[quote=BondGuy]The first 4 to 6 months of year one was spent filling the pipeline. Now your pipeline is built. Or, should be. You should be at critical mass with new accts falling out the other end of that pipeline at a predictible rate. Depending on your biz model anywhere from 4 to 12 new accts per month. More importantly is the size of those accts. If they are of the 1mil variety one a month will keep the suits away. If they are of the 100k level, then more is way better than less.

If none of the above is happening because of a prospecting slow down don’t beat yourself up over it. Just move forward!! While it is no fun to repush the rock up hill at least now you know how to do it.[/quote]

Currently opening about 2 accts per months with about 250-300k managed per account.

Sales is an absolute head game, and really this career is all about numbers. I am looking at opening fee based business as it fits in with what we are trying to accomplish. I pitch appt and keep going. Tuesday I made probably 250-300 dials didnt get anything zip zilch nada. Yesterday I came in called back a few folks, set an appt, found out Im moving the ball forward with a vp at a very large company, and generated an additional 3 prospects to call back next week.

You know why cold calling is great, when I call i do not know if that person was the VP of marketing for a fortune 500 company, a sucessful business owner or a blue collar worker who saved every penny and now has 400k in a 401k. I just know that I am always one dial away from someone who has interest.

The biggest thing for me when on the phone is if someone says they have a broker, I say Im just wanting to send you some info. They either say no or yes. I dont prod further, Im not looking for a 30 minute conversation about your current allocation on this call. Let me send you some info, find out where you work or retire from, and this is key for me ESTABLISH one point I can draw back to when we talk again(whether it is family, a trip, or somethin sports related)

BONDguy I sent you a private message. please take a look at it and let me know what you think

I have some big news. On Friday, I signed my first $1,000,000+ client. With my 1.5% fee-based program and the bond ladder I’m building him, it will be $20,000 in production next year. I’m really excited.

All from a cold call on a Saturday morning.

Ulairi lets her the details…

did you pitch a product or appointment??? How long was the lead time to close him.

CONGRATS BY THE WAY!!

80,000 in production your first year? Is that PCs or revenue? All that from transactional preferreds/munis? That is huge. A little insight?

[quote=BigRedFan]Ulairi lets her the details…

did you pitch a product or appointment??? How long was the lead time to close him.

CONGRATS BY THE WAY!![/quote]

I come in on Saturday mornings and make cold calls. 4 saturdays ago, I was in and called the guy. He took my call, I talked about preservation, tax efficiency and income and it sounded good. He actually came to my office that Saturday morning because he couldn’t believe I was in making calls. We met, he then mailed me his statements and I built the proposal for my portfolio. It really wowed them by doing better than the shitty mutual funds he was holding. I drove into his office last Friday, presented it to him and his wife, he agreed and he just signed the paperwork to bring over $1,000,000 and he still has another $2,000,000 in taxable assets (I won the IRA assets) that I’m going to work on and hopefully close by March 31st of next year.

I pitched three things I can do really well and better than most other advisors: preserve what you have, make sure you save on taxes, and get you better income.

He also referred me to a coworker and I’m going after another $500,000 account. I think I’ll be able to close that by the end of the year. I am hoping for another $2,000,000 in assets by December 31st. Which would bring my fee based to over $4,000,000!!! And total assets over $7,000,000!!!

I charge 1.5% which means I’m on great target for next year.

Nice Job Ulairi.

I emailed BondGuy I am working on doing some transactional stuff right now. I am trying to open up an inordinate amount of acounts in the next 2 months. I have a great product Im pitching.

What is the callback like. I am trying to develop a list of questions to push them to the sale. I have qualified by saying my account minimum is 100k(in all reality I would accept orders of 25k).

MY list of questions:

What other investments have you made?
Who do you currently rely on for financial advice?
Would you like to reinvest the dividends or have the cash sent to you?

And then the big banger. Why dont we get started with an order for 25k(still unsure if I should try higher or not) and see how the relationship goes from there?

at that point if they say no I say “What do I have to do to do business together?”

Ulari, what kind of lists are you using? Where do you get them?

Ulari, what kind of lists are you using? Where do you get them?

CIS and CIT leads. I’m changing how I’m cold calling starting in a couple weeks. I have a seminar planned from December through may, one a month and it’s being fully paid for by my firm and wholesalers. I’m going to call to get people to the seminar. I have a big enough book now that I feel more confident pitching the seminar and using that to build business. I’ll still call for meetings/muni bond sales on top of that but it’s another line of attack for getting clients.

KingBobby, Bondguy anyone else who closes on a product on the phone. What are your closing questions. I want to do this but we get no direction on doing trasnactional business it is all about getting the whole pie.

Big Red, first off it looks like you’re hitting some good numbers for AUM, so if you’re in goal territory make sure to only tweak things, no overhauls.

One thing to point out, during the call mail call process (looks like that’s what you described a couple posts above) I would not say ‘let me send you some info’, or ‘I’m just wanting to send you info’ because the purpose of that process is to qualify for interest and money. From interest you can move the process to sale, but without interest it’s difficult, so qualify for it.

For closing questions… it depends… but if it’s in inventory I keep it as simple as letting them know we’re running low so yes or no. ‘We have 200 left, is this something you want?’ etc… For funds, what you said probably works as good as anything, how would you like your dividends for this fund, reinvested or sent?

And hopefully BG will add (and nice week Ulairi!)

[quote=KingBobby]Big Red, first off it looks like you’re hitting some good numbers for AUM, so if you’re in goal territory make sure to only tweak things, no overhauls.

One thing to point out, during the call mail call process (looks like that’s what you described a couple posts above) I would not say ‘let me send you some info’, or ‘I’m just wanting to send you info’ because the purpose of that process is to qualify for interest and money. From interest you can move the process to sale, but without interest it’s difficult, so qualify for it.

For closing questions… it depends… but if it’s in inventory I keep it as simple as letting them know we’re running low so yes or no. ‘We have 200 left, is this something you want?’ etc… For funds, what you said probably works as good as anything, how would you like your dividends for this fund, reinvested or sent?

And hopefully BG will add (and nice week Ulairi!)[/quote]

Thanks KB. I am hitting my tiers and doing well, but I want to start a campaign to bring in some small business owners and a higher number of households. I will still be using the same process for retirees. But At this point I want to add “x” number of households to my list to start building the AUM further

BigRed,

When someone says “I already have an Advisor” why not try something like: That’s the exact reason why I want to talk to you. Either two things will happen as a result of meeting with me, either you’ll confirm everything you’re doing is good or I’ll give you some suggestions on how we can improve your portfolio but either way you win" I’ve had luck with that.

BIg, U, way to hit it out of the park!!! The first of many to come!

BR, Closing questions?

easy close:

Does this sound like something in which you’d have an interest? (yes) What would be a comfortable level for you start with?

or

Terrific, how much would you like to start with?

or

My largest clients are investing well over 1 million dollars in XYZ, how much would you like to commit?

or

let’s start with 1000 shares. That’s about $50,000 cash or $25,000 if we use margin, which would be better for you? ( OK, i don’t want them to open on margin, but it allows a forced choice close. I’m not asking if they want the investment, that’s assumed. The question is how do they want to pay for it)

Another version of the forced choice close

We have two programs available for this investment. One for invesmtents over $100,000 and another for under $100,000, which would you like to choose? (where do you see yourself - which is is a better fit for you etc etc)

I started this morning with 500,000 of these bonds, I’m down to my last $100,000, let’s start with this $100,000 block. Do you have any questions before we open your new account? ( or is that a comfortble level for you?)

On and on there are thousands of version of these same closes, find one or two that you like and go for it.

I have hit a wall. And I’m trying to fight through it. Been in production since May and I have brought in around 6 million dollars by the way of of 5 accounts. I should land a couple more million in the next few weeks if all goes according to plan. However my pipeline is a little dry right now and it’s because I have not been making the dials I’m supposed to be doing. Maybe it’s because I’m somewhat comfortable with my progress but I know you can never be too comfortable in your seat. Anyway I’m looking for some motivation and or thoughts about how to keep it up and thought that this thread might help. The phone is staring me in the face as we speak and for some reason I’m having a hard time picking it up. Thank you for any thoughts or suggestions. My boss thinks I should be able to get two appts per day with a million plus client. I’m about two per week right now. Any thoughts on this?

$6 million…on 5 accounts…via the phone? In 5 months? That is the fastest turn times I have ever seen and heard of in the history of the business…certainly on this board. No offense but does anyone else smell bullcrap? Maybe I’m in the wrong area, but doesn’t that sound a bit off?

Wasn’t the kind of feed back I was looking for. Didn’t mean to brag, wasn’t my point. So first off I work with a senior partner. Who has many relationships of that size. Secondly I work in the Bay area which has a number of tech and biotech firms that love to compensate their employees with options. I split it 50 50 with my boss. So in reality I have to bring in double what everyone else here brings in. All I was trying to do to was look for some motivation or advice.

Like I said…I’m in the wrong area. Those numbers would make you a rock star at most places. Not sure what you need motivation for, but sorry if I came down on you. Keep doing what you’re doing…sound like youre killing it.

The numbers look good but I’m still just as drained as everyone else. I might work on a team but there is no gifting of assets. I cold call just like everyone else but I have help closing the business which is huge, when going after bigger clients. However the phone is heavy right now. I think it might be due to the fact that I’ve done pretty good up to this point. Just wondering what everyone else does when the going get’s rough? That’s all.

Sounds better than me. Im in South Florida, the home of the snowbirds. They are starting to trickle back down, but there are like eleventybillion Wealth Management firms in a 2 mile area. Heavy heavy competition. I would love a crack at some of those asset numbers. I am just hitting singles and doubles…no home runs as of yet. But I’m just trying to raise my At Bats as much as I can.