Adivce Please
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Let's see if we have this right. This is a 22 year old black kid with no sales experience--and he believes he's got something to offer?
Just what would that be--access to the affluent world of 22 year old black kids?
As for the comments at the top of his piece. What I did was PM him to ask where he was--I figured I'd give him a few names to contact.
He wrote back saying he didn't need my help, that he knows exactly what he's doing.
What a joke.
++++++
In a separate vein--if you're in the NYC area don't miss the US Open--my wife and I have been out there for the last three days. It's an annual rite of late summer and even though the faces are often new the games are still great.
Wonder if Andre can pull a Connors style swan song--who's that Roddick guy anyway?
Schmer33 - you are a racist pig and a disgrace to the profession.
brotha_k - I agree with the posters who think that you may be over-reaching, but if you are really that enthusiastic - why not go for it? You should definitely look into working for a private bank (JP Morgan, Citigroup Private Bank, BoA Private Bank) - programs that are more focused on training than business development. Bring your enthusiasm, professionalism and, yes, your color to our profession!
wait a minute Schmer33 - I owe you an apology. It would appear that someone has been “masquerading” as ‘brothak’, by posting as ‘brotha_k’. Clearly this person is the racist jac*off who wants this board to be “whites only”. I assumed that you had fabricated the “deadlocks and purple suit” post. Very sorry.
TJC45
Nice Post, however, if nobody my age did want to take you on, then
where would the fun be. Also, your situation maybe somewhat unique b/c
some guys I’ve seen in your situation are screwing people and it just
takes a little bit of coercing and hand holding to make some people
leave. Anyway, the odds sure are in your favor.
[quote=rook4123]TJC45
Nice Post, however, if nobody my age did want to take you on, then where would the fun be. Also, your situation maybe somewhat unique b/c some guys I've seen in your situation are screwing people and it just takes a little bit of coercing and hand holding to make some people leave. Anyway, the odds sure are in your favor.
[/quote]
I get taken on all the time. When a client leaves me I look at that as my failure. My clients are the competition's prospects. I work hard at building relationships with clients that makes it tough for them to leave. Yet, not every relationship works. Sometimes I fire them, and sometimes they fire me. It's part of the business. Yet, if any of my clients left me for a 20 something FA I'd probably have to commit suicide.
What's unique?
tjc45,
After reading your quality posts, the only reason I could think of, for a client to leave you for a 20-something FA is if that FA calls your clients Mom & Dad.
[quote=doberman]
tjc45,
After reading your quality posts, the only reason I could think of, for a client to leave you for a 20-something FA is if that FA calls your clients Mom & Dad.
[/quote]
Thanks Doberman. Unfortunately, clients do leave. The last client to leave was about two years ago. I was working my butt off to get him to trf his large SB acct to me. I built the acct up to about $400K and then got tired of him buying my reccos at SB. I told him I was tired of making his SB guy money. Then I cut him off. He called one day and asked why I hadn't had any stock or bond ideas for a while. I told him I had plenty of ideas and would be more than happy to share one with him, all he had to do was send me $100k first. Well, that didn't go over. And that was it, he fired me. OK, with me. I wasn't going to get any more from him. Couple other things he did, like giving a million dollar annuity sale to a friend's son, and holding a long term position in a very mediocre muni bond fund kinda topped it off for me. He wouldn't consider moving that money.
Another problem is that sometimes I'm too honest for my own good. That cost me a client a few years ago. The client called in looking for service of some kind. I can't remember exactly what it was, only that my assistant couldn't handle it for some reason. I had to do it myself. And that's a big problem. I'm just not good at doing the service end. I'm not a detail person. I'm a knows what button to push to get it done type of person. Which is why my assistant is so important to me. Anyway, this guy was sort of a PIA type. Always looking for service, without a lot of biz. So I put him low on the priorty list and then promptly forgot to do whatever I was suppose to do. It happens. It's happened to everyone on this board. About a week later the client calls to get answer to his request. I think "Oh S**t" I completely forgot about it. And that's what I told him as I apologized for not getting the request handled. The request was handled the next day. I made a point to get it done. Two weeks later the ACATS came in. So, I got fired for telling the truth, that I had forgotten his request. But, the real truth is that I deserved to be fired because as long as this guy was on the books as a client he was paying for and deserved my best, which he clearly didn't get. On the other hand, if I'd told one of the standard white lies, "Gee, I gave it to the home office and they haven't gotten back to me yet" maybe he'd still be a client. Couldn't do that. Oh well, I can sleep with that. But, the irony of it kills me.
So it's stuff like that. I don't care how good you are, no one is immune.
[quote=tjc45]I don't care how good you are, no one is immune. [/quote]
How true that is. I've taken a couple of accounts from a big Merrill office and a big Jones guy recently. Both producers enjoy excellent long-term reputations and are top-10 percentile producers in their firms. The problem appears to be that success is killing them. In one case, I shared a client and sent him a review letter. He came in with his Jones statements telling me to transfer everything in because his Jones guy hadn't called him in five years (his words). My take is that this guy's book is huge and he's having trouble servicing his clients. I think the Merrill guy has the same issue...the account was pretty much dormant and the client hadn't gotten much advice at all from his Merrill guy, although I think he at least called once a year from what I'm piecing together. the client told me that the advice sounded "canned" and not really tailored to his portfolio and he just felt like he'd became a number.
Sometimes, unfortunately, success can almost kill you...someday I hope to approach that level of assets...
[quote=Indyone]
[quote=tjc45]I don't care how good you are, no one is immune. [/quote]
How true that is. I've taken a couple of accounts from a big Merrill office and a big Jones guy recently. Both producers enjoy excellent long-term reputations and are top-10 percentile producers in their firms. The problem appears to be that success is killing them. In one case, I shared a client and sent him a review letter. He came in with his Jones statements telling me to transfer everything in because his Jones guy hadn't called him in five years (his words). My take is that this guy's book is huge and he's having trouble servicing his clients. I think the Merrill guy has the same issue...the account was pretty much dormant and the client hadn't gotten much advice at all from his Merrill guy, although I think he at least called once a year from what I'm piecing together. the client told me that the advice sounded "canned" and not really tailored to his portfolio and he just felt like he'd became a number.
Sometimes, unfortunately, success can almost kill you...someday I hope to approach that level of assets...
[/quote]
What never fails to amaze me is that clients whine about not being called, and they whine about being called.
I understand that I am cheapening what you guys do, but if somebody thinks about it there is no reason to have you as middlemen.
You're going to advise them to move their money from one manager to another--but in an environment where most managers are going to be performing very similarly what's the point?
Why should the client not simply select a family of funds and stick with them? Isn't Morningstar reporting history? Of course. And isn't it true that past performance does not indicate future results? Of course.
I understand that the point is to not sit in an underperforming fund while there are such hot funds out there to choose from--but what's to say that last year's underperformer is not going to be this year's star? Or that last year's star is this year's dog?
It seems to me that you're playing on a form of "You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."
Am I wrong?
[quote=brothaK]How about my affluent untapped niche market and the networking inside of it?
[/quote]
The line that I quoted above reminds me of myself. I came in here knowing that this business would be hard but I felt that I had a distinct advantage over others because of my exceptional network. I am surrounded by extremely wealthy people. They invite me to their private clubs to play golf, I’ve driven their half-million dollar cars and I’ve flown in their private jets. With all of this I was sure I would be a superstar in the business. While I’m still in training and that may eventually be the case, I’ve found that the network is not enough. If you know all of these wealthy people then I suggest you ask them what you would need to do in order for them to trust you with even a portion of their wealth. I’ve found that most of these people are already clients with my firm and are untouchable or that they have relationships at other firms which are well established and they are not interested in moving. This is not to say that I won’t be able to eventually get some of their assets or that they wouldn’t refer people to me. It just means that knowing people, even on a very personal basis, is not anywhere near enough for them to hand over their assets. I don’t even want to think about how difficult it would be if I were 10-years younger and without my MBA.<?:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
I hope this helps.
--WM
Read and heed. I too was very well connected and was somewhat of a hometown hero to boot.
Most people won't do business with you because they know you're new and/or so young that you are not thought to be mature enough to be trusted.
What can be exploited is the social skills that come with being raised in the proper environment. It's called "class" and those who have it realize what a benefit it is, and those who do not sneer at it out of pure ignorance.
Anyway, somebody who has been raised in the world of successful adults learns things--let's call them manners--and what they know can be employed in the hunt for other accomplished people who do not know your parents and do not know that a month ago you were a lifeguard.
[quote=NASD Newbie]Read and heed. I too was very well connected and was somewhat of a hometown hero to boot.[/quote]
Be honest NASD - are you Joe Namath?
[quote=opie]
[quote=NASD Newbie]Read and heed. I too was very well connected and was somewhat of a hometown hero to boot.[/quote]
Be honest NASD - are you Joe Namath?
[/quote]
Nope, but I am a Dandy.
And I’ll bet your wife yells at you for getting your lipstick all over the mirrors at the house.
Joe Namath? More like Al Bundy. He scored 5 touchdowns in high school, you know?
hubbabubba: Joe Namath? More like Al Bundy. He scored 5 touchdowns in high school, you know?
-----------------------------------------
I thought he only scored four touchdowns on the field and the fifth one he had to marry.
Hey NASD Newbie, how much can you be producing if you have 1342 posts?
My guess not too much. If I were a broker right now I would not be on
this board. You must be really good or really lazy.