Someone once told me that prospecting is like showering…if you don’t do it pretty soon your are going to stink.

  We always seem to forget what made us successful today...the prospecting that we did 60 days ago.    

No, I think you’re right.  Other than real newbs, once you are established, all you have to do is WORK, and you will add business.  That’s the problem - I think people either get mental burnout, or fall into a false sense of security regarding production and assets.  Or they’re lazy. 

OTOH, the people I see (at least at Jones and friends at other firms/indy's) that actually treat it as a real business that they must work at every day, perform extremely well.  Anytime I ask someone how their business is, and they are wishy-washy, and not happy with production, and are complaining about lack of new clients, complaining about their firm, complaining about the economy - I ask them what they do to prospect.  On cue, they almost always give you that deer-in-the-headlights look, and then just fumble around with some response about referrals.  But clearly, it's a matter of them just taking referrals if they happen to come in.   A good friend of mine left Jones late last year for Cambridge.  He works out of his house now.  He is NOT lighting the world on fire.  I like him, but man, indy life has made him even more complacent than he was at Jones.  No joke, I spoke to him last week, and when I asked him about production, he told me his goal was to at least make enough to cover his "tech fees" at Cambridge with his trails and recurring revenue, which are like $400/mo.  That would make him happy.  He said it would be "nice" if he could hit $125K gross so his payout would go up to 65% (I think his OSJ gets a cut in addition to Cambridge).  He is almost 5 years in the biz now (4 w/Jones), and he has $4mm AUM.  Everytime I call him (during the day), he is doing something not related to prospecting.   You're not missing anything.  Most FA's are lazy and hate prospecting.  

What is that phrase “90% of success is just showing up”… I think it is true depending on how you define showing up. Coming into the office is a good start but if you do nothin while you are there, then you aren’t exactly showing up.

  Friend of mine built a 60MM book in 5 years, calling 2 hours each day and mining his existing book for referrals. Holds 4 seminars a year, clients only, but must bring a guest(non client).   I seem to think if you can make 200 dials M-F for two years you will be well on your way.

Dave Mullen says....100 Cold Call Contacts should equal 4 Appointments. If you only close only one with 100k into an L share annuity that 4k fee income. Who can't make 100 contacts weekly from cold calls...that's simple. Then leverage those new households for referrals. That's my business plan for 2010.

As you know we decide if we succeed or fail...Pain is weakness leaving the body...People can't take the pain (how can it even be pain...we don't even know the people we are cold calling). That's my Anthony Robbins speech for the day.   Advisors need to set daily goals and get them done first thing in the morning. If you do that the rest of the day is easy.

[quote=on my own]

Dave Mullen says....100 Cold Call Contacts should equal 4 Appointments. If you only close only one with 100k into an L share annuity that 4k fee income. Who can't make 100 contacts weekly from cold calls...that's simple. Then leverage those new households for referrals. That's my business plan for 2010.

As you know we decide if we succeed or fail...Pain is weakness leaving the body...People can't take the pain (how can it even be pain...we don't even know the people we are cold calling). That's my Anthony Robbins speech for the day.   Advisors need to set daily goals and get them done first thing in the morning. If you do that the rest of the day is easy.[/quote]   Watch out for those L share annuities with the 1.00% trail, nice product for now, but down the line when clients start taking out money at that 6% guaranteed rate, your trail will vanish..

Let’s work backwards from your idea, so 100 contacts/week is 25/day. so assuming 20% answer the phone that is 125 dials.

  I think the problem with the math is that every contact is qualified. So if we change the parameters: 100 qualified contacts/week =4appts So 25 qualified contacts/day 125 contacts(assuming 20% of the people you call are qualified) 625 dials(assuming 20% answer there phone)   Percentages depend greatly between residential and business.   Previous people have posted it takes about 350-400 dials to get an appointment  

Scratch that…

350-425 to get an account 75-125 to get an appointment

Are you saying 125 Dials to get an appointment?

If so...100 dials/day...4 new appointments week/16 new appointments month. Say only 20% do business=3 new households month. If account minimum is $100k= at least $300k new assets month. If only $150k of those new assets go into a L share VA that is 6k Fee income mo. Does that seem reasonable? If so not bad for 2-3 hours of prospecting daily. Then add to that client referrals/Trails/Managed Fees...  

Completely agree… The only factor is the assets.

Sometimes it takes more than 125 to qualify $100K or more to actually move... they may have $100K but only move part to try you out.. Last week had a client move $200K out of $400K, then check back in 3 months to get the rest.

[quote=chief123]Completely agree… The only factor is the assets.

Sometimes it takes more than 125 to qualify $100K or more to actually move... they may have $100K but only move part to try you out.. Last week had a client move $200K out of $400K, then check back in 3 months to get the rest.[/quote] I don't understand it then....why do people hate cold calling so much and say it doesn't work. I don't think cold calling should be the only source of prospecting (you should leverage your client relationships). I think cold calling should be fun. To me its a game.  Advisors have been cold calling since the phone was invented. Granted it is harder now. I just don't understand why it gets such a bad rap when the numbers are the numbers and it works.

chief123:

Have you ever dialed before?

  I was thinking the same thing.   Keeping score is critical. We work in a numbers business where efficiency is the pot at the end of the rainbow. If I have no idea what script/time/approach is working the best, how can I possibly move more toward efficiency? The numbers are important also to know if you are being lazy. How often have you been 45 minutes into a session and looked at your numbers and felt like you worked much harder than you have?

[quote=on my own][quote=chief123]Completely agree… The only factor is the assets.

Sometimes it takes more than 125 to qualify $100K or more to actually move... they may have $100K but only move part to try you out.. Last week had a client move $200K out of $400K, then check back in 3 months to get the rest.[/quote] I don't understand it then....why do people hate cold calling so much and say it doesn't work. I don't think cold calling should be the only source of prospecting (you should leverage your client relationships). I think cold calling should be fun. To me its a game.  Advisors have been cold calling since the phone was invented. Granted it is harder now. I just don't understand why it gets such a bad rap when the numbers are the numbers and it works.[/quote]   Some people don't have choice of prospecting methods. The phone works for everyone as long as you are willing to put in the work. A lot of people don't like hearing "No" or even worse nothing at all.  I have friends who have tried calling, longest one lasted 4 days..AT 25 CALLS/DAY

Yes I have dialed before and am starting that up again.

I have been moving my business from the bank to my own shop. I've done my time at a chop shop and at a wirehouse. I'm not trying to be argumentative. I've been in the business long enough where I am desensitized to the rejection and I work efficiently. You may be asking "why is he on this board now...why isn't he calling?"  I run a plain vanilla low maintence business. I usually get into the office at 6 AM EST and prep. I do a 7AM appt and an 8:30 AM appt before people get to work and had a bad day answering 100 emails and voicemails.  Then I set  2 appointments and I'm done. Sometimes that takes 2 calls...sometimes 10. I've been doing that system for years. Rest of the day I watch TV while I return client calls and submit paperwork. I started my Indy 6 mos ago from scratch and have already made $100k since June.  I was making much more than that before I went indy but I don't think its bad considering I just put my shingle out. I'm not trying to be c***y nor arrogant. I have been fortunate where I view cold calling as a supplement and can have fun with it.

[quote=on my own]Yes I have dialed before and am starting that up again.

I have been moving my business from the bank to my own shop. I've done my time at a chop shop and at a wirehouse. I'm not trying to be argumentative. I've been in the business long enough where I am desensitized to the rejection and I work efficiently. You may be asking "why is he on this board now...why isn't he calling?"  I run a plain vanilla low maintence business. I usually get into the office at 6 AM EST and prep. I do a 7AM appt and an 8:30 AM appt before people get to work and had a bad day answering 100 emails and voicemails.  Then I set  2 appointments and I'm done. Sometimes that takes 2 calls...sometimes 10. I've been doing that system for years. Rest of the day I watch TV while I return client calls and submit paperwork. I started my Indy 6 mos ago from scratch and have already made $100k since June.  I was making much more than that before I went indy but I don't think its bad considering I just put my shingle out. I'm not trying to be c***y nor arrogant. I have been fortunate where I view cold calling as a supplement and can have fun with it.[/quote]   That is pretty impressive. When you say started from scratch, you didn't take any previous bank clients?  

I typed a long response but my battery on my lap went before I was about to hit send.

  Here is the condensed version answering all the private messages in one shot.   Most of my accounts have come from the bank I worked at. I have 50 more clients to call from the bank. I could bang it out however I want to fly under the radar because of my noncompete. Slow and steady so they don't see the assets leaving.   I have gotten referrals. About 30 days ago I bought the Bill Cates system. I do not work for Bill Cates nor am I pitching his product. I ask a few customers using his system. Got a divorced woman with 500k+. Placed that into a VA. That generated 20k Fee Income.   The rest of the business came from customers after I brought their money over and did a few reviews. I also reprofiled customers and found new assets. I also reallocated existing assets. There was the other 80k.   Some wanted to know my production numbers. When I first started at the bank 9 years ago did 300k... Best year 750k in 2007. No Sales assistant due to budget cutbacks. I would have paid for an assistant but the region did not want to pay for health benefits. 2008-did 450k.   Why did production go down and why did I leave- I suffered burnout plus I realized I was making all this money and never saw my wife and kids, had high blood pressure, ect. In the beginning of 2009 I had it and just quit. I was done. I did not even consult my wife. I just went home and and told her I quit. Her response-Thank God/It's about time.   Took 5 mos off traveling with wife and kids.     I have built a buiness cold calling before.    2 weeks ago I did an experiment I wanted to see if cold calling still worked and see if I could still do it. I went into my attic-found a 10 year old list and gave it to a friend to scrub against the DNC. All names were 10 miles from my office. I called approx 50 people/6 contacts/1 appointment. Maybe this was beginners luck.   I searched this board and the Bill Good website and was not comfortable with anything that I saw. I had to stick to what I know...I was a bank advisor.   "Blank, This is on my own. I was calling you today about your bank. (What?) I am calling you today to see if you have ever invested with a bank.(Hang up/screw you/No-thankyouverymuch/Yeah) I am calling you today to see if you ever invested with a bank and if you did when was the last time your bank advisor called you or did you have to call your bank advisor?(I called him/he never calls me) So what your saying is you pay your bank advisor a fee to help you with your money and he never calls you?(Fee? What Fee?) Well your investment are probably paying your bank advisor a fee to help you with your money....   You can take the rest from there. I then continue with the script on page 99 of Nick Murray's Excellent Investment Advisor. Only changes 100 Families and 100k invested.   Guy set appt came to my office with statements and denetworked 130k American Funds into my rep code. I'll service him ...wait 6 mos then ...reallocate to they types of investments I do. My plan is not to take new funds to invest but go after orphaned bank investors with 100k or more already invested. This is my niche and I have spent the last few months thinking about that...   Again maybe this beginners luck. What worked for me might not work for you. We all have different styles/beliefs/confidence. I just know what works for me and what my strengths are. Also everything I have learned through out the years has come from someone else. That's why I like helping others because I learn as well.