Feedback on my Goals
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Jan 10, 2010 4:23 pm
Hi everyone,
I am a new advisor with WFA within the first few month of production and I would like a little feedback/help/refining with my daily goals. I have read the posts with regard to number of dials vs. contacts but it seems to me the goal should be to set appointments. So my goal each day is to set one appointment for the next week. Obviously, if I set that appointment on the first call I would continue to work throughout the day to set more appointments. But, if it is 5:00 PM and I set an appointment then I go home. If not I stay to the sooner of setting an appointment or 8:00 PM. I always keep track of my activity, such as number of dials and contacts. I do find that roughly 200 dials/day = 1 appointment. Please note that I'm not necessarily dialing 200 cold; some are warm calls or prospects I've been dripping on that may end up being that one appointment. What are your thoughts? Would 5 appointment each week translate to success in this business? Thanks in advance[quote=New dude]Hi everyone,
I am a new advisor with WFA within the first few month of production and I would like a little feedback/help/refining with my daily goals. I have read the posts with regard to number of dials vs. contacts but it seems to me the goal should be to set appointments. So my goal each day is to set one appointment for the next week. Obviously, if I set that appointment on the first call I would continue to work throughout the day to set more appointments. But, if it is 5:00 PM and I set an appointment then I go home. If not I stay to the sooner of setting an appointment or 8:00 PM. I always keep track of my activity, such as number of dials and contacts. I do find that roughly 200 dials/day = 1 appointment. Please note that I'm not necessarily dialing 200 cold; some are warm calls or prospects I've been dripping on that may end up being that one appointment. What are your thoughts? Would 5 appointment each week translate to success in this business? Thanks in advance[/quote] Nope[quote=New dude]
What are your thoughts? Would 5 appointment each week translate to success in this business?[/quote] Loaded question. I can tell you it's better than 1, 2, 3 or 4. I would keep my goals a little closer to the ground but that's just me. My goal when I was in your shoes was 40 new contacts a day. Contact = talking to the person who's name is on the list you're calling from. One of two things would happen. 1) I would get my 40 contacts and go home or 2) it was 8PM and I would go home. I firmly believe that if ANYBODY will do this they can't fail. This has allowed me to have a $35k a month goal gross (I've done over $25k for the last 12) after two years and four months in.[quote=New dude]Hi everyone,
I am a new advisor with WFA within the first few month of production and I would like a little feedback/help/refining with my daily goals. I have read the posts with regard to number of dials vs. contacts but it seems to me the goal should be to set appointments. So my goal each day is to set one appointment for the next week. Obviously, if I set that appointment on the first call I would continue to work throughout the day to set more appointments. But, if it is 5:00 PM and I set an appointment then I go home. If not I stay to the sooner of setting an appointment or 8:00 PM. I always keep track of my activity, such as number of dials and contacts. I do find that roughly 200 dials/day = 1 appointment. Please note that I'm not necessarily dialing 200 cold; some are warm calls or prospects I've been dripping on that may end up being that one appointment. What are your thoughts? Would 5 appointment each week translate to success in this business? Thanks in advance[/quote] A lot of your appointments in the beginning won't keep. Setting 5 will translate into about 2.5 kept. I think that you need to keep closer to 15 appointments. This means setting 3 new ones a day.Thanks a lot. I only called business numbers and I generally go see them, so I do generally have 5 appointments a week. Setting 15 seems really steep…is that you do/did when you first got going?
Keep in mind I am not trying to avoid the work, just simply trying to figure out at what point I should feel like I've had a good prospecting day. Which is what the question should have been as opposed to "will 5 appointments a week translate into success". I keep reading that new guys should stay until they get 40-50 contacts/day. I'll stop over thinking it now. Thanks!You need to set at least 10 appointments a week.
Question: Of those five appointments per week – which you generally go see – are you doing a profile, setting a followup appointment or doing some business?
It sounds like you’re setting appointments on a ‘Sure, you can stop by and see me,’’ basis. Nothing wrong with that, but you would need to do many of those.
[quote=New dude]Thanks a lot. I only called business numbers and I generally go see them, so I do generally have 5 appointments a week. Setting 15 seems really steep…is that you do/did when you first got going?
Keep in mind I am not trying to avoid the work, just simply trying to figure out at what point I should feel like I've had a good prospecting day. Which is what the question should have been as opposed to "will 5 appointments a week translate into success". I keep reading that new guys should stay until they get 40-50 contacts/day. I'll stop over thinking it now. Thanks![/quote]What do you mean by "appointments"? Do you mean a mutually agreed time to discuss financial issues, or a time you have determined to just visit someone who hasn't told you to "f*ck off"? Big difference. If it is the latter, and you only get 5, you might be in some trouble.
Personally I approach each day looking for just one qualified prospect with reasonable interest in doing business with me. With 5-6 a week that means I will probably get 1. 4 decent accounts a month. That keeps prospecting in perspective for me because I know all I am doing is looking for one person/business (I don't really target businesses, just my thing).
No, 5 appointments a week will not help you succeed because half of them will reschedule/flake out. I’m not familiar with the bank structure, but is WFA the bank side of Wells or the old Wachovia side? The reason I ask is because 5 appointments with existing bank clients will already be qualified and they have a higher chance to holding to the appointment. If that were the case, 5 appointments/week should be enough for you to survive. However, the objective of this industry is not just to survive, but to make a comfortable living and to do something enjoyable with life.
I am almost done with my first year in production and I have quickly learned that surviving in this business your first year will pay the bills, BUT I will pay the price of not working harder in my earlier years by tenfolds later on. What I mean by that is the faster you build your client base, the easier years 2-4 will be in terms of production. I have a friend that is a bank broker and he calls on a list of CD, 3 dials lead to 2 appts, closes a few annuities a month and is doing about $40k in production. If WFA allows you that luxury, take advantage of it!However many appointments you ARE setting, make sure you qualify for money. I know this isnt the question you asked, but if you are going out of the office to see people, you want to make sure they dont hit you with “sure, i have $5000 to invest”
I learned this the hard way 10 years ago. Got a guy to give me an appointment on the second call, went out to see him. He opened an account with $5000, then added an UGMA account for his kid for $1000. Turned out that was all the money he had. Lucky for me he was 10 minutes from my office. But i never again went on an appointment wihtout at least haveing very good reason to believe that there was enough money there to be what i would call a respecable account size. Dont make that mistake, it will suck up your timeWhen I first got started, I time blocked. I set aside time at 10am, 1pm, and 3pm for appointments on Monday through Friday. I worked all week until I had appointments set for the next week to cover those times. If I didn’t have them covered by the weekend, then I would work Saturday. It also made it easier to schedule appointments because I wasn’t giving the prospect/client multiple options. I just said something like “Monday works well, I have an opening at 1:00, if that doesn’t work, I have Tuesday at 10:00.”
I agree with those who have discussed working until you hit the goal. Most rookies won't do that. As a result, they fail.Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply…this has been very helpful.
A little more detail, based on questions asked:
-I am PCG
-I define an appointment as a date, time, and location. So not so much just dropping by the people who do not tell me to fcuk off.
-3 goals during the appointment: 1. find the pain, 2. profile, 3. commit to a 2nd appointment
Today was a fairly typical prospecting day for me so give me an superior, excellent, fair, or poor rating based on your professional experience.
200 dials
-37 contacts
-1 appointment qualified above 100K
-1 contact with a referral from a friend who is mailing me statements for review
-roughly 7 or so of the contacts asked me to call them first thing next week to firm up a time when they can meet. Some are above 100K and some are below -1 prospect verbally (Ive gotten these before) committed to doing business with me over his current FA
Thoughts?
Maybe I'm doing something wrong with my pitch, but I really have no idea how to set 10-15 appointments a week. Would anyone be open to letting me cold call them?
Thanks again
To better define a more typical day, my dials to contacts to appointment is more of the typical part.
There has got to be a better way.
I am relatively new at this as well and have been racking my brains trying to find ways to generate good leads. I have tried many things and lately I have been using Google AdWords. I am able to get good response but they are expensive. I got the idea of splitting the cost of leads with someone or a few people who would be interested in reaching the same demographic but who are not in competition with me. For example, I focus on a niche which is options. I posted this to the newbie part of the forum. Thanks. Arthur. [email protected]
[quote=bennew11]
There has got to be a better way. I am relatively new at this as well and have been racking my brains trying to find ways to generate good leads. I have tried many things and lately I have been using Google AdWords. I am able to get good response but they are expensive. I got the idea of splitting the cost of leads with someone or a few people who would be interested in reaching the same demographic but who are not in competition with me. For example, I focus on a niche which is options. I posted this to the newbie part of the forum. Thanks. Arthur. [email protected] [/quote]What the smuck are you foking??
[quote=KensLoveChild] [quote=bennew11]
There has got to be a better way. I am relatively new at this as well and have been racking my brains trying to find ways to generate good leads. I have tried many things and lately I have been using Google AdWords. I am able to get good response but they are expensive. I got the idea of splitting the cost of leads with someone or a few people who would be interested in reaching the same demographic but who are not in competition with me. For example, I focus on a niche which is options. I posted this to the newbie part of the forum. Thanks. Arthur. [email protected] [/quote]What the smuck are you foking??
[/quote] Ditto... There is no better way...
[quote=New dude]Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply…this has been very helpful.
A little more detail, based on questions asked:
-I am PCG
-I define an appointment as a date, time, and location. So not so much just dropping by the people who do not tell me to fcuk off.
-3 goals during the appointment: 1. find the pain, 2. profile, 3. commit to a 2nd appointment
Today was a fairly typical prospecting day for me so give me an superior, excellent, fair, or poor rating based on your professional experience.
200 dials
-37 contacts
-1 appointment qualified above 100K
-1 contact with a referral from a friend who is mailing me statements for review
-roughly 7 or so of the contacts asked me to call them first thing next week to firm up a time when they can meet. Some are above 100K and some are below -1 prospect verbally (Ive gotten these before) committed to doing business with me over his current FA
Thoughts?
Maybe I'm doing something wrong with my pitch, but I really have no idea how to set 10-15 appointments a week. Would anyone be open to letting me cold call them?
Thanks again[/quote] I think if you can keep this up you will be fine.... You got 37 contacts(would try to strive for 40).. An appt with a qualified account.... I wouldn't count the referral unless you were specifically calling clients/friends/family asking for them because if not it is just a stroke of luck... So out of 37 contacts, 1 appt, 7 callbacks..What were the other 29 contacts? I go by a formual posted on this board before. 20% will answer, 20% will be interested 20% will set an appt, and then close 50% of those.
Well I use the old AG Edwards script…
Hi, Mr. ____, Hi, this is ____ ______ with WFA out of ________, __. The reason for the call this morning is ask if you are an investor, and if so if you might be open to new investment ideas. No. No, you're not an investor or no you're not open to new investment ideas? At this point whatever they say I revert to David Mullen's rejection script (with a little modification on my part)... "sure I wasn't expecting you to be ready to do business with me right away, all that I'm after is a brief introductory meeting to show you some of the services I offer with hopes of earning a piece of you business in the future. When might you have a free 15 minutes next week"?... What would you change?New dude,
I like your work ethic and your target market. I would lead with a product - your favorite muni bond, mutual fund, annuity idea etc and qualify for money. I average 2-3 appointments per 20 contacts daily, using city directories, Reference USA (which may be free at your libraries website), and online Chamber of Commerce directories. " Hi Bob, Stokwiz with Stokwiz Financial Services here in Yourtown. We have an account paying 5% tax free vs 1-2% at the banks,I called to see if you'd like information on it." If no, "Who do you know that might like to earn tax free income? OK, preciate your time" If Yes, "What I've been doing Bob is stopping by to highlight a few points and leave the information. I can see you Tomorrow at 2:15, would that work for you? Great. By the way, we work with accounts of $100,000 and above. If you like the idea would that be available for you?" If no on your minimum, ask if he has money coming due or who else he knows that would like to hear about the program, and just generally chat to find out about his other investments/goals. My goal at the appointment is not to sell product, but to profile,determine if this is someone who warrants a relationship,and uncover opportunities. StokStok:
What are the pros and cons with leading with a product versus saying.."we have a bunch of products that may benefit you" or something along those lines. The reason why I ask is I am thinking that the one product may narrow your chances vs saying you offer a wider range of services.