Market Volatility
18 RepliesJump to last post
With all of the market volatility it seems like many of the brokers in my office are afraid to call their clients. Seems like an opportunity for new relationships with prospects if they aren't hearing from their brokers. Any cold calling tips or ideas on this from vets who have experienced moderate to large corrections in the past?
Mr Prospect...
With all of the volatility in the market I am calling to see if you have recently reviewed long term investment goals with your advisor....
[quote=LEAP]
Mr Prospect...
With all of the volatility in the market I am calling to see if you have recently reviewed long term investment goals with your advisor.... [/quote]
Too wordy, here's what I used from 2000-2002:
Mr. Prospect, when was the last time you talked to your financial advisor?
There can be only a few answers: recently, never, I don't have one, or they hang up..........
ANY of those replies is good, and the hang up means you can cross them off your list..........
when the markets are down clients tend to be mad at all brokers. but you need to convince them that you will help them recover their losses with your strategy/idea.
"Mr. Prospect- I am calling you today from ABC Securities. Knowing that you probably receive these calls on a daily basis, and assuming you already work with an advisor..... Given the current market environment and increased volatility of late, I wanted to reach out to you and see if you'd be open to hearing more about the risk management strategies my team has been employing of late..."
[quote=blarmston]
"Mr. Prospect- I am calling you today from ABC Securities. Knowing that you probably receive these calls on a daily basis, and assuming you already work with an advisor..... Given the current market environment and increased volatility of late, I wanted to reach out to you and see if you'd be open to hearing more about the risk management strategies my team has been employing of late..."
[/quote]
Yawnnnnn......
Boring stuff but it got me 2 qualified meetings yesterday...
I wish I was still in college...
A 700 sq foot place in a flea infested building on the Lower East Side dont count...
Notice how he didnt say "I own", but his wife owns it, and he's mooching off the wife's trust fund...
[quote=LEAP]
With all of the market volatility it seems like many of the brokers in my office are afraid to call their clients. Seems like an opportunity for new relationships with prospects if they aren't hearing from their brokers. Any cold calling tips or ideas on this from vets who have experienced moderate to large corrections in the past?
Mr Prospect...
With all of the volatility in the market I am calling to see if you have recently reviewed long term investment goals with your advisor....
[/quote]
Yes it is an excellent time to be prospecting right now. Many people I've been calling on are now open to hear ideas, so have a good one. They also want to hear an opinion...so make sure you also have one of those.
[quote=DAtoo][quote=blarmston]
"Mr. Prospect- I am calling you today from ABC Securities. Knowing that you probably receive these calls on a daily basis, and assuming you already work with an advisor..... Given the current market environment and increased volatility of late, I wanted to reach out to you and see if you'd be open to hearing more about the risk management strategies my team has been employing of late..."
[/quote]
It's becoming more an more apparent that Blarmston is actually a college kid cold caller.
First of all, a pro would not say, "I'm calling you today...." The prospect knows that it's not yesterday or tomorrow.
Secondly, if he was a producer he would not say, "....my team has been applying...." he would say, "......I am applying....."
Thirdly, if he was a grown up he would not be living at home and dreaming about having a 700 square foot condo. My wife has a 700 square foot kitchen, adults have things like that--kids don't.
[/quote]
It looks to me to be a concise well thought out call.
I'm a producer and I always position myself on the calls with the word "we." So what?
Using the word "today" implies that the call was specifically timed. I always use the word "today" and not once has some smart ass responded negatively.
Granted, my wife's kitchen is only 500 sq ft, give or take.
Now is the time to be on the phone.
I left New York several months ago. I now live in Sandy Springs, Georgia--inside the Perimeter, off Riverside Drive.
You had to downsize eh? Did you blow up your Fidelity options account again? Move back in with the in-laws until you get back on your feet?
As for using "my team", as Bondguy mentioned, its conveying to a prospect that we have an infrastructure in place that goes beyond some salty lone broker pulling his two remaining strands of hair out trying to manage a book of 1400 transactional clients...
For all your purported wisdom Patsy on the industry- if you havent heard, the trend is towards combining specialties and providing more comprehensive advice than what one FA can do on their own...
Did I mention I miss college?
[quote=DAtoo]
[quote=BondGuy]
Now is the time to be on the phone.[/quote]
So, please tell us what you'd be saying to some other broker's client this morning?
[/quote]
I'm not saying anything to them today. I'm in my motorhome at the marina waiting out the rain. This afternoon, if the NE wind doesn't kick things up too much, we'll ( my sons and I, not my team) fire up Pole Dancer and go chase some Fluke or Blues off LBI. Hopefully, it will be fresh fish for dinner tonite! Though I have to admit, I'm not much of a fisherman. My son's are pretty good though. I get to drive the boat and pay the gas bill.
As for biz, well, that's why I have a team. No worries.
Get back to me Monday, I'll let you know what I'm telling clients, regardless of who their broker is, then.
BG- make sure you check out The Boathouse in Beach Haven- love the seafood and sunsets there… Afterwards, if you and the wife arent too tired, swing on over to Joe Pops for some live music and Coronas… AHHHH… LBI and the Jersey Shore…
[quote=DAtoo][quote=blarmston]
"Mr. Prospect- I am calling you today from ABC Securities. Knowing that you probably receive these calls on a daily basis, and assuming you already work with an advisor..... Given the current market environment and increased volatility of late, I wanted to reach out to you and see if you'd be open to hearing more about the risk management strategies my team has been employing of late..."
[/quote]
It's becoming more an more apparent that Blarmston is actually a college kid cold caller.
First of all, a pro would not say, "I'm calling you today...." The prospect knows that it's not yesterday or tomorrow.
Secondly, if he was a producer he would not say, "....my team has been applying...." he would say, "......I am applying....."
Thirdly, if he was a grown up he would not be living at home and dreaming about having a 700 square foot condo. My wife has a 700 square foot kitchen, adults have things like that--kids don't.
[/quote]
There's not much that's worth less than advice on how to do something given by someone who's personally failed at that very task. DAtoo's quailified to talk about how to hire receptionists, or fill out expense reports on the office coffee service. What he's not qualified to do is talk about how to be a successful FA.
[quote=BondGuy]
It looks to me to be a concise well thought out call.
I'm a producer and I always position myself on the calls with the word "we." So what?
Using the word "today" implies that the call was specifically timed. I always use the word "today" and not once has some smart ass responded negatively.
[/quote]
Agreed, 100%.
[quote=DAtoo][quote=mikebutler222] <?:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
There's not much that's worth less than advice on how to do something given by someone who's personally failed at that very task. DAtoo's quailified to talk about how to hire receptionists, or fill out expense reports on the office coffee service. What he's not qualified to do is talk about how to be a successful FA.
[/quote]
For the new boys and girls. I was in production for seven years. I made the "President's Club" in my second year and the "Chairman's Council" from then on.
The idea that I have no idea what it takes to be a successful FA is nonsense.
[/quote]
Nah, I’m not buying a word of it. You wouldn’t have taken the massive cut in pay and lifestyle.
Even in the dark ages when;
1) investors had no other choice but to deal with brokers
2) you didn’t have to know squat about planning, taxes or asset allocation
3) mutual funds carried 8%+ loads
4) there was no internet, no CNBC
5) you didn’t track cost basis on statements, so clients were in the dark about performance
6) the job entailed little more than cold calling with “I have the latest hot (insert here) stock/bond for you Mrs. Widow” and then racking up the hidden commissions in OTC stock, or the 5% in bonds, or the government regulated commission schedule
you’re the type that couldn’t succeed.
[/quote] It is true that investors had a limited selection of firms to deal with, however as long as there were multiple firms in the business it was still incumbent on the reigstered rep to win the client's loyalty. No different than it is today. [/quote]<?:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
You’re delusional. Full service, fixed commission brokerages were the ONLY game in town. Today’s FA have to complete not only with other firms, but with a myrid of competing formats and business models. It's as if you're the best player at a club that banned Tiger Woods, and you want to brag about being the world's greatest.
[quote=DAtoo]
Sure we had to know about planning, taxes and asset allocation--those are not new concepts. [/quote]
Save that bilge for the young ones here that don’t know better. The “good old days” were about reps making a living buying and selling stock, period. Brokers were oh-so happy to say to clients “not my job” about anything else.
[quote=DAtoo]Actually mutual funds could be as much as 8 1/2%, but competition kept the sales charges down to 4 to 5%. Additionally that was a one time charge unlike today when you whores steal your client's money by pretending to be a "financial advisor." [/quote]
ROFLMAO “competition”? In a setting with regulated fee and commission schedules? With no Schwab, no online trading, no Money Magazine? You had the world on string, a virtual monopoly on the investor, yet you whine about it and failed at it. Those “whores” you’re referring to didn’t bang the client for the 5%+ upfront, probably used institutional shares rather than A shares and unlike your day when fund switching was in vogue, didn’t change fund families every three years to hit that A share commission again and again and again.
Seriously, given the stuff that was routine in the “good old days” that you’ll lose your career over today, it’s hysterical to hear a fossil like you bring up the subject of ethics.
[quote=DAtoo]
It's true there was no internet and no CNBC--it would have been so much easier if they had existed. [/quote]
As only can be said by someone who thinks “competition” means there were other full service firms on the block.
[quote=DAtoo]
It is true that cost basis was not on statements--it should have been but it wasn't. Also bonds were not priced at all--it appeared as though the investors bonds were worth par. It is much easier now that the investors have reality shown to them once a month. [/quote]
It’s easier for the clients, harder for FAs so inclined to rape pillage and burn as your era did as a matter of standard practice.
[quote=DAtoo] I made a lot of cold calls--..[/quote]
(self aggrandizement of a failed FA snipped)
[quote=DAtoo]It was my superb performance …[/quote]
As every failed FA says trying to inflate the fact they had to flee the world of production for the life raft of middle management.