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New FAA trainee as MSSB...advice please?

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Jul 27, 2011 5:01 pm

I will be starting at MSSB, next monday as an FAA.  After graduating college I went to work for Mass Mutual and learned about insurance products.  The environment there really wasn't what I was looking for, I'm too interested in economics, markets and finance for insurance.  Yes they had a securities side, but MM was way to conservative and controlling of what I could say and do.  Like boxing w/ one arm behind your back.

So, I interviewed w/ MSSB and they are bringing me on.  I have my 7 & 63, need to get my 66 (not worried about passing).  I will likely start production in NOV/DEC.

Here is my marketing plan...please critique:

Cold calling of course :) "Is this Mr/Mrs_____, Great, My name is _____ from MSSB.  Are you an investor?  Are you open to new investment ideas from time to time?" (if no on either question..."Im sorry to bother you...goodbye."  I will keep notes of a yes to investor & call back)  If yes to both, "Great!  I would love an opportunity to speak with you, but I know even 20 mins is a lot to ask for considering you don't have any idea who I am, so I would like to email you a 60 sec video about this idea.  I will send it out to you right now and my contact info will be at the beginning and end of the video for you to reach out to me.  Thank you for your time and I look forward to meeting you."

I want to do several videos:  

1)  Are you concerned about the value of your dollars...gain exposure to assets that move inversely to a declining dollar.

2)  Equity returns/Bond Risk - efficient frontier portfolio review, often I find that people are taking 20-40% more risk than necessary for the return they are seeking.

3)  Maybe others based on what I learn in FAA

Eventually, I want to find one that people respond well to and do a seminar.

Does anyone have advice to help me prepare for this great opportunity?

Jul 28, 2011 12:25 pm

I'd suggest asking a little more of an open ended question from the beginning to get them talking.  At the very least it gives you the chance to start a conversation, and you could lead a little more into what you are trying to accomplish from there.  Also, I wouldn't give up that easily, be more persistent on the phone.  Yes, sometimes the timing is right and you'll call someone who is interested right away, but other times you have to influence them and create a sense of urgency as to why now is the time and why you are the FA they need to be working with.  Develop a strong value propostion and you'll see your results increase substantially.  Also, don't leave the ball in their court.  You need to be reaching out and following up with them.  If you depend on their response to your video brochure to get an appointment set up, you'll find yourself at the end of the month scrambling to  make your numbers.  Obviously don't be too pushy, but gentle touches here and there will help for sure.  You'll learn more in training on this, but just wanted to give a litte of a head start.  Happy hunting!

Jul 28, 2011 2:26 pm

[quote=FB 41]

I'd suggest asking a little more of an open ended question from the beginning to get them talking.  At the very least it gives you the chance to start a conversation, and you could lead a little more into what you are trying to accomplish from there.  Also, I wouldn't give up that easily, be more persistent on the phone.  Yes, sometimes the timing is right and you'll call someone who is interested right away, but other times you have to influence them and create a sense of urgency as to why now is the time and why you are the FA they need to be working with.  Develop a strong value propostion and you'll see your results increase substantially.  Also, don't leave the ball in their court.  You need to be reaching out and following up with them.  If you depend on their response to your video brochure to get an appointment set up, you'll find yourself at the end of the month scrambling to  make your numbers.  Obviously don't be too pushy, but gentle touches here and there will help for sure.  You'll learn more in training on this, but just wanted to give a litte of a head start.  Happy hunting!

[/quote]

Thanks for the feedback.  I am sure I will try and be trained on this more "traditional" cold calling technique.  Good point on "not leaving it in their court.  Maybe I should say "Ill send you the video now and follow up with you the same time tomorrow." or something like that.  

I still think I will try not handling any objections though.  Bill Good said his people's call volume and sales went up when he told them not to handle ANY objections...so I thought...if your not an investor, I don't want to talk to you...if your not open to new ideas, I don't want to talk to you.  I can make lots more calls by spending less time on each call.  When I do send out my "video brochure" (thanks for that) it is going out to a qualified suspect, and if the pitch is good, there should be a high probability of success.  right?

I definitely plan to try different angles.  The one mentioned above is just one that is a little outside the box.

Jul 28, 2011 4:55 pm

As you will learn, this is a numbers game and a contact sport.  You want to make at least 150-200 calls per day and the more you do, the more you will have conversations with people.  As you fine tune your pitch, the results will get better and better.  It's good to have the prospect's email address, but personally I am reluctant to rely on email marketing because I think it gets ignored a lot of the time.  Also, you will learn where to draw the line on uninterested people on the other end of the phone, but somtimes they need a little prodding.  I'm on the phone all day and occasionally get people on the line who are monotone and just say 'I'm not interested" without really listening to you -- which is when you cut your losses and move to the next one.  Natural instict tells a person to say "no' to a solicitation call, but if you present something of value to them in the first few sentences, you can grab their attention.  Try to get a few jabs in before they (not you) hang up the phone.  Also recall that not everyone classifies themselves as an "Investor" or "wealthy" for that matter -- but they have the Rollover assets to prove themselves wrong. 

Jul 29, 2011 5:26 pm

Bit of advice:
Have a backup plan to the videos. It has little chance of getting approved by compliance. It’s worth a shot because it is a differentiator with what others are sending them.
.

Jul 29, 2011 6:43 pm

[quote=Hacksaw]Bit of advice: Have a backup plan to the videos. It has little chance of getting approved by compliance. It's worth a shot because it is a differentiator with what others are sending them. .[/quote]

I mentioned the video idea to a manager and he basically said I can get "presentations" approved as long as they are not saying anything illegal or misleading it shouldn't be a problem.   We will see though. 

Jul 29, 2011 10:28 pm

[quote=MHK]

[quote=Hacksaw]Bit of advice: Have a backup plan to the videos. It has little chance of getting approved by compliance. It's worth a shot because it is a differentiator with what others are sending them. .[/quote]

I mentioned the video idea to a manager and he basically said I can get "presentations" approved as long as they are not saying anything illegal or misleading it shouldn't be a problem.   We will see though. 

[/quote]

Typically they will not allow you to say anything that could be constituted as advice, or anything that could be viewed as an opinion of the firm. You can get them done, just know it will likely take you a month or two of constantly having to make little changes until they approve it. I knew a guy that wanted to do an announcement letter, describing his new position and what he was doing investment wise, out to all his clients from a previous career. It took him 2 months to get it approved through compliance.
Jul 30, 2011 5:49 pm

[quote=Hacksaw]

[quote=MHK]

[quote=Hacksaw]Bit of advice: Have a backup plan to the videos. It has little chance of getting approved by compliance. It's worth a shot because it is a differentiator with what others are sending them. .[/quote]

I mentioned the video idea to a manager and he basically said I can get "presentations" approved as long as they are not saying anything illegal or misleading it shouldn't be a problem.   We will see though. 

[/quote]

Typically they will not allow you to say anything that could be constituted as advice, or anything that could be viewed as an opinion of the firm. You can get them done, just know it will likely take you a month or two of constantly having to make little changes until they approve it. I knew a guy that wanted to do an announcement letter, describing his new position and what he was doing investment wise, out to all his clients from a previous career. It took him 2 months to get it approved through compliance.[/quote]

I'm confused, I thought that a FA should have opinions and give advice.  I guess I have a lot to learn.  Thanks for the heads up on potential timelines.

Jul 31, 2011 11:04 am

It is very interesting to see how rookies are now. Approaching the business. My advice to you would be as follows:

Specialize. This will allow you to get up to speed faster and you will sound like you know what you are speaking about Areas of specialization can include retirement plans, lending or cash management to name a few,

Wealth management is a process. If you are specializing in this area your sales pitch should should be nothing more than an explanation of the process. The process usually starts with some sort of Financial Plan!

Practice Management. How are you going to run your practice? what is your process? Investments, are they scalable to your size book

At the beginning try to think about what type of business you are building? Who do you want as client? How many clients can your situation handle?

If you are in a situation were you have access to libor based security lending, learn the story. Wealthy people borrow money or want access to it.

Jul 31, 2011 4:58 pm

[quote=secretknowledge]

It is very interesting to see how rookies are now. Approaching the business. My advice to you would be as follows:

Specialize. This will allow you to get up to speed faster and you will sound like you know what you are speaking about Areas of specialization can include retirement plans, lending or cash management to name a few,

Wealth management is a process. If you are specializing in this area your sales pitch should should be nothing more than an explanation of the process. The process usually starts with some sort of Financial Plan!

Practice Management. How are you going to run your practice? what is your process? Investments, are they scalable to your size book

At the beginning try to think about what type of business you are building? Who do you want as client? How many clients can your situation handle?

If you are in a situation were you have access to libor based security lending, learn the story. Wealthy people borrow money or want access to it.

[/quote]

Thanks for the advice, I am thinking about “specializing” in protecting individuals wealth from the devaluing of our dollar due to the massive increases in the money supply.

Aug 1, 2011 12:33 am

[quote=MHK]

[quote=secretknowledge]

It is very interesting to see how rookies are now. Approaching the business. My advice to you would be as follows:

Specialize. This will allow you to get up to speed faster and you will sound like you know what you are speaking about Areas of specialization can include retirement plans, lending or cash management to name a few,

Wealth management is a process. If you are specializing in this area your sales pitch should should be nothing more than an explanation of the process. The process usually starts with some sort of Financial Plan!

Practice Management. How are you going to run your practice? what is your process? Investments, are they scalable to your size book

At the beginning try to think about what type of business you are building? Who do you want as client? How many clients can your situation handle?

If you are in a situation were you have access to libor based security lending, learn the story. Wealthy people borrow money or want access to it.

[/quote]

Thanks for the advice, I am thinking about “specializing” in protecting individuals wealth from the devaluing of our dollar due to the massive increases in the money supply.

[/quote]

AKA inflation. That’s not really a speciality, that’s pretty much every FA’s goal for their clients. Maintaining purchasing power throughout the client’s retirement.

As for the videos, good luck getting that through compliance. At MSSB they require FAAs to send only pre-written materials. All you can do is add your name and contact information.

Keep drilling down into the process and come up with an interesting elevator pitch. Something other than “I’m a financial advisor and help manage investor’s money.”

Keep working at it.

Aug 1, 2011 2:50 am

Random guy - how about sharing your elevator pitch??

Aug 1, 2011 3:57 pm

[quote=randomguy123]

[quote=BoomBoom68]Random guy - how about sharing your elevator pitch??[/quote]  what do you do? well mr person, im in the business of making people happy. for the low low price of five dolla me luv you long time. room twenty one. see you there.

[/quote]

Thanks for this insightful post Random Guy.  It is really nice to have contributors of such high quality to help people who are just getting started in the biz.

Also, technically yes inflation, if we are lucky that is all it will be.  More importantly, the dollar will eventually (5-10 years, 20 yrs max) be replaced as the reserve currency.  BRIC is already calling for it.  The ONLY reason we have been able to get away with printing soooo much money is because of our reserve currency status and the fact that we can spread all these bills around the world.  Eventually these dollars will come home and I don't think hyperinflation is out of the question.  Therefore I would argue that protecting peoples wealth from Mr. Bernanke blunders is a specialty, because most people have no idea that the dollar has all but been destroyed because they haven't seen the fallout.  Just wait until QE3...4...5...6...7...16...?

In case your a visual person:

Aug 1, 2011 4:22 pm

good job.