Why does the cold-call rejection hurt so much?
96 RepliesJump to last post
Teaching people is NOT the same as motivating them to ACT. Only teach AFTER you have established value and AFTER you have secured their upfront commitment to do business with you.
Otherwise, why waste your time?
Good stuff guys! Really giving me some perspective. I’ve sold for a long time, but mostly in the “Old Way”. This industry seems to have a somewhat unique sales process, but obviously the key is effective prospecting.
Thanks for all the info guys....KEEP IT COMING!!! I love this stuff![quote=Potential][quote=Fud Box]
But in prospecting, you are merely looking to find people that have thought to themselves recently that they could use some financial advice or a new FA. If the prospect has not been mulling it over before you call him, it is unlikely he will express interest, let alone turn into a customer. There is no point in believing you can convert disinterest into interest.[/quote]Right-however, there's a difference, between "No" and "No maybe". I learned it here. Time and experience. For some, they just don't like to get a phone call. That's cool. There are plenty that do.
When you do call/mail/call....send your card, something to pique interest and be sure to ask for an e-mail address when you confirm address. You can say something like
"I'll send you my card and something you'll find interesting to your address at:............. I can also e-mail you some information if you will please give me your e-mail address.
That provides you three ways to contact - phone, mail and e-mail.
You can set up effective dripping that way and also line up your prospects for drip campaigns by the interest they express - ie you have an e-mail distribution list for bonds, seminars, annuities, portfolio review, whatever, and then do your drips to those lists.
Effective dripping can turn that "pound sand" person on the first call into your best new client.
TN
Is the David Mullen book you referred to called The Million Dollar Financial Services Practice? I saw it on Amazon, but didn't see any references to positioning yourself as a #2 advisor in the table of contents. It's probably just under a different chapter name.Right, Bill’s book is great. I bought “Hot Prospects” today at B&N on Rittenhouse Sq. Wish I had this 18ms ago when I started in production–I can see how this book can work with David Mullen’s book-use this (BG) for the prospecting part over the phone, and use Mullen’s system for positioning oneself as a strong #2 behind the prospect’s existing advisor. (Meaning, leaning more towards the appointment once you have a red cherry).
It’s not a chapter per se, but it’s discussed in the “Appointments” area-towards the front of the book. The idea is, to position yourself as someone who will call regularly and follow up with them and be a presence-so, when the primary advisor drops the ball or something happens, you are first in mind.
Client engagement roadmap. Map out the first two years of service to clients/prospects, and they will know that you will have relavent topics to dicuss on a quarterly basis. I present the sample financial plan, tell them that is the front end and then present the roadmap, which I tell them is the back end…so they know we will be in contact regularly and have relavent topics to discuss…works every time.
I have a sample on excel...its awesome.Does the #2 positioning go against what BondGuy was talking about, in that he’s talking about moving quick to find prospects that are hotter, when there’s the least bit of disineterest indicated by the prospect on the phone? Where the #2 positioning seems to be more of a cultivating thing.
Maybe I'm confusing prospecting with lead development here.Me: Hello it’s Daniel Boone, owner of Pioneer Investments.
Prospect Response: Yes?
Me: I’m following-up on a letter I sent out last week and qualifying
investors for my practice.
Usual Prospect Response: 1) Qualifying for what? (or) 2) You’re qualifying me?
(or) 3) Qualifying, huh, what??? (or) 4) Hang-up or (5) I’m not interested
If I get response(s) 1-3:<?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Me: I run Pioneer Investments and we specialize in Product A, BUT we have two
hurdles that investors have to get over before we can speak to them about it.
1) They need to have $X to invest in Product A,
2) We only work with people that either already have a financial advisor or a solid handle on their portfolio.
If response 4: Dial again.
If response 5: Thankyouverymuch!
(I only sell one product, so I’m not trying to get their entire portfolio).
The Qualifying part seems to be making a difference, and getting off the phone at the first sign of disinterest, psychologically makes me feel better and move quicker. I'd appreciate any comments/suggestions on the script.
[quote=Boone]
For what it’s worth I used this script today to get 3 appointments. It’s my take on BondGuy’s “Qualifying” script (I have to get through the Bill Good Book tonight) with the additional “#2 advisor thing” that was recommended by someone else. I used the “#2 advisor positioning” because I deal with a specific product and try to avoid the, “I’m already working with someone response”, because I don’t care if they have someone else.Me: Hello it’s Daniel Boone, owner of Pioneer Investments.
Prospect Response: Yes?
Me: I’m following-up on a letter I sent out last week and qualifying
investors for my practice.
Usual Prospect Response: 1) Qualifying for what? (or) 2) You’re qualifying me?
(or) 3) Qualifying, huh, what??? (or) 4) Hang-up or (5) I’m not interested
If I get response(s) 1-3:
Me: I run Pioneer Investments and we specialize in Product A, BUT we have two
hurdles that investors have to get over before we can speak to them about it.
1) They need to have $X to invest in Product A,
2) We only work with people that either already have a financial advisor or a solid handle on their portfolio.
If response 4: Dial again.
If response 5: Thankyouverymuch!
(I only sell one product, so I’m not trying to get their entire portfolio).
The Qualifying part seems to be making a difference, and getting off the phone at the first sign of disinterest, psychologically makes me feel better and move quicker. I'd appreciate any comments/suggestions on the script. [/quote]
If it's working, whatever you do, don't change it. Nice job on the 3 appts.
I agree; perhaps teach was too strong a word. People that are thinking of buying always have questions. You can establish an air of authority by answering a simple question or two. When you start filling in some blanks in their thought process, you get very close to their "this is my guy" moment. When I was doing mortgages, I would immediately transition from that moment to "Do you have ten minutes to fill out the application? These things are torture if you're not in the business, but I can make it easy. You'll talk, I'll type and in 10 minutes we'll be done. So your address is 42 Maple Street. What's your social security number?Teaching people is NOT the same as motivating them to ACT. Only teach AFTER you have established value and AFTER you have secured their upfront commitment to do business with you.
I’m a fee only RIA that focuses on small cap stocks, so I’m selling a basket of stocks that we follow. Pretty tough sell in this environment.
<?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
I first send a letter basically saying: The experts say you need a stock picker in 2009….Are you as sick of the so-called experts as I am? If you want to have a serious discussion about stocks, and the one question you need to ask about any individual stocks in your portfolio, call……
It gets hardly any call-ins, but gives me something to talk about when I call, as some people are curious about the “one question to ask”.Just wanted to bring BondGuys post up again because I felt my rookie bs was pushing his amazing post back too far.
BongGuy wrote: Interesting thread. While i was in training, about a month before I was to be registered, my BOM sent the three trainees in his office to a seminar put on by a guy who had a can't fail system of cold calling. The guy was new to this industry and told us his system was developed working with Dean Witter brokers in Walnut Creek California. He told us that those brokers were knocking the ball out of the park. His name; Bill Good. He later wrote a book about his system. I used Bill's system to open a lot of accounts. As posted, the key to cold calling is Qualifying. We are looking for candidates to join our practice. This is a very select group. Not only must they be interested in what we have to offer, they must be financially qualified. And for us old guys, one more rule now that we can afford it, no jerks. If you're an asshole as far as I'M concerned you can keep your account at Merril Lynch. Life is just too short. What i'm offering those whom i call Is an opportunity to receive the very best advice and service available. I am the rejector, not the rejectee. If one is foolish enough not to be interested in what I offer, I blow them off the phone quickly and politely with "Thank you very much!" And then i dispatch them into the electronic haze as i click over to dial the next number. Some rules: Always qualify for money Never burn the list-always be polite Don't waste time trying to create interest Set time to call aside and make sure nothing interupts you. make as many dials as possible per hour Minimum contacts per day-50 a contact is reaching the intended target learn these words- Thank you very much! Utter them at the first sign of disinterest or disrespect. And you are being sincere in this in that you are thanking that person for being up front with you and not wasting your time. This is a key to not burning the list. If you are polite you can call back. Ok, the guy wasn't interested on the first call, but now, six weeks later on you second go thru with the list, he has a CD coming due next week and he's interested in your CD offer. Call the list every six to eight weeks.Normally the conversion rate by cold calling is 1/100. So whenever I make a call I used to be prepared to listen NO! Because cold calling is used to sell the things which prospectus does'nt need actually!
Whenever I listen NO from prospectus I disconnect the phone to automatic call to next number, I want to reach as many people as I can, I use my sales dialer. This automatic call dialer allows me to call 40 contacts / hour from my mobile. After listening NO I add this number to reminder to call again after 30 days, and I call them again to listen NO, because I know they don’t know who is calling! And you know, the conversion rate from this list is again 1/100 J