Essential Cold Calling Techniques: Pt 2
I watched Boiler Room yesterday… Great flick…
So do you send out the 250 business cards that you tell people you're going to send them every day? And if not, how do you start the next phone call seeing as they haven't received anything from you?
[quote=3rdyrp2]
So do you send out the 250 business cards that you tell people you're going to send them every day? And if not, how do you start the next phone call seeing as they haven't received anything from you?
[/quote] I used to, but I found the best way was, after I found that they were a qualified prospect for my program, and I was wrapping up the call. I would give them the firms website which had a downloadable brochure on it. Here's an example: Well Gordon it was great speaking to you! Before you go grab a pen and write down the firms website, it has a comp brochure right on it. Ok, great once again my name is Bud Fox with xyz capital I'll be getting back to you very soon, all I ask is when I call you back with a recommendation you kindly give me 5 minutes and an open ear to listen to the idea. FAIR ENOUGH!! Great, have a good day. Now when you call back mention you'd have given him your firms website, as well as mentioning some of the info he'd given you on the call like: how many finance pros he was working with, how much he $ he had wrapped up in the market, and what areas he's invested in. Thats all pertinent info you should get on a lead. I've found that when i did send a biz card and brochure they rarely if ever looked at it, over a cold call. When they have $ with you they'll look at info you send. Trust me. This would be the follow up. Here's an example Hi Gordon this is Bud Fox getting back to you from xyz capital how are you? (GREAT) Going back 2 weeks ago, you and I had a brief conversation pertaining to the financial markets. At that time you had told me you were working with 2 financial pros, you've owned some XYZ stock, and had around a million dollars in the market, is that fairly accurate? (ok Great) I had also given you our firms comp brochure via our website, did you get a chance to take a look at that. (If he says yes say great and continue), if he says no say,= No big deal when you have some time, take a minute and look at it, and enjoy it with our compliments. Most importantly last time we spoke I made a commitment to get back to you when I isolated a situation I believed would warrant your attention. I have that right now why don't you grab a pen and jot down some notes. Tell me when your ready. GO FOR IT!!!!Yeah, no joke. This isn't 1984. I kinda liked his first post, but this... Very, very, VERY, old school tactical manipulation...not my cup of tea. But thanks for the contribution anyway.I watched Boiler Room yesterday… Great flick…
Yeah, no joke. This isn't 1984. I kinda liked his first post, but this... Very, very, VERY, old school tactical manipulation...not my cup of tea. But thanks for the contribution anyway.[/quote] I'm glad you enjoyed my first post Fud Box.. However I wouldn't call it "old school tactical manipulation," more along the lines of great salesmanship. You see, you're right its not 1984. However I'm going to relate it to the markets as such. Markets never change because peoples emotions never change whether it's 1984 or 2084, this is exactly why there's always economic cycles, and history always repeats itself in the markets in some way, shape or form. "It's the same in sales", because peoples emotions never change. People buy and sell off emotions. (Fear and Greed) Therefore these strategies will always work. Old School= Absolutely Effective=Unequivocally Thanks for your input Fud Box..[quote=Squash1]I watched Boiler Room yesterday… Great flick…
Rather than critisizing this some of you should try it. Hedge makes some good points. The reason some of you think it it’s dated is because you’ve been programed to believe that it’s dated. Wall street went to the soft close went the firms embraced managed money. Guess what? The biggest books on the street were built with a “Hedge like” hard close. Does it still work? Every day we pitch bonds. We don’t tell people about managed money and we don’t blow smoke about how asset allocation will save your ass from everything under the sun. We are either pitching bonds or prospecting for people to pitch bonds to. our prospecting techniques have the exact same tone as hedges example.
Does it work? I did 120k on Nov, 97k in dec, 130k in Feb, and 115k last month. Month to date in march i have 66k on the books. And I'm not even in the top five in my office lately. So you tell me if it works? One of the guys found a prospect who was selling his firm. As a new account, over the phone he gave our guy 2 million dollars. They then met and he wired in another 7 million. Ok, that's a hit the cold call lottery story, but it is out there guys. All you have to do is pick up the phone and have some balls. As for the movie Boiler Room. Not a good movie. The penny stock rip off firms had taken the Lehman system and bastardized it. The director/producer of this movie tried to get a job at one of those firms and couldn't. So he had a friend give him all the tech info that makes the movie so true to life. Hard close prospecting has nothing to do with ripping people off. On fact i'll put my book against any wealth manager and see whose clients are better off.[quote=BondGuy]Rather than critisizing this some of you should try it. Hedge makes some good points. The reason some of you think it it’s dated is because you’ve been programed to believe that it’s dated. Wall street went to the soft close went the firms embraced managed money. Guess what? The biggest books on the street were built with a “Hedge like” hard close. Does it still work? Every day we pitch bonds. We don’t tell people about managed money and we don’t blow smoke about how asset allocation will save your ass from everything under the sun. We are either pitching bonds or prospecting for people to pitch bonds to. our prospecting techniques have the exact same tone as hedges example.
Does it work? I did 120k on Nov, 97k in dec, 130k in Feb, and 115k last month. Month to date in march i have 66k on the books. And I'm not even in the top five in my office lately. So you tell me if it works? One of the guys found a prospect who was selling his firm. As a new account, over the phone he gave our guy 2 million dollars. They then met and he wired in another 7 million. Ok, that's a hit the cold call lottery story, but it is out there guys. All you have to do is pick up the phone and have some balls. As for the movie Boiler Room. Not a good movie. The penny stock rip off firms had taken the Lehman system and bastardized it. The director/producer of this movie tried to get a job at one of those firms and couldn't. So he had a friend give him all the tech info that makes the movie so true to life. Hard close prospecting has nothing to do with ripping people off. On fact i'll put my book against any wealth manager and see whose clients are better off. [/quote] Beautifully said BondGuy!! Exactly, why you put up the numbers you do! I've found what people fail to realize in the business, is you can have the absolute best investment product since the inception of the markets, but if you lack sales skills "you're finished". Yes, we're here to help people, but at the end of the day the majority of the business is sales. (Period)Anyone mind sharing any of that stuff from Lehman from the past?
[quote=BondGuy]Rather than critisizing this some of you should try it. Hedge makes some good points. The reason some of you think it it’s dated is because you’ve been programed to believe that it’s dated. Wall street went to the soft close went the firms embraced managed money. Guess what? The biggest books on the street were built with a “Hedge like” hard close. Does it still work? Every day we pitch bonds. We don’t tell people about managed money and we don’t blow smoke about how asset allocation will save your ass from everything under the sun. We are either pitching bonds or prospecting for people to pitch bonds to. our prospecting techniques have the exact same tone as hedges example.
Does it work? I did 120k on Nov, 97k in dec, 130k in Feb, and 115k last month. Month to date in march i have 66k on the books. And I'm not even in the top five in my office lately. So you tell me if it works? One of the guys found a prospect who was selling his firm. As a new account, over the phone he gave our guy 2 million dollars. They then met and he wired in another 7 million. Ok, that's a hit the cold call lottery story, but it is out there guys. All you have to do is pick up the phone and have some balls. As for the movie Boiler Room. Not a good movie. The penny stock rip off firms had taken the Lehman system and bastardized it. The director/producer of this movie tried to get a job at one of those firms and couldn't. So he had a friend give him all the tech info that makes the movie so true to life. Hard close prospecting has nothing to do with ripping people off. On fact i'll put my book against any wealth manager and see whose clients are better off. [/quote] BondGuy, my primary question for successful cold callers such as yourself revolves around *when* do you call? I've heard from folks and have seen the posts about Sundays, evenings, daytime, etc. But (assuming you really are the producer that you say your - and I will make that assumption thereby giving you the respect of 'listening' to you) when do *you* call and do you call homes or offices? TIA, LarryFirst on the production numbers- nobody believes any numbers posted here. I could care less whether you believe me or not.
I schedule cold calling everyday. Usually i call business numbers. If i'm calling a purchased list then i may be calling residential numbers. Nothing interupts the calling session. I've found that if I call in the morning there is less chance something will come along and derail the session. That said, there are no rules regarding when is the best time to call or who to call. With one caveat- It really helps if you call people who have money. List creation- finding those people is the key to success. For example- members of the "The Ferrari Club of America" probably have money. get a list and start calling. Sunday's paper has a classified section called "Auto's for sale." Find the ads for less than 5 year old Audi A6, BMW 5, 7, and 8 series, Land Rover, Lexus, Mercedes E, S, CLK class, Porsche, and any exotic cars. Call them and tell them you have good news and bad news. The bad news is you aren't a buyer for their car, but the good news is you have a 5% tax free bond to show them. Move on to boat sellers. Everything you wanted to know about cold calling but didn't know enough to ask can be found at: www.billgood.com Buy bill's first book "prospecting your way to sales success" Yes, it was written 20 years ago but it's the primer on how to get this done.Did I miss the important chapters in that book?? I have read it and think it has nothing in it that was helpful, except an autobiography of Bill Good and how good he is…
[quote=BondGuy]First on the production numbers- nobody believes any numbers posted here. I could care less whether you believe me or not.
[/quote] A bit testy aren't we? Might indicate that you do care. Relax, I already said I'd assume they were real. [quote=BondGuy]I schedule cold calling everyday. Usually i call business numbers. If i'm calling a purchased list then i may be calling residential numbers. Nothing interupts the calling session. I've found that if I call in the morning there is less chance something will come along and derail the session. That said, there are no rules regarding when is the best time to call or who to call. With one caveat- It really helps if you call people who have money. [/quote] Two additional questions: When calling residential, what precentage of answered calls do you expect? When calling businesses, do you ask for someone/position w/in company? TIA, LarryI think BondGuy had every right to respond the way he did - if you believed him you didn’t need to qualify your statement.
On Bill Good. I know that I am anti-cold-calling, but I used to cold call quite a bit when I was at Jones. I used Bill Good’s techniques and thought the first book was phenomenal. As a loyal reader and to see if he had anything else interesting to say, I bought Hot Prospects, which I thought was even better.
And BondGuy - love the classified route - that’s awesome.
Tell me what in Bill Good’s first book was so good…
Moraen, Do you recommend reading both of Good's books, or does Hot Prospects cover the same stuff as the first book (which I've heard from others)?? How can it be best applied to the Jones doorknocking method? I have a feeling that once I get my CSD I may have to supplement doorknocking with cold-calling and other methods. Thanks for any input. BondGuy, I may not be in love with the whole "hard close" approach, but I do love your creative list making...really good ideas. Thanks. FudI think BondGuy had every right to respond the way he did - if you believed him you didn’t need to qualify your statement.
On Bill Good. I know that I am anti-cold-calling, but I used to cold call quite a bit when I was at Jones. I used Bill Good’s techniques and thought the first book was phenomenal. As a loyal reader and to see if he had anything else interesting to say, I bought Hot Prospects, which I thought was even better.
And BondGuy - love the classified route - that’s awesome.
[quote=leboyd][quote=BondGuy]First on the production numbers- nobody believes any numbers posted here. I could care less whether you believe me or not.
[/quote] A bit testy aren't we? Might indicate that you do care. Relax, I already said I'd assume they were real. [quote=BondGuy]I schedule cold calling everyday. Usually i call business numbers. If i'm calling a purchased list then i may be calling residential numbers. Nothing interupts the calling session. I've found that if I call in the morning there is less chance something will come along and derail the session. That said, there are no rules regarding when is the best time to call or who to call. With one caveat- It really helps if you call people who have money. [/quote] Two additional questions: When calling residential, what precentage of answered calls do you expect? When calling businesses, do you ask for someone/position w/in company? TIA, Larry[/quote] Testy? You all but call me a liar and then ask for my help. That it's par for the course on this site is why i answered your questions. But don't push it. Accept what i offer or don't. But don't make noise about it. Moving on- I don't know what my residential hit rate is. Calling businesses I average 8 to 10 contacts per hour. Usually, that equates to 1 to 3 qualified leads. Today, I called for one hour, got eight contacts and hit a lead on the last contact. 200k ready to go on my call back with a bond that fits. This ain't rocket science. never call a number unless you have a name. use industrial directories or Chamber of Commerce lists.Squash, i don't know how to answer this question. The entire book lays out a cold calling system- from who to call to how to follow up. Are you sure you read this book?Tell me what in Bill Good’s first book was so good…
Hi,
here is a pitch I do (not the best, but does work for me)
Hi Mr. X, this is (blah), how are you ? Great … I’m calling you from XYZ capital. I’ll save to regular B.S. you are use to ear on the phone FAIR ENOUGH ? Now… you know about XYZ capital RIGHT ? (DON’T wait for the answer) I meen you have been approach by an associate of mine RIGHT ? Great (pause 3 sec) Now I don’t know what that idiot try to sell you, obviouly that didn’t interested you RIGHT ? What I need from you is to know what accutally interest you (financialy speacking if need be) ? OK now I competly agree with you, You know about you come to the office tomorrow (or three day or when you catch you wife in bed with my associate…) and I’ll show you everything realted to that FAIR ENOUGH ?
It doesn’t work all the time, but it does the trick.
It probably sounds much better with some foreign accent. Is English your first language?Hi,
here is a pitch I do (not the best, but does work for me)
Hi Mr. X, this is (blah), how are you ? Great … I’m calling you from XYZ capital. I’ll save to regular B.S. you are use to ear on the phone FAIR ENOUGH ? Now… you know about XYZ capital RIGHT ? (DON’T wait for the answer) I meen you have been approach by an associate of mine RIGHT ? Great (pause 3 sec) Now I don’t know what that idiot try to sell you, obviouly that didn’t interested you RIGHT ? What I need from you is to know what accutally interest you (financialy speacking if need be) ? OK now I competly agree with you, You know about you come to the office tomorrow (or three day or when you catch you wife in bed with my associate…) and I’ll show you everything realted to that FAIR ENOUGH ?
It doesn’t work all the time, but it does the trick.
No but you get the general idea RIGHT ? I mean you are a bright guy DO YOU AGREE ?
I read the book, it is actually next to me on my desk(tucked under some items) however I thought the generalities he made were so general that it was philosophical than it was helpful… Maybe I will reread it again…
What I learned from your post is that you disparage your own colleagues and, by extension, your company, RIGHT. You ask them no questions pertaining to their individual needs, DO YOU AGREE. You finally close for an appointment, FAIR ENOUGH. All the while using "tie down's" and flattery, RIGHT. You must have one VERY charming accent!No but you get the general idea RIGHT ? I mean you are a bright guy DO YOU AGREE ?
What I learned from your post is that you disparage your own colleagues and, by extension, your company, RIGHT. You ask them no questions pertaining to their individual needs, DO YOU AGREE. You finally close for an appointment, FAIR ENOUGH. All the while using "tie down's" and flattery, RIGHT. You must have one VERY charming accent![/quote][quote=Gordon Gecko]No but you get the general idea RIGHT ? I mean you are a bright guy DO YOU AGREE ?
YES I DO AGREE, I do have a charming accent, Thank You.
At the end of the day the prospect DOES sign the application form and DOES transfer the asset to the ''disparage'' company (didn't hear any complain from management getting AUM...) Has for the individual need from the client it's all done during the meeting RIGHT . It's just getting the prospect in for a meeting. After that my VERY charming accent will do is charm DO YOU AGREE ? (Well maybe not on this last part...lol)
And has for colleagues goes well most of them will drop out of the business (sorry BUD/but this is reality)
There's 2 other books I'd recommend: The Sales bible: Little Red book of selling: both by: jeffrey gitomerDid I miss the important chapters in that book?? I have read it and think it has nothing in it that was helpful, except an autobiography of Bill Good and how good he is…
[quote=leboyd][quote=BondGuy]Rather than critisizing this some of you should try it. Hedge makes some good points. The reason some of you think it it’s dated is because you’ve been programed to believe that it’s dated. Wall street went to the soft close went the firms embraced managed money. Guess what? The biggest books on the street were built with a “Hedge like” hard close. Does it still work? Every day we pitch bonds. We don’t tell people about managed money and we don’t blow smoke about how asset allocation will save your ass from everything under the sun. We are either pitching bonds or prospecting for people to pitch bonds to. our prospecting techniques have the exact same tone as hedges example.
Does it work? I did 120k on Nov, 97k in dec, 130k in Feb, and 115k last month. Month to date in march i have 66k on the books. And I'm not even in the top five in my office lately. So you tell me if it works? One of the guys found a prospect who was selling his firm. As a new account, over the phone he gave our guy 2 million dollars. They then met and he wired in another 7 million. Ok, that's a hit the cold call lottery story, but it is out there guys. All you have to do is pick up the phone and have some balls. As for the movie Boiler Room. Not a good movie. The penny stock rip off firms had taken the Lehman system and bastardized it. The director/producer of this movie tried to get a job at one of those firms and couldn't. So he had a friend give him all the tech info that makes the movie so true to life. Hard close prospecting has nothing to do with ripping people off. On fact i'll put my book against any wealth manager and see whose clients are better off. [/quote] BondGuy, my primary question for successful cold callers such as yourself revolves around *when* do you call? I've heard from folks and have seen the posts about Sundays, evenings, daytime, etc. But (assuming you really are the producer that you say your - and I will make that assumption thereby giving you the respect of 'listening' to you) when do *you* call and do you call homes or offices? TIA, Larry[/quote] From my own experience, the best way to cold call is first thing in the morning to get the marbles out, and to work the time zones. For ex: start calling the east coast at 8am, bc I've found most times the secretaries or assistants don't get in, until a half hour to an hour after the prospect gets in, therefore enhancing your odds of getting him on the line. Also, for the most part they usually answer the phone that early in the morning, assuming their the first ones in the office. You would go ahead and work all the time zones. For ex: start calling west coast at 11 eastern time which is obviously 8am there time etc:. As far as calling homes or businesses. I've always pretty much called businesses. I've found the DNC list is brutal with home numbers, and getting past a guys wife is indefinitely the hardest secretary you'll ever have to deal with.. haha... One last tip: If you call and a male answers the phone, I always say the guys name rather than asking for him, because alot of times guys will pretend its not them, because they know your a sales person. For ex: a guy answers the phone and I say "hey Gordon" he says yes "who's this" This is Bud Fox speaking from xyz capital how are you? From there I go into my pitch. Ex 2: a guy answers the phone and I say "Is Gordon in" (theres a pause from him to see if your a salesman) he responds- "who's calling" you give him your details and he says "no he's not, can I take a mess"? I have news for you, It was him the whole time!!!A fun and profitable exercise is to see how many cold calls you can make in a day. Even if you will only deal with local people this can be valuable exercise. But even better if you want to sell bonds or another generic investment over the phone.
To do this takes organization. Get your lists together first and start with business numbers on the east coast at 7am. You can call the east coast business numbers for 10 hours. and then it's time to start moving west for two hours. At 7pm EST you can call either east coast residential numbers or pacific biz numbers until 8pm EST. There is still one hour of calling east coast residential numbers and four hours of calling west coast residential numbers. At nine pm pacific time it's time to call the big island. Residential numbers can be called until 2am Eastern standard time. I think i've got that right? Anyway when i was a trainee a group of us tried this. I don't remember the total outcome only that i had eleven hundred dials. others had 1500 to 1600 hundred dials. it was a fun day. At the time my usual dial rate per day was 300 to 400. A dial is a call that goes through. My minimun contact rate was 50. A contact was reaching the person i was calling. It counts as a contact even if they tell me to crawl into a wet cave and die. I had a rule that i couldn't go home until i had 50 cold call contacts. Many days I had double that amount. Anyone committed to success will succeed in this business as long as they perform the actions necessary to succeed. For those who are working it's only a matter of time. How much time varies from individual from individual. The way i figured it, this biz is a contact sport. The more contacts i make the more business i will do. The more contacts i make every day the faster that business will happen. Very dumbed down, but it's really that simple. Cold calling is one way to maximize those contacts.Amen.
Anytime you could be on the phone is the time to be calling.[quote=BondGuy]A fun and profitable exercise is to see how many cold calls you can make in a day. Even if you will only deal with local people this can be valuable exercise. But even better if you want to sell bonds or another generic investment over the phone.
To do this takes organization. Get your lists together first and start with business numbers on the east coast at 7am. You can call the east coast business numbers for 10 hours. and then it's time to start moving west for two hours. At 7pm EST you can call either east coast residential numbers or pacific biz numbers until 8pm EST. There is still one hour of calling east coast residential numbers and four hours of calling west coast residential numbers. At nine pm pacific time it's time to call the big island. Residential numbers can be called until 2am Eastern standard time. I think i've got that right? Anyway when i was a trainee a group of us tried this. I don't remember the total outcome only that i had eleven hundred dials. others had 1500 to 1600 hundred dials. it was a fun day. At the time my usual dial rate per day was 300 to 400. A dial is a call that goes through. My minimun contact rate was 50. A contact was reaching the person i was calling. It counts as a contact even if they tell me to crawl into a wet cave and die. I had a rule that i couldn't go home until i had 50 cold call contacts. Many days I had double that amount. Anyone committed to success will succeed in this business as long as they perform the actions necessary to succeed. For those who are working it's only a matter of time. How much time varies from individual from individual. The way i figured it, this biz is a contact sport. The more contacts i make the more business i will do. The more contacts i make every day the faster that business will happen. Very dumbed down, but it's really that simple. Cold calling is one way to maximize those contacts. [/quote] I am currently registered in 5 states, can I call other states without being registered there until I go to open an account? Seems odd to register in 50 states so I can prospect them, but then only have clients in 5..[quote=chickenfeed][quote=BondGuy]A fun and profitable exercise is to see how many cold calls you can make in a day. Even if you will only deal with local people this can be valuable exercise. But even better if you want to sell bonds or another generic investment over the phone.
To do this takes organization. Get your lists together first and start with business numbers on the east coast at 7am. You can call the east coast business numbers for 10 hours. and then it's time to start moving west for two hours. At 7pm EST you can call either east coast residential numbers or pacific biz numbers until 8pm EST. There is still one hour of calling east coast residential numbers and four hours of calling west coast residential numbers. At nine pm pacific time it's time to call the big island. Residential numbers can be called until 2am Eastern standard time. I think i've got that right? Anyway when i was a trainee a group of us tried this. I don't remember the total outcome only that i had eleven hundred dials. others had 1500 to 1600 hundred dials. it was a fun day. At the time my usual dial rate per day was 300 to 400. A dial is a call that goes through. My minimun contact rate was 50. A contact was reaching the person i was calling. It counts as a contact even if they tell me to crawl into a wet cave and die. I had a rule that i couldn't go home until i had 50 cold call contacts. Many days I had double that amount. Anyone committed to success will succeed in this business as long as they perform the actions necessary to succeed. For those who are working it's only a matter of time. How much time varies from individual from individual. The way i figured it, this biz is a contact sport. The more contacts i make the more business i will do. The more contacts i make every day the faster that business will happen. Very dumbed down, but it's really that simple. Cold calling is one way to maximize those contacts. [/quote] I am currently registered in 5 states, can I call other states without being registered there until I go to open an account? Seems odd to register in 50 states so I can prospect them, but then only have clients in 5.. [/quote] No! Do not call any states your not registered in. That's a HUGE no no. I've known many people, who've gotten fired for doing that. If you ever get a regulator on the phone you're in big trouble. Stick to the states your registered in.So I have been calling on a 6.5% muni bond, and getting nothing, not even interest… anyone else finding difficulty
No difficulty. The numbers are holding to about average.
If you are confident in your technique, then change the list. If your are confident in your list, record yourself and adjust the way you sound. There could be many reasons why you are not getting any bites. You need to change one thing at a time and measure the results.I am guessing since your name is bond guy, that you sell bonds, have you been doing well cold calling prospects on muni’s?
You gave great information!!!
Cold Calling Techniques, 6th Edition (That Really Work) is a great book…
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You just ruined your product by posting it on this site. Now everyone knows its garbage.
Nice try peddler
Honestly, TQ, I'm with you. Why would we want to make rain the easy way when we can take the hard road and cold call? We could just use this product and be kings of the universe .
Great points!