Prospecting with hard to sell things, is flat out..stupid. You've somehow divined interest rates beyond an "opinion"? Really? All our clients need tax efficient income, and that doesn't change, even if interest rates are likely to go up. Clients like/need getting a paycheck that doesn't bounce....

You'd need more than balls, to prospect with some hot stock tip...

FYI, in my practice, old school, we have guard rails on asset allocation. Our clients have stocks, sector plays, mutual funds, uit products, cash equivalents, pretty much the entire story, along with serious financial planning. But, if I wanted to get accounts, via the phone, no doubt about it, my nearly 20yrs of exp says to use fixed income. Especially so, when they are staring at bank statements where their deposits are making zero percent.

So you built your business in 1990? Where were interest rates back then?  Ever sell LT bonds to open accounts when rates were this low? If he's selling 15yrs and below I say kudos - anything about that is going to get slaughtered.

Jump knows, bonds are gonna get hacked, just like they did last time.

Who's buying bonds for capital appreciation? I thought you buy those for paychecks.

Buy low sell high = stocks. Not bonds.

Bond drops 20% below par? Paycheck does not change. Bond is called in 6 years? 100 cents on the dollar. Hold the bond until maturity? Pass it along to your kids, just as you would with a CD at the bank? 100 cents on the dollar.

Bond appreciates 20% above par? Why? Because interest rates fell. Do you sell the bond to "lock in" a "profit"? No. You're buying it for the income. Why would you lock in "profit" if you're going from a 7% bond to a 4.5%?

Bonds = Paycheck. Every 6 months. Not going to change.

Far different from equities.

Ah ha! But GHGR, what if your client expects to need the money in 3 years? And their bond is only worth 80% of par? Hmm?

Answer = Then they shouldn't be buying intermediate or long term bonds.

GHGR - You are killing me kid! ....AND you're absolutely correct....  Keep it up! +1

[quote=gethardgetraw]

Here's my cold calling station. Fan, coffee heating plate, hour glass, script, list of names with a ruler, phone, picture of a gorilla. Gotta be a gorilla on the phone. Fortunately I have a back room where I'm set up. No distractions. My BOA can't hear me. No chair, no computer.

Props to TakingNames for PM'ing me about a year ago telling me how to set up. (He got a lot of ideas from Bill Good ;) ) Also have the index card system utilized for call backs.

[/quote]

Sweet calling station, dude. Doesn't the hour glass make all the difference?  Haven't read Bill Good - but drank some kool aid from a trainer who lived and breathed him.

[quote=gethardgetraw]

Who's buying bonds for capital appreciation? I thought you buy those for paychecks.

Buy low sell high = stocks. Not bonds.

Bond drops 20% below par? Paycheck does not change. Bond is called in 6 years? 100 cents on the dollar. Hold the bond until maturity? Pass it along to your kids, just as you would with a CD at the bank? 100 cents on the dollar.

Bond appreciates 20% above par? Why? Because interest rates fell. Do you sell the bond to "lock in" a "profit"? No. You're buying it for the income. Why would you lock in "profit" if you're going from a 7% bond to a 4.5%?

Bonds = Paycheck. Every 6 months. Not going to change.

Far different from equities.

[/quote]

Good grief, I'm looking at this conversation.... Ok, I'm apparently the only person that employs real asset allocation? My clients have guard rails of equity/fixed income. 20/80-80/20...

Furthermore, we have added some precious metal eft/funds to manage inflation risk, nothing crazy, but 3-6% per hhld. We manage equity risk by removing sectors we believe to have unusually high risk.

I tell my clients, there are 4 things they can do with their money. They can buy cash, bonds, r/e, or stocks. The trick isn't guessing which one is "right", but putting the correct amount of money into each, then being patient enough to let the chips fall where they may. I tell clients that I'm going to encourage the new purchases into the CHEAPEST of the 4, which also means that they're the most out of favor/most inclined to feel fear about making that purchase.

But hey folks, maybe that's just me.

I'm sure that GHGR is smart enough to go after the clients other assets, which may very well be equity holdings. GHGR, please, make sure you don't fall into some trap where you think equities suck just because your young career has experienced that. I've never known a long term success in our biz that had negative feelings about "the market".

In the past week:

1 new account, 25 bonds

1 new account, 20 bonds

1 new account, 20 bonds

Existing account, 10 bonds

Today: 400 calls. No exceptions. Will update every 100 calls.

Everything's falling into place.

LETS DO THIS

100 calls - NOTHING. No prospects, no interest. 300 to go

Nothing? what you mean?? You've gotten closer to your next big fish! Keep going!!

Rawhide!

Ok 150 calls completed and it turns out there was a scheduling snafu with some friends for an out of state college football game I'm attending. I need to take off right now rather than tomorrow morning, otherwise a friend is stranded for the evening. Hitting it hard on Monday.

Gethard

Do you call residences before 9 am and during the dinner hour 6pm to 7pm?  I do not, but if you are not getting your head taken off, maybe I will start as well.

Thank you

Honestly, most mornings I start at 9am. I'm a coffee freak and if I finish my 2 cups before 9am, I'll start. But on average that's right at 9am. During dinner hours, I call no matter what. I have my best conversations from 5-7pm. Every now and then I'll call someone right in the middle of dinner and you apologize and mark "before 5pm" next to their name. Or "dinner." And I've never had someone extremely upset that I called. Having the sit down 5pm dinner with the entire is a fading fashion. I'd imagine 40 years ago it would be a huge faux pas to call from 5-7.

GHGR, how broad geographically is the list of people you're calling? Within how many number of miles of your office?

Thanks- good information-

FA86 - Anyone in my city making $100k per year and above. You can download that info into excel for free. I use my one of my local library's online databases available called referenceusa.com.

[quote=chief123]oh an 1 appt. kind of a cheap one.. Prospect sounded interested, so reverted back to EDJ format and said I would be in the area Friday visiting a client and would like to stop by to show him an idea i have been using with a lot of my clients[/quote]

It's hilarious Edward Jones FA's get bashed on here non stop but the one actual appointment you got came from using EJ methods. 

gethardgetraw