It seems like you'd have to be pretty careful taking that route.  It could confuse the hell out of a lot of people.

Why don't you call people people with some Tax-Free Muni Funds?

Or, just call people with something VERY simple & try and get an appointment.

i agree with freelunch, sounds confusing. call with a product.

And make sure you are sitting around with a bunch of other brokers who are having fun doing it, and making jokes about the " losers " at the other end who don’t get that you’re trying to help them.

[quote=GolFA]And make sure you are sitting around with a bunch of other brokers who are having fun doing it, and making jokes about the " losers " at the other end who don't get that you're trying to help them. [/quote]

Ha, I used to do that when I was at the big firm.  I used to get so pissed at people that hung up, I'd always by cussing at the phone...I'm sure some others who I worked with that post on here could attest to that.  Anyhow, don't have anyone to do that with now being independent.

Here's how I'm cold calling.

Investment:   PMF - Pimco Municipal Fund - 6% yield

I called to share a quick investment idea with you that's paying 6%, Tax-Free. Did you want to hear about it?

[quote=wallstreeter]

[quote=GolFA]And make sure you are sitting around with a bunch of other brokers who are having fun doing it, and making jokes about the " losers " at the other end who don't get that you're trying to help them. [/quote]

Ha, I used to do that when I was at the big firm.  I used to get so pissed at people that hung up, I'd always by cussing at the phone...I'm sure some others who I worked with that post on here could attest to that.  Anyhow, don't have anyone to do that with now being independent.

[/quote]

You could hire someone and recreate your " youth ". I thinking about, will start a thread.

[quote=wallstreeter]

It's been widely debated which is better - cold calling on a product or service.  I'm thinking of calling on more of an issue now - the IRA to Roth IRA conversion in 2010.

Here's my reasoning:  I am in a huge metropolitan city and have several corporate directories of large companies.  Many of these employees have traditional IRA's and make non-deductible contributions, so they will really benefit in most cases with this new tax law.

Has anyone called to "inform" people of issues such as this and had success doing it?  It seems to me people might think they are content with their current investments and think they can know everything by watching CNBC, but they have no idea about tax issues.

[/quote]

Didn't you just post that you have a strategy to earn 20-40% over a 6-18 month period? Why don't you call on that? Were you lying?

[quote=Bobby Hull][quote=wallstreeter]

It's been widely debated which is better - cold calling on a product or service.  I'm thinking of calling on more of an issue now - the IRA to Roth IRA conversion in 2010.

Here's my reasoning:  I am in a huge metropolitan city and have several corporate directories of large companies.  Many of these employees have traditional IRA's and make non-deductible contributions, so they will really benefit in most cases with this new tax law.

Has anyone called to "inform" people of issues such as this and had success doing it?  It seems to me people might think they are content with their current investments and think they can know everything by watching CNBC, but they have no idea about tax issues.

[/quote]

Didn't you just post that you have a strategy to earn 20-40% over a 6-18 month period? Why don't you call on that? Were you lying?

[/quote]

I do call on that, but I have found A LOT of people have been burned by stocks especially from the dot com crash.  When someone tells me, "I wouldn't touch that with a 10 foot pole" I want to strangle them.  I get great lead lists of people who have had some brokerage accounts where the brokerage firm went under.  These people are all stock investors.  Problem is there are brokers calling from New York telling them about the HOTTEST stock of the week.  So they are naturally cautious. 

The key, Bobby, is that I want to get them into the office where I can show them results and graphs and go through our whole schpiel.  We close them 95% of the time first time they come into the office.  We used to have great marketing piece on ourselves and our strategies, but compliance won't approve it.  So I am trying to think of other strategies to call on.  Too many people equate investing in individual stocks to be too risky.  Sometimes I think it is their "advisor" telling them that because they want to keep them in their mutual funds because they can't pick a good stock to save their life.  So, no, I wasn't lying.

[quote=FreeLunch]

Here’s how I’m cold calling.

Investment:   PMF - Pimco Municipal Fund - 6% yield

I called to share a quick investment idea with you that's paying 6%, Tax-Free. Did you want to hear about it?

[quote=wallstreeter]I do call on that, but I have found A LOT of people
have been burned by stocks especially from the dot com crash. 
When someone tells me, “I wouldn’t touch that with a 10 foot pole” I
want to strangle them.  I get great lead lists of people who have
had some brokerage accounts where the brokerage firm went under. 
These people are all stock investors.  Problem is there are
brokers calling from New York telling them about the HOTTEST stock of
the week.  So they are naturally cautious.  [QUOTE]

Alot of those are basicly "sucker lists" of gullable people, who either got burned (and thus made the list) or are broke (cause they made the list).

If you were a typical uneducated boob, would you be positive about the stock market if your stock broker went under?

[QUOTE]he key, Bobby, is that I want to get them into the office where I can show them results and graphs and go through our whole schpiel.  We close them 95% of the time first time they come into the office.  We used to have great marketing piece on ourselves and our strategies, but compliance won't approve it. (Why not? )  So I am trying to think of other strategies to call on.  Too many people equate investing in individual stocks to be too risky.

Sometimes I think it is their "advisor" telling them that because they want to keep them in their mutual funds because they can't pick a good stock to save their life.  So, no, I wasn't lying.[/quote]

Individual stocks are too risky. You lose clients money, you lose clients as well.  It's also personal experience that gets people away from single stocks.

I can think of maybe one stock that I would risk cold calling with.

[quote=wallstreeter][quote=Bobby Hull][quote=wallstreeter]

It's been widely debated which is better - cold calling on a product or service.  I'm thinking of calling on more of an issue now - the IRA to Roth IRA conversion in 2010.

Here's my reasoning:  I am in a huge metropolitan city and have several corporate directories of large companies.  Many of these employees have traditional IRA's and make non-deductible contributions, so they will really benefit in most cases with this new tax law.

Has anyone called to "inform" people of issues such as this and had success doing it?  It seems to me people might think they are content with their current investments and think they can know everything by watching CNBC, but they have no idea about tax issues.

[/quote]

Didn't you just post that you have a strategy to earn 20-40% over a 6-18 month period? Why don't you call on that? Were you lying?

[/quote]

I do call on that, but I have found A LOT of people have been burned by stocks especially from the dot com crash.  When someone tells me, "I wouldn't touch that with a 10 foot pole" I want to strangle them.  I get great lead lists of people who have had some brokerage accounts where the brokerage firm went under.  These people are all stock investors.  Problem is there are brokers calling from New York telling them about the HOTTEST stock of the week.  So they are naturally cautious. 

The key, Bobby, is that I want to get them into the office where I can show them results and graphs and go through our whole schpiel.  We close them 95% of the time first time they come into the office.  We used to have great marketing piece on ourselves and our strategies, but compliance won't approve it.  So I am trying to think of other strategies to call on.  Too many people equate investing in individual stocks to be too risky.  Sometimes I think it is their "advisor" telling them that because they want to keep them in their mutual funds because they can't pick a good stock to save their life.  So, no, I wasn't lying.

[/quote]

I had a feeling you were lying.

[quote=AllREIT][quote=wallstreeter]I do call on that, but I have found A LOT of people have been burned by stocks especially from the dot com crash.  When someone tells me, “I wouldn’t touch that with a 10 foot pole” I want to strangle them.  I get great lead lists of people who have had some brokerage accounts where the brokerage firm went under.  These people are all stock investors.  Problem is there are brokers calling from New York telling them about the HOTTEST stock of the week.  So they are naturally cautious.  [QUOTE]

Alot of those are basicly "sucker lists" of gullable people, who either got burned (and thus made the list) or are broke (cause they made the list).

If you were a typical uneducated boob, would you be positive about the stock market if your stock broker went under?

[QUOTE]he key, Bobby, is that I want to get them into the office where I can show them results and graphs and go through our whole schpiel.  We close them 95% of the time first time they come into the office.  We used to have great marketing piece on ourselves and our strategies, but compliance won't approve it. (Why not? )  So I am trying to think of other strategies to call on.  Too many people equate investing in individual stocks to be too risky.

Sometimes I think it is their "advisor" telling them that because they want to keep them in their mutual funds because they can't pick a good stock to save their life.  So, no, I wasn't lying.[/quote]

Individual stocks are too risky. You lose clients money, you lose clients as well.  It's also personal experience that gets people away from single stocks.

I can think of maybe one stock that I would risk cold calling with.

[/quote]

First, you can't cold call on an individual stock, people will get too emotional about that one stock.  You want them to subscribe to our strategies.

Second, I do agree, there is a lot of people on the "sucker" list who won't qualify.  That is why I only use it occasionally.  I have a lot better lists (corporate directories, new homeowners, golf clubs, high school directories, etc).

Third, you can't please everyone.  We had a client come in and say, "The first year I did 66% (5 years ago).  The second, was 11%."  And so on...turns out he's averaged 30%/year over the last 5 years and wanted to know why we weren't at 66% like he had been before.  It's personal experience that keeps our clients invested in stocks...but we know it's not for everyone. 

[quote=wallstreeter][quote=AllREIT][quote=wallstreeter]I do call on that, but I have found A LOT of people have been burned by stocks especially from the dot com crash.  When someone tells me, “I wouldn’t touch that with a 10 foot pole” I want to strangle them.  I get great lead lists of people who have had some brokerage accounts where the brokerage firm went under.  These people are all stock investors.  Problem is there are brokers calling from New York telling them about the HOTTEST stock of the week.  So they are naturally cautious.  [QUOTE]

Alot of those are basicly "sucker lists" of gullable people, who either got burned (and thus made the list) or are broke (cause they made the list).

If you were a typical uneducated boob, would you be positive about the stock market if your stock broker went under?

[QUOTE]he key, Bobby, is that I want to get them into the office where I can show them results and graphs and go through our whole schpiel.  We close them 95% of the time first time they come into the office.  We used to have great marketing piece on ourselves and our strategies, but compliance won't approve it. (Why not? )  So I am trying to think of other strategies to call on.  Too many people equate investing in individual stocks to be too risky.

Sometimes I think it is their "advisor" telling them that because they want to keep them in their mutual funds because they can't pick a good stock to save their life.  So, no, I wasn't lying.[/quote]

Individual stocks are too risky. You lose clients money, you lose clients as well.  It's also personal experience that gets people away from single stocks.

I can think of maybe one stock that I would risk cold calling with.

[/quote]

First, you can't cold call on an individual stock, people will get too emotional about that one stock.  You want them to subscribe to our strategies.

Second, I do agree, there is a lot of people on the "sucker" list who won't qualify.  That is why I only use it occasionally.  I have a lot better lists (corporate directories, new homeowners, golf clubs, high school directories, etc).

Third, you can't please everyone.  We had a client come in and say, "The first year I did 66% (5 years ago).  The second, was 11%."  And so on...turns out he's averaged 30%/year over the last 5 years and wanted to know why we weren't at 66% like he had been before.  It's personal experience that keeps our clients invested in stocks...but we know it's not for everyone. 

[/quote]

I never thought of prospecting for high school students. Talk about an underserved market...

[quote=Bobby Hull][quote=wallstreeter][quote=AllREIT][quote=wallstreeter]I do call on that, but I have found A LOT of people have been burned by stocks especially from the dot com crash.  When someone tells me, “I wouldn’t touch that with a 10 foot pole” I want to strangle them.  I get great lead lists of people who have had some brokerage accounts where the brokerage firm went under.  These people are all stock investors.  Problem is there are brokers calling from New York telling them about the HOTTEST stock of the week.  So they are naturally cautious.  [QUOTE]

Alot of those are basicly "sucker lists" of gullable people, who either got burned (and thus made the list) or are broke (cause they made the list).

If you were a typical uneducated boob, would you be positive about the stock market if your stock broker went under?

[QUOTE]he key, Bobby, is that I want to get them into the office where I can show them results and graphs and go through our whole schpiel.  We close them 95% of the time first time they come into the office.  We used to have great marketing piece on ourselves and our strategies, but compliance won't approve it. (Why not? )  So I am trying to think of other strategies to call on.  Too many people equate investing in individual stocks to be too risky.

Sometimes I think it is their "advisor" telling them that because they want to keep them in their mutual funds because they can't pick a good stock to save their life.  So, no, I wasn't lying.[/quote]

Individual stocks are too risky. You lose clients money, you lose clients as well.  It's also personal experience that gets people away from single stocks.

I can think of maybe one stock that I would risk cold calling with.

[/quote]

First, you can't cold call on an individual stock, people will get too emotional about that one stock.  You want them to subscribe to our strategies.

Second, I do agree, there is a lot of people on the "sucker" list who won't qualify.  That is why I only use it occasionally.  I have a lot better lists (corporate directories, new homeowners, golf clubs, high school directories, etc).

Third, you can't please everyone.  We had a client come in and say, "The first year I did 66% (5 years ago).  The second, was 11%."  And so on...turns out he's averaged 30%/year over the last 5 years and wanted to know why we weren't at 66% like he had been before.  It's personal experience that keeps our clients invested in stocks...but we know it's not for everyone. 

[/quote]

I never thought of prospecting for high school students. Talk about an underserved market...

[/quote]

Oh very underserved...NO barriers to entry.  By the way, I do hope you were being sarcastic, because those directories can be little gold mines.  Think about it, wealthy people don't have listed phone numbers, but they do put them in their kid's directories...light bulb!

[quote=AllREIT][quote=wallstreeter]I do call on that, but I have found A LOT of people have been burned by stocks especially from the dot com crash.  When someone tells me, “I wouldn’t touch that with a 10 foot pole” I want to strangle them.  I get great lead lists of people who have had some brokerage accounts where the brokerage firm went under.  These people are all stock investors.  Problem is there are brokers calling from New York telling them about the HOTTEST stock of the week.  So they are naturally cautious.  [QUOTE]

Alot of those are basicly "sucker lists" of gullable people, who either got burned (and thus made the list) or are broke (cause they made the list).

If you were a typical uneducated boob, would you be positive about the stock market if your stock broker went under?

[QUOTE]he key, Bobby, is that I want to get them into the office where I can show them results and graphs and go through our whole schpiel.  We close them 95% of the time first time they come into the office.  We used to have great marketing piece on ourselves and our strategies, but compliance won't approve it. (Why not? )  So I am trying to think of other strategies to call on.  Too many people equate investing in individual stocks to be too risky.

Sometimes I think it is their "advisor" telling them that because they want to keep them in their mutual funds because they can't pick a good stock to save their life.  So, no, I wasn't lying.[/quote]

Individual stocks are too risky. You lose clients money, you lose clients as well.  It's also personal experience that gets people away from single stocks.

I can think of maybe one stock that I would risk cold calling with.

[/quote]

THIS IS THE MOST RIDICULOUS THING I HAVE EVER HEARD.  Just because you can't pick a stock worth a damn doesn't mean individual stocks are too risky.

You can pick individual stocks based on a lot of reasons!

A.  The local power company

B.  Who they bank with

C.  The company that manufactures their cigarettes.

D.  Pepsi or Coke Drinker

E.  Verizon subscribers

F.  What is their favorite gas station

G.  What's your favorite, Lowe's or Home Depot.

AllReit - that's ridiculous.  People love owning individual stocks.

AllReit - that's ridiculous.  People love owning individual stocks.

Of course they do, (partly) giving people what they want is why they need us. You can mix it up a lot of ways, including using ETFs at wrap at brokerage. Or package it at RIA, and call it morally superior. Same cigar, different package.

[quote=FreeLunch

THIS IS THE MOST RIDICULOUS THING I HAVE EVER HEARD.  Just because you can't pick a stock worth a damn doesn't mean individual stocks are too risky.

You can pick individual stocks based on a lot of reasons!

A.  The local power company

B.  Who they bank with

C.  The company that manufactures their cigarettes.

D.  Pepsi or Coke Drinker

E.  Verizon subscribers

F.  What is their favorite gas station

G.  What's your favorite, Lowe's or Home Depot.

AllReit - that's ridiculous.  People love owning individual stocks.

[/quote]

Don't worry, individual stocks don't fit into his cheap fee based TIPS approach.  I'll bet the majority of his clients are deaf, blind, and mute too.  Hmmmm....I like cheesecake, maybe I should buy some Cheesecake Factory (CAKE), oh wait, I only want to keep pace with inflation - better stick with these handy TIPS.

Of course, some people can't stomach the gyrations of individual stocks

It drives them crazy - who knows why, but it does.

Put those people in mutual funds, or Managed accounts.

to be to scared to even offer them to people is ridiculous.

i had a lady recently who gave me $100,000.  I asked her if she thinked she would like mutual funds, or owning individual companies.

I proceeded to put her into 10 different, large cap blue chip companies.  ALL SOLID, all places where she either spent money, or knew people that spent money.

She buys gas @ Chevron- Money.

She buys Virginia Slims - Altria - Money

Shes a bud light drinker - BUD - Money.

she sold herself on the stocks, meanwhile, shes a partial owner in all the places she's very familiar with.  She can buy all her cigarettes with the dividends from MO if she wants to.

"Stocks are too risky!"Yeah - if you're with fly-by-night P/E ratios of 100, no profit, high debt companies with crappy management. 

It's too risky not to own any

[quote=FreeLunch]

Of course, some people can't stomach the gyrations of individual stocks

It drives them crazy - who knows why, but it does.

Put those people in mutual funds, or Managed accounts.

to be to scared to even offer them to people is ridiculous.

i had a lady recently who gave me $100,000.  I asked her if she thinked she would like mutual funds, or owning individual companies.

I proceeded to put her into 10 different, large cap blue chip companies.  ALL SOLID, all places where she either spent money, or knew people that spent money.

She buys gas @ Chevron- Money.

She buys Virginia Slims - Altria - Money

Shes a bud light drinker - BUD - Money.

she sold herself on the stocks, meanwhile, shes a partial owner in all the places she's very familiar with.  She can buy all her cigarettes with the dividends from MO if she wants to.

"Stocks are too risky!"Yeah - if you're with fly-by-night P/E ratios of 100, no profit, high debt companies with crappy management. 

It's too risky not to own any

[/quote]

Okay, for "fun". But this is no different than buying a large cap value fund that takes a bigger position in few stocks. Net - net, probably six of one half dozen.