GT,

  The key is that you never stop prospecting.  It doesn't mean you have to doorknock.  But if you think after 2 years that your prospecting days are over, think again.  I am being recruited heavily by a wirehouse team with about $300mm in assets, and all they want me to do is prospect for them.  I know a guy at Merrill that still prospects after 30 years in the business.  The good advisors either have a huge pipeline of referrals, or keep prospecting (this is assuming someone that wants to keep growing the business).   As far as the advice you got about first contacts - to an extent I guess that would be true, you need to make some prospects into clients.  But you always need fresh blood, no matter what.  SO I would do both - keep prospecting, and keep calling the "danglers" (but ONLY if you have qualified them as having some ability to invest real money). 

If you haven’t knocked at least 2 1/2 years, consistently, you need to continue doing so.  It sounds like you need to implement acceleration, and start asking prospects, “If you have some money come available, and I have a great rate on (fill in blank her with product like Tax-Free rate, GE rate, etc.), will you sample me out?” to weed out the garbage.  In other words, grow a set. 

  Keep chasing those that you hit hard the last two years, but hammer them harder.  Ask for the order like this, "If I can show you an insured Tax-free rate at 5%, which is equal to over 7% on a taxable rate, what would stop you from sampling me out with 50k?".  And then shut up and wait for an answer.  Next, if they don't have at least 50k, mark them red and stop calling them.  You are two years out and it's time to start making some money.   Finally, the biggest problem I see with people out two years, and near or at Seg 3 is they get complacent.  You don't have to work too many Saturday's anymore, but you better still be working 10-12 hour days, especially now that the market is down and there are some pissed off people at other brokerage firms.  Ask prospects with only one broker, "Is there a reason you have all your eggs in one basket?  Do you really think one advisor or one firm has the corner on the market of good ideas?  Doesn't it make sense to diversify the research your one advisor uses by using another advisor with a more conservative approach?"   PM me if you want some other ideas.

B24 and Rank,   Thank you for the advice. I definitely need to grow a pair and pin some of these prospects down. I need to start embracing the fact that I need to become a better salesman instead of just being Mr. Friendly.

[quote=GT Key]

B24 and Rank,   Thank you for the advice. I definitely need to grow a pair and pin some of these prospects down. I need to start embracing the fact that I need to become a better salesman instead of just being Mr. Friendly.[/quote]   You may have nailed it.  I find one problem with our model at Jones is that sometimes rookies NEED someone breathing down their necks for a while.