This pitch would only work in the Northeast or in California.

Southerners do not like to be "pitched."

[quote=FreedomLvr][quote=BondGuy] 

First, keep calling until you have more leads than you can call back. Then call some more ,and finally, call some more. In fact, NEVER stop cold calling. He/She who dials most, wins.

Next, who is a prospect? A prospect is a person who is interested in what you're offering AND has money. Qualify all prospects for both. If the prospect is only mildly interested you are most likely wasting your time. Qualify them further for what does get them hot. If a prospect doesn't have any money now ask them if that is a permanent condition. "Do you have any CDs coming due in the next 3 to 6 months or are you just poor?" OK. you can leave out the just poor part if you're not in a smart ass mood. If they have money coming due in the future that's good news! Now you have all that time to build a relationship with them. Most brokers/advisors put the prospect in a tickler file, electronic or paper, and call them back about a week or two before the money is due. BIG MISTAKE! On the first contact send the prospect the info proffered. Call'em back in a week and qualify them for THEIR interest and RISK TOLERANCE. Send them something, anything, that gets close to what they like. One month later call them again just to touch base. Next month send them info on another investment that rings the bell for them. All along send them marketing pieces about you or your company. Call or mail to them at least once a month until the money comes due. Then five, six months down the road when the money is coming due you have established your identity with these folks. You will be first in line to get the assets. If you don't get them reevaluate on a case by case basis.

How do you qualify? By asking questions. Have a list of questions ready. What kind of investing do you like to do? Do you buy stocks/ bonds /mutual funds? Why do you invest? What is a comfortable amount for you to invest whan you see something you like? If we came to you with something you really liked, how long would it take you to raise $100,000 for an opportunty such as that? Could you and three of your best friends raise a thousand dollars? How about if I threw in a case of Bud? You get the idea.

Pitch and miss- These are the fence sitters. leads that are so old they're starting to grow mold. For these we have a special day reserved. It's pitch and miss day. Find a really good bond/preferred stock. Call these leads and PITCH them the bond/stock. and then close them. Get outrageous. Keep closing;

"I told you I don't have any money"

Mr. Jones, with all due respect, you own the largest car dealership in the state of Indiana. I'm not calling you with our second best idea. I'm calling you with our best idea. A prefered stock yielding over 7% which is exactly what you like to invest in. Let's start small, with just a thousand shares. That's only $25000. How would you like the account to read?

"I've already got a broker"

Yes, so you've told me. I'm not asking you to interupt that relationship. Nor is that my goal. But quite frankly, your broker is not offering you this opportunty, 7%, I am. Let's start small, with only 1000 shares, give us an opportunty to show you how good we are and lock in 7%. Would you like to open the account in joint name or just for yourself?

"I really don't need another broker"

Believe me I understand, many of my best clients felt the same way when we first started. Today, for most of these people I'm their only financial advisor. Where our relationship goes from here is up to you. But let's be honest, if you were totally satisfied with your broker you wouldn't have taken my call. But you did, because you wanted to hear what I had to say. And you wouldn't still be on the phone if you weren't interested in what I'm offering. Your broker isn't offering you this, I am. I can give you up to 5000 shares of this deal to get us started together or we can start with just 1000 shares. What level is more comfortable for you?

OK, you get the idea, it's either click, dial tone or keep closing.

[/quote]

If you'd like to see an example of this prospecting method (which definitely works) rent "Boiler Room". 

[/quote]

Or you could talk to  Martin Shafiroff, Lehman Brothers largest producer, wealth manager extradinaire.. He invented and perfected this prospecting technique. And I'll go again back to Rick Desoto. He calls and he closes. His is more of a good ol boy approach, but it's the same thing.

Yet, cold calling doesn't get a break. Instead of the thousands of brokers who use cold calling as a primary marketing channel and have done clients good we always get "Boiler Room"  as the best example of what cold calling is.

Let's talk for a moment about one of the more socially acceptable marketing channels, seminars. How do you get attendees to a seminar? You could mail and hope. Not a good plan. At some point you have to cold call them. And yes, calling anyone you've never talked to before is a cold call. Regardless of how many mailings you've sent them. So cold calling is a conundrum. Don't do it, but get attendees to your seminar. Don't do it , but our largest producers did it and some still do.

I have not personally heard Marty's pitch but he's a living legend as far as cold callers go.

BondGuy, I think it's very decent of you to give these rookies tips on how to do it right.

[quote=BankFC]

This pitch would only work in the Northeast or in California.

Southerners do not like to be "pitched."

[/quote]

Not true, Desoto is in Charlotte, NC and his client base is throughout the southeast, primarily in the Carolinas.

But, for those who don't think something will work, for them it's true, it won't work.

This thread is about cold calling, does it work? The answer is yes it does. Is it hard? Yes. Is it harder than ever? Yes. Is it the only channel you should use? No. Is it the primary channel for you to use? Maybe.

I was going to ride my motorcycle today. But then I found out it's going to rain later. You see, you can always give yourself a reason not to do something. As it turns out, the rain isn't going to be here until after midnight, so, if I really don't want to ride my motorcycle I'll need a new excuse. Excuses not to prospect a lot easier to come up with and wives tales a lot easier to buy into. Anyone considering cold calling should give it a 100% effort over at least three months, the time needed to fill the pipeline. If after that time you are not getting results it's time to go in a new direction. if after that time you find you would rather man a shovel on a highway road crew, time to find a new direction.

You hear about these living legends who cold call and makes lots of money.  I also always hear about legendary poker players who make it.  Point is…if you’re not good at cold calling, there are easier ways for you to gather assets.

[quote=BondGuy][quote=tsaem]

Hey everyone.  Great posts!  Im soaking everything in.  Besides trying to alter my direction of cold call responses, I was wondering if anyone can shed some light on their past or present cold calling routine. 

Specifically, I've been introduced to different methods and ideas on this subject.  For example, if your starting out as a new broker its flat out human nature to try to hold onto any prospect who sheds even the slightest interest in your pitch.  This is mainly because you don't have any prospects to begin with and you'll take any you can get.  

Is there a rule of thumb that you follow to decide whether they're worth the effort to even call back, send a letter, or even make an appointment with in the future? 

Here are two basic scenarios I've been introduced:

1.)  I've met one successful broker who told me that even if the person is happily with another broker, rude, flat out says "no,"  or hangs up on him he will still send them info and follow up if he KNOWS that they have money or a good account. He was so persistent he actually got one person who fullfilled the criteria used above to be a client.

2.)  Another successful broker stressed the opposite.  He told me not to waste my time with mailings or callbacks even with people who show modest interest if I KNOW they don't have money, haven't invested in stocks/bonds before, or if they do have some money (good enough for a minimum trade) I shouldn't even bother.  He said to basically keep calling until I get "qualified" prospects who have invested before since its more efficient and saves time.  He too, is also sucessfull. 

So for the last month I have 20-30 cards of prospects that I cold called who were nice and gave me permission to call back, to send info, and some who seemed genuinely interested (only they didn't have money at the moment.)  In all honestly, anyone who sounded like they raised their eyebrows for a slight moment on what I had to offer was automatically put on my prospect card and sent a detailed product letter.  I know that this is not probably the best way to do things, but its either try keep fishing with what you got or keep leaving the tadpoles behind to hook that nice juicy trout or GULP...whale.

So, I am hoping to see what others feel.  After receiving moderate to high interest in your idea, what do you do next? Do you automatically try to qualify them on the spot to see if they have any money first or try to take it relatively slow not to scare them off with those blunt/direct questions and get into that later once they are more comfortable with you?

[/quote]

First, keep calling until you have more leads than you can call back. Then call some more ,and finally, call some more. In fact, NEVER stop cold calling. He/She who dials most, wins.

Next, who is a prospect? A prospect is a person who is interested in what you're offering AND has money. Qualify all prospects for both. If the prospect is only mildly interested you are most likely wasting your time. Qualify them further for what does get them hot. If a prospect doesn't have any money now ask them if that is a permanent condition. "Do you have any CDs coming due in the next 3 to 6 months or are you just poor?" OK. you can leave out the just poor part if you're not in a smart ass mood. If they have money coming due in the future that's good news! Now you have all that time to build a relationship with them. Most brokers/advisors put the prospect in a tickler file, electronic or paper, and call them back about a week or two before the money is due. BIG MISTAKE! On the first contact send the prospect the info proffered. Call'em back in a week and qualify them for THEIR interest and RISK TOLERANCE. Send them something, anything, that gets close to what they like. One month later call them again just to touch base. Next month send them info on another investment that rings the bell for them. All along send them marketing pieces about you or your company. Call or mail to them at least once a month until the money comes due. Then five, six months down the road when the money is coming due you have established your identity with these folks. You will be first in line to get the assets. If you don't get them reevaluate on a case by case basis.

How do you qualify? By asking questions. Have a list of questions ready. What kind of investing do you like to do? Do you buy stocks/ bonds /mutual funds? Why do you invest? What is a comfortable amount for you to invest whan you see something you like? If we came to you with something you really liked, how long would it take you to raise $100,000 for an opportunty such as that? Could you and three of your best friends raise a thousand dollars? How about if I threw in a case of Bud? You get the idea.

Pitch and miss- These are the fence sitters. leads that are so old they're starting to grow mold. For these we have a special day reserved. It's pitch and miss day. Find a really good bond/preferred stock. Call these leads and PITCH them the bond/stock. and then close them. Get outrageous. Keep closing;

"I told you I don't have any money"

Mr. Jones, with all due respect, you own the largest car dealership in the state of Indiana. I'm not calling you with our second best idea. I'm calling you with our best idea. A prefered stock yielding over 7% which is exactly what you like to invest in. Let's start small, with just a thousand shares. That's only $25000. How would you like the account to read?

"I've already got a broker"

Yes, so you've told me. I'm not asking you to interupt that relationship. Nor is that my goal. But quite frankly, your broker is not offering you this opportunty, 7%, I am. Let's start small, with only 1000 shares, give us an opportunty to show you how good we are and lock in 7%. Would you like to open the account in joint name or just for yourself?

"I really don't need another broker"

Believe me I understand, many of my best clients felt the same way when we first started. Today, for most of these people I'm their only financial advisor. Where our relationship goes from here is up to you. But let's be honest, if you were totally satisfied with your broker you wouldn't have taken my call. But you did, because you wanted to hear what I had to say. And you wouldn't still be on the phone if you weren't interested in what I'm offering. Your broker isn't offering you this, I am. I can give you up to 5000 shares of this deal to get us started together or we can start with just 1000 shares. What level is more comfortable for you?

OK, you get the idea, it's either click, dial tone or keep closing.

[/quote]

Bond guy, I got to say you have shared great information too.  I extremely appreciate your time that you've taken to coach myself along with the other rooks.

Im curious about your opinion about a new broker starting out today in 2006.  Are we at that much a disadvantage in comparison to several years ago before the "do not call" lists?  Like I previously mentioned before, during my first month I have been just soaking information from esteemed individuals like yourself and those at my firm.  Many give me the "this is what it takes to succeed" type of speeches or lessons.  All of which, I believe to be valid. 

However, I talked to this one guy today whom I've never had the chance to speak to and pretty much gained a total opposite view from him that contradicts what everyone else I've heard. We had a long conversation and pretty much he was telling me that MOST LIKELY I or any new broker at my firm is dooomed.  He told me that the job of a FA is much different than before. 

He said cold calling then was a more reliable source to gain clients.  But now although it can be done, it will not be as effective to generate enough business to open accounts to survive off of.  He said that if my main focus is cold calling it's not going to get anywhere b/c the lists are horrible in comparison to before DNC.  He theorized that most educated individuals put themselves on the DNC and since they are educated, it could be assumed that they're also wealthy. Education = Good job = Good $$$   Hence, the ones that have been scrubbed are those who are not qualified, too old to invest, or too lazy to take themselves off the list.  Of course, this is just some oversimplified theory.

I am reading this book called The New Financial Advisor and the author insists, "if its not impossible, its inevitable."  Which basically means that getting clients is not impossible, and only inevitable if I am persistent in trying to search for them.  This is encouraging, but do you see any truth to what the pessimistic teacher taught me today?  In my particular case for now my whole focus is geared at cold calling, is this going to drive me out of the industry in a couple of months if this method isn't effective to generate business as before?

I’m a young guy in my 20s…my business started taking off when I stopped cold calling and started relationship building.

[quote=JimmytheRocker]I'm a young guy in my 20s...my business started taking off when I stopped cold calling and started relationship building.[/quote]

I wonder if there's any therapists who specialize in broker/client relationships.

Jimmy the Rocker, care to elaborate on your last statement? I often hear

people make claims like that (not that I don’t believe them), but they don’t

often give much in the way of specifics. As such, it doesn’t tend to help

the rest of us out much.

[/quote]

Bond guy, I got to say you have shared great information too.  I extremely appreciate your time that you've taken to coach myself along with the other rooks.

Im curious about your opinion about a new broker starting out today in 2006.  Are we at that much a disadvantage in comparison to several years ago before the "do not call" lists?  Like I previously mentioned before, during my first month I have been just soaking information from esteemed individuals like yourself and those at my firm.  Many give me the "this is what it takes to succeed" type of speeches or lessons.  All of which, I believe to be valid. 

However, I talked to this one guy today whom I've never had the chance to speak to and pretty much gained a total opposite view from him that contradicts what everyone else I've heard. We had a long conversation and pretty much he was telling me that MOST LIKELY I or any new broker at my firm is dooomed.  He told me that the job of a FA is much different than before. 

He said cold calling then was a more reliable source to gain clients.  But now although it can be done, it will not be as effective to generate enough business to open accounts to survive off of.  He said that if my main focus is cold calling it's not going to get anywhere b/c the lists are horrible in comparison to before DNC.  He theorized that most educated individuals put themselves on the DNC and since they are educated, it could be assumed that they're also wealthy. Education = Good job = Good $$$   Hence, the ones that have been scrubbed are those who are not qualified, too old to invest, or too lazy to take themselves off the list.  Of course, this is just some oversimplified theory.

I am reading this book called The New Financial Advisor and the author insists, "if its not impossible, its inevitable."  Which basically means that getting clients is not impossible, and only inevitable if I am persistent in trying to search for them.  This is encouraging, but do you see any truth to what the pessimistic teacher taught me today?  In my particular case for now my whole focus is geared at cold calling, is this going to drive me out of the industry in a couple of months if this method isn't effective to generate business as before?

[/quote]

Here's what I tell rookies:

1. Arrive early/ stay late

2. Figure on a 70 hour work week for the first  5 to 7 years.

3. Develope a business plan around two or three marketing channels.

4. Those channels can include cold calling, cold walking,  networking, direct mail, advertising, seminar/workshops, guest speaker, referrals. Find a combination that you like and can afford. An effective lunch seminar program will cost you about $1000/month. A dinner program 3x that amount. The local library offers a cheap out for a few hundred a month. Don't do direct mail if you're not going with at least 5000 pieces a month. Again, not cheap.

5. This is a contact sport, the more people you talk to, the more business you'll do.

6. Learn how to sell and close. A lost art in our business and probably partly responsible for the high failure rate.

7. Set goals. Not new account or AUM goals. That's for the managers who don't get it. Set contact goals. How many people are you going to contact today, this week, this month? How many times did you ask for the order? By the way, so as not to upset the masses by using a sales term, asking for the order is anything that moves the relationship forward. For example, Mr. Jones, let's get together to go over these numbers, when would it be convenient to do that? That's a close for an appointment.(Purposely, laid back) Set goals only for those things that you can control. You can't control how many people will say yes to you. You can control how many people you ask to say yes to you. You can't control how much money people will invest with you. You can control how many times you ask them to invest. Reward yourself for meeting your goals. Simple rewards, Diner at a nice restaurant, a new shirt, tie, skirt. Keep meeting your daily goals and the big rewards will come later.

8. Be organized- Time is our most important asset. Organize your day so that you are using it efficiently.

9. Track everything- Hours/1st calls/2nd calls/closes/appointments/gross/new money/anything else that will help you.

10. Become a student of the business-Read everything from the Wall Street Journal and Barron's to Think and Grow Rich. Buy Bill Good's book, Prospecting Your way to Sales Success. 

Your pessimistic advisor, unfortunately, is more right than wrong. The odds are stacked against any new advisor.

Cold calling is harder these days because of the multitude of screening devices available to everyone. What that, and the DNC does, is cut down on the contact rates. It takes a longer time period to reach the same number of people. However, that is true only if you are calling homes. Calling businesses and work place numbers is still wide open. Personally, with 50 or 60 million people on the DNC, I'd take the hint and stop calling people at home, regardless of weather or not they're on the DNC. The public has spoken. But, I was never big on calling people at home anyway. I did call home numbers everyday for an hour or so. Most of my time was/is spent calling business numbers. Most of my clients are business owners or executives. The contact rate is still the same today as it was 20 years ago, about 8 to 10 contacts per hour.

A word about who to call. If you call people without much money you aren't going to have much success. it's not that we don't like poor people, we just can help them and they can't help us. So don't call poor people. Find lists of people with money and call them. Business owners, for example, have money. They also have problems we can help them overcome. Taxes, cash flow, money management, retirement plans. You get the picture. You can make this as easy or complicated as you want.

You can call with a product or to make an appointment. There are no rules. Call a business owner and ask for a few minutes to show your firm's business money market product. Make it a goal to set five appointments a day. Or, call and pitch the business owner a muni bond. He'/she will say no thanks, but, over the course of a day 5 or 6 owners will express an interest in tax frees or fixed income ideas. Now you have some prospects to work on. And so it goes.

Do you work in a large office building or office complex? How about holding monthly/weekly (whatever works) box lunch workshops in your conference room? Pick a subject, say "How to save taxes with tax free bonds" and invite every business owner in the building/complex.

There is no correlation to education/wealth levels and/or the DNC.

A good combo for a newly minted advisor would be cold calling with tax free bonds, minimum 50 contacts per day, and doing two library or lunch seminars a month. That should keep you busy for 70 hours a week. Still got time, cold call every service club in your area, find out who the program director is, and volunteer yourself as a guest speaker. If nothing else you'll be well fed. However, I'm sure there will be something else, business.

Don't be afraid to fail. Failing teaches us what does not work. That puts us closer to what does work.

Any suggestions on where to find lists of business owners/executives?

[quote=Beagle]1. Find money in transition.  Specialize in a particular transition period and market that via cold calls.  One of my specializations is people going through divorce but the areas are numerous.

2. Depending on your firm - use it's strengths.

3. Call early.

When calling people at work I do my calls at around 6:30 - 7:00 in the morning from my home.  I am 99% sure I'm getting none of them but in 1/2 hour I can make 40 calls.  My message is simple on their voice mail:  "Joe Smith?  This is Steve Johnson at Peter, Morgan.  When you have a second would you give me a call?  My cell phone is 555.1212 - thanks."  5 years of doing this tells me that roughly 18 people will call me back.  That's 18 contacts with 1/2 hour of prospecting.  You find me a better way and I'll change.  I know they are calling back when they have a minute of free time and I'm not bothering them. 

This plan will NOT work if you are with a major wirehouse the prospect has heard of.  Plus many larger firms don't want you using a cell phone in this way.  With the cell phone I can take the call on my short drive into the office and I just check off their name from my list when the call is done.  Plus the call is coming directly to me and I know it's imporant so I take it immediately.
[/quote]

I like this. Especially calling very early in the morning. That will pique their curiosity and you can do it from home.

[quote=Jones06]Any suggestions on where to find lists of business owners/executives?[/quote]

Dunn & Bradstreet Directory

Dalton's Business Directory

Corporate Phone list. ie, Merck's headquarters is in your backyard. Beg, borrow, or pay for a corporate phone directory. Only good if numbers,with names attached , can be dialed from the outside.

I've paid for several. One guy, a Fortune 500 exec, gave me one for helping his son. He asked if there was any way he could repay me for all the work I did as a Little League coach, with his son, as it turned out, there was.

[quote=Beagle]1. Find money in transition.  Specialize in a particular transition period and market that via cold calls.  One of my specializations is people going through divorce but the areas are numerous.

2. Depending on your firm - use it's strengths.

3. Call early.

When calling people at work I do my calls at around 6:30 - 7:00 in the morning from my home.  I am 99% sure I'm getting none of them but in 1/2 hour I can make 40 calls.  My message is simple on their voice mail:  "Joe Smith?  This is Steve Johnson at Peter, Morgan.  When you have a second would you give me a call?  My cell phone is 555.1212 - thanks."  5 years of doing this tells me that roughly 18 people will call me back.  That's 18 contacts with 1/2 hour of prospecting.  You find me a better way and I'll change.  I know they are calling back when they have a minute of free time and I'm not bothering them. 

This plan will NOT work if you are with a major wirehouse the prospect has heard of.  Plus many larger firms don't want you using a cell phone in this way.  With the cell phone I can take the call on my short drive into the office and I just check off their name from my list when the call is done.  Plus the call is coming directly to me and I know it's imporant so I take it immediately.
[/quote]

Good stuff!

[quote=Jones06]Jimmy the Rocker, care to elaborate on your last statement? I often hear
people make claims like that (not that I don't believe them), but they don't
often give much in the way of specifics. As such, it doesn't tend to help
the rest of us out much.[/quote]

Well..I know for me cold calling didn't work effectively.  Maybe I had a crappy list, crappy market, crappy product, or an overly too young phone voice.  I started to think about the group of people who connect the quickest with me (who also had money)...Asian American Yuppies.  I started networking with them specifically.  The holy grail of strong leads have been through "quality" introductions.  Example:  (I noticed that if I walked up to a prospect cold and chatted, exchanged business cards, and called him later...that lead is a semiwarm lead) (I also noticed that if he was favorably introduced to me by a mutual friend who is highly respected like a Dr or lawyer, the torch of instant credibility is passed on to me.....So that prospect becomes a hot lead because he trusts his friend...but I still have to keep the torch light burning by being a competant professional.  How I see it is why call someone cold when you can set things up to be warm or even HOT?  When your leads are HOT, there is less salesmanship involved.  The one thing I notice is that I am out of the office majority of the time.

Try, "Mr. Johnson, this is Bob Wright over to Merrill Lynch.  Listen, I'm calling to see if you'd like to make an investment decision today.  You wouldn't like to do that would you?"

If it works please let us know.

As I said, mine doesn’t work if you are with a firm the client knows.  People have bashed on here in the past about small independents don’t have credibility and name recognition but in my experience - those things hurt more than they benefit.  When you say you are with Ed Jones or Merrill, the prospect has already formed an opinion about you and is not likely to call back because they know the reason for the call.  If I’m with Peter, Morgan or any other no-name - they are just as likely to think I’m with a law firm or accounting firm as with anything else.  My opinion is that I’d much rather myself dictate the prospects opinion of my firm than the last 10 bozo’s who called from the same firm. 

having said all this - I can’t remember the last time I was cold called by an investment firm 2x in the same year.  Back in the early 1990’s I was hit almost weekly and I bet it has been 7 years since I’ve had more then one call in a year.  I have NEVER been hit with an Ed Jones call, door knock or letter and I’m within 2 miles of 6 offices.  This idea that average people are being bombarded with solicitations just isn’t true.  There is only a small group who everyone is bombing and they are getting killed.  My dad for instance receives 5+ seminar invites each month and most are by the same 4-5 firms.  That’s just dumb. 

[quote=JimmytheRocker]

Well..I know for me cold calling didn't work effectively.  Maybe I had a crappy list, crappy market, crappy product, or an overly too young phone voice.  I started to think about the group of people who connect the quickest with me (who also had money)...Asian American Yuppies.  I started networking with them specifically.  The holy grail of strong leads have been through "quality" introductions.  Example:  (I noticed that if I walked up to a prospect cold and chatted, exchanged business cards, and called him later...that lead is a semiwarm lead) (I also noticed that if he was favorably introduced to me by a mutual friend who is highly respected like a Dr or lawyer, the torch of instant credibility is passed on to me.....So that prospect becomes a hot lead because he trusts his friend...but I still have to keep the torch light burning by being a competant professional.  How I see it is why call someone cold when you can set things up to be warm or even HOT?  When your leads are HOT, there is less salesmanship involved.  The one thing I notice is that I am out of the office majority of the time.

[/quote]

[quote=JCadieux] [quote=JimmytheRocker]

Well..I know for me cold calling didn't work effectively.  Maybe I had a crappy list, crappy market, crappy product, or an overly too young phone voice.  I started to think about the group of people who connect the quickest with me (who also had money)...Asian American Yuppies.  I started networking with them specifically.  The holy grail of strong leads have been through "quality" introductions.  Example:  (I noticed that if I walked up to a prospect cold and chatted, exchanged business cards, and called him later...that lead is a semiwarm lead) (I also noticed that if he was favorably introduced to me by a mutual friend who is highly respected like a Dr or lawyer, the torch of instant credibility is passed on to me.....So that prospect becomes a hot lead because he trusts his friend...but I still have to keep the torch light burning by being a competant professional.  How I see it is why call someone cold when you can set things up to be warm or even HOT?  When your leads are HOT, there is less salesmanship involved.  The one thing I notice is that I am out of the office majority of the time.

[/quote]

I often help new advisors move from cold-call focused training programs into programs with broader approaches.  I suggest that they examine ALL of the techniques that are available to them, and then focus on the ones where they seem to have natural talent or some unique advantage.

Cold calling appears to have a low overall rate of success.

Some people are very good at cold calling.  I'm not sure if this a learned or inherited talent.  Probably a little of both.

If you aren't naturally good at cold calling, you will still get lucky some of the time.  With enough good luck you may last long enough for some of your long-term marketing to pay off (such as networking).

I have also noticed that the long-term approaches (such as networking and referral channels) seem to have a much higher success rate given a reasonable amount of time.  It is also harder to fake your way to success with these approaches.

Full disclosure:  I'm not a financial advisor.  But I talk to a lot of successful ones every day.

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To make networking and referrals worthwhile, each account I win must be economic enough to do so.  My system is very simple.  I create about 30 new relationships/month through introductions from centers of influences in a target market (you got to click with this market).  A new relationship does not mean picking up a business card from someone random, but an introduction to a person and having a euphoric conversation with that person. I gather phone numbers and email addresses.  I soft touch each one with free newsletter.  I introduce my new prospects to other people in my network for various reasons (prospect maybe looking for a personal trainer, mortgage broker, golf buddy, happy hour group, etc....)  The point is, I go out of my way.  When I call all 30 up next month, 15 show up to my office.  6 of them do business.  Each average $3k in commission.  Not bad for working 35 hrs/week.  As my network has gotten bigger, it gets easier to make new contacts.