[quote=BigRedFan]

[quote=All The Way]

Hey...BigRed...well done on your 1st meeting....stick to everything you mentioned in your last post...and you'll be just fine. hats off.....good job.

All The Way

[/quote]

On my call backs I have been split between pushing a product or just building a little bit more rapport.[/quote]

That's easy, close.  Build rapport after they're a satisfied buyer.

Today’s stats are as follows

185 calls
40 contacts
2 prospects
4 callbacks with nothing to show for it

Morning was brutal. Started calling businesses and had it thrown back in my face. Called some residential tonight and had much better luck.

On to the next one

Hey Big Red,

Before running off and moving on......once you got a bit of rapport built up...just ask" how could myself and my firm help you over the next 12 months"....(then say nothing)....

you'll soon find out what's important...then....focuss on solutions....what do you think?

I used your question today all the way and had some fairly productive results with it.  it gets people talking, even one lady who said she was comfortable with her current advisor asked what kind of return the fund I had was paying...

Couple meetings today and just a busy day all around

170 calls 

33 contacts

4 prospects

Calling businesses only today, talked to a couple good people but it is amazing the difference between business owners.

1) Some people are just jerks...Glad they identify as such before being potential clients

2) People who have a family member in the business are great.  Most of the time the call goes nowhere but it almost seems that they know of the struggle with cold calling. same goes for retired brokers.  Always say they wish me luck and stuff. 

Today was a very difficult day for me to get going. Lots of distractions around the office and just wasnt focused

80 calls

14 contacts

2 prospects

A positive is that one of the prospects was ready to put some money to work right away after the first of the year, so we will be scheduling an appt after the holidays

going to enjoy my weekend with some christmas festivities and just decompressing then will hit it hard next week gearing up to christmas.  Still working on pitch revision for the small business owners, I seem to get decent numbers calling with the TF bond fund so i will keep doing that.  Need to get over the mental block of business owners being tougher to deal with than retired indiviudals

BR, hat's off for trying to train yourself to sell bonds. Wires are useless!!!! Lots of layers of know nothing managment.

Ok a few things.

1. Shorten your script. Use BG as a template but don't follow word for word. Shorter, is better.

2. On money, if they say no, ask, is there any time in the near future, nxt six months where that could change? CDs coming due, bonuses etc? If answer is no, thankyouverymuch/click/dialtone. Anything else is what Bill Good calls pit polishing. it's great for giving you a sense of comfort, not so hot on generating income.

3. 3% is a good bond? I think someone else said it better than I but noooooooooo, 3% is not a good bond for prospectiing. In fact it sucks!!!! 6% would be better. Mr Johnson i have a bond available that pays 6% tax free, in your tax bracket that's the same as a 9% CD. You have any CDs paying 9%? (no) let me tell you about this bond...

3. Mr Johnson were seeing preferred stocks yielding over X%, that compares to CDs yielding 1% right now. I have nothing for you now, but the next time i see one would you like to hear about it? (could I call you about it/is it something you would have an interest in/etc/just ask a closing question to your liking). (yes) terrific, Mr. Johnson our minimum investment in these preferreds is $100, 000, I trust if you like the idea that wouldn't be a problem for you? (ask for whatever money amt you are comfortable with. Less or more than 100k is OK as long as you ask the money question. If the answer to the money question is no, and no money in near future thankyouverymuch/click/dialtone). There a plenty of people out there who will talk to you, you need the ones who will give you money. A prospect is someone who is interested and has money now!!!!!!! All others are not prospects. A person with interest & money due later is a green cherry. Someone who is interested but has no money now or later is a waste of your time.

3. Max out your time on the phone to get your contacts up. 12 hours a day with 40 dials per hour. Contacts will follow dials.

3. Start tracking your closing calls. What is a closing call? That sweaty palm call where they've said OK call me and you are calling to sell them something. Hey, my palms still sweat on those calls. And I sit there saying to myself "Please say yes and make this easy." Your goal is to make as many of these calls per day as you can. Remember, a new account a day keeps your useless manager away. Any call that furthers the process along is a closing call ie a call to set an appointment or a fact finding call to zero in on needs. Sooner or later the process has to come to a point and you need to ask for the order. Of course, just going for it is best when doing bonds and other fixed income.

3. Old prospects are like bananas, they will go bad, so call them within a week of establishing them as a prospect.

3. Pitch and miss - OK you are calling and pitching bonds, preferreds etc and while you are getting yeses, you are also getting no for an answer. Put all the pitch and misses into one big pile. Let'em pile up for a while. When you've got 50 to 100, combined with folks that slipped thru the cracks find something really good, high yield pref , bond, new issue ETF, call'em up and sell'em something!!!! The goal is to open'em or trash'em. So go for broke!!!! This is a very good exercise for anyone who is afraid to close or isn't opening accts. Close'em 3x or more. Ask them "What do we have to do to do business?"  Have fun!

By my count that's three tips, so I kept it to a few, good luck, let us know how you do.

Thanks man...great post.....like the banana thing......will pick up on your pitch and misses idea......actually today.....I  was going through my list of 2011 prospects and was about to ditch a bunch....maybe not yet........really sensible to pile 'em up and give it another try or two.

All The Way.

Thanks for the words bondguy and all the way. Managed to eliminate a few people I mailed information to today. Pretty solid day

230 call
44 contacts
3 prospects

Ended the day with a guy who said he may want to buy 10-15 bonds. Would be a good start to the account for them. Which brings me to my next problem, I have decided that I will start opening accounts with 10-20 bonds if the people have other assets. I am going to do things the way I think they should be done, not my first. I turned away an order of prolly 10 bonds this morning and I have been kicking myself since. And I wouldn’t get paid on that order but the guy had more assets i could have gotten over time

If you beleive there is value behind the first sale- go for it!!!!!

I have one client $800,000 aum, built 5 and 10 bonds at a time. Hey, fivzys and tenzys is what she buys!!!!!

My largest client - over 15 million under management started with a 25k bond order and ordered me never to call him again - he already had five brokers but my bond was too good to pass up.  In addition to his accts he has given me a string of referrals that has lead to about another 25 million under managment. So, yeah, small first order, go for it!!!!!!

So how did i get around his do not call instruction? I had nothing to lose so i called him two weeks later. This owner of a large business in our area laughed, said you've got some balls calling me back, I told him too good a deal not to at least listen - he bought $50,000 of offer number two and from there a relationship was born.

Lastly, I cut the commish to zero on bond one in competitive situations to get the buyer's attention. if they have dough, i want a seat at the table. Plenty of money to make down the road.

Been away for a couple days but i thought I would give a quick little update. I am still plugging away. Yesterday was a hectic day and only got 100 dials, but got 2 prospects. I also opened up two new accts yesterday so that was great. Been calling small businesses all day and I may need some pitch revision

"Mr. Smith, this is my name with my firm. I have some 5% triple tax free bonds available which is like a cd paying 7%. Do you own any cds paying 7%?

From there they either hang up, say no or say something like i dont buy cds

Is this a good line for a small business owner it has had a lot of success with people at home, but business owners don’t seem to gravitate to it as much. Back to work, another update later

An update for the day and the week. 

Calls:160

Contacts: 35

Prospects: 1

Had a meeting and uncovered at least 150k that will be coming in after the new year in the next couple weeks.  Called back another guy, and we are good to go on a bond once his cds get called next month.  

I also set an appointment to meet with a guy and sell him 10-15 bonds(what he said he felt comfortable with). I will take the 10-15 bonds because he has been with the same company for 30 yrs and has been contributing to a 401k, and has another account with stocks with a competitor.  Am going to talk with him tomorrow to confirm the appointment but would love suggestions on how to qualify his 401k and make sure I plant the seed that when he retires, I want that rollover...

Chop Chop Chop

Busy week so far which is good. Brining in some assets. During cold calling today had a guy tell me he has a cd coming do, great let’s meet next week.

Calls:150
Prospects: 3

Have an appointment tomorrow morning from a cold call Wednesday night, so hopefully that goes well

Been awhile since I’ve updated. Ended up closing that guy Friday morning for a small bond order but did uncover a larger portfolio I will start working towards.

Yesterday’s stats, I lost my piece of paper so this is from rough memory.

237 calls
42 contacts
4 prospects

Chop chop chopping until 2012

Hey Big Red,

Hope to see more of your posts in 2012....well  done on the last run.....keep going!!!

All The Way

[quote=All The Way]

Hey Big Red,

Hope to see more of your posts in 2012....well  done on the last run.....keep going!!!

All The Way

[/quote]

Thanks. This week has been a challenge for prospecting and have not really gotten into a flow overall...looking for a solid day tomorrow morning to springboard me to really hitting it hard in jan.  ready for some of these first contacts to start reaping rewards and appointments.  

I have a phobia that I will not know what to talk about during appointments/meetings(I have done 3-4 and closed 2 for small amounts).  When yall finally get meetings/appointments with people and you are looking at their statements or discussing their needs whatever, do you usually find yourself reccomending something that same day or a few days later(even though you probably know what you will reccomend immediately)

Happy new year to everyone first day back and am ready for action. Today was a trying day as it took all day before I even got two slight indications of interest.

Calls: 236

Contacts: 51

Prospects: 2

Was calling on a muni bond and my script was just "Mr. ___? This is ++ with firmname.  I have a X% tax free bond available, while cd rates are below 1%(or which is the same as a cd paying 7%.  Would you be interested in that?

Thinking about trying to call on a high yielding stock like CTL or ATT the rest of the week with a script like this:

Mr. ____? This is ___ with firmname.  I have a limited number of shares available in a stock paying a 7%.  What do you generally look for in stocks?

Definently needs some refinement, looking for some crituqes with other product scripts

[quote=BigRedFan]

Happy new year to everyone first day back and am ready for action. Today was a trying day as it took all day before I even got two slight indications of interest.

Calls: 236

Contacts: 51

Prospects: 2

Was calling on a muni bond and my script was just "Mr. ___? This is ++ with firmname.  I have a X% tax free bond available, while cd rates are below 1%(or which is the same as a cd paying 7%.  Would you be interested in that?

Thinking about trying to call on a high yielding stock like CTL or ATT the rest of the week with a script like this:

Mr. ____? This is ___ with firmname.  I have a limited number of shares available in a stock paying a 7%.  What do you generally look for in stocks?

Definently needs some refinement, looking for some crituqes with other product scripts

[/quote]

Thanks for the comments hacksaw I did half the day using my standard bond pitch and then switched to a preffered scrip that bond guy gave me. Cold calling has a funny way of working itself out, it was a brutal 3/4 of a day until I ran into a lady who was fed up with her broker, we are meeting in a couple weeks. And then also another hh that doesn’t shy away from the minimums and likes preferreds.

I also called back two old leads and set the groundwork for a meeting at the end of the month. They are a couple hours away so i wanna give myself the opportunity to line up 2 more appointments in the area.

Today’s stats
265 calls
57 contacts
3 prospects

Feel an order coming my way soon from cold calling

The thing about cold calling is, I do it for an average of 4-5 hours a day and I could not fathom building my business any other way. It will all pay off in the end.

Hey BigRed,

Great post....superb attitude and good for you. Keep at it.....always a pleasure to read your posts......business in about to hit your doorsteps....keep working and posting......

All The Way

[quote=All The Way]

Hey BigRed,

Great post....superb attitude and good for you. Keep at it.....always a pleasure to read your posts......business in about to hit your doorsteps....keep working and posting......

All The Way

[/quote]

Thanks All the way..I appreciate the positive comments. I check in on your thread often and love reading your updates as well