LEAP - set appointments for your bankers & help them close more business for themselves & then talk about the customer’s longer term financial goals.



The script looks more like: This is LEAP from bank investment firm (you have to disclose who you actually work for - Raymond James located in your bank) on Billionaire Blvd. Are you in the middle of something, or do you have a moment to talk? I’m reaching out to you today because branch manager asked me to call you. He/She wanted me to set up a review with you and your personal banker, TEAM(Together Everyone Achieves More). We want to make sure you’re in the right accounts, earning the most amount of interest, and paying the least in taxes. TEAM has availablity on X day or Y day. Which is better for you?



Did you know we also help people with their longer term financial goals like retirement, college, and estate planning. Yeah, well we do. When you meet with TEAM and I please bring any IRA or 401k statements. We should make sure they’re doing the best, too.



OK, we’ll see you on X day. Morning or afternoon? Morning - how about Z Time? Great, we’ll see you on X Day @ Z Time. What is the best number to reach you the day before to confirm?



OK, great, do you have any questions that TEAM and I should specifically be ready to answer that day?



If you get push back. You know, the reason that branch manager is making such a big deal about this is that we’ve done this with a lot of other customers, and we’ve often been able to get them into a better account, make them more money, or save them some taxes. I’m sure we’ll be able to do the same for you. Which is better X day or Y day.



If they want to get answers to questions that day. TEAM and I would be glad to answer this question for you when you get here. Are there any others we should be ready for? OK, great, we’ll see on X day @ Z time & I’ll call you the day before to confirm. Don’t forget those statements!



Thanks!







This script & mode of business will dramatically change your life. The difference between the bank and the wireworld is that people WALK IN THE DOOR. They make deposits, they sit down at person’s desk & answer questions. They fill out LOAN apps. Yes, and they tell the banker all of their financial information… So, if you make 25 - 50 calls / week and then train & work with your bankers for 1 hr - 2 hrs per day that you would otherwise have been making calls, you’re made in the shade.

Ashland - This is exactly what I was looking to understand as I wanted to know how I could help the bankers before asking them to help me.  I appreciate your guidance and look forward to any other ideas you might think helpful!

LEAP - are you in an urban or rural area? Tell me a little more about your clients. Are they primarily savers or are they investors?

Currently I’m splitting time between two branches.  The older/original branch has an advisor I have been brought on to join as a partner.  I was brought in to help him with overflow in his branch while getting a book started in the second branch.  It is tough to tell if they are investors or savers since I’ve only been here for a short while and our bank just bought this branch.  The clients came in for the great CD rates and or some lenient lending offers.  From what I see of the book in the newer branch,  most of the clients don’t even have savings or checking accounts; just CD’s. 

LEAP - Let me back up a little bit. I think of bank rep’s job as twofold. 1 - You’re an advisor to your clients. 2 - You’re a player on a team. In the first role you’re a lone ranger, and for compliance, business, and karmic reasons you put the client first and always. Bank personnel may never understand how or why you do things not because they’re less committed to do right by a client, but because doing right too often is just doing what the clients wants & the regulations are just different.



The second role is a bit more complicated because you have several relationships to contend with within the branch & each of these have a different agenda. A PB has a very different outlook on life than a BM does, and a teller’s view of the world is either very much like yours when you were coming up or totally incomprehensible to people like you and I. Coming in too strong, offering too much, looking too good, or trying to change too much too quickly can make enemies & lose the war for you.



Starting out it makes a lot of sense to never eat alone. If others bring their lunch, make sure you do, too & eat with them. If some eat out figure out when they leave & tag along with them. Talk about Idol, or b-ball, or Judge Mathis, or whatever even if you have no interest in it.



When you have an appointment with a bank client always invite a PB who knows the client to sit in with you at least for the first few minutes of the meeting. Invite them to go through their special stuff before you transition the conversation to your special stuff. Your transition should always be a natural progression from shorter term goals to longer term goals to show the PB that what you do really isn’t scary. Positioning yourself as the guy who works to achieve goals for the client that are 3 yrs and longer vs. the mutual fund/annuity/risky investments guy will put both the client & personal banker at ease. Positioning yourself the same way in each and every conversation will also show them how to refer to you. "Mr. Client, if you’re not planning on spending this money for 3 - 5 yrs you should talk to LEAP. He works with that kind of money."



Understand how the bank is actually compensated by your production. Always look for outside money.



Embrace a bank product that you think is particularly good & talk to your clients about it.



Drive traffic into the branch. Don’t worry about scheduling an appointment w/ a specific PB if you can’t get on someone’s schedule. Schedule the client & then ask a PB in the morning if they’ll have 5 - 10 minutes to go through their special stuff when the client comes in. Prove that such activity is worthwhile by providing value to the client or selling a product of some sort.



In a bank your bottom line is directly correlated by how well you’re liked & how well you do for the people around you. I have a friend who started in a new build community bank. At the end of the 1st yr the bank had taken in $15MM of assets & so had he(assets invested - he did $480K that first year w/ a total payout close to 40%)! He sat down in every single account opening! After he had helped the banker sell their stuff, he dealt with the longer term goals.



So, be liked. Chill & spend an hr our two a day at the banker’s pace. Show the bank personnel that what you do for their clients isn’t scary. Be consistent & focused on how you help clients vs. what you sell them & what that does for the client. Believe it or not the bankers won’t tell their clients that you have the best mutual funds in the world. They won’t tell them that a VA w/ living benefit riders is the best thing since sliced bread. They won’t even tell them that an insurance policy will help a widow stay out of poverty if their husband passes. They will say, “You should talk to LEAP. You’ve had this CD for 13 yrs. You probably will have it for 3 more. You should talk to LEAP.” When the client asks why they’ll say, “Cause he deals with this sort of thing, and he can help you.” Who’s going to say no to that?

what kinds of questions do you use to disturb cd buyers into considering longer term options instead of using CD’s?  It is crazy how many people use cash solutions for long term money…

If you’re insurance licensed do this.



Cd rates are bad. There are five components to every savings vehicle:



They are safety, tax advantages, rate, access, and estate planning benefits. Which is most important to you?



Safety, access & tax benefits -> annuity. Annuities are pretty darn safe if you have a principal guarantee rider on them. Access - more than a cd as you can get 10 - 15% from them annually & if there’s a nursing home need, there’s often total liquidity. There’s more control on the taxes(although I may have the interest paid out unless it’s clear they’ll be in a lower bracket in future years. Taxes are going up, and it don’t matter who’s in office!) Rates are higher on annuities than cd’s now, and there’s usually an interest rate floor.



If they are planning specifically for an emergency as if it’s health they’re worried about, an asset-based LTC solution will give their assets a kick & provide a death benefit & a straight estate planning response may point to a single premium life insurance contract.



Stupidity or stubbornness will always get them back into the cd. Try the next time the cd come due… A lot of this game is just longevity.



If they’re taking the interest from the cd(you know if it’s an even balance), present an immediate income annuity. Get some quotes ahead of time so you know the value. You can often use half to two thirds of the money to get all of the interest the cd is providing & have less tax consequences.

Tell us a little about your program…what are you able to offer? What cant you offer?

The only thing my company doesn’t do is offer it’s own research. So, no ETF’s, our wrap program is run through a third-party, and general securities at your own risk. I don’t personally do options for any clients, but would if a client would sincerely benefit from an options strategy(has $2MM in WAG & wants to divest it over 2 - 3 calendar yrs.)



I do lots of retirement, college, and income planning.

Interesting...you can do options in a bank program?!!

Indy - believe it or not, yes! No one (that I know of at least) uses the full power of options(straddles, collar’s strangle’s, etc.) in my program. Mostly just protective puts. Some, but very few, will buy and roll LEAPs on a stock or index. Right now, I have 0 clients employing these strategies.

I knew that…was just pulling the chain of the poster that thought bank programs were more primitive than Jones…it’s possible a few are, I guess.