The 500 day war (for rookies)
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[quote=joedabrkr] [quote=BondGuy]
I'll let judge come in with his own answers here on some of the points you raise. However, There are a few things here I'll ring in on. Failure to move the account beyond a product sale - This is your failure, not a failure of the phone sales process. One can only guess where you went wrong. That said, there are clients/customers who will never move beyond the product sale. Still, carefully building a bond of trust and competency will usually give you a seat at the table. That can be done over the phone. That you didn't do as well over the phone is a good thing for you. It tells you to try another path. Another path in which you may be ultimately very successful. Face to face vs over the phone - This is a personal preference. Neither side is right or wrong. Relationships can be built using either method. Think about this for a moment; Face to face, how often are you going to meet with your clients? Does anyone think that meeting with someone for an hour once a year builds a relationship? And once you've gathered hundreds of clients, how many meetings will there be? Of course there is a lot more to building relationships than meeting face to face. As for which way to go, play to your strong suit. if you look like you're 21 go phone. If you absolutely drip charisma, go for face time. The rest of us, flip a coin. Relationship building is a multi-channel process. Chopping wood the old school way- There is a saying "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." The old school way is to match the product to the client. That is find out what the client needs and then supply it. Managed money is a product. I know your handlers are telling you it's a process, it's not. It's a product and as such, it may not be the best match for a client. So while chopping wood the old school way may cut into your beach time while the money rolls in, doing it the old school way, letting the client decide how to pay for your services, will take your career a lot further. Phone prospecting can be confusing to those who are new. On the surface it looks like product pushing. yet it's not. it is a means to start a conversation. Sometimes that conversation leads to a phone sale, and sometimes it leads to an appointment. Your job is to further the sales process regardless of the route it takes. Or, to exercise enough sales ability to steer the process to the route you wish it to take. it's that simple And by the way, comparing transactional business to selling cars, in very bad taste and misinformed. Is how far the PR campaign from training depts is going these days? [/quote]Hey BondGUY....clean out your inbox...
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[quote=The Judge]- Make an effort to open all accounts over the phone; discourage appointments (we’ll revisit this theory later on) unless it is high 6 figures or a million dollar prospect. Takes too much time. With the travel, meeting time, etc; we are solely focusing on the numbers here. Eventually you’ll meet with them AFTER they become clients.
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DISCLAIMER: I have yet to spend my first day selling. Your posts reads like an excellent instruction manual. However, I must comment on the above phone-selling point: This strategy will likely see you starving in rural North Louisiana. I'm in an area where the majority of folks will hang up on voice mail, and come see you 'cos that's "how they do bidness 'round here." It sure would be nice to sell lots over the phone, but I'm expecting the face-to-face here. Comments?[quote=New2EJ&Biz] [quote=The Judge]- Make an effort to open all accounts over the phone; discourage appointments (we’ll revisit this theory later on) unless it is high 6 figures or a million dollar prospect. Takes too much time. With the travel, meeting time, etc; we are solely focusing on the numbers here. Eventually you’ll meet with them AFTER they become clients.
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DISCLAIMER: I have yet to spend my first day selling.
Your posts reads like an excellent instruction manual. However, I must comment on the above phone-selling point:
This strategy will likely see you starving in rural North Louisiana. I’m in an area where the majority of folks will hang up on voice mail, and come see you 'cos that’s “how they do bidness 'round here.” It sure would be nice to sell lots over the phone, but I’m expecting the face-to-face here.
Comments?[/quote]
Hopefully you get the underlying message in Judge’s original post. You need a lot of activity, and ignore everything else. Yes, you will need to do things a little different depending on who you are targeting.
I’ve recently launched a campaign to cold call SBO’s. I built a list at my library using the infousa database. I was into my 3rd day calling when one guys tells me he’s on the DNC list. I apologized and backed off politely and he was ok about it.
It got me thinking and I then took some of the #'s that i have been calling as well as some of the #'s of people that accepted my offer. I crossed checked them against a DNC search engine that my firm provides and to my suprise a good amount of them are registered. So I'm confused I was under the idea that businesses don't apply. I went to the DNC registration page and I don't see anything that warns someone if you are business you can't register. So for those of you that call businesses do you scrub your lists for DNC?Any # can be registered for the DNC list, however only residential #'s have the legal protections provided by DNC laws. Call businesses all day long, there is nothing they can do about it.
[quote=The Judge]- Assume everyone has caller ID and always leave messages for existing prospects; no messages on cold calls. Leave one message a week for a prospect. And when you get a new prospect, ask them what time and what # they prefer to be contacted.[/quote]
To clarify, once you make an initial contact with a prospect, are messages always left on follow up calls? I just want to be sure that The Judge meant ‘existing prospects’ and not ‘existing clients’. I have often left no messages for both prospects and clients because I have found that it is hard to get call backs…
I would leave messages for clients. Everyone has caller ID, and it is sometimes creepy to call and hang up. If you do hang up, just make a note on their account, so the next time you call, you are aware that you did it, as the client might know that you called (in other words, you don’t want to be caught in an un-intentional lie with a client).
Unless I have something specific that I need the client to do, or discuss, I just leave a message that I am calling to touch base. They remember that, and even if they don't call back often, they note that you are being diligent and calling.This is ONE business model and it works best for introverts. If you look at it you are sitting in an office alone for 10+ hours per day, never meeting with anyone personally and all conversations are limited to 3-5 minutes in length. Not exactly building in-depth relationships but instead acquiring 600+ limited relationships. Reality - this business could be run from your guest bedroom and nobody would know the difference. It is a great system if it is what you want. Be very careful though as this business will lead to burnout very quickly if you aren’t careful.
well said beagle a good post but you need to work on “getting out there” and developing relationships with COI in my opinion
[quote=DodgerDraftpick]well said beagle a good post but you need to work on “getting out there” and developing relationships with COI in my opinion[/quote]
His business model is NOT MY business model. I pretty much have the polar opposite business model.
Hmm? Some how, some way, using the business plan described by The Judge I've managed to build a very large, successful business. Yup, there were plenty of days that I spent in a large board room smiling and dialing 10, 12, 14 hours a day. And then I moved to a semi private office and did the same thing. Then I moved to a small private office and did it some more. Finally, I moved to a large corner office and I continued to do it. Sure enough, there are many limited relationships among the thousands of accounts I opened. You know, limited to buying 100 bonds at a time instead of a million at a time like many of the other accounts I've opened. And guys who can only put 200k into an annuity instead of 500k. You know, poor people!But you've gotta take the good with the bad. It's part of the deal. And then there are those who in spite of having muti-million dollar portfolios with me, I'm not their primary advisor. Boo hoo! Very limiting! Ironically, I meet with most of these people once or twice a year. Go figure! (I make sure the bed is made) And am I ever burned out? Youbetcha! Which is why I only work 30 hours a week now. To sooth my fried brain when you don't find me riding a motorcycle, or recreating scenes from Thunder Road in my R56 on the mountain roads of WVA, you'll find me sailing on Barnegat Bay or barbequing the day's catch oceanside in Georgetown SC. Some days we just park Homer, the 40 foot motorhome, on the beach, point the dish south, kick back with some cool ones and watch cars go in a circle on the flat screen. You know, all those introverted years, cooped up, a guy has got to get out and stretch a little. Beagle, you do know that we are in this biz to make money not friends, right? The Judge's system is about making money. To make money in this biz job one is finding the money. Nothing does that better than the 500 day war. Get on the phone and ask for it. Doesn't get any more simple than that. Now, some people are offended by cold calling. They don't think it's professional. And they are entitled to that opinion. But you know what's offensive to me? Trainees joining groups to network for business. Yeah, on the outside it seems OK, But really, is it? These people are joining groups in which they have little in common and no or little belief in the cause for the uterior motive of winning someone's trust to get in their pocket. Trainees are forced into this disingenuous situation everyday by training departments that have no other answers for them. If they aren't connected, won't cold call, what else are they going to do? It neatly expains the record fail rate the industry is now experiencing. Say what you will about sitting in an office and pumping out call after it call. If nothing else, it's straight forward and honest. And if done right, ulimately very rewarding.This is ONE business model and it works best for introverts. If you look at it you are sitting in an office alone for 10+ hours per day, never meeting with anyone personally and all conversations are limited to 3-5 minutes in length. Not exactly building in-depth relationships but instead acquiring 600+ limited relationships. Reality - this business could be run from your guest bedroom and nobody would know the difference. It is a great system if it is what you want. Be very careful though as this business will lead to burnout very quickly if you aren’t careful.
Hmm? Some how, some way, using the business plan described by The Judge I've managed to build a very large, successful business. Yup, there were plenty of days that I spent in a large board room smiling and dialing 10, 12, 14 hours a day. And then I moved to a semi private office and did the same thing. Then I moved to a small private office and did it some more. Finally, I moved to a large corner office and I continued to do it. Sure enough, there are many limited relationships among the thousands of accounts I opened. You know, limited to buying 100 bonds at a time instead of a million at a time like many of the other accounts I've opened. And guys who can only put 200k into an annuity instead of 500k. You know, poor people!But you've gotta take the good with the bad. It's part of the deal. And then there are those who in spite of having muti-million dollar portfolios with me, I'm not their primary advisor. Boo hoo! Very limiting! Ironically, I meet with most of these people once or twice a year. Go figure! (I make sure the bed is made) And am I ever burned out? Youbetcha! Which is why I only work 30 hours a week now. To sooth my fried brain when you don't find me riding a motorcycle, or recreating scenes from Thunder Road in my R56 on the mountain roads of WVA, you'll find me sailing on Barnegat Bay or barbequing the day's catch oceanside in Georgetown SC. Some days we just park Homer, the 40 foot motorhome, on the beach, point the dish south, kick back with some cool ones and watch cars go in a circle on the flat screen. You know, all those introverted years, cooped up, a guy has got to get out and stretch a little. Beagle, you do know that we are in this biz to make money not friends, right? The Judge's system is about making money. To make money in this biz job one is finding the money. Nothing does that better than the 500 day war. Get on the phone and ask for it. Doesn't get any more simple than that. Now, some people are offended by cold calling. They don't think it's professional. And they are entitled to that opinion. But you know what's offensive to me? Trainees joining groups to network for business. Yeah, on the outside it seems OK, But really, is it? These people are joining groups in which they have little in common and no or little belief in the cause for the uterior motive of winning someone's trust to get in their pocket. Trainees are forced into this disingenuous situation everyday by training departments that have no other answers for them. If they aren't connected, won't cold call, what else are they going to do? It neatly expains the record fail rate the industry is now experiencing. Say what you will about sitting in an office and pumping out call after it call. If nothing else, it's straight forward and honest. And if done right, ulimately very rewarding. [/quote] Good post, I am also using the telephone and only the telephone to build my business and it is working quite well. It's funny how many other trainees spend most of their time devising elaborate prospecting methods that eat up just enough time to make them feel like they're busy when in reality it is just call avoidance. I get plenty of social interaction from all the appointments I set through cold calling.[quote=Beagle]This is ONE business model and it works best for introverts. If you look at it you are sitting in an office alone for 10+ hours per day, never meeting with anyone personally and all conversations are limited to 3-5 minutes in length. Not exactly building in-depth relationships but instead acquiring 600+ limited relationships. Reality - this business could be run from your guest bedroom and nobody would know the difference. It is a great system if it is what you want. Be very careful though as this business will lead to burnout very quickly if you aren’t careful.
Wow, things have changed around here. Good to see some of the same old posters though. Been extremely busy these last six months trying to get this thing we call a career off the ground. Just stumbled back onto the board and saw the good ole “500 day” thread still alive and kicking.
Went back and read through all the old post, and found them interesting now looking back on where I was and where I am. I have seen no less than 10 rookies fail out of the business since the "500 day" thread started. The vast majority of them had no contacts and tried the cold call thing, hated it, thought they were better than cold calling, and eventually missed their hurdles and are long gone. I am one of the fortunate ones who is still around in spite of everything. Not by pure skill mind you, there has been plenty of luck along the way. Looking back to when "500 day" started who would have thought a rookie was going to have to fight his way through; a 25+ Billion dollar write down, a new CEO, a recession, having clients stuck in Auction Market Securities. On top of what rookies already have to fight through to survive in this business you pile on what has been going on in the market and it's amazing anyone made it through this. I started my way through the 500 day war, and I cold called, cold walked, and did after hours events for a good 3+ months. Obviously none of it worked, went through a 3 month dry spell and sat with a hurdle coming up and nothing in the pipeline. I looked up, took an inventory of the "corner offices" and decided that I would have an advice session with each of them. I did, and what I gathered from it is the way they succeeded were 3 ways; They either had family that had money and built a book from that, they were successful in a previous career and used their contacts from that, or they just survived from the old days and were the beneficiaries of failed brokers along the way. So I decided to stop the cold calling, stop the cold walking and the after hours and start to squeeze every little contact I knew. It didn't matter if I met them once at a party in college, was my little league coach, next door neighbor that moved away when I was 12, I called everyone that could recognize my name and some that couldn't. Amazingly I actually did get a few small accounts out of this strategy, just enough to get me through my hurdle and a paycheck for another quarter. What I did with the people who I knew that would talk to me was ask them for advice, I talked to them about my situation and asked them if they where in my situation what would they do, who would they talked to. I was shocked it worked, I would ask someone the question and they would tell me a tidbit about someone they knew that just retired, inherited, moved to town, a relative, ect............... So I would ask if they would introduce me to this person they just told me about and once again to my amazement they did. Then when I met and got the new persons business I recycled and did the same thing to them. I squeezed referrals from everyone I knew. Yeah it isn't exactly fun and you do get a lot of "well I don't know anyone" but for me it worked a whole h#ll of a lot better than cold calling all day to people I didn't know at all. I am by no means a successful FA yet, I have only just survived up to this point. I am not at all saying that cold calling doesn't work, it just was not working for me and I tried something else. I think most FA's will tell you that referrals are the way to go, but very few people tell you how to get a referral. I like asking people for advice, it puts you on their level and gets them thinking that they are helping someone else. Believe it or not people want to help you be successful, you just have to be willing to humble yourself and let them. Whatever you do just survive, whether it be cold calling or referrals, it's the name of the game just do whatever it takes to survive, and if you survive long enough referrals will just happen, and one day you will look up and you will have a self sustaining book of business, a great career and a great life.Bull,
Considering you are still a rookie (not sure where you are exactly), that was one of the most insightful posts I have seen in quite some time. I also commend you on your strategy and ability to implement it. That's something most people CAN'T or WON'T do (implement your strategy, that is).Bull,
Great post. Did you come up with the advice question yourself? If so, you may want to look at: http://www.psbtraining.com/ They are a FA coaching company that HIGHLY recommends the advice question as a way to ask for referrals. They have some good stuff.[quote=now_indy]Bull,
Great post. Did you come up with the advice question yourself? If so, you may want to look at: http://www.psbtraining.com/ They are a FA coaching company that HIGHLY recommends the advice question as a way to ask for referrals. They have some good stuff.[/quote] I can't claim that I came up with it all by myself. About 4 months in we had a wholesaler come in and take the young guys to cocktails and talked mostly about his China fund (which I'm sure has blown up since then). He talked about how he was a failed broker from the 80's where all he did was cold-call all day and he suggested other ways to prospect. One of the things he said was to "Google the Bederman approach, when you get back to the office". I think myself and everyone else blew him off and didn't look it up at the time. Then a couple of months later in a Branch-Manager-to-struggling-newbie meeting my BM mentioned he had used the bederman approach and I ought to try it. It's the only reason I am still employed and have a book of business today, I literally called everyone I knew, with money or without and asked if I could meet them for lunch/coffee and asked them for their advice. I am still a rookie and have not "made it" yet, but I am doing alright considering. Considering I didn't come from money, didn't come from a career where I knew money, and wasn't successful at cold prospecting. The thing I am struggling with most is just the mental games that goes on in a competitive office environment. I just get so frustrated with the other young guys who came from money and are praised by the seniors because of their production levels. When everyone knows they didn't go out and get it, the money just came to them. It's just something that happens in all of lifes situations, there will always be people that everything just comes easy to them. As for me I will keep asking clients, friends, strangers for advice on how to keep my business growing. Thanks for the support, Rookie just trying to surviveBB,
The “Bederman Approach”? I Googled it, but can’t seem to find anything on it. Can you elaborate, or provide a link?
Thanks in advance.