5 Cold Call Strategies You Need to Know

YOU: Let me ask you this. When was the last time your advisor compared the fees you are paying with the average for this area?

HUMPHREY: We actually do a comparison of fees and performance every two years.

YOU: Great. One other question and I’ll let you go. When do you plan to retire?

All these other questions are called pivots. Don’t pivot.

You protest! Bill, I have a small business owner. He’s talking to me. He has a 401(k). That means he probably has personal assets. Maybe he has bought and sold several companies. Dig in, right? Turn him inside out, right?

No. Only prospect for one thing. I know it’s counterintuitive. But you lose momentum every time you dive into one of the rabbit holes. Mark his record “401(k).” Move on.

If this overall approach is successful, soon you will have lists of companies that have a 401(k), SEP/IRA, etc. Create a campaign for these specialized lists.

Every time you pivot, you get fewer leads per hour, not more.

Strategy 4

Abandon Bad Ideas Quickly

Scenario: you bought 1,000 names of homeowners scrubbed against the DNC list. For 6 hours, you have been testing the following script.

Hi, Mr Hubert. My name is Bob DaBlob and I’m a Financial Advisor with Reliable Securities here in Park City. I help my clients manage their investments and plan for life’s important events such as educating children or grandchildren, retirement or leaving a legacy. I hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time.

As Dave Barry says, “I’m not making this up.” This is an actual script an FA sent me. I pulled it from my Worst Scripts archive.

In six hours, you have dialed the phone 257 times. Your number of calls are in range. You have three “cherry” leads. That is most certainly not in range.

Let’s further assume you desperately need to raise $5M in the next 12 months. You are either a rookie or have just set a goal to start a push up to the next level. Assume your average new HH produces $100,000 AUM.

This script/list/dials combo is a BAD IDEA.

Why? The statistics don’t work. See the math straight from my Cold Call Calculator.

With 50 hours cold calling per week, and another 21 hours of selling time, you obviously cannot get there from here.

The biggest mistake I see in cold calling is this one: get a bad idea and stick with it.

What do you do now?

• Put the script in an envelope. Mark it “Best Script.” Drop it in the elevator over at your competitor’s office.

• Get a different script. Try it for a few hours. Four hours is probably enough.

• This script is worse. Dump it.

• Dump the list.

• Start over.

Perhaps your next list/scripts/dials combination produces 2.5 cherries per hour. You can get there from here. If all your other numbers hold, it would require 31 hours a week calling and selling. Tough, if not impossible, if you are managing a business. But if you are working a normal week of 60 hours/week, it could be done.

But, consider this: if your average new HH brings in $250,000/year, you need just four hours of cold calling a week and another nine hours of selling time.

That works. Now just avoid Basic Mistake No. 2: get a good idea and change it.

Strategy 5:

Mail and Phone High-Net-Worth Prospects

You send a letter.

Dear Mr. Hubert:

I am enclosing “Six Strategies to Steer You through a Market Correction.”

Sooner or later, a correction is coming. Right?

It’s always a good idea to have a plan. “Six Strategies” is a good plan.

Sincerely,

Bob DaBlob

Sr. Vice President

RELIABLE SECURITIES

P.S. Pay close attention to “Strategy No. 5.”

Strategy No. 5 says, “Have a financial advisor to help keep you on course.

OK, what about this letter?

It’s simple and readable. It can be short or long, as long as it’s readable.

The attachment can be quite long.

As a matter of fact, if the attachment is big enough to require a 9×12 envelope, so much the better. The first objective in direct mail: get the recipient to open the letter. People open big letters.

Here’s your opening script.

TO ASSISTANT: Good morning. It’s Bob DaBlob. I’m with Reliable Securities over on Prospect Street. I’m following up with Humphrey about the strategy booklet I sent him. Could you tell him it’s Bob DaBlob, and if I take longer than five minutes it’s because he had some questions.

(We have already discussed what to do if the assistant says, “He’s not …” Get the direct extension!)

YOU: Good morning, Mr. Hubert. I sent you “Six Strategies to Steer You Through a Market Correction.” It came in the big 9×12 envelope. You cannot have missed it. May I have less than five minutes to run some questions by you to see if this is the kind of strategy you should consider?

Note: You did not ask “Did you get it?” or “Did you read it?” Both are forbidden.

Benefits:

1. By sending a letter first, you can sometimes get through the screener better.

2. You have a better chance of setting an appointment on the first call.

I might mail 10 every day. Call each batch of 10 three days after I mail it. Make three attempts to call every recipient, normally two days apart. After mailing 10/day for five days and calling each recipient no more than three times, you are working with a pool of around 30 people to call per day. This may only produce a couple of appointments/week. But if they are $500,000 appointments and you close only 25% of these, that looks to me like $1 million/month in new AUM.

You can get there from here.