I’ve been using this same method for business contacts with a promise to stop by and say hello.  Can bang out 10 contacts in an hour. 

… can’t comment on the DNC but you might consider taking Saturdays to drop off a portion of the flyers to your prospects.  Are they really going to remember a phone call?

You must check personal residence numbers against the DNC list – if you call someone on the list, it can be big, big trouble for you.  If you are calling businesses, then you don’t have to worry, they aren’t covered under DNC.

[quote=bastermind80]

In a previous post I disclosed my F2F strategy for first contacts with EDJ. I had to put in 8-9 incessant hours of pure pavement pounding to come close to 25 “real” contacts in which some still acted very reluctant though they disclosed their number and permission to call back. Some days I fell a little short of the 25 even though I gave 100% sun up to sun down. <o:p></o:p>

I'm very good on the phone so I tried a whole day of cold calling out of a directory listing only the residence of my community. Wednesday I knocked out 25 real contacts in just over 5 hours. Today I went 9 hours on the phone plus an hour lunch and hit 47. The quality of my real contacts are pretty solid with many even giving buying signals during the cold call. The prospects are very accepting of the fact that I'm "opening a new office right here in town" and "how I'm happy to be here"..blah, blah, blah. At the end of the day I enclose the normal thank you card and the “Jones & You” brochure in a bigger envelope and send it to those I contacted via the phone. After all is said and done I have the name, number and address of the individual contacted over the phone with permission to call in the future to “let them know when I find something that looks great”. I also tell them I’ll be calling

again in a few weeks  just to say hello. (2nd contact) and by then have built up a rapport with 3or 4 things I can use as a bridge for contact #2.

I have two concerns:

First, we all know this is not the EDJ business model but, if these numbers continue, I'll be generating 250-300 solid first contacts weekly. Plus I don't mind calling since I have much experience with phone jobs.

Second, though I haven't heard of it happening, I'm afraid that I'll accidently call a person on the do-not-call registry and I'll be hung for it.

Damn it! I feel as though I'm going to be wildly successful following this technique but I also feel like I'm doing something very wrong!

This seems like bs. A few days ago you were tearing it up at the door. Now you’re knocking it out of the park on the phone. But you’re not even licensed yet!

I think that calling 9 hrs a day is a tough pace to keep up… How many calls did you make in the 9hrs to get 47 good contacts?

People fail out of the business while trying to build rapport. Building rapport is a cop out for not having the guts to ask for business.

I think now is a great time if you are new and coming in with new ideas, because people are sick of hearing “Just hold on, it will come back”- yeah in 10 years maybe… 9hrs a day takes some serious commitment and a boat load of phone numbers, but if he isn’t scrubbing against the DNC(sounds like he isn’t) then those people haven’t heard from anyone… Makes you wonder in times like this if you came in with a soft pitch, to DNC households, and they said hey I am on the DNC, “oh sorry my system must have messed up, I will make a note and correct it”…

47 “Good Contacts”  I don’t think he knows what a good contact is yet…

[quote=MinimumVariance]47 “Good Contacts”  I don’t think he knows what a good contact is yet…[/quote]

He’s a piker. These contacts are giving him “buying signals” and he’s going to call back in a couple of weeks to say hello. What a putz!

Stats .... Month 19. I haven't cold called for a few months as I don't have time.

Those are real numbers and I think I’m pretty good on the phone. If you can do better you will do VERY well.

Those that become a "real" contact are prospects that provide me with the information that EDJ requires of a F2F first contact but I’ve done it via the phone. My call usually goes something like this:<?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

-       “I’m (first & last name) with Edward Jones here in (my town). How are you?” –they answer--

-       “The reason I’m calling is not to sell you something but actually to introduce myself since I’m new in town. I’m opening my office off of (street name) across from Casey’s General Store and I’m just looking to meet those in the community. How was I lucky enough to catch you at home this (morning/afternoon/evening)?”  –they answer--

-       “I just moved from California to (my town) and I’m still adjusting. (I chuckle) So tell me a little about (my town). It seems like a great community!”  –they answer--

-       (with a slight chuckle in my voice)” So how’s that crazy road to retirement treating you?”  –they answer--

-       “Before I go, I’d like to close with just a few things. First, I appreciate you spending some time with me and allowing me to introduce myself and EDJ. I’d like to send you a thank you card in the mail with a little information about our company as a token of my appreciation. (send EDJ thank you card & Jones and you brochure together in bigger envelope bought from Wal-Mart)”

-       “I’ll give you another call in a few weeks just to say hello again (second contact) and see how that fence your building in the back yard is coming along (or something else about them).”

-       “Finally, it’s my job to help keep people informed about opportunities and I come across them all the time. With your permission it would be my pleasure to give you a friendly call back and let you know about it. Is that OK?”  –they answer--

-       “Thanks so much again for visiting with me as it’s been a pleasure. Before I hang up, who else do you know that I should introduce myself to?”  –they answer--

I approach the call not as a solicitor but as a neighbor who is introducing himself and happy about his new business and wanting them to know about it. It’s worked pretty well so far. My calling hours are:

9am-1pm : Cold calling with 5 minute breaks after every hour

1pm-2pm: Lunch

2pm-7pm: Cold calling with 5 minute break after every hour

I worked for MCI for a number of years as a telemarketer before the company’s demise and was a consistent numbers leader exceeding goal usually by around 200%. I made between 400 and 500 calls per day dealing with every bit of rejection under the sun. I learned that it’s a numbers game and that you’ve got to keep moving on to the next call and you’ll consistently be amazed with the end-of-day results if you maintain that pace. I did fairly well following the EDJ business model of door-knocking but MUCH better with the phone. I’d rather stay with what works the best for me which I’ve found to be the phone 100%. I admit that I still feel very guilty for cold calling instead of door-knocking because it is NOT what EDJ wants but I also hate feeling like I’m anchoring myself down by doing something less effective.

Buy a list, and scrub it for DNC. If you accidentally call someone who is on the list and they want to make trouble, they can.

I appreciate the heads up. I have a system with the do-not-call registry which allows me to put in numbers before I call to verify they're not registered. I can check 10 numbers at a time and it verifies the information instantly. It takes about 3 minutes per each time I input 10 numbers. It takes a little bit away from my dial time but is a small price to pay for preventing a violation and slapped with an $11,000 fine. The last few days I wasn't very smart and just dialed at will with no regard for the DNC but employed the scrubbing system today. My average today, though most nay-sayers on this forum won't believe, was about the following: <?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

- Total Dials: 231

- Total "real" contacts (as EDJ would define): 33

- Average of 1 "real" contact per every 7 dials

- Hours worked: 9am-1pm, lunch, 2pm-7pm

- About 70 minutes of dial time devoted to checking numbers against DNC

- Total "pure" dial time = 7.5 to 8 hours

- 7pm - 9 or 10pm: Mailing thank you card and "EDJ and you" brochures to daily contacts

12 to 13 hour days @ 5 or 6 days per week = being thankful I'm single with no kids

BM, if it is really working for you, keep it up. And don’t worry about the doorknocking thing. Once you get through Eval/Grad, and IF you are starting to hit serious numbers, Jones does not care how you get your prospects. Their issue is, they don’t teach cold-calling, and most people aren’t naturally good at it, so if they just let people prospect willy-nilly, their training would be less effective. But if you think you will be somehow “punished” for cold calling, don’t worry. Just sort of keep it low-profile among your region, as there are a lot of people in the field that live and breathe this stuff. As soon as your numbers start to drop, it will be because “you don’t doorknock”.



Just do your thing and hit your numbers.



Keep in mind, once you start opening accounts and having appointments, your dial time will fall WAY off, so get as many contacts as possible now.



Incidentally, what type of community do you live in? That’s a lot of contacts, especially during the day. Do you find you have more success in the day or evening?

I'm actually getting ready to start dialing in ten minutes. lol  My town has a population of about 13,000 and I'm the second FA in town. The first has been here for about 6 years and doesn't seem too excited that I'm here. The community is a suburb of a city and cosists of a lot of older folks and stay at home moms during the day.

Your numbers sound accurate.

You’re going to run out of numbers in about one month.  Then what?  There is no way you can keep up the pace of 9 hour cold call sessions.

“Follow up list”? You guys crack me up.

“Gee, timid broker, thanks for following up with me. I’m still happy with my current broker, but I really feel like we’re building rapport. Sure, you can call me back in another six months.”