Gethardgetraw's 2009-2010 Cold Calling Journal
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Squash1, if I had a product pitch, I would call randomly.
Since I have an appointment pitch, I set appointments based upon where I will be. Even if I'm calling fairly randomly, I'll schedule based upon location of previously set appointments. Sometimes if I have a hole in my schedule, I will have a member of my staff make calls specifically to set up an appointment at a specific time and location. Squash, I have no idea if your post is serious or not."Thanks for taking the time to meet with me. I want to very quickly find out one of three things. It makes sense for us to sit down and have a serious financial conversation. Or, it doesn't make sense now, but it may in the future. Or, let's decide that we should never talk again (always draws a little chuckle). "
"Let me very briefly exactly what I do and how I work. Blah, blah, blah..... I have one very important question for you. 'What's your biggest financial concern?'" I then shut up for as long as I can.[quote=anonymous]Squash1, if I had a product pitch, I would call randomly.
Since I have an appointment pitch, I set appointments based upon where I will be. Even if I'm calling fairly randomly, I'll schedule based upon location of previously set appointments. Sometimes if I have a hole in my schedule, I will have a member of my staff make calls specifically to set up an appointment at a specific time and location. Squash, I have no idea if your post is serious or not.[/quote] I am serious. I call for appointments for portfolio reviews... very little product pitching except for EIA/FA to older people for CD alternative(20% of my time). I never called business, because I could never figure out where to go get good numbers/contact info.[quote=Squash1]
I never called business, because I could never figure out where to go get good numbers/contact info.[/quote] You walk into the largest buildings in the town you live in and ask for the directory. If they do not give it to you then walk to the elevator, look on the adjoining wall and write down all the names you can find. When you get back home, do a reverse search by address and name. As for the appointment, do you think someone on the 5th floor really cares if you do or do not have an appointment with someone on the 2nd floor or even in a building a block down? No. It is just an excuse to "be" in the area.141 Calls
33 contacts 8 prospects created 0 sales Had a guy state "I have some money in my money market not earning a damn thing. Could you please send me your card and some info on this bond?" Told him nope sorry only sell on the first call use it or lose it paljk mailed him info and calling back on Friday
Why don’t you Jones guys find an FDIC CD paying a good rate and go lead with that? Tell people you can offer a higher interest rate because you’re a 2 person branch and you’re much bigger than their local bank. You can even tell them the company offers good rates because they hope that by showing them a solution for their “safe money” that some people will want to do their “invested money” with you as well, but that’s for them to decide in the future.
My company is about 9-15 months away from letting us sell CDs and it’s going to open so many doors when they do. I’m going to sell a ridiculous number of fixed annuities when I show prospects how we split that CD that came due into a 2% CD solution for their short term cash reserves and a 3.2-4% fixed annuity for their CD money with a 5-7 year time horizon.
[quote=chief123] [quote=gethardgetraw]My current script:
Ok, and really quickly, with CD rates are low as they are right now, I was seeing if you owned any outstanding CDs that I could help you get a higher interest rate on when they mature. this is when they unload all their financial info with detailed maturity dates and amounts due”
If they talk to me, I immediately send them a hand written thank you card as well as a rate-postcard in the mail.Thoughts, suggestions? Definitely on the down-swing of the emotional rollercoaster. Sometimes one-man offices suck. [/quote]
Too much chatter and giving them too many outs…
"Hi Mr/Mrs _____? Hey this is _____ from Edward Jones here in _______. The reason I was calling today is that we just had a tax free insured bond paying __% tax-free are you currently getting that on your CDs?
[/quote]
Wow, you guys are garbage on the phone. Have you seriously ever made cold calls.
"Hi, Mr ____. This is _____, I’m a financial advisor with Edward Jones. I was calling you today to let you know we have an INSURED safe TAX-FREE investment paying ____. What type of rates are you currently getting on your CDs?"
Words matter. Don’t mention a bond, they’ll ask and then you hook them.
Squash … you call cold call residential? Buy a list or generate yourself?
Care to share your pitch and times you call? I call business 100% of the time.
[quote=gethardgetraw]141 Calls
33 contacts 8 prospects created 0 sales Had a guy state "I have some money in my money market not earning a damn thing. Could you please send me your card and some info on this bond?" Told him nope sorry only sell on the first call use it or lose it paljk mailed him info and calling back on Friday[/quote] As an ex edj guy this is where i think EDJ has it right.. Instead of mailing it, next time say, "I will be visiting a client in your area tomorrow afternoon and nameyour day morning, I would like to stop by and hand you this in person just so I can answer any questions you may have right away and put a face with a name".. Doesn't even matter if you have clients in the area..
Because CD buyers are not investors, they are savers. There is a difference, if they are never going to move off of CDs then it is a waste of time and effort.Why don’t you Jones guys find an FDIC CD paying a good rate and go lead with that? Tell people you can offer a higher interest rate because you’re a 2 person branch and you’re much bigger than their local bank. You can even tell them the company offers good rates because they hope that by showing them a solution for their “safe money” that some people will want to do their “invested money” with you as well, but that’s for them to decide in the future.
My company is about 9-15 months away from letting us sell CDs and it’s going to open so many doors when they do. I’m going to sell a ridiculous number of fixed annuities when I show prospects how we split that CD that came due into a 2% CD solution for their short term cash reserves and a 3.2-4% fixed annuity for their CD money with a 5-7 year time horizon.
I do both...I bought a list from a company and keep buying because I like the info. But I also make my own, issue with calling residential is it doesn't matter where you get your list because if they are scrubbed they all have the same names on them. I think the thing that sets them apart is the accuracy of the age, income etc.. I don't waste my time calling people under 45. I call mornings for 55+ and then evenings for 45-64 year olds.. In the afternoon I will call corporate directories or go back to the 55+ category.Squash … you call cold call residential? Buy a list or generate yourself?
Care to share your pitch and times you call? I call business 100% of the time.
Because CD buyers are not investors, they are savers. There is a difference, if they are never going to move off of CDs then it is a waste of time and effort.[/quote] This is absolutely correct. CD buyers aren't investors and a majority of them are as dumb as a box of rocks. Even if you are able to do some quick commission rips from fixed annuities there is no trail and you are working with crap clients. I am a bank b*tch and even I avoid fixed annuity business and dealing with CD customers. Even if you can sell them something is becomes a nightmare the first time they see a higher rate or their bond fund goes down in value.[quote=BerkshireBull]Why don’t you Jones guys find an FDIC CD paying a good rate and go lead with that? Tell people you can offer a higher interest rate because you’re a 2 person branch and you’re much bigger than their local bank. You can even tell them the company offers good rates because they hope that by showing them a solution for their “safe money” that some people will want to do their “invested money” with you as well, but that’s for them to decide in the future.
My company is about 9-15 months away from letting us sell CDs and it’s going to open so many doors when they do. I’m going to sell a ridiculous number of fixed annuities when I show prospects how we split that CD that came due into a 2% CD solution for their short term cash reserves and a 3.2-4% fixed annuity for their CD money with a 5-7 year time horizon.
[quote=WarRoom] [quote=chief123] [quote=gethardgetraw]My current script:
Ok, and really quickly, with CD rates are low as they are right now, I was seeing if you owned any outstanding CDs that I could help you get a higher interest rate on when they mature. *this is when they unload all their financial info with detailed maturity dates and amounts due*"
If they talk to me, I immediately send them a hand written thank you card as well as a rate-postcard in the mail.Thoughts, suggestions? Definitely on the down-swing of the emotional rollercoaster. Sometimes one-man offices suck. [/quote]
Too much chatter and giving them too many outs..
"Hi Mr/Mrs _____? Hey this is _____ from Edward Jones here in _______. The reason I was calling today is that we just had a tax free insured bond paying __% tax-free are you currently getting that on your CDs?
[/quote]
Wow, you guys are garbage on the phone. Have you seriously ever made cold calls.
"Hi, Mr ____. This is _____, I'm a financial advisor with Edward Jones. I was calling you today to let you know we have an INSURED safe TAX-FREE investment paying ____. What type of rates are you currently getting on your CDs?"
Words matter. Don't mention a bond, they'll ask and then you hook them.[/quote] I don't think that is a bad pitch, actually I have used something similar when i was looking to open accounts.. What do you use? Where are you calling from?(wirehouse, bank, ria?)
Because CD buyers are not investors, they are savers. There is a difference, if they are never going to move off of CDs then it is a waste of time and effort.[/quote] This is absolutely correct. CD buyers aren't investors and a majority of them are as dumb as a box of rocks. Even if you are able to do some quick commission rips from fixed annuities there is no trail and you are working with crap clients. I am a bank b*tch and even I avoid fixed annuity business and dealing with CD customers. Even if you can sell them something is becomes a nightmare the first time they see a higher rate or their bond fund goes down in value. [/quote][quote=Squash1][quote=BerkshireBull]Why don’t you Jones guys find an FDIC CD paying a good rate and go lead with that? Tell people you can offer a higher interest rate because you’re a 2 person branch and you’re much bigger than their local bank. You can even tell them the company offers good rates because they hope that by showing them a solution for their “safe money” that some people will want to do their “invested money” with you as well, but that’s for them to decide in the future.
My company is about 9-15 months away from letting us sell CDs and it’s going to open so many doors when they do. I’m going to sell a ridiculous number of fixed annuities when I show prospects how we split that CD that came due into a 2% CD solution for their short term cash reserves and a 3.2-4% fixed annuity for their CD money with a 5-7 year time horizon.
I guess I haven't found this to be true. I'm not selling fixed annuities to people in their 70s either though. They're all 65 and under and do not seem to be rate chasers in my experience. A lot of the farmers I find with a lot of CDs also have invested money in their wife's 401k at minimum and sometimes even have some old IRAs or SIMPLE's that were setup when times were flush.
i'm no expert, but it seems to me like theres alot of dilly-dallying. I'm a rookie as well and still find time to crank out 300-400 dials a day minimum. as far as my calendar is concerned on days where i don't have meetings (i try to block them all on 1 or 2 days) there are two letters on the whole day. C.C. As far as your pitch is concerned i'm going to agree with those who shortened it up a bit and kept it more basic. I've learned that the more basic you can be, the better the results. People learn to tune you out when your dragging on and on and on and on
[quote=gb0413]
i'm no expert, but it seems to me like theres alot of dilly-dallying. I'm a rookie as well and still find time to crank out 300-400 dials a day minimum. as far as my calendar is concerned on days where i don't have meetings (i try to block them all on 1 or 2 days) there are two letters on the whole day. C.C. As far as your pitch is concerned i'm going to agree with those who shortened it up a bit and kept it more basic. I've learned that the more basic you can be, the better the results. People learn to tune you out when your dragging on and on and on and on
[/quote] Can you give us some background? 300-400 calls is great unless you are at a chop shop, then it doesn't matter. Who do you call? Of those calls what kinds of returns do you see? Appts? Assets? Production?[quote=Squash1][quote=gb0413]
i'm no expert, but it seems to me like theres alot of dilly-dallying. I'm a rookie as well and still find time to crank out 300-400 dials a day minimum. as far as my calendar is concerned on days where i don't have meetings (i try to block them all on 1 or 2 days) there are two letters on the whole day. C.C. As far as your pitch is concerned i'm going to agree with those who shortened it up a bit and kept it more basic. I've learned that the more basic you can be, the better the results. People learn to tune you out when your dragging on and on and on and on
[/quote] Can you give us some background? 300-400 calls is great unless you are at a chop shop, then it doesn't matter. Who do you call? Of those calls what kinds of returns do you see? Appts? Assets? Production? [/quote] yes, sorry probably should have provided more background in the beginning, i'm at a wirehouse, in my first 6 months of production and for the most part, use cold calling as my primary source for establishing leads. Luckily in the part of town i'm in, i have many businesses with 10,000+ employees so when i was interning (before licenced) was cold calling for other advisors at the office and was able to keep any leads that didn't meet their criteria. Unfortunately with the way the economy is, more and more of those numbers have turned into disconnected numbers. Since I am new and will take pretty much anything, i can usually book about 10 appts a week, as far as assets and production i'd just say i'm keeping up with the pace of required minimums.Then why in previous posts do you say you are at an indy? If you are going to lie, at least keep your stories straight or you lose credibility…
haha damn, didn't know you could do that, i'm just extremely careful about what i disclose because i know alot of people personally who frequently visit this website forum and would prefer to remain anonymous, i feel if i divulge to much people can put 2 and 2 together. Regardless, I simply enjoy reading what has worked out well for people, and adding what has worked out for me. if you read any of my prior posts, you should see that i don't think i've ever posted anything crazy. I think there is a ton of good info on this forum from people who have done very well in this business. and I use it as a resource for idea's, being a young FA.Then why in previous posts do you say you are at an indy? If you are going to lie, at least keep your stories straight or you lose credibility…