Struggling
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I am long gone from EDj. I left about ten years ago. When I started it was all about door knocking. Why arent you door knocking? Isn’t that what your mentor told you to do?
Frankly, if you only grossed 50k in your first year, in my opinion something is wrong. It could be you simply are not a good salesperson. That is probably what it is. You may also just not have a personality that attracks new clients for many different reasons. I think you need to figure out what is going on by asking a mentor or RL to evaluate you VERY frankly with absolutly no sugar coating. That's my opinion. I hope you don't dress like some of these dorky EDJ guys I see. Get a good suit with nice shoes and socks please. With that said, I sunk into the RED my first summer at EDJ. Do they still have green, yellow and red? Anyway they sent someone down from St Louis to follow me around on my doorknocks. The reason I was in red is because I sucked. I was nervous and I lacked self confidence let alone knowledge. I wasent comfortable talking to persons about their investments and for good reason. So there was a reason my gross was poor. I was able to overcome it eventually though by working harder than most other people. It was hell and I lived in fear for a while but roughly 15 years later that is a distant memory. You need to find out what is wrong right now. Beating your head on the wall by working 80 hours a week is stupid if you are not improving. In around year two I starting investing in seminars and I found that that was something I excelled at. It turned my career around. You gotta figure out what the key is for you and you can't delay. That's my opinion for what it's worth.KU, what are the year 1,2,3,4,5 mins at EDJ. You mentioned you are in the midwest, what size town approx. What is your ratio of qualified prospects/appts, appts/accts? Doorknocking or calling yielding better results? Do you track this stuff? Any other prospecting? This info will tell you what you need to work on.
Great messages guys and girls (if there were any). I might suck, I liked that message the best. I’ve had a good day and a lot of things I’ve been working on are coming through. I’ve done very well at opening accounts but I haven’t got a lot of big accounts. Business door knocking has produced for me as has cold calling. I do track my calls. I do about 100, 25 contacts and 5 people who are interested in something. Those 5 are sent a card go into my database and then I go to work on them. They tend to be older. I think where I suck is getting the appointment. I haven’t tracked that because I usually don’t even try when I’m tracking my cold call numbers. I usually will set up time to follow up on those prospects and try to set meetings.
2 Questions. What are good appointment setting calls on the second call and what is a way to land an appointment on the first call? I've been using the script Are you and investor? Qualify, if there is something there send them info, or I will use a product to call. Mainly it's the "are you an investor" I'm thinking about changing it up. After intros "The reason I'm calling is to set an appointment with you to do a free review of your investments and to give you some investment ideas. Do you have some time available tomorrow. Sorry for the lenghty message.[quote=kujhawks300]Great messages guys and girls (if there were any). I might suck, I liked that message the best. I’ve had a good day and a lot of things I’ve been working on are coming through. I’ve done very well at opening accounts but I haven’t got a lot of big accounts. Business door knocking has produced for me as has cold calling. I do track my calls. I do about 100, 25 contacts and 5 people who are interested in something. Those 5 are sent a card go into my database and then I go to work on them. They tend to be older. I think where I suck is getting the appointment. I haven’t tracked that because I usually don’t even try when I’m tracking my cold call numbers. I usually will set up time to follow up on those prospects and try to set meetings.
2 Questions. What are good appointment setting calls on the second call and what is a way to land an appointment on the first call? I've been using the script Are you and investor? Qualify, if there is something there send them info, or I will use a product to call. Mainly it's the "are you an investor" I'm thinking about changing it up. After intros "The reason I'm calling is to set an appointment with you to do a free review of your investments and to give you some investment ideas. Do you have some time available tomorrow. Sorry for the lenghty message. [/quote] There's actually too much to address from your post. For one thing, I don't like saying, "Are you an investor?" It's a yes/no question that doesn't serve any purpose, in my opinion. 99% of the people you call ARE investors, whether they invest $100/month into a savings account or have millions of dollars. But 99% of people will lie to you just to get off the phone. It's natural, don't take it personally. Also, I wouldn't say, "The reason I'm calling is to...". Don't waste your words, they are important. I would instead say, "I'm calling to...". It's only a couple of words different, but I think being direct is better. Your follow-up call will be based on what happened on your first call. If you found pain on the first call, your second call should be about addressing that pain. If your first call was to find out if they like muni's or preferreds or whatever, the next call, if you have something, tell them about it. "Last time we spoke you said you liked the safety of preferreds. I have a preferred from ING that's paying 7.4% taxed at 15%. We have to buy it before April 1 to get the April 15th dividend. Can you come in Tuesday morning or Thursday afternoon? Put yourself in the prospect's position and ask yourself what you are asking them. What you are saying will spark about as much interest as chewing on tin foil.[quote=kujhawks300]
I've been using the script Are you and investor? Qualify, if there is something there send them info, or I will use a product to call. Mainly it's the "are you an investor" I'm thinking about changing it up. After intros "The reason I'm calling is to set an appointment with you to do a free review of your investments and to give you some investment ideas. Do you have some time available tomorrow. [/quote] These are horrible. It sounds like the IRS is calling to set an "appointment" for an audit. Here's my advice, for what it's worth: don't be so sterile with your approach. Try to develop rapport with them. Put them at ease. Ask about their family, their job, etc. Ask how their 401K is doing. Once you soften them up about, use something like (and please use your own words) "hey why don't we get together, I'll take a look at your 401K, annuity, (whatever), and I'll give you my honest feedback. Maybe you're fine, but maybe I can just give you some advice on how to proceed....." Make it really casual and not so formal. I find that this is what works for me, and many others that I have witnessed. Clients (prospects) are attracted to PEOPLE, not to products and services. You won't get them in the door with an invitation to an "appointment". Strike that word from your vocabulary. Another approach, and you have do do this conversationally, not like it's an info-mmercial: "I know a lot of people are concerned about their 401K/XYZ stock/pension/social security/whatever. I work with a lot clients to help minimize thier concerns/alleviate their fear/show them how to reduce thir risk/etc. Why don't we get together and I can just show you waht I do for my other clients....blah,blah,blah." It just sounds to me that your cold-calling approach is too, well, too cold. You have to warm it up a bit.B24,
If you can't touch their 401k (unitl they leave their job) and its the only retirement asset the prospect has, then how is it beneficial to evaluate it?Because people have other needs than their 401K. They need to do a Roth IRA. They need to do Life Insurance. They need to plan for their retirment. If the 401k review is the one thing they want upfront, but you find they can add money to an IRA, then someday that 401K is gonna roll. Statistically to the FA who has their IRA. You may waste a little time on someone who only has a 401K and no other need, but it’s going to be rare. Also, those people know other people.
KU - I'm gonna guess, unless you had a really great month out of the gate that really skewed things, that you are meeting expectations at this point. I'm also going to guess that you are going to work hard to keep yourself there. Don't be so quick to judge yourself on such an arbitrary number, like $50,000 gross. That number is meaningless. Especially if it takes $180,000 gross to feed your family. That number means something to you. Figure out what that number is and work toward that goal. You ultimately have two people to keep happy with your numbers. Your spouse and yourself.[quote=lambda]B24,
If you can't touch their 401k (unitl they leave their job) and its the only retirement asset the prospect has, then how is it beneficial to evaluate it?[/quote] It's a conversation starter. Statistically, and based on my own experience, people are most familiar with, and have more wealth wrapped up in their 401K than any other asset (excluding residence). So this is an easy one to talk about. They look at it, their co-workers talk about it, etc. Asking them about their life insurance or annuities or whatever is often a more difficult conversation (now, I am talking about the working investor, not the retired person - two different conversations). Those are all the things you will get into after you get the proverbial "seat at the table" as BondGuy mentioned earlier. Also, as I think Spiff said, maybe they have 200K in their 401K (or 50K or 500K or 1mm), but only some other scraps (old IRA, an annuity, some life insurance, etc.). You want to make them a client NOW, so that you don't have to prospect for that nice rollover LATER. That one is almost certainly in the bag. Even if it's 5 or 10 years away (or 1), you aer building your pipeline of money coming in. Yes, you might feel as though you are wasting your time right now when you need moneys coming in today, but trust me, if you last in this biz, this is like automatic money coming in.Good stuff on this thread! I too liked the the "you might suck’ post posted by the ex Jones guy. Sometimes a shot directly between the eyes is the best cure. And if the truth hurts, well, it’s still the truth.
As for an appointment call some good ideas have already been posted. Remember, the purpose of EVERY call is to move the prospect closer to a becoming a client. It's that simple. What is the best way to do that? Do you have a written account opening process in place? If not, why not? If so, do you follow it? If you follow it, are there, or should there be exceptions? For example your process always calls for going for an appointment. Yet, as posted on this thread, sometimes it might be better to step outside that model and just close them on a product. Here is a simple appointment call: You: Mr. Smith, when we spoke a week ago I sent/left you some information and promised you I'd follow up. Before I could ask you to make any investment I need to know a little more about you. To do that I need about 15 minutes of your time to ask you some questions. We could do that over the phone now, or if you'd like we can meet in person. Which way would would be better for you? Note that there are about a zillion more or less aggressive versions of this same call. This call is used in a call/mail/call campaign. The most common objection will be "I didn't get the information you mailed" here's how to handle that: You: Mr. Smith i called you about a week ago and sent you some information on X. Mr. Smith: Ah, i didn't get that information. You: That's Ok, Mr. Smith, before I could ask you to make any investment I'd need to know more about you. I suggest we meet, I'll bring the informatiom with me. Are days or evenings better for you? Or: mr. Smith: I didn't like that investment info you sent me. You: That's Ok Mr. Smith. I wouldn't expect you to make a decision based on a brochure. And before I could ask you to make any investment I'd need to know more about you. What I suggest, is that we meet. so that I might get to know more about your needs and so that you can judge whether my service could add value to your situation. Are mornings or afternoons better for you? Don't get in your own way. Acknowledge the objection and then ignore it. Stay on script. Keep it simple. www.billgood.com may have some free content in the way of scripts that might help you. Bill use to offer that, still may. And remember, anyone who doesn't deal with you is only hurting themselves. You are the best. You are the answer. This has to be your mind set. Lastly, fake it till you make it. Right now you are struggling. You don't feel successful. Any prospect who gets awhiff of that will run the other way. Success breeds success. Dress, look, and act the part. Nice clothes, nice shoes, positive attitude. Park the 89 Crown Vic out of sight. And yeah, with the wolf at the door, it's a tough gig. But a necessary part of the game.anabuhabkuss:
Thanks! If you work in an office of any size there are more than likely guys just like me. You know, lazy. Thanks again for the kind words.BG I wish I knew guys like you in person (among others on this site)
Here's my advice, for what it's worth: don't be so sterile with your approach. Try to develop rapport with them. Put them at ease. Ask about their family, their job, etc. Ask how their 401K is doing. Once you soften them up about, use something like (and please use your own words) "hey why don't we get together, I'll take a look at your 401K, annuity, (whatever), and I'll give you my honest feedback. Maybe you're fine, but maybe I can just give you some advice on how to proceed....."
Make it really casual and not so formal. I find that this is what works for me, and many others that I have witnessed. Clients (prospects) are attracted to PEOPLE, not to products and services. You won't get them in the door with an invitation to an "appointment". Strike that word from your vocabulary.
Another approach, and you have do do this conversationally, not like it's an info-mmercial: "I know a lot of people are concerned about their 401K/XYZ stock/pension/social security/whatever. I work with a lot clients to help minimize thier concerns/alleviate their fear/show them how to reduce thir risk/etc. Why don't we get together and I can just show you waht I do for my other clients....blah,blah,blah."
[quote=kujhawks300]
Here's my advice, for what it's worth: don't be so sterile with your approach. Try to develop rapport with them. Put them at ease. Ask about their family, their job, etc. Ask how their 401K is doing. Once you soften them up about, use something like (and please use your own words) "hey why don't we get together, I'll take a look at your 401K, annuity, (whatever), and I'll give you my honest feedback. Maybe you're fine, but maybe I can just give you some advice on how to proceed....." Make it really casual and not so formal. I find that this is what works for me, and many others that I have witnessed. Clients (prospects) are attracted to PEOPLE, not to products and services. You won't get them in the door with an invitation to an "appointment". Strike that word from your vocabulary. Another approach, and you have do do this conversationally, not like it's an info-mmercial: "I know a lot of people are concerned about their 401K/XYZ stock/pension/social security/whatever. I work with a lot clients to help minimize thier concerns/alleviate their fear/show them how to reduce thir risk/etc. Why don't we get together and I can just show you waht I do for my other clients....blah,blah,blah." [/quote] Did you physically copy and paste or re-type Broker24's advice? At first I was reading this and thought you were giving yourself advice on your own thread...a little confusing. There is a quote button that you can click on which will be much easier for all.[quote=kujhawks300]Broker 24 this is exactly what I’m looking for, this may be my silver bullet
[/quote] I'm glad you like it. But trust me, it ain't no silver bullet. If it were, I wouldn't wasting my time on forums, I'd be turning away clients because I'm too busy. The key is you have to now put that into practice. And it might take until the 100th person you talk to before it seems to work. Good luck. Stick with it.