Ricky32478 Cold Call Journal (Advice Welcome, Negativity not)
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I'd expect 1/3 of your appointments to no show.
You can fight no shows, by doing a few professional things.
When you set an appointment, write a card with the date and time on it. Send a map along with parking instructions. The day before the appointment, call to confirm, leave a vm if necessary.
By doing that, you should cut your no shows by at least 50%.
If someone no shows, you go right back to them, and try to reschedule. If they no show you twice, then dump the prospect, unless they have a very good reason for the no shows.
Oh, you reminded me of something very useful. Hand written notes. Make a habit of sending 5 hand written notes each and every day. Thanks for this, thanks for that, whatever.... The good will created is beyond your imagination, I've had some very big success with that. Our firm, we've created our own cards, post cards with pictures of our local community. A very nice touch, and professional.
u are awesome bigfirepower. I really enjoy reading your post. You always make me feel good
10/21/10
cold calls 102
contacts 21
prospects 3
I had an appointment today. 200,000 rollover . She is coming back next week to sign paperwork (hopefully! that is what she said.) I tried to get her to do the paper work right there but I noticed her body languange change and asked her if she would be more comfortable taking the night to think about it. She said she was fine with it but had to pick up her son in 30 mins so I scheduled the appointment for next thurs at 130 to finish the paper work and ACAT forms. I already emailed to confirm and wrote thank you card. I will call to confirm the day before. Did I do the right thing?
“I tried to get her to do the paper work right there but I noticed her body languange change and asked her if she would be more comfortable taking the night to think about it. Did I do the right thing?”
This is still a hard thing for me. To a certain extent no. You have to ask the question that will make them uncomfortable, and then shut up. You should not have given her the out. It’s tough believe me. Make her say that she wants to take the night to think about it.
Think of it like cold calling. You want to be able to overcome objections, not make them for the client.
I still have a problem sometimes with being quiet after asking the question. Asking the question is the most important part, now you have to learn to shutup after asking it. But I’ve begun to notice the silence starting and am able to sit and wait for their responce. Make them tell you no or give you an excuse/reason. Don’t do it for them.
The assumptive close; "who are the folks you would like listed as beneficiaries on the account" has always worked for me.
A good friend of mine, gave me this little gem about closing. If she's meeting with husband and wife, and she senses an issue, she excuses herself from her office for a few minutes to "powder her nose". When she comes back, the two prospects have had a chance to either agree, or discuss an objection. She says this winds up closing the deal almost every time.
I'm a real straight shooter. I've got nothing, nada, on my record after 19 yrs, knock on wood thank the Lord. I never push, or cram anything down anyone's throat. I believe my job in a presentation is to establish Trust, Knowledge, and Likeability. I've even coined that as LKT, "the premise of a good professional relationship".
Ricky, I think you handled the situation appropriately. You are generating activity, in a positive way, and pretty soon the results will speak for themselves. Keep up the hard work, you and Westwood really are quite inspiring.
[quote=BigFirepower]
The assumptive close; "who are the folks you would like listed as beneficiaries on the account" has always worked for me.
A good friend of mine, gave me this little gem about closing. If she's meeting with husband and wife, and she senses an issue, she excuses herself from her office for a few minutes to "powder her nose". When she comes back, the two prospects have had a chance to either agree, or discuss an objection. She says this winds up closing the deal almost every time.
I'm a real straight shooter. I've got nothing, nada, on my record after 19 yrs, knock on wood thank the Lord. I never push, or cram anything down anyone's throat. I believe my job in a presentation is to establish Trust, Knowledge, and Likeability. I've even coined that as LKT, "the premise of a good professional relationship".
Ricky, I think you handled the situation appropriately. You are generating activity, in a positive way, and pretty soon the results will speak for themselves. Keep up the hard work, you and Westwood really are quite inspiring.
[/quote]
Good Post BFP! I think in this business you truly learn by doing, as we are both learning the hard way.
Learning the hard way, no, I am pretty sure that you and Ricky are smarter than that, as evidenced by your participation here at RR forums.
You can learn the hard way, by ignoring good advice, or trying to reinvent the wheel.
You can learn from your mistakes, that's better.
Better yet, you can learn from other's mistakes, and increase your efficiency.
But, it is safe to say, you cannot avoid mistakes entirely, as they are the byproduct of activity/action. Just don't make trading errors...
numbers are bad today cause I spent all day doing follow up.
Cold Calls 38
Contacts 16
prospects 2
I did the resume's today thats why my contacts are up. See yall tommarrow
could not set any appointments from it today (although I have set 2 appointments from it in the last 2 weeks). When I said my name people told me it was great to hear from me ( i think its because I wrote them a lot of hand written notes) no one wondered who I was. Some people told me a time when to call back and when they wanted to meet (mostly before thanksgiving and after the new year). I think it will work but I have been asking around and people tell me the people I cold call today will book appointments if followed up properly 3-9 months down the road. I am just following that process. If I get lucky and have someone that is willing to meet, I will meet them. I always try to get an appointment on every follow up call but do not push it.
10/23/10
I only had a half hour to call. I have a family event today and I have to mail out hand written holloween cards to my "prospects" so I was only able to call for a half hour
cold calls 34
contacts 5
prospects 0
Evey little bit counts. Keep on plugging away. I have also mailed out a bunch of handwriteen notes, but so far its been 50/50 on those too, but like they say it should pay off in the end.
Bad day. I am now getting really busy with follow up. I need to find more time to cold call. I am trying to mix it up with cold walking, cold calling, and roledex marketing ( my dad is a CPA and I'm trying to call on different centers of influence in his book))
Cold call 60
contacts 10
prospects 2
Hey guys, just started really calling on a regular basis. glad to find a forum that discusses success stories aswell as frustrations. Well, will add numbers tomorrow as I need some rest BNI at 7AM
Sorry guys I haven't posted in a while. I have stop counting my calls. I work as hard as I can every day and I don't want to track any more. AS long as I do 30-40 contacts a day I will be fine no matter how many dials that is. Anyway, today was a great day. I opend my first account on cold calling ( I had 2 refferals but this was the first account on cold calling). It was a 200,000 401k rollover. I was so pumped after that I did not take any time to celebrate. I pounded the phone and I guess my mood was raidant over the phone because I landed a 300,000 dollar appoint on monday on the first call. Thinks are looking good. I have decided not to obsessively post my numbers here any more because I notice I was wasting time during the work day browsing this forum. I will keep you guys posted of my success's in this forum. Keep on dialing and smiling
Awesome, but I would still collect the data you were posting. Even if you don't post it here, I would still keep a tracking sheet so that you can know your baseline numbers EVERYDAY. Awesome work though!
You say you are searching resumes for rollovers to call in? Where do you get those resumes from? Its a great idea, I'd like to implement it in my practice as well.
Ricky, and Westwood, I was thinking of both of you, wondering where you were.
To both of you, I'd strongly suggest that you change little or nothing to what you were doing. Ice pick into the glacier, it's working Ricky, don't CHANGE anything. KEEP POSTING like you were, it was an accountability thing, good for you.