enough clients to dig deep and get referrals.
[quote=Speedynew] [quote=Gaddock] At first Sales Genie. After that all over the place. Lord Abbet has free records. I have over 17,000 records in my database. I would highly recommend getting ACT on Ebay. Probably $20 or $30 and get the tech support deal for around $300. That way your work is YOURS. Not to mention it’s 10x than any wire-house CRS I know of.[/quote] Where on the Lord Abbett site did you find this?
I think it’s called “Intelligence” you have to sign up for it.
I’ve not done this but you can go to the library and pull names from the five databases Sales Genie pulls from for free. You can also use the electronic version of the Polk Directory.
If you use your imagination you can get lists from all over the place.[/quote]
I asked about this recently, and they are only giving “intelligence” to a certain number of people in each region now. So according to their internal you either need to be lucky, or producing quite a bit to use it now.
Bummer … I haven’t been there for quite some time but it used to be wide open. I would call them and tell them you are new and plan to use their stuff when appropriate and to turn it on for you.
Gaddock, when did you start seeing results (generating comm or fees)?
My fist month out was great as I sandbagged during the training period. The next five months were TERRIBLE. All I did was cold call all day and almost half my appointments set were no shows. I don't think I did more than $2k in gross in 5 months combined. Caught a brake in month seven. Month eight was when I actually gained some traction and have been building each month since. Stats for Cold Calling 367 dials a day. 15 became leads (goal was to contact 40 per day). 1 of those becomes a client after 9 contacts.Gaddock, when did you start seeing results (generating comm or fees)?
Wow, you can see why most people don’t have the patience to cold call. So if it takes a full day of calling, and then NINE subsequent contacts (presumably at least 2 weeks apart), it would take you 18 weeks or so to turn one days’ worth of calls into a client?
I suppose if you do this year after year, then you have a steady stream of prospects at all times.
[quote=Gaddock] [quote=Speedynew] [quote=Gaddock] At first Sales Genie. After that all over the place. Lord Abbet has free records. I have over 17,000 records in my database. I would highly recommend getting ACT on Ebay. Probably $20 or $30 and get the tech support deal for around $300. That way your work is YOURS. Not to mention it’s 10x than any wire-house CRS I know of.[/quote] Where on the Lord Abbett site did you find this?
I think it’s called “Intelligence” you have to sign up for it.
I’ve not done this but you can go to the library and pull names from the five databases Sales Genie pulls from for free. You can also use the electronic version of the Polk Directory.
If you use your imagination you can get lists from all over the place.[/quote]
I asked about this recently, and they are only giving “intelligence” to a certain number of people in each region now. So according to their internal you either need to be lucky, or producing quite a bit to use it now.[/quote]
Just tell them you know Weddle, Windy. Problem solved.
RIA’s can use Advisor Intelligence without being a “big” producer.
Yeah it takes some time. I haven't made cold calls for quite a while. I'm getting some huge referrals. I've been working on a foundation I'll easily have 20 or 30 contacts in some way or form before I have the ACAT and transfer instructions.Wow, you can see why most people don’t have the patience to cold call. So if it takes a full day of calling, and then NINE subsequent contacts (presumably at least 2 weeks apart), it would take you 18 weeks or so to turn one days’ worth of calls into a client?
I suppose if you do this year after year, then you have a steady stream of prospects at all times.
My fist month out was great as I sandbagged during the training period. The next five months were TERRIBLE. All I did was cold call all day and almost half my appointments set were no shows. I don't think I did more than $2k in gross in 5 months combined. Caught a brake in month seven. Month eight was when I actually gained some traction and have been building each month since. Stats for Cold Calling 367 dials a day. 15 became leads (goal was to contact 40 per day). 1 of those becomes a client after 9 contacts.[/quote] But were you angling for their entire portfolio or simply a muni bond order to begin the relationship? I think ACATing a portfolio would take significantly more time than "do you have $25K to put in a muni"[quote=Speedynew]Gaddock, when did you start seeing results (generating comm or fees)?
[quote=Gaddock][quote=Speedynew]
1) What type of criteria did you use to target business on Sales Genie(sales employees)2) WHen you called residential, did you call anyone not on the DNC or break it down by income/networth.
3) Did you ever try using corporate directories?[/quote] 1) I targeted business with up to 25 employees. Reason is I believe it's small enough that one person can make a decision. 2) I used Gryfin (spelling?) even after scrubbing list. I targeted people that had over $500k in equity of their home and people that just moved to the area. 3) I did not but I know people who do with good success.[/quote] Are there a lot of home in your area that are valued above $500K? I am in the midwest (ohio to be specific, without too specifc) and there aren't that many of those in my area, who aren't on the DNC yet have equity of $500K
RIA’s can use Advisor Intelligence without being a “big” producer.
Maybe it's only a Jones thing, but when I called the internal to ask about it he mentioned that they are only giving it to a certain number of folks at a time from now on, not sure why.
[quote=voltmoie]
Just tell them you know Weddle, Windy. Problem solved.[/quote]
Not sure what your trying to prove here. I don’t even know who this “Windy” dude is. You guys keep mentioning him, but there aren’t any posts for me to look at. One things for sure, save your breath on associating myself with him because thats not the case. I just came across this forum when I registered for the magazine last week.
[quote=Speedynew][quote=Gaddock][quote=Speedynew]
1) What type of criteria did you use to target business on Sales Genie(sales employees)2) WHen you called residential, did you call anyone not on the DNC or break it down by income/networth.
3) Did you ever try using corporate directories?[/quote] 1) I targeted business with up to 25 employees. Reason is I believe it's small enough that one person can make a decision. 2) I used Gryfin (spelling?) even after scrubbing list. I targeted people that had over $500k in equity of their home and people that just moved to the area. 3) I did not but I know people who do with good success.[/quote] Are there a lot of home in your area that are valued above $500K? I am in the midwest (ohio to be specific, without too specifc) and there aren't that many of those in my area, who aren't on the DNC yet have equity of $500K[/quote] I live next to the ocean with a lot of people from up north coming down to retire. Reduce the number OR call them all!
My fist month out was great as I sandbagged during the training period. The next five months were TERRIBLE. All I did was cold call all day and almost half my appointments set were no shows. I don't think I did more than $2k in gross in 5 months combined. Caught a brake in month seven. Month eight was when I actually gained some traction and have been building each month since. Stats for Cold Calling 367 dials a day. 15 became leads (goal was to contact 40 per day). 1 of those becomes a client after 9 contacts.[/quote] But were you angling for their entire portfolio or simply a muni bond order to begin the relationship? I think ACATing a portfolio would take significantly more time than "do you have $25K to put in a muni" [/quote] I was going for the whole ball of wax. In hind sight not sure if I would do the diff had I to start from zero again.[quote=Gaddock][quote=Speedynew]Gaddock, when did you start seeing results (generating comm or fees)?
What are expectations at a wirehouse(gross or Aum) in the first year?
Cold calling is the best way to build and keep your book from blowing up.As a stockbroker you can take small money for account openings,$5k-$25k, and work on the 2nd and 3rd trade for 6 and 7 figure amounts.
Why acat a portfolio and deal with that headache, when you can make just as much money from accredited and qualified investors who are high rollers and gamblers who enjoy trading the volatility of the market.
Cold calling will always be what you’re business is about, it’s dirty grunt work, but a very important part of sales.
Out of pure blind luck and 25k+ cold calls and knowing how to arb and make money during the insanity has allowed me to get just that type of client. One client has thus far made my career by allowing me to partner with him in running multiple trusts. Had I not earned this clients trust and business I would probably be toast. Point is, that kind of a client is on in a million.when you can make just as much money from accredited and qualified investors who are high rollers and gamblers who enjoy trading the volatility of the market.
[quote=Speedynew][quote=Gaddock][quote=Speedynew]
1) What type of criteria did you use to target business on Sales Genie(sales employees)2) WHen you called residential, did you call anyone not on the DNC or break it down by income/networth.
3) Did you ever try using corporate directories?[/quote] 1) I targeted business with up to 25 employees. Reason is I believe it's small enough that one person can make a decision. 2) I used Gryfin (spelling?) even after scrubbing list. I targeted people that had over $500k in equity of their home and people that just moved to the area. 3) I did not but I know people who do with good success.[/quote] Are there a lot of home in your area that are valued above $500K? I am in the midwest (ohio to be specific, without too specifc) and there aren't that many of those in my area, who aren't on the DNC yet have equity of $500K[/quote] What in the heck is "west" about Ohio?
My advice to anyone starting out is to not open small accounts. Bottom line they are a waste of time and money. You’ll feel good about it because its activity and you’ll trick yourself into thinking this is progression. At the end of the day most of these accounts never turn into anything big and these are the people sitting on pins and needles when the market drops 100 points. Set a minimum household size to start with and stick to it.
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