Starting out at a local/regional bank
5 RepliesJump to last post
What are your feelings about this? I'm new to the industry, mid 20s. This is a dream career, and I know that the failure rate is high. I passed the 7, 66, and insurance tests so I'm ready (as far as licensing issues).
When I was hired, I felt like this was a perfect situation. A couple years of salary plus a (severely) discounted commission grid to help get me started. However, now I’m worried that they won’t let me take off the training wheels when I’m ready. I’m learning the assistant side of the biz (paperwork, wiring, transferring, etc) as well as how to deal w prospects/clients. I actually like learning the secretarial type work bc at some point, I could see myself as an independent. And to get things off the ground, it’d be nice if I could be a one man show until I felt comfortable shelling out for a quality assistant.
Anyway, I’m running into trouble building biz and I’m starting to get frustrated. My manager is used to dealing with experienced FA’s. They bring in their book, get some branch referrals and they’re good to go. But me? I have no book, and I’m getting 3-4 referrals a MONTH from bank employees. I asked if I could start cold calling. No, I can’t. So I’m supposed to just sit around and try to milk referrals out of the employees. I work with small branches(6-10 employees each), am I wrong to think they will never keep me busy enough?
I understand I need to be patient and learn more about the biz, but I’m starting to rethink my stance.
So, yes, I am b!tching and moaning. Just looking for unbiased advice. Feel free to rip me, it’d be better than me continuing to mull this over in my head.
By the way, the bank (probably like most banks) does almost zero advertising of the investment department. They do allow us to do one or maybe two seminars a year.
Hey, listen you are really OK, cold calling SU**S and the yield is very low.
This has to be so frustrating for you. Sounds like there are too many FAs for the bank.
Did you sign a contract? wondering from their side what they brought you on for.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THIS IS A REPLY TO THE QUESTION THAT WAS ASKED. I'VE TRIED ON MULTIPLE COMPUTERS TO GET THE REPLY BUTTON TO WORK, BUT IT'S TOTALLY UNRESPONSIVE.
Yes, I did sign a pretty standard non-compete contract. They brought me in because (like almost every other place) they have a few older advisors, and they need to start thinking about bringing in the next generation of production.
I know cold calling isn't particularly fun. I've made a few thousand cold calls (and by reading this forum, a few thousand cold calls is just an average week for some people) and got a bunch of appointments out of it. I didn't have any sales/product/client training, so I didn't get any actual sales out of it. Still, it was time that I felt I was atleast TRYING to be a success.
At this point I feel like I'm just spinning my wheels. I'm trying to knock out my CE's and get smooth with a few products. I'm not going to give up. At the very least I'll be sticking where I'm at until the salary part runs out. At first I felt guilty about doing that. Now that I'm receiving no training and I'm heavily restricted in what I can do/say....They are basically asking for someone licensed to sit in an office with the possibility someone will stumble in the office.
Until the salary portion runs out I can get familiar with the biz and start to feel more confident. At that point, I'll see if I'm going to get the support that I feel I need. I guess I'm just a little disappointed, as I was hoping to stick with the company for a long time.