Exactly! Pick up the phone and do it!

  I call on tax free bonds and it works quite well. Any fixed income will work.   Buttttt! One doesn't have call on fixed income. Just call on something you like and believe in.

tqspygame:

Any recent successes? (not, I have been dripping on this guy for 2yrs type) And consider an appt a success…

  new account this week- 300k. Is that recent enough? Also got a million dollar referral, but that's not a cold call.    I need to make more calls     One of my buddies in the office- yesterday- 3 accounts, 50k, 175k, and 100k. All muni bonds.   The money is out there.   reading BG's March article in Research he speaks of an advisor who has built a million dollar practice in the era of DNC via cold calling. No details offered.            

The new account for 300k… How many contacts did it take to get that? Or was it just the cold call this week on a muni?

  Same with your buddy?

[quote=tqspygame]The new account for 300k… How many contacts did it take to get that? Or was it just the cold call this week on a muni?

  Same with your buddy?[/quote]   Three calls over a ten day period.   Intial call   sent  info on my firm and generic muni bond info   1 week later 2nd call- qualified - risk - parameters   3 days later found bond that fit, called, pitched ,closed.   New account   New client wants more bonds if i can find.   I WILL find! --------------------------------------------------------------------------   I don't know how many calls my buddy made to open these accounts. But knowing him, not many.   I use call/mail/call as my prospecting technique. But there are other ways. Others here use a one call appointment approach that gets good results.    

Bondguy:

  Who or what kind of list were you calling? Residential, Corporate Directory, Business Owner or Other?     I have a corporate directory I just picked up, but would it be noneffective to call them on a muni bond instead of retirement.

I do qualify on the first call. There is no second call unless the prospect meets minimum interest and cash to invest requirements. I requalify on the second call, getting more in depth with the prospect as far as wants needs experience etc.

  Biz owners and execs.   The key when calling on bonds is to call people who have money. Somebody with 10k to invest isn't going to cut it. I'll do a 10k first trade, but if they are a low net worth prospect i don't spend a lot of time calling them back.   Earlier this month i opened a guy who did a 25k first trade. 2nd trade one week later was 60k, and a few days after that a 150k trade. These are the types of accounts we're looking for.   If a corporate directory is a listing of a particular firm's employees then a retirement call would be the way to go. My partner (my wife) calls these asking for retirement dates. She is looking for people within 5 years of retirement. Ideally, with a year. Make enough of these calls and the pipeline fills in nicely.    

Great posts BondGuy!

  What I've found is there is a formula for calls, and for over 20 years it hasn't really changed.   If you make 100 dials to business owners primarily in the morning, you will achieve 15 - 20 contacts, set 2 appointments along with another 2-3 that will request something in the mail.   This call block should take no longer than 2 hours, and is the foundation for growth in your business. I'm talking about first calls to new prospects. Callbacks are a separate time block.    Call with a product that will have mass appeal in this low interest rate, high tax and volatile market climate. If a prospect says not interested, I note that in my database (ACT!) and call again in 45-60 days with another solution.Just try to spark up a conversation. It's easy, but our minds generate alot of noise and make this simple process much harder than it has to be.   It's imperative you begin calling no later than 8:30, where your contact ratio will be high. Always a great feeling to be done by 10- 10:30 and seeing what you've accomplished.   Stick to the formula every day, and you will succeed.   Stok

[quote=stokwiz]Great posts BondGuy!

  What I've found is there is a formula for calls, and for over 20 years it hasn't really changed.   If you make 100 dials to business owners primarily in the morning, you will achieve 15 - 20 contacts, set 2 appointments along with another 2-3 that will request something in the mail.   This call block should take no longer than 2 hours, and is the foundation for growth in your business. I'm talking about first calls to new prospects. Callbacks are a separate time block.    Call with a product that will have mass appeal in this low interest rate, high tax and volatile market climate. If a prospect says not interested, I note that in my database (ACT!) and call again in 45-60 days with another solution.Just try to spark up a conversation. It's easy, but our minds generate alot of noise and make this simple process much harder than it has to be.   It's imperative you begin calling no later than 8:30, where your contact ratio will be high. Always a great feeling to be done by 10- 10:30 and seeing what you've accomplished.   Stick to the formula every day, and you will succeed.   Stok[/quote]   And there you have it folks- cold call prospecting campaigns 101. Do exactly as Stok says every day, as a top priority, and you can not fail! Copy Stok's post and paste it to your bathroom mirror.    And for you newer guys-up that to 50 contacts per day.   My wife is licensed and runs her practice,for the most part, seperately from mine. She's the retirement plans/insurance/annuity expert. There is some overlap. For example; She just brought an account in from ML. The account needed to be rebalanced for income. That's my side of the biz. OTOH, when my clients need insurance solutions I bring her in as my expert.     Great stuff stok!    

[quote=BondGuy]I do qualify on the first call. There is no second call unless the prospect meets minimum interest and cash to invest requirements. I requalify on the second call, getting more in depth with the prospect as far as wants needs experience etc.

  Biz owners and execs.   The key when calling on bonds is to call people who have money. Somebody with 10k to invest isn't going to cut it. I'll do a 10k first trade, but if they are a low net worth prospect i don't spend a lot of time calling them back.   Earlier this month i opened a guy who did a 25k first trade. 2nd trade one week later was 60k, and a few days after that a 150k trade. These are the types of accounts we're looking for.   If a corporate directory is a listing of a particular firm's employees then a retirement call would be the way to go. My partner (my wife) calls these asking for retirement dates. She is looking for people within 5 years of retirement. Ideally, with a year. Make enough of these calls and the pipeline fills in nicely.    [/quote]   What type of script does she does use for doing this.. I have a list coming today for a global foods company's local office(about 1100 direct dials) not sure how to lead in...

My wife’s script?

  For calling employees fishing for 401k rollovers it depends on what's happening. If she's got a seminar or workshop planned she'll call with invites to that event. Just a straight forward invite. When's she's calling looking for retirement dates here's roughly what she says:   mr.______, this is Joyce Smithers at Velda bluehair investments. I specialize in retirement planning and 401k rollovers and was calling to offer you our planning services. Tell me, when are you planning to retire?   It is that simple. Play with it make it yours. If you already deal with employees at the firm, mention that. Embelish or not. Just make the calls.   Ice, yes we work in the same office and have had seperate offices and shared large offices. The rule is that the place has to be big enough that, if need be, we can come in and not see each other. Luckily, rarely needed.   My peers, when talking to me, would ask "How are you going to feel when she out produces you?" My answer "I'm going to enjoy my time on the beach!"   She produces about 1/3 of my production, and in addition to this biz she runs our outside business interests.  So, for now she's not a threat. But, if she ever focuses strictly on this-I'm done!   She started at a wire-not the one I was working at. She went through training and then used my cold call system to launch herself. However, she did it a twist. She called to get appointments for retirement biz. "Huh, you want to meet people? Why slow down the process?" was my response. But it worked. She was not only top quintile in her training class but out of something like 12,000 advisors was ranked in the top 100 in number of new households in her second and third year of training. Of course, i told her she could be number one if she'd just listen to me and "Call, pitch, and close."  But, naturally, being a woman and all, she had to do it her own way.              

[quote=BondGuy]My wife’s script?

  For calling employees fishing for 401k rollovers it depends on what's happening. If she's got a seminar or workshop planned she'll call with invites to that event. Just a straight forward invite. When's she's calling looking for retirement dates here's roughly what she says:   mr.______, this is Joyce Smithers at Velda bluehair investments. I specialize in retirement planning and 401k rollovers and was calling to offer you our planning services. Tell me, when are you planning to retire?   It is that simple. Play with it make it yours. If you already deal with employees at the firm, mention that. Embelish or not. Just make the calls.   Ice, yes we work in the same office and have had seperate offices and shared large offices. The rule is that the place has to be big enough that, if need be, we can come in and not see each other. Luckily, rarely needed.   My peers, when talking to me, would ask "How are you going to feel when she out produces you?" My answer "I'm going to enjoy my time on the beach!"   She produces about 1/3 of my production, and in addition to this biz she runs our outside business interests.  So, for now she's not a threat. But, if she ever focuses strictly on this-I'm done!   She started at a wire-not the one I was working at. She went through training and then used my cold call system to launch herself. However, she did it a twist. She called to get appointments for retirement biz. "Huh, you want to meet people? Why slow down the process?" was my response. But it worked. She was not only top quintile in her training class but out of something like 12,000 advisors was ranked in the top 100 in number of new households in her second and third year of training. Of course, i told her she could be number one if she'd just listen to me and "Call, pitch, and close."  But, naturally, being a woman and all, she had to do it her own way.   [/quote]   What is you're system? Call, mail, call? 

[quote=Squash1][quote=BondGuy]My wife’s script?

  For calling employees fishing for 401k rollovers it depends on what's happening. If she's got a seminar or workshop planned she'll call with invites to that event. Just a straight forward invite. When's she's calling looking for retirement dates here's roughly what she says:   mr.______, this is Joyce Smithers at Velda bluehair investments. I specialize in retirement planning and 401k rollovers and was calling to offer you our planning services. Tell me, when are you planning to retire?   It is that simple. Play with it make it yours. If you already deal with employees at the firm, mention that. Embelish or not. Just make the calls.   Ice, yes we work in the same office and have had seperate offices and shared large offices. The rule is that the place has to be big enough that, if need be, we can come in and not see each other. Luckily, rarely needed.   My peers, when talking to me, would ask "How are you going to feel when she out produces you?" My answer "I'm going to enjoy my time on the beach!"   She produces about 1/3 of my production, and in addition to this biz she runs our outside business interests.  So, for now she's not a threat. But, if she ever focuses strictly on this-I'm done!   She started at a wire-not the one I was working at. She went through training and then used my cold call system to launch herself. However, she did it a twist. She called to get appointments for retirement biz. "Huh, you want to meet people? Why slow down the process?" was my response. But it worked. She was not only top quintile in her training class but out of something like 12,000 advisors was ranked in the top 100 in number of new households in her second and third year of training. Of course, i told her she could be number one if she'd just listen to me and "Call, pitch, and close."  But, naturally, being a woman and all, she had to do it her own way.   [/quote]   What is you're system? Call, mail, call? [/quote]   My system is call/mail/call. If it ain't broke, don't fix it! It's worked forever.   There are dozens of versions of cold calls that work. I use call/mail/call. Stok uses call/appointment/close. What these have in common is that we are dialing the phone.