DTA's Accountability Journal

DTA,

Give some background....how old, area of country, yrs in the biz, main pitch.

i like how you are calling it an accountability journal. spot on. it is tough to hold yourself accountable.

31 years old tomorrow! I am in the Pacific Northwest, but licensed and connected in California as well. I am brand new, but have cold calling experience. I am still trying to figure out my pitch and whether to lead with a product or service/ portfolio review. 

great! im 26.  New England area. been in the biz since 06, production since jan 2010.

i have ftried everything for attracting assets and all have been some what successful, but i think the only way to build a book is by cold calling. it sucks completely but it is effective. i would def. lead with product. im saying that from experience. and it has to be eye opening. today i pitched a tax free investment grade bond getting 7.5%. that opens a few doors.

i like that you are trying to be accountable. that is the most important thing. if you say you are going to do it, do it. i look forward to seeing your progress and sharing ideas and call logs.

Rook-

i've seen on a couple posts you have been writing about how you lead with product and sometimes ask for appointment.  As some relatively new, could you enlighten me on how you do that?  I have been going back and forth with the product/appt pitch and I think as a young guy (23) product is the way to go.  How to you segway to appt?  Do you try to close if they seem somewhat interested? 

Any thoughts you could share would be greatly appreciated.

my advice (and i may not be the best to give advice) is to do both. do a 100 dials of each. it doesnt matter. anyway to open the door and talk. Personally, i lead with product because there is a talking item.

Mr smith, i have a high quality tax free bond paying 7.5%/year. do you invest in bonds or have money tied up in CDs

that makes more sense than

mr. smith, would you like to sit down for a portfolio review so i can show you how you and your "advisor" screwed everything up?

i have done the appt approach and just didnt like it.

I like your approach.  I am two years in and one piece of advice I wish I would of been giving, is to not over think things.  Stick to what works FOR YOU, and keep doing it.  You can spend a lot of time tweaking things and pondering "what ifs", but when you boil it all down it is as simple as, it's nothing more than a numbers game.  And I think you have that figured out.

Take advice with a grain of salt.

You're very much on the right track.  Looking forward to seeing ur success.

After a fun day of fixing a flat tire and having to deal with meetings most of the day, I finally was able to start cold calling. I know the numbers are extremely weak, but I am happy I was able to get on the phone. I consider tomorrow my first day.

Calls: 27

Contacts: 11

Prospects: 1 

DTA,

it is tough to get started huh? never feels you are prepared enough which i hate.

dials - 122

contacts- 11

prospects- 1

what are you calling on? product or appt? residents or business owners? just curious what is working?

I am calling on residents between the ages of 40 and 60 who have express interest in working with a different investment firm. In my area, the best approach seems to be call/mail/call. I would rather just go for the appt. on the first call, but most people are very reluctant. I have a pretty large list of business owners I will call beginning in the fall.

[quote=DTA]

I am calling on residents between the ages of 40 and 60 who have express interest in working with a different investment firm. In my area, the best approach seems to be call/mail/call. I would rather just go for the appt. on the first call, but most people are very reluctant. I have a pretty large list of business owners I will call beginning in the fall.

[/quote]

Are your contact number for calling people a second time?

Otherwise how would you know they have expressed interest in working with a different investment firm?

Also how does 1 person make 27 dials and get 11 contacts and another makes 122 dials and gets the same number?

What are each of you defining as a contact?

Just curious..

Squash,

The list I am using is one that my manager provided for me. He subscribes to a service and thats about as much as I know about that. I consider a contact as a person who let me get through my pitch and possibly asked a question. A prospect is someone who was interested in receiving some info from me.

If I should be going at it differently?

Please, any input is greatly appreciated.

Also, my calls were made between 4:30 and 6:00 in the afternoon when people were more likely to be home.  

Guys & Gals

I'm new this forum and have been reading a lot of posts lately.  It's time for me to start cold calling as well and I see a few of you have started posting results here.  I'd like to join a "Group" or the forum to hold myself accountable as well. I had a coworker and I hold each other accoutable for a few weeks until he left, and that was the end of it.

IMO,  I consider contacts as (An adult who answers the phone)

Prospect - (One that has sizeable assets, Somewhat interested and I want to call back)

[quote=squash2]

[quote=DTA]

I am calling on residents between the ages of 40 and 60 who have express interest in working with a different investment firm. In my area, the best approach seems to be call/mail/call. I would rather just go for the appt. on the first call, but most people are very reluctant. I have a pretty large list of business owners I will call beginning in the fall.

[/quote]

Are your contact number for calling people a second time?

Otherwise how would you know they have expressed interest in working with a different investment firm?

[/quote]

Squash, you can buy lists from companies with that criteria.  The person interested in "working with a different investment firm" sent back a mailed questionaire piece that was located in a credit card statement, cable bill, etc.

DTA let me know if those work for you?.

[quote=Stockguy2011]

[quote=squash2]

[quote=DTA]

I am calling on residents between the ages of 40 and 60 who have express interest in working with a different investment firm. In my area, the best approach seems to be call/mail/call. I would rather just go for the appt. on the first call, but most people are very reluctant. I have a pretty large list of business owners I will call beginning in the fall.

[/quote]

Are your contact number for calling people a second time?

Otherwise how would you know they have expressed interest in working with a different investment firm?

[/quote]

Squash, you can buy lists from companies with that criteria.  The person interested in "working with a different investment firm" sent back a mailed questionaire piece that was located in a credit card statement, cable bill, etc.

DTA let me know if those work for you?.

[/quote] Find those "lists" are mostly crap...

[quote=squash2]

[quote=Stockguy2011]

[quote=squash2]

[quote=DTA]

I am calling on residents between the ages of 40 and 60 who have express interest in working with a different investment firm. In my area, the best approach seems to be call/mail/call. I would rather just go for the appt. on the first call, but most people are very reluctant. I have a pretty large list of business owners I will call beginning in the fall.

[/quote]

Are your contact number for calling people a second time?

Otherwise how would you know they have expressed interest in working with a different investment firm?

[/quote]

Squash, you can buy lists from companies with that criteria.  The person interested in "working with a different investment firm" sent back a mailed questionaire piece that was located in a credit card statement, cable bill, etc.

DTA let me know if those work for you?.

[/quote] Find those "lists" are mostly crap...

[/quote]

Wouldn't disagree... Can be expensive too - $2-4 a name.

My "crap list" was free so if it only produced one client, my ROI would be acceptable...

All I can say is, don't do any business with "Prestige Management"  Awfull Lead Service company and terrible customer service.

Any services that are worth it?

[quote=DTA]

Any services that are worth it?

[/quote]

ReferenceUSA is a free subscription through your library - gives the name of businesses and their owners (can't be on DNC list).  Found this to be much better than residential lists.

I have been using ReferenceUSA. I have almost a list of 10,000 business owners to call.

Have you had much luck? 

[quote=DTA]

I have been using ReferenceUSA. I have almost a list of 10,000 business owners to call.

Have you had much luck? 

[/quote]

Yeah, it works, doesn't solve the gatekeeper problem.  I mentioned on a prior thread that I was using a mail/call/mail, and getting quite a few "incomplete address" returns and mispelled names etc.  Nothing worse than misspelling the name of a local CEO in a mailer :(

Decided against, the mail first campaign.  More of a call/mail/call type program now. Also, owners/senior execs do change, so don't let that list sit stale toooo long.

Off to lunch.

Dials: 67

Contacts: 17

Prospects: 2

I am wondering if I should focus on dials or contacts. Like 250-300 dials a day or 30+ contacts a day as a goal?

I posted this a long time ago. Check out jigsaw.com. There you can “trade” one contact for another and/or just use it for a list of names at a company and call their main line for a dial-by-name directory.

I posted this a long time ago. Check out jigsaw.com. There you can “trade” one contact for another and/or just use it for a list of names at a company and call their main line for a dial-by-name directory.

Forgot to post my numbers before I left the office.

Dials: 155

Contacts: 32

Prospects: 5

Would have gotten in more dials, but bossman took me out for a beer.

DTA,

How did you finish out the day? i would focus on dials and be careful about the contacts. a lot of people will show interest just because they are too polite to say no. they are a waste of time and will drive you nuts.

one thing i had success on in the past:

schedule a seminar and cold call real hard on that seminar. have a topic that is powerful. get their interest level on the first call and mail a invite. then follow-up hard core and MAKE them want to come. this will create a good rapport and they are more open to further conversations.

just my experience. now i have read all these posts about cold calling on product, such as a muni bond, and it sounds great. doesnt seem to fit for me or the area i work. seminars work and there are ways to mix cold calling with seminars. not the instant gratification but a way to build long term relationships.

the goal is always to do enough to stay alive. if you can get a bond sale on the first call, great. If you have to do a song and dance before the prospect opens up, great. whatever works and you can build a book on.

Hacksaw, do you work for jigsaw.com?

Name kinda looks like it......

[quote=TheRook]

DTA,

How did you finish out the day? i would focus on dials and be careful about the contacts. a lot of people will show interest just because they are too polite to say no. they are a waste of time and will drive you nuts.

one thing i had success on in the past:

schedule a seminar and cold call real hard on that seminar. have a topic that is powerful. get their interest level on the first call and mail a invite. then follow-up hard core and MAKE them want to come. this will create a good rapport and they are more open to further conversations.

just my experience. now i have read all these posts about cold calling on product, such as a muni bond, and it sounds great. doesnt seem to fit for me or the area i work. seminars work and there are ways to mix cold calling with seminars. not the instant gratification but a way to build long term relationships.

the goal is always to do enough to stay alive. if you can get a bond sale on the first call, great. If you have to do a song and dance before the prospect opens up, great. whatever works and you can build a book on.

[/quote]

I finished out with:

Dials: 155

Contacts: 32

Prospects: 5

The contacts are people who let me pitch them. The prospects are the people who wanted more information after I pitched them and I set up a time the following week to call back and discuss the info I sent them.

Nope just use it. Jigsaw is a division of sales force if I am correct. You can exchange contacts if you want direct phone and email (though it is not a 1-1). Give them info and they give you credits to use to redeem for other contacts. You might be able to buy credits but I’m not sure. , I just typically get names for a business and call the main line and dial-by-name directory. Pretty good and up to date information (can see when the last time the contact was verified).
Oh and Hacksaw is in reference to my favorite wrestler from the 80s - Hacksaw Jim Duggan.

Not stellar, but I got caught up with a wholesaler.

Dials: 197

Contacts: 28

Prospects: 4

What happened to your contact ratio? It is back to a normal range?

I believe that it is back to a normal range. When I called on Monday, it was late afternoon so a lot more people were home. Lately, I have been calling in the morning and early afternoon so Its harder to get people to pick up the phone since most people are at work. 

Reading the 500 day war it says something about a total of 200k dials over the two year span. How many actual names and numbers does it take to call on? This is the only thing I was unsure about starting a good cold calling campaign. I am guessing you keep going through the same list until you land a client, get told to F off or just give up on calling it. Do you build a list of say 6000 and add to it as names are taken off? At 300 dials a day times 20 or so working days a month is 6000 names to call on.

Sorry DTA if you take this as a hijack. It wasn't meant to be.

I have a bunch of different lists. All with different parameters because I am in a smaller town. I go through the lists and mark off bad information, not interested, and mark prospects. Then when I get done, I go back through. I would say with caller ID you don’t want to be calling more than once a month (or two). Also remember you can never have too many good leads.

[quote=N.D.]

Reading the 500 day war it says something about a total of 200k dials over the two year span. How many actual names and numbers does it take to call on? This is the only thing I was unsure about starting a good cold calling campaign. I am guessing you keep going through the same list until you land a client, get told to F off or just give up on calling it. Do you build a list of say 6000 and add to it as names are taken off? At 300 dials a day times 20 or so working days a month is 6000 names to call on.

Sorry DTA if you take this as a hijack. It wasn't meant to be.

[/quote]

N.D., I definitely do not take this as a hijack since I have been wondering the exact same thing. I am thinking that I will focus on actual prospects that want me to send information and want me to call after they receive my info. I figure 5 a day which which is 110 a month since I am going to work every other saturday. This equates to 1320 actual prospects a year. The 500 day war says that all those dials should ultimately net 2500 prospects. I figure a little over 2 years (since I know I will probably take a day off here and there. Hey, I live in a resort town.) will leave me with around 2600 prospects. 

Maybe I'm wrong...

I seriously need to get the number of dials up, but I keep getting pulled out of my office. I was going to stay later, but my boss told me to go and enjoy the weekend. I told him I would be in tomorrow. He laughed and said he somehow already knew that.  At least my number of prospects are average.

Dials: 77

Contacts: 18

Prospects: 5

For the week:

Dials: 494

Contacts: 91

Prospects: 19 (6 less than my goal, but I will come in tomorrow to make up for last Monday.)

Should have never took yesterday off. I need a kick in the pants!

Thats great. Once you get those exams out of the way, hit it hard and don't look back. It is true about keeping up your motivation. I'm having a bad day today, but I will be damned if I let it turn into 2 consecutive bad days.

Dials: 194

Contacts: 30

Prospects: 4

Appointments set: 1

Nice job man! 1 appointment out of 194 dials -- what, 2 hours? maybe 3?

Not bad, keep it up!

What are you leading in with? Ie the other people says "Hello" - what are you saying?

Push Forward

PM'd you.

Weird day, but managed to get some calls in.

Dials: 59

Contacts: 14

Prospects: 3

Appointments set: 1

I buy houses. Email with info of what you have available at [email protected]

DTA,

where are the updates. looking to you for some competitive enthusiasm!

dials 201

contacts 16

prospects 6

quality prospects 4

total time ~2:30

going for 300 tomorrow. not working friday so i need make up the dials.

for all those that think cold calling doesnt work: spoke with a broker that still cold calls 20+years in. 100% transactional business and the only people he calls are lawyers! does 1mm+/yr Calls lawyers all over the country! tough niche market but it works. so if anyone has trouble calling joe smo business owners or residents, think about cold calling attornies!

Are you saying you made all those call in 2.5 hrs??

Squash,

yes roughly 2 1/2 hours. i have 5 x7 index cards with the prospects name. take a stack of 100 and just start dialing. i put a trash can next to me so all the fax/no longer valid numbers get tossed. i dont leave voicemails. my office door is closed and i stand during all dials. the only "real" time spent is with people who listen and i would say those conversations last 5-10 minutes, roughly. some longer some shorter. the quality prospects are typically longer as i am asking more questions.

i believe it is important to time the calls. everything else is measured, why not how long it takes you. so at the end of the day i can look back and say "4 quality prospects in 2.5hrs of work without one dime spent on advertising". i love doing seminars and they work, but they are incredibly expensive to do with such uncertain results. i came back to cold calling because my last seminar generated 4 people total and 2 of them i had already seen at a previous seminar! not a very effective 3k spent! so again, 2.5 hours yielded 4 prospects that cost 0$! multiple that by 5 days/week and i will have 20 new quality prospects.

just waging my 500 day war!!!

Why not double it do 5 hrs(1 session in morning and one in afternoon) and get 40 quality prospects?

My week has been challenging to say the least. I have been getting pulled in other directions which has affected my calling campaign. I'm not going to let a few bad days get me down. I will rally back for the last part of this week!

Monday

Dials: 88

Contacts: 14

Prospects: 2

Tuesday

Dials: 177

Contacts: 19

Prospects: 1

My appointment on Monday went well. I have set a second appointment to go over recommendations and to open the account. I have another appointment on Friday.

I have a list of about 2600 HNW individuals within a 35 mile radius of my office that I will start calling today after my Dr.'s appointment.

Keep it up!

calls so far today:

dials 200

contacts 14

prospects 3

time ~ 2hrs

1 good prospect with 700k sitting at fidelity and he hates them. will be a tough nut to crack but willing to listen. interviewing an intern/junior partner to work the cold calls and leverage the efforts.

After this mornings doctor appointment.

dials 100

contacts 7

prospects 4

Going to try to squeeze in as many calls as I can before I have to leave at 4 for another appointment.

Total from yesterday.

Dials 138

Contacts 10

Prospects 5

Locked up an appointment for Saturday with a Reverand. Not too bad for my first call of the day. Kinda gets you pumped to make more calls...

I've noticed that too.

7am-8am is proving to be a prime time to reach business owners. I got more contacts of dialing for an hour this morning then I usually do dialing for 3 in the afternoon. Small successes are encouraging.

Push-

What have you found to be the best resource for business owners.  I have been giving Sales Genie a try but the connect ratio kind of sucks...even in the morning.

Any ideas?

Call business owners in the AM. Manta is also a resource for business owners.

I don't mean to rain on your parade, but 77 dials isn't going to cut it. You need to make 200 on a slow day. Stop wasting time on the internet and pick up the darn phone. I did not make headway until I began making 300 calls a day.

Yep, need to pick up the dials, but you are off to an excellent start. Post results.

On the number of names needed, a few thousand will do. Keep recalling the list. Replace names as names drop off the list. A not interested isn't a reason to rip up a card. Try them again. Ideally you want to recycle the list every six to eight weeks.

[quote=bullmarket2711]

Push-

What have you found to be the best resource for business owners.  I have been giving Sales Genie a try but the connect ratio kind of sucks...even in the morning.

Any ideas?

[/quote]

I've been focusing on small business owners (5-20 employees) for the last two weeks.

I come in as close to 7am as possible, 7:15 at the latest. Log in, grab a drink and within 5 minutes of arriving I'm dialing. The hardest thing is getting started but once you start you build your own momentium.

7am to 9am is my power hour(s), there's a few reasons for this (see below).

Dialing between 7 and 8 - the idea is that the gate keeper (the person who normally answers the phone) isn't in yet but the boss is. A lot of times the person I'm actually calling for answers.

The dial to contact ratio is much higher during this time then the rest of the day.

Also, Tuesdays and Thursdays (For me at least) are the best days to dial. A seasoned FA told me Fridays were great for him, but so far in my vast experience of two weeks (of being in production) that hasn't been the case.

My reasoning is simple. Tuesday isn't Monday so you're not catching them when they have a million things to do and Thursday isn't Friday where they've checked out for the weekend and just don't want to deal with you.

For sources, there are better sources out there but what I'm using is also free.

Reference USA - I got access from my library card and can access it online, from what I understand most librarys have this and again it's FREE.

There's two directories - business and individuals. For businesses you can filter by City, # of employees, annual sales, ect and it will give you a nice list with the business name, phone number and a contact. Generally the owner or manager (it's listed as "executive").

The one for individuals is similar but you run into the do-not-call list. I tried that at first but I had to dial over 300 numbers just to get 15 numbers NOT on the DNC... so screw that, go around the DNC by calling businesses.

The lead in for me is the real challange, I'm still trying to find my voice here. In my previous job (also sales) I was calling people who were either A) an exsisting customer or B) had submitted information online and expressed at least some interest.

Calling someone out of the blue is a whole other animal but it gets easier each time.

The biggest challenge for me is the lead in and follow up when they don't just immediately tell me no. I'm still trying to find my voice here but I've tried variations of:

1) I'm in the process of identifying individuals who might be interested in working with a new FA / Firm

2) We have a great selection of Tax Free bonds, may I send you a list of our current inventory?

4) If I could show you how to increase returns while reducing your risk, would you give me 10 minutes of your time?

One hasn't really worked better then the other - the problem is what works on one person won't on another. My favorite analogy is "If you ask enough people "Hey, can I punch you in the face?" eventually someone will say yes".

I hope that helps.

-PF

If you want more contacts get registered in states in multiple time zones. It gives you several blocks of  7 to 8am. It also helps you out in the evenings. It also means you can always avoid meals.

PF- You are right. As BondGuy says this is a contact sport. The more people you contact the more chances you have for a yes. Don't worry that you have never talked to them. I guarantee you someone is calling them right now.

When I got a NO I moved the number to the bottom of the list. I would call it again. The biggest order I ever put in was after he told me know at least a dozen times. A lot of this is timing. Keep dialing!

5 prospects a day keeps the manager away. And make you pretty damn wealthy!!!!!!

[quote=BondGuy]

5 prospects a day keeps the manager away. And make you pretty damn wealthy!!!!!!

[/quote]

Sounds good to me since that's about my average.

[quote=newguy44]

If you want more contacts get registered in states in multiple time zones. It gives you several blocks of  7 to 8am. It also helps you out in the evenings. It also means you can always avoid meals.[/quote]

NG44, Do you actually practice this? I work in central NJ and I only call in Central NJ but I am open to broadening my horizons if it means building a bigger business. 

Dials 21, yes 21. DMV messed up my day. Now here's the kicker

Contacts 5

Prospects 3

Now thats a ratio! LOL

[quote=willywonka]

[quote=newguy44]

If you want more contacts get registered in states in multiple time zones. It gives you several blocks of  7 to 8am. It also helps you out in the evenings. It also means you can always avoid meals.[/quote]

NG44, Do you actually practice this? I work in central NJ and I only call in Central NJ but I am open to broadening my horizons if it means building a bigger business. 

[/quote]

Yes. It was the smartest thing I did. If I were in Jersey I would get licensed In at least one state in each time zone. Think about it, when is the easiest time to get past the gatekeeper? Before 8 am. What if I could extend that 3 hours? Get licensed in California and you can.

NG44, 

Great idea! Thanks for sharing it! What is your close ratio when calling in a different state? Would you say you have as much success outside of your home state as you do inside? Do you get any objections when you send your card out to a prospect out of state? Do you let them know up front where you are calling from? See what happens when you answer a question it leads to more questions...LOL!! 

ww

NG44, 

Great idea! Thanks for sharing it! What is your close ratio when calling in a different state? Would you say you have as much success outside of your home state as you do inside? Do you get any objections when you send your card out to a prospect out of state? Do you let them know up front where you are calling from? See what happens when you answer a question it leads to more questions...LOL!! 

ww

[quote=willywonka]

NG44, 

Great idea! Thanks for sharing it! What is your close ratio when calling in a different state? Would you say you have as much success outside of your home state as you do inside? Do you get any objections when you send your card out to a prospect out of state? Do you let them know up front where you are calling from? See what happens when you answer a question it leads to more questions...LOL!! 

ww

[/quote]

If they ask, I tell them where I am. Most don't care. There are people who won't do business over the phone or with people who live 2,000 miles away. That is absolutely fine. Move on. I rarely send anything in the mail. It costs too much for very little return. What I will do is add them to my drip list. I send out a personalized monthly bond report and newsletter. Make sure you go through compliance. If you work at a wire or clear through a major BD, or have a good wholesaler, they have compliance approved materials. It takes me 5 minutes to send an email to my drip list. I block one hour a day to male follow-up calls. I send out another monthly piece to clients. Again, it takes me 15 minutes to put together the email. Once compliance approves I click send.

Stop worrying about why people won't do business with you. It is counterproductive. Hence, a waste of your time.

Newguy44: If you do so well why did you leave the wires after one year?

When the haircut makes you bald you find a new barber. Best decision I ever made.

[quote=newguy44]

When the haircut makes you bald you find a new barber. Best decision I ever made.

[/quote]

Me too!

DTA, check your PM

Its been awhile since i have checked in. Without boring everybody with all my stats I will just lay down a summary.

Been averaging 25-30 contacts a day with an average of 5 prospects a day. My call backs have been pretty weak. I either cannot get them on the phone or they haven't read the info I sent them. The ones who do want to talk immediately go into how we do business at my firm. They usually get confused when I explain to them that we have a company that is our B/D and a separate company who does our clearing. They usually lose interest after that because they don't like the thought of all these different entities. 

I had an appointment with a lady who had about 200k with W&R. I prepared a very good proposal and showed her that she was paying a lot of fee's at W&R without any real service. Her Advisor barely get's in touch with her once a year and she said he never has an answer for her questions when she calls. He also hasn't done a portfolio review in about 3 years. The guy is a total piker.

During our second meeting, she told me that she was going to stay with her current advisor regardless of the poor service she receives. She said she didn't like that we deal with 2 different companies to get the job done. 

I have a nice office, I dress very well and I know that I do not put off a pushy sales guy vibe. I just showed her the numbers, the type of customer service that my firm provides and that we can do a better job and charge less fee's. 

I have been getting this "who? What firm? Never heard of you.." response from a lot of people. It's looking like going Indy is the way to go AFTER you have built a book. 

Anyways, back to the phone...

DTA,

I guess the grass looks greener on the other side. Most people I talk to are familiar with my firm which is a plus but we also have a pretty large market share which limits the number of potential prospects.

Great job on the number of contacts!

You can't save everyone. I've got a very similar prospect at the moment. She's working with someone at a local Chase bank branch (I think they're called registered bankers). She's not satisfied with the guy but just won't leave. Logically it makes no sense.

Keep trying though - follow up in a few weeks, maybe offer a trial basis?

You will get "who?, I never heard of you" when you call. Tell them that's good, because the only time you hear about a firm is when they screw up or break the law. We take care of our clients here and we do things right so we don't end up on the news. The next call you make say that with all seriousness. Then follow up with your question off your pitch. Do you currently invest in municipal bonds, or do you invest in corporates?

I am going to give you two important thoughts. I am not a great sales person by any means, but these are things that worked well for me.

If someone is meeting with you there is a reason. They aren't meeting with you because they simply want to spend an hour of their day discussing finances with a stranger. There is something they want you to provide, and it is not logic.

They want you to provide them an answer, and often they don't even know the question. You have to play on their emotions. When I first started I was all about the numbers. The numbers don't sell in the office. The numbers might sell a bond on a cold call, and that opens the door. But numbers don't get someone to move $5mm to you. Emotions do. Peel the onion a little more. Dig deeper. Ask them what the money is for. Ask them why the invest. What is the purpose of the money. We always talk about goals, but you need to have them talk about the purpose. Why is this important? What do you truly care about? What is the most important thing you will do with this money? What do you want your legacy to be? Ask them about what they are passionate about. Get them talking about things that excite them. I once asked a client: You have $2mm with me, $10mm with Merrill, and you have a thriving law practice... you obviously have money to do whatever you want. Let me ask you this: What is the money really for? What really matters to you? That one question changed our relationship forver.

I ask prospects this question as well. I also introduce the process. Here is what will happen. We will meet for a half hour today so I can learn a little bit more about you and your goals. When we finish we will set a time to visit again and go over some recommendations. At that point, if you feel confident about working with me, and I feel like you would be a good addition to my clientele, we will sign some paperwok and move forward. Sound fair?

Second, ask them what is keeping them from moving forward. What is the real reason that is keeping you from transitioning yourself to working with us? She obviously doesn't care about getting more than one call a year, and she doesn't care about fees. Find out what she does care about and show her how you will provide it!

To summarize: Be direct and confident. Ask questions that invoke emotions. Ask them to clarify objections. Peel the online a little deeper and learn what really matters. Numbers sound good, emotions sell!

I actually have been using a similar approach with my appointments. I found out that she has been with her advisor for 14 years. I got her to open a  Money Market account with my firm and I will eventually get her entire account. She is also interested in an annuity that I will discuss with her in more detail later.

On another hand. I have been dealing with some family health issues that added a massive amount of stress on me. It probably has made me a little more sensitive to what I have been dealing with at work. 

The Branch Manager at ML contacted me the next morning after their career night. He said that I could skip the FIAT and he sent me the personality test. Within 5 minutes of me finishing, I receive another email from him telling me that I will start interviewing next week. I will at least go through the interviews and see what happens. If I get an offer from ML, I will have a meeting with my current boss and go over my employment with his firm and what direction he is looking to go. 

Hopefully he is ready to start transitioning his firm so he can retire. I know I am new to this business, but I am not new business consulting regarding expansion and building a brand. We have office space adjacent to us that is perfect sq. footage wise to expand and really start acquiring AUM. I know of 3 FA's that would be interested in making a move. They are young and highly motivated. I know he has to be tired of his other FA who did a whopping 600 dollars in gross commissions last month. 

I know that I am going to get flamed for my ambition, but I see great potential with this firm. My boss needs a person who can help lighten the load and help him build this firm. He is spread way to thin since he also has a law firm in another city. Our office manager has only been in our office 3 times in the last 5 months. She mainly stays in the other office, but we have to clear everything through her even though we can never get a hold of her. We went without printer paper for a week because she was unavailable and we don't dare do anything without her approval. I obviously went and bought some paper.

Maybe I need to go to a wire and be smacked around for a few years and then go Indy on my own. Who knows....

DTA, check your PM.

Yesterday

Dials: 214

Contacts: 13

Prospects: 1

DTA i just posted the same thing on pushforward's thread. i've been lurking these forums for months and it frustrates me to see people posting their daily amount of dials and after doing this for like 2 months still can't get 300 dials? and why do you think you are going to succeed at merrill lynch if you can't even manage to dial the phone 300 times a day, let alone 400 or 500. if you were able to get a 200k+ prospect to come in for an appointment, you could have considered partnering up with a more experienced broker who could have actually closed the prospect and split everything 50/50. 50% of 200k is better than 100% of nothing. work smart. if you are new to the industry you can't expect to have a client trust you with their money because you simply are NOT going to have the confident, "i've done this before" attitude in your voice. the first thing you need to do is get your dials way up. 

i like T-65 medicare supp leads, perfect door opener, help them out, and then go from there

I am back and ready to prospect. I will be posting my daily numbers. I have about 26,000 names and will call every single one. I focuse on contacts and prospects, not dials.

Anyways, hopefully you guys will stay on me and keep me going!

Thanks

How many of your prospects from before turned into clients?  How is your book doing?

I decided to fire this thread back up! I am ready to get back to cold calling. I am going to call business owners and foundations/endowments. I am also calling for appointments and seminars, but I will not start on those until August.