Prospect: “I already have an advisor and I’m very happy with him”

Me: “That’s exactly why we should sit down. Many successful people actually work with multiple advisors, and if there’s something he’s missed or a way I can add additional value wouldn’t you like to know?”

Prospect: “Sigh, okay, we can meet”.

Me: “Great, looking forward to it. When we sit down it would be helpful for you to bring a copy of your written financial plan and investment policy statement for me to review”

Prospect: “ummm… I don’t have either of those”

and so on and so forth.

Mango - Short and sweet, that’s great. Thanks!

Also, I was wondering if there’s any accepted timeframe during each day for knocking. I’ll be honest, and it might be a bad thing to admit this, but I am really uncomfortable knocking after 6pm. I am fine hitting the pavement for 8-9 hours a day, and I’ve had my best luck between 5-6pm for people actually being home. It’s after 6ish that I get really uncomfortable and have gotten some very negative reactions to people who did answer after 6pm.

Prospecting Successes good idea to renew old thread and work successfully. WOW.

[quote=sdotybb]

Quick back-story. I was recruited to an Independent firm after working for 11 years in Marketing/Project Management. I have zero experience in finance, but didn't have too much trouble with the tests just through dedicated studying. I've passed my S7, S66, and insurance tests. I moved to a new town to open an office with the guy who recruited me. This town is, like most, inundated with FAs. The FA:resident ratio is off the charts. 

The guy I'm working with is a former EJ guy and swears by door-knocking. I've been out for 4 days and have maybe 30 numbers total. EVERYONE (okay so not everyone but a striking percent) are telling me they "already have a guy," which is expected, but what they're also telling me is that they're very happy with their guy. Talking with others, I'm hearing to just move on to the next one. But with the vast numbers of people saying this I'd be moving on a lot. I'm just wondering if anyone has any genuine advice on how (or if they even try) to overcome this  objection. 

I know there's other threads on this but most I found were 4+ years old. Just looking for a fresh take. Much appreciated for the time and help here.

Whatever you’re pitching isn’t gaining interest. What kind of product are you pitching?

Right now I’m not pitching any product when I’m out. Originally I was saying that I’m just out introducing myself and my services as an independent advisor. That didn’t work at all. Then I switched up and told them I just expanded my business into the area and opened a new office downtown. This has them intrigued and has kept the door open longer with better success of getting numbers.

My mentor was an EDJ guy and said his first 90 days he wasn’t allowed to talk investments at all so right now he just has me talking to the people, trying to get a number to call them if something does come across my desk.

I actually enjoy getting out and meeting people and I think I’m pretty lucky in the area I’m knocking because the vast majority of people are at least pleasant. My percentage on getting a number even with the pleasant demeanor of the area is not what I want.

Hard work isn’t an issue. At my last job I would find myself working 7am-2am with constant pressure and such. I guess what I’m looking for here is some stories on how others hit their stride. I’m about 2 1/2 weeks into door knocking now.

sdotybb - I’m a current Jones guy…it works, it’s just slow.

My general rule of thumb is if I knock on 100-120 houses, I can get 30 people to answer the door, 25 people to tell me a little about themselves, and about 10 people to give me a number.

BUT…those 10 people that give you a number will remember me when I call them with a product and not hang up on me when I start to pitch something, even if they don’t want to do business with me.

Your mentor can probably share ‘the Jones way’ of doing repeat face-to-faces too…that works as well for some of those folks who are ‘very happy’ with their current advisor.

There’s an area around my office that prohibits door-knocking, so I’ve tried cold-calling - it works a little better from the pure ‘numbers’ perspective, i.e. I can talk to more people in an hour of cold calling, but the BEST cold phone work I’ve done is to get permission to give them a card ‘the next time I’m in the neighborhood.’ That is about 90% successful - pitching something on a cold call seemed silly and counterproductive, but a non-EDJ guy might be better on the phone than me, so your mileage may vary.

So the real question is - would you rather have a warm phone call or a warm door knock? Either way you’ve got to talk to a LOT of people before you hear a yes.

just to touch on this subject! so your doing the knocking, getting out into the public is great exposure. You can also do the cold calling but have to worry about the do not call listings. But what is one thing that the world or human civilization is attached to almost 90% of the day?

The internet right? Why not use this to your advantage? use social networking, use anything you can to get in front of the people you need to be in front of? I’ve currently started building landing pages/ lead grabbers to grab warm leads. You have to do some studying and some research or if you got the funds pay some one else to do the work for you but. I"m the type that if my money is better spent me doing something else I’ll pass of the little work to others so I can focus on what I’m good at. Isn’t this what most CEO’s do on a daily? I’m not sure rules and regulations via different companies so these must be taken into consideration as well. But Think outside of the box! On how you can be in front of your customer base on a daily basis…

Thanks for the input all. And I’ve actually started using social media more, great idea!

The door knocking is still going very slowly. I’ve decided to get more involved in the community and just get known around town. Last weekend I went to a boat auction of all things just to walk around and ended up getting two phone numbers for 30mins of chatting. I know contributing this few numbers to my pipeline is not sustainable, but my goal is to continue to get out and mingle with people and if it comes up, tell them what I do and that I’m currently taking on new clients.

I’ve just realized in the past few months that door knocking is not for me. The guy I’m working with unfortunately sees that as the only way to make it in this industry.

One other point, I’ve also realized moving to the new town was probably not the best idea as I had a VERY strong network of big money in the area I left. I’ve started making trips back there for lunch meetings with friends, family and former co-workers who are very interested in investing with me. I’m doing everything in my ability to be one of the “networking” guys and not have to be a “door knocking” guy.