[Hello Kitty]

Investment portfolio returns got you down?

Ok some of you might know that I’ve been in the financial planning business for a while and specialize in collateralized mortgage obligations. This year I’m looking to really increase the size of my account base and going to invest in my own mini-marketing system since I don’t cold call it wastes valuable time and reduces the sales professional to beggar status just look at the definition in the dictionary

Cold calling = The ethically questionable practice by full-service brokers of making unsolicited phone calls to people they don't know in order to attract new business.

In the past I have gotten customers thru referrals from customers and my own investment seminars along with the weekly radio show that the company I work for does. However I’m looking to do more so I can get to the next level in my production, therefore I’m going to launch my own mini-marketing plan with flyers, mail outs, faxes, e-mail, networking, seminars, publicity via newspaper articles and print and cable TV advertisements and would like some opinions from others on…

“What would make you pick up the phone and buy from me”?

Since I’m a licensed broker in a highly regulated industry I just can't come out with a nice hook of “if I can’t make you ___ % in your portfolio in 6 months I’ll give $500” or “if I can’t lower the fees, expenses or commissions that your currently paying I’ll buy you the biggest steak dinner in town” that might work well in any other industry but my hands are tied on using bait like that.

My question is…what would you like to see or hear that’s different from all the other crap that’s out there that would motivate you to either attend a seminar or private meeting and what type of advertisement would be effective enough for you take action now? Any serious responses would be helpful.

Thanks,

 

[JRB]

I don't know that I have any serious responses, but I could try. First let me say, don't be an ass and you will do better.

Seriously, should you try to work in some kind of corporate deal with some companies to talk to folks??? I don't know how to market "people".

 

[Hello Kitty]

I don't know that I have any serious responses, but I could try. First let me say, don't be an ass and you will do better.

Loco my “online persona” is nothing like my “real life persona” goofing off on the Internet and business are entirely two different things.

I don’t work for a large wire house / primary dealer so our name is not a household thing and I specialize in a product that not every Tom, Dick and Harry brokerage firm deals in at a retail level.

 

[N8 v2.0]

I don't know that I have any serious responses, but I could try. First let me say, don't be an ass and you will do better.

Maybe if you weren't such a sook...???




Oh and Kitty... I'm doing pretty good in the gov's TSP... I've gotten returns of 11%-20% for the last 12 months...

http://www.tsp.gov/rates/monthly-current.html

 

[ALEXIS_DH]

yo n8!, i want to invest in the good ol`states.

returns here in dollars Peru in are crapatastic, and i dont want to risk using weak local currency.

where can i research more about those over 11-20% returns??????????? i need a few pointers plz.

 

[Hello Kitty]

Oh and Kitty... I'm doing pretty good in the gov's TSP... I've gotten returns of 11%-20% for the last 12 months...

http://www.tsp.gov/rates/monthly-current.html

yes but look at the expenses 10% !!!! and how much can you contribute a year to your account ? just from a quick glance the consistant performers are the C Fund and the F Fund with 38% invested in mortgage backed securities

i'm not on here to get into an online tit for tat investment penis-measuring contest I know I don’t know everything or will I ever know everything about investments nor do I act like I do. However I know that I have never lost any account due to them going somewhere else because they thought they could do better. 99.9% of my customer base is folks that are finally tired of poor portfolio performance, high management fees and high commissions for lousy customer service and wanted to get off the stock market roller coaster and packaged products.

I’m trying to focus in what the customer REALLY wants and what would motivate you or anyone else to change who your currently doing business with to do something else.

 

[N8 v2.0]

yes but look at the expenses 10% !!!! and how much can you contribute a year to your account ? just from a quick glance the consistant performers are the C Fund and the F Fund with 38% invested in mortgage backed securities

i'm not on here to get into an online tit for tat investment penis-measuring contest I know I don’t know everything or will I ever know everything about investments nor do I act like I do. However I know that I have never lost any account due to them going somewhere else because they thought they could do better. 99.9% of my customer base is folks that are finally tired of poor portfolio performance, high management fees and high commissions for lousy customer service and wanted to get off the stock market roller coaster and packaged products.

I’m trying to focus in what the customer REALLY wants and what would motivate you or anyone else to change who your currently doing business with to do something else.

Yeah... that 10% is crazy-insane... but it's doing better than my Spectra Fund (SPEX)... which has gone tot total crap over the last 5 years...



Generally I invest in real estate since that is my business (home building).

 

[Hello Kitty]

easy, do what I do. Service your clients well, so that they refer their friends and loved one to you. referals are THE best clients.

Oh I do !!! and referrals are my best source of new clients however I’m trying to aggressively grow my business for 2005 and the company I work for has zero marketing besides our weekly radio show and advertisements. I’m just trying to target the right people and focus on what people really want. My “close” ratio is phenomenal with about a 95% of the folks I visit with or come to a seminar become customers. I’m just trying to get in front of more potential customers this year and get some ideas from folks on what they would respond to.

(note i am NOT trying to sell anything with this post)

 

[Echo]

I think about 90% of investors just do their company's 401k or something small like that. What you want are the folks with enough extra cash laying around to do some playing. Those people are generally not careless with their money and will usually not fall for some slick advertizing slogan. Your best bet with those people is probably referrals, especially since someone with plenty of cash most likely knows and cahorts with lots of other people with plenty of cash. Maybe a good place to start is to actively get them to refer you, for instance by giving them some sort of reward for sending their friends to you.

 

[Austin Bike]

Kitty, your problem is twofold:

1. Your online personna IS your real life personna. Deal with it. Maybe it's the dark side of you that you don't believe, but deep inside, it is you.

2. There is no such thing as "get rich quick" You know this 'cause you're in the biz. People who are aggressive in the promotion of the business tend to look pretty sketchy. The more aggressive you get, the more it works against you.

 

[ummbikes]

Kitty, your problem is twofold:


2. There is no such thing as "get rich quick" You know this 'cause you're in the biz. People who are aggressive in the promotion of the business tend to look pretty sketchy. The more aggressive you get, the more it works against you.

Good point, I hate being "sold" anything, help your clients make wise choices and you'll be fine.

Hello kitty, kitty, kitty...

Do you really need a marketing plan, or would simply making 4-5 more contacts a week suffice?

 

[Hello Kitty]

Maybe a good place to start is to actively get them to refer you, for instance by giving them some sort of reward for sending their friends to you.

i only wish i could however my hands are tied by the NASD and any "spiff" or "gift" over $100 a year is not allowed and paying for leads that would turn in to customers is illegal because that would considered sharing commissions with an un-licensed entity, insurance sales guys get away with this all the time when they sell annuities and I know some fee based money managers that get away with this too but since I carry a series 7 license I got to follow the rules even as much as it frustrates me some times when i see others getting away with it. The firm I work for prides itself in never having a single customer complaint filed against it since we have been in business for 19 years and in the 13 years I’ve been doing this neither have I and plan to keep it that way.

 

[Hello Kitty]

Good point, I hate being "sold" anything, help your clients make wise choices and you'll be fine.

believe me i know what is what...i spent enough time in "bucket shops" smiling and dialing all day long where the guy had two options with me on the phone Buy or Hang Up i was taught every closing trick in the book and know how to box anyone in.

buying: the act of willingly acquring for money something that you want or need. the buyer generally leaves the trnasaction felling happy and satisfied

selling: attempting to convince another that they want or need your product or service despite the fact that they may not. the purchaser typically leaves the transaction with a strong feeling of "buyers remorse"

selling is begging and i'm not a begger now i will assist you and educate you and build trust with you that when you feel comfortable with all the facts you will buy.

Do you really need a marketing plan, or would simply making 4-5 more contacts a week suffice?

the answer is not more activity it's getting the proper target i can get "tire kickers" all week long with just mail outs and free information offers that lead to nothing.

 

[reflux]

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if you've run your course with your current employer/investment firm. It might be the right time for you to try to branch out more so on your own, try a different insurance/investment company, and develop your customer base from a niche market that's not very developed in Houston. Your options sound kinda limited where you're at right now, but mostly because their marketing efforts are failing you. If you leave your current employer, would you have a non-comp agreement and do you think your clients might follow you?

How much time, effort and money does it typically take to pass the series 7? Thanks.

 

[Crashby]

curious...

how many clients do you currently have and what has been the average ROI over the past 3 years?

 

[Hello Kitty]

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if you've run your course with your current employer/investment firm. It might be the right time for you to try to branch out more so on your own, try a different insurance/investment company, and develop your customer base from a niche market that's not very developed in Houston. Your options sound kinda limited where you're at right now, but mostly because their marketing efforts are failing you. If you leave your current employer, would you have a non-comp agreement and do you think your clients might follow you?

The company that I work for specializes in fixed income (bonds) investments only and specifically Collateralized Mortgage Obligations these are mainly and investment for institutional clients (Insurance Companies, Banks, Mutual Funds, etc..) because of the minimum large block size that they have to be purchased in. the niche that our company has over anyone else is the ability and customer base to purchase block sizes of 2 to 5 million of these CMO’s at a time and break it on down to individual “retail customer” bite size pieces all the way down to $1000. This is very labor intensive and for a large primary dealer the personnel and time it would take to do this for hundreds of brokers is not cost effective of trying to break down large million dollar blocks down to 20 thousand or 200,000 thousand individual sizes.

The problem is that the owners are all millionaires and have more customers than they can handle so the rush to advertise and market ourselves is not a hot priority we have twelve brokers including myself and my father is not only a owner/partner but a stock holder too and he is going to retire in a few years with a nice book of clients that will need to be managed by someone…so leaving is not an option I have worked at other firms and they offer nothing like what we do. I make enough off of current clients referrals and seminars to live nice but I want to do much better and I’m not depending on my fathers book of clients either.

How much time, effort and money does it typically take to pass the series 7? Thanks.

You have to be sponsored by a firm to be able to take your series 7 license it was the hardest test I’ve ever had to take I studied for a month solid then went to a 8 day cram school form 7 to 7 and hours of homework the test is three hours long and a mother because of all the tricky questions. I got mine in 92 and it about killed me

 

[Hello Kitty]

curious...

how many clients do you currently have and what has been the average ROI over the past 3 years?

since i'm on my home computer and tired and don’t have access to my PC at work to give you the hard numbers. I will give you an over all “conservative” guestimation off the top of my head of easily 14% now...this is on a buy and HOLD portfolio (i rairly trade my accounts) and all the investments are AAA rated, principal protected if held to maturity and pay monthly interest income and have a weighted average maturity of approx. 2 years. As far as customers go I average 2 new ones a month and I’ll leave it at that.

 

[stringcheese]

200,000 thousand

what?

 

[Hello Kitty]

what?

200,000 thousand or two-hundred-thousand what is your point is this some grammer nazi gotcha ?

 

[SkaredShtles]

200,000 thousand or two-hundred-thousand what is your point is this some grammer nazi gotcha ?

200,000 thousand is two-hundred-million..........

-S.S.-

 

[MTB_Rob_NC]

Here is one for ya... It is tongue and cheek and not so much


Go where the money is....

Play more golf. Play more golf DURING the week. Play in Golf tournaments.

 

[Hello Kitty]

200,000 thousand is two-hundred-million..........

-S.S.-

Oops your right my brain must of backfired or something what i meant is...200 thousand

 

[SkaredShtles]

Oops your right my brain must of backfired or something what i meant is...200 thousand

It's "you're" right...........

Oh, and there should be a '.' after "You're right"......... the "My brain <>" is a new sentence.

I'm not sure I'd want you looking after my money.



-S.S.-

 

[Hello Kitty]

Here is one for ya... It is tongue and cheek and not so much


Go where the money is....

Play more golf. Play more golf DURING the week. Play in Golf tournaments.

We did have a couple of seminars at local country clubs that some of the brokers who work at where I do are members and actually got good response and picked up some customers. However…some how some other country club members who are in the brokerage business had a conflict of interest with our particular company having investment seminars where we were soliciting the other club members and offering a free meal. Apparently they had a little more clout with the club manager and had our last one canceled. It got real ugly from there and lest just say that they know who the sorry asses are that got all bent out a shape and caused this whole mess. The entire sending out invitations to country club members and buying them meals is a tired old shtick. Our company has a weekly radio show on the local business radio that we advertise for seminars on however after 4 years of this it’s run it’s course with this audience. Right now we have a few local money managers that are buying bonds from our trading desk and I’ve contacted a few myself even though I’ve shown them how I can make them money and improve the yields in the portfolios that they manage the concept doesn’t sink in with their equity trading mentality.

p.s. sorry about any grammatical or spelling errors in advance I didn’t know it was a prerequisite for a web forum

 

[SkaredShtles]

<snip>

p.s. sorry about any grammatical or spelling errors in advance I didn&#8217;t know it was a prerequisite for a web forum

It's not. But intelligent communication is a prerequisite when it comes to people handling my money........

If you can't take the time to accurately state your ideas....... sheesh.

-S.S.-

 

[reflux]

Cool, interesting work you have. Unforunately I don't nearly have as much experience running a business or developing a client base, but this is what I know: join more professional, industry, and recreational groups. For example, my father is a Volunteer Orange County Sheriff, a volunteer/donor with a local hospital, a soccer referee, and on the calcpa board. I know there's more, but that's not the point. The point is that he has more contacts than I can comprehend, if he were in a sales-type job, he'd be doing pretty well. If you're looking for groups to join, talk to some of your current clients to see what their interests are outside their portfolio.

And don't forget, no matter where you are or what you're writing, people will develop an image of you based on what they see/read. A lot of people think I'm an ass (I don't believe I am) because that's sometimes the impression I give off online. Whatever.

 

[Hello Kitty]

And don't forget, no matter where you are or what you're writing, people will develop an image of you based on what they see/read. A lot of people think I'm an ass (I don't believe I am) because that's sometimes the impression I give off online. Whatever.

Yes the “online” persona of many of is not how we act in reality although that is how we are judged unfortunately.

Once again sorry mr.grammer nazi but experience and intelligence and a proven track record is the main prerequisites my customers look for and not if I have proper punctuation and sentence structure in correspondence thats what I have a sales assistant for. I’ve never claimed that I was a writer however selling a idea or concept over the phone is really what is important isn’t it?

 

[Ciaran]

easy, do what I do. Service your clients well, so that they refer their friends and loved one to you. referals are THE best clients.

That's what I would have said. As someone who doesn't know much about finances or the financial world, I am extremely cautious when it somes to investments or managing my money. My GF's dad is a financial wizard and I trust him so I go by his recommendations.

I think that if you are trying to attract new customers like me, who may not have much financial knowledge, your best bet is word of mouth. Maybe offer something to your current customers in exchange for referrals like a discount on your rate.

Stoney hit it on the head... "referals are THE best clients".

 

[stringcheese]

I'll refer him to a good psycologist.