Eval/Grad Question
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What happens if you don’t hit the requirements to get to eval/grad?
[quote=voltmoie]I’m pretty sure you get the Ted Jones prospecting award when that happens.[/quote]
You make them up, or copy them from the phone book, and you go to eval/grad.
Then you get fired.....Great advice Still![quote=voltmoie]I’m pretty sure you get the Ted Jones prospecting award when that happens.[/quote]
You make them up, or copy them from the phone book, and you go to eval/grad.
Which requirements haven't you hit?What happens if you don’t hit the requirements to get to eval/grad?
Seriously … Call your ATL and get a plan in order. The requirements are so easy at this point you need to get into gear and plan to work weekends until you go back. If you PM me I’ll give you some DKing tips if that’s your problem. Do the work man!
Unless they’ve changed it, TERMINATED.
volt - I could use some doorknocking tips. It's been a while and I'm a bit rusty.[quote=Spaceman Spiff]Unless they’ve changed it, TERMINATED.
volt - I could use some doorknocking tips. It's been a while and I'm a bit rusty. [/quote] Actually, in my class we had a guy who didn't make it back since he didn't have enough "quality contacts"....I guess he was close, because they let him come to the very next class...although he never did make it back to PDP.....shocker![quote=Hey Kool-Aid][quote=Spaceman Spiff]Unless they’ve changed it, TERMINATED.
volt - I could use some doorknocking tips. It's been a while and I'm a bit rusty. [/quote] Actually, in my class we had a guy who didn't make it back since he didn't have enough "quality contacts"....I guess he was close, because they let him come to the very next class...although he never did make it back to PDP.....shocker![/quote]That was me...it happens alot!
I started out really being energized and having no problems knocking. I wasn’t necessarily very good at it but I talked with people and had interesting conversations. I got alot of the “we are already working with someone” and really not sure how hard it is to convert someone in that type situation. I don’t know what happen but one day I just went “do I want to do this anymore.” Do I even enjoy this, I know I am not energized anymore. I spend every waking hour pretty much wandering around, thank you notes, field training, updating, wandering around. It gets old real fast and you either stay energized and love it or go damn isn’t there a more efficient way to find out if someone is even slightly interested in financial help.
Yum, welcome to our business. Starting from scratch (whether cold calling or cold walking) without a big network sucks. It’s a grind, and the lustre wears off pretty quick. What I will tell you is that it gets better and worse. It gets better in that it starts to get more natural. It gets worse in that your expectations go up, so it gets tougher and tougher to hit your bogey. But it’s a grind for at least 5 years. However, I only doorknocked for about 6-9 months. I networked pretty hard from day 1, so by year 2 or 3 that was really starting to pay dividends. Don’t expect networking to work early on. You look like every other newb out there. It starts to work once everyone stops remembering that you are a newb and gets to know you.
Sounds like you have already given up. Those thoughts are poison. Keep thinking that and you are done before the buzzer goes off. When I started there was simply nothing else no other way. Not making my numbers was not an option. Hope you turn your mind around.I started out really being energized and having no problems knocking. I wasn’t necessarily very good at it but I talked with people and had interesting conversations. I got alot of the “we are already working with someone” and really not sure how hard it is to convert someone in that type situation. I don’t know what happen but one day I just went “do I want to do this anymore.” Do I even enjoy this, I know I am not energized anymore. I spend every waking hour pretty much wandering around, thank you notes, field training, updating, wandering around. It gets old real fast and you either stay energized and love it or go damn isn’t there a more efficient way to find out if someone is even slightly interested in financial help.
X2 on Gaddocks thoughts
It gets better, more manageable but you’ve got to do the work, develop a system.
This is like poker - you’ve gotta go all in. The guys I’ve seen that have not done so have failed. Get your head right!
Sounds like you have already given up. Those thoughts are poison. Keep thinking that and you are done before the buzzer goes off. When I started there was simply nothing else no other way. Not making my numbers was not an option. Hope you turn your mind around.[/quote] Very good post Gaddock...that was me as well. I find that is a common denominator with most successful FA's. NO PLAN "B"!!![quote=YumKoolAid]I started out really being energized and having no problems knocking. I wasn’t necessarily very good at it but I talked with people and had interesting conversations. I got alot of the “we are already working with someone” and really not sure how hard it is to convert someone in that type situation. I don’t know what happen but one day I just went “do I want to do this anymore.” Do I even enjoy this, I know I am not energized anymore. I spend every waking hour pretty much wandering around, thank you notes, field training, updating, wandering around. It gets old real fast and you either stay energized and love it or go damn isn’t there a more efficient way to find out if someone is even slightly interested in financial help.
Seriously man you are not doing the work. Id be willing to bet you doorknock for no more than 2 hours every other day during the middle of the day, can’t overcome the simplest objections because you’ve already allowed them to shoe you off their front porch with the attitude you displayed at the door. Forget your field trainer, that’s not the real work. The work is in the prospecting.
Take good notes (and by notes I mean mentally dont write anything but their name and phone number down in front of them). The broker objection is the easiest. Oh you have a broker? Great! Who with? Whats their name? Hmm that doesn't ring a bell... are they here locally? (Do they even know who they are?) Whats been your favorite investment with them? Whens the last time your broker has called you? And your last appointment was? Ok well what I offer is a second opinion from another professional perspective that may benefit you. I can tell by having an advisor currently you value our profession. Tell you what I will do, I will call you sometime and we can schedule a convenient time for you to get a free second opinion, no rush, I'm booked for the next few weeks so I may not be calling you for a bit but I promise to get back with you, whats the best number to reach you at? (look down) "(XXX) -..... The best qualifiers for a good prospect is that they have an advisor. You can judge their relationship with them by how quick they can state their brokerage firm and advisor name. You know what they like by the favorite investment question and you've complimented their saviness in having a broker. AND you have ASSUMED the appointment, and the phone number. A couple tricks, people will also look down at your contact log to see how many neighbors gave you their number so the first contact can be one or two from yesterday to start the log, then any contacts with blank numbers fill in with friends and families numbers that you will recognize as not being legit but will seem like everyone is giving you their contact info... why not them too? If you fill in your logs with telephone book contacts you're a worthless peice of garbage like Still@ and really shouldn't be licensed at all.Thanks for the input. I was doing the work and taking very good notes on most people I talked with. The “already working with an advisor” scenario doesn’t usually play out like you just said. Usually it ends with “We are already taken care of thanks bye…” I actually have contacts, im just not excited about it anymore and wouldn’t want to enter a bunch of bs in my system.
[quote=YumKoolAid] Thanks for the input. I was doing the work and taking very good notes on most people I talked with. The “already working with an advisor” scenario doesn’t usually play out like you just said. Usually it ends with “We are already taken care of thanks bye…” I actually have contacts, im just not excited about it anymore and wouldn’t want to enter a bunch of bs in my system.
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This is identical to Still@jones posts a awhile back. Dejavu!
If you get 220 or so really legit contacts in those 8 weeks or whatever before eval/grad you will be off to a great start. If you get that and still have a pitfall then you need to be logging each and every person you meet that let you leave some literature and introduce yourself too, otherwise known as the mirror test, or look up the missing info like their name on whitepages (name not phone number) that and hit up some businesses to balance things out and constantly be talking to people during hours when people are not at home. It will take time to master the doorknocking thing but just keep up with it. It is no easier anywhere else so I wouldn’t be concerned with keeping your licenses if you can’t make it to your can sell date. Otherwise if you are that down on yourself and prospecting, people are no nicer on the phone, if you think they are grab a phone book and try and introduce yourself that way. Outside of those 2 methods there isn’t really a way for you to be successful starting out without a large natural market of existing relationships you have from past careers. I would suggest deciding if this is the career for you… I think anyone willing to stick with it and do the work… especially the way Jones dumbs it down, can last and eventually (be it 5 years down the road for some) make an above average living but it all depends on how long you want to starve to get there and how long you are willing to commit to finding new people and telling them what it is you do for a living.
All in all I really hate the idea of people failing in this industry because of their own mental weaknesses, however if they decide a career outside of sales is more their niche, I completely understand. FWIW I think despite what Still@ says, he will or already does ultimately regret the way he handled his career opportunity with Jones.