It would help if you could give some background information.  What type of channel are you in (bank, wirehouse, indy)?  Production less than 50k has a wide range.  Was it 10k or 49k?  What market are you targeting?  What do your daily activities look like (how do you prospect, how many dials do you make, how have you been getting the clients you have)?  How are you getting prospects through your pipeline?  If you get in front of someone and don't close them, why do you think it didn't happen?

45k, EDJ, Midwest, 80% cold calling via phone, 20% cold knocking.  Sell ce and open end mutual funds, annuities, stocks and muni’s.  Try to make at least 100 cold call per day.  Do a lot of follow ups on pipeline.  Try to contact my pipeline often with idea or economic news. 

If you are really making close to 100 cold calls a day I believe you will be successful if you stick with it.

You try to make 100 cold calls per day, but how many people do you actually get to talk to?  There’s a big difference.  I could make 300 calls per day and knock on 50 doors, but if I only really talk to 5 people, I might as well just stand outside my EDJ office next to my little stand-up CD rate sign and shake everyone’s hand that walks by.

I agree with Snaggletooth, it does not matter how many dials and knocks you make, you need to speak to 40 qualified prospects per day.  If you are doing this, following up consistently, and asking for the order, you will be fine.  I know right now it is difficult to see, but if you are working, accounts will just start to roll in.  Prospects you thought were great on day 1 and frustrated you after 6 months of contact will finally come in when you least expect it.  Personal info, I did $14m first 6 months (no family, no connections, no personal network going in), $56m next 6 months, $159m 2nd year, on pace for $196m 3rd year.  Continue to work and you will be successful.

Blue are those  cumulative numbers?  Either way extremely impressive and inspirational.

not cumulative, that is per year

Bluetag, what is your definition of a qualified prospect?  How do you maximize your chances of getting contact info for qualified prospects so you don’t waste your time contact non qualified ones?

Person with money with an immediate need.  To maximize your time you have to find the prospects hot button quickly and avoid asking yes or no questions.  Instead of asking “did you have a plan for this bear market?” (they will answer yes and you have no where to go) ask “what is your advisors (never use broker) plan to deal with this bear market”.  No one knows the answer to that question.  Briefly give your process for risk management (don’t use broker terms like risk management to a prospect) and ask when can you meet in person to discuss their portfolio.  There will still be many prospects who you will waste time with, but finding what interests the prospect, what they do not feel they are currently getting, and how you are different will cut down on wasted effort with people that will never bring you money.  In my humble opinion.

Unfortunately, most new advisors do not have the opportunity to concentrate on fee based right away.  You have to meet the minimums and more importantly eat.  Typically you HAVE to start out primarily transactional and then migrate to fee based later.  As for measuring progress with AUM, that is great as long as you are hitting your bogeys, your manager is looking closer at production, regardless of what he/she may be telling you.

I was commenting on life at a wire.  May (sounds like it is) be different at an Indy firm.  At a wire, you do not “pay your own way”, the firm provides you with a salary regardless and if you don’t produce you are a liability to the firm. 

Thanks for all your feed back.  I track my contacts as well.  On average I only talk to about 25 qualified prospects per day.  I do about 1/2 A shares and 1/2 C shares on mutual funds and have done about 200k in VA business.  I do ask for the order but I’ve got to say lately I think I’ve pushed a little too hard and scared some deals off.  I have found where people I talked to 6 months ago will come in a transfer their accounts to me.   The last couple of months I’ve had a lot setting in cash and haven’t been able to get them off the fence.

If you are having trouble getting people off the fence, try this.  What is your favorite Mutual Fund? (Don’t answer on the board).  Run a hypo starting 10 years ago and show long term performance.  Next show what the results would have been if money was added EACH time the market pulled back (5%,10% whatever you chose).  Then tell the client that the market has pulled back and it is time to put SOME (don’t want to scare them) money to work and the most successful investors put money in when everyone else thinks the sky is falling.  Then tell them you will call them again when a. things look better to add even more, or b. when the market pulls back again to add even more.  Condition your clients to expect advice.

Kuj…what have your mentors and/or supervisors recommended?  Have you approached them to evalaute your prospecting and clsoing techniques?

I wouldn't give up yet. In the beginning it is extremely frustrating. As long as your managers are Ok with your numbers, keep on going.

For the fence sitters that are firmly entrenched, as Blu has suggested it's time to stop the portfolio management approach and just sell'em something. His idea of a good mutual fund is excellent and comes with built in urgency. Other candidates for getting the account open are preferred stocks, and stocks of local companies. A local utility works well here. And the absolute best buy it now product is a Tax Free Municipal Bond.  

To those thinking of entering the biz: Extremely frustrating is an under statement.

[quote=anabuhabkuss]To those thinking of entering the biz: Extremely frustrating is an under statement.

Oh absolutely. My mentor told me that most newbs fail because they try so hard to find the “right product” that by the time they find it management doesn’t want them any longer.

Oh and sorry I didn’t get the NFL reference. I’m not into sitting on the couch and cheering for a bunch of burly guys in shoulder pads tackling and throwing balls at one another.