Post: #1

I know there is a sales thread, but i wanted this thread to be specifically about sales in the financial services area. Financial planning, retirement, expat products, etc. Reason being, many companies in this area, rightly or wrongly, are tarnished as "boiler room" operations.

Having worked in a genteel profession, I now believe that EVERY job is a sales job, whether you are making coco-cola, teaching English or practising law. You have to get a client through the door to either purchase your time, or whatever it is you are selling.

I've heard of companies like Devere, where new employees are expected to man the phones and cold call, cold call, and cold call some more. Apparently, the rewards are great IF (and its a big if) you can stick it out and generate sales. Has anyone got experience in this area?

Post: #2

Hey Atticus,

I worked for 3 years as an investment banker in Canada, and before that (in University), I was in wealth management as an intern, where my job was prospecting.

It's my belief that EVERYONE should learn sales at some point; and the financial services industry is probably one of the hardest industries to get started in, but it's also exceptionally rewarding. If you're great at prospecting, you can build your own book VERY fast, and get paid big bucks.

Most financial planning firms don't hire newbies, but if you have a proven sales record, you're in great shape. It's been said a bunch before, but it's entirely a numbers game. You won't get anywhere doing 100 calls a day. When I was in University, I worked in the summers + weekends, doing around 300-calls a day.

Ignore all this bullshit theory; just hammer the phone, use a script at the beginning until you're fluent in your offer, and keep going until you're not afraid of rejection + can easily counter objections, and sound real on the phone.

PS Don't forget to smile, and 100% don't take rejection personally.

Post: #3

You're better going into med device or tech if you want to do sales. Those have a success rate that is not too bad.

Post: #4

(08-17-2017 07:41 AM)Atticus Wrote:  I know there is a sales thread, but i wanted this thread to be specifically about sales in the financial services area. Financial planning, retirement, expat products, etc. Reason being, many companies in this area, rightly or wrongly, are tarnished as "boiler room" operations.

Having worked in a genteel profession, I now believe that EVERY job is a sales job, whether you are making coco-cola, teaching English or practising law. You have to get a client through the door to either purchase your time, or whatever it is you are selling.

I've heard of companies like Devere, where new employees are expected to man the phones and cold call, cold call, and cold call some more. Apparently, the rewards are great IF (and its a big if) you can stick it out and generate sales. Has anyone got experience in this area?

Wealth management type financial services is something I'm very interested in.
My own background is financial markets, and also distribution of non-financial products/services.

My view is that the sector can be improved in 2 ways.
1)By offering better quality investment products to more "retail type" AND private clients.
Yet I see good quality traders, even hedge funds struggling to get their services fully subscribed.
But at the same time, I see high net wealth clients being given fairly garbage returns.
Part of the difficulty lies in the regulatory framework.

2)I also think that the distribution system can be improved. If someone cold called me, I'd put the phone down in milliseconds.
To me, the solution is an "organic" type distribution network. Perhaps people here, us included could develop one?

Personally I don't like buying from salespeople. I remember looking at buying some analyst service. I said to the sales rep "can you put me through to an analyst". She did, and even though I didn't sign up at that time, I got a real understanding of the product. The analyst said "I hate sales". I laughed and said "me too". But we can a good chat about analytical systems and I learnt that it WAS a good product, just not right for me, at that time. I do however respect the company. But if things were left with the sales rep, I wouldn't have any real belief in it. So to me, you don't NEED to be a salesman but you do need your distribution set up properly. Good salesmen can however influence some/many businesses massively.

Selling financial services CAN be gigantically lucrative.. depending on the product and the buyer.
So basically, I'm very interested in looking at some sort of international wealth management project. With many of us expats, it could work really well.

Post: #5

There's two thoughts here:

If you have ANY opportunity to do so, try to get in with a high net worth focused group. It gives you a better network and is often far more financially rewarding. The catch is that breaking in is extremely competitive: it typically requires previous relevant experience (professional sales and/or finance) along with an ivy league or similar tier BS/MBA degree. Downside is that if you want to work on an international scale that work is HEAVILY biased in favor of shops like UBS, Barclays, Goldman, et. al.

Working as a retail financial advisory has a much lower bar to to entry. Keep in mind that most of them have a mentality of recruiting large numbers and letting the competition sort itself out.

The good news is that most of the retail shops, as a result of that, give you enormous leeway in crafting your own sales strategy. Typically the best approach is to rely on in-person networking. You CAN cold-call, but most of the time that's time better spent by having your office assistant screen people and make the first contact. Effective advisors that I've met generally recommend working through groups where rich people hang out like the Chamber of Commerce, alumni associations, business owner groups, and the like. Some other members on here have also listed strategies to find high net worth individuals, noting that they tend to congregate around arts, golf, and classic cars.

Bottom line is that how successful you are at "game" is probably a good predictor of if you're ready for sales. The skills required to identify venues, select and approach prospects, and then seal the deal are extremely similar between when you're trying to get laid or make a sale.....PARTICULARLY if you are at a level where you can use your social circle game to keep a steady flow of women coming in.

Post: #6

(08-18-2017 04:44 AM)BelyyTigr Wrote:  2)I also think that the distribution system can be improved. If someone cold called me, I'd put the phone down in milliseconds.
To me, the solution is an "organic" type distribution network. Perhaps people here, us included could develop one?

Personally I don't like buying from salespeople.

I think the same way...however, I built my entire book on cold calling, as did my boss at the time, with around $4 billion in AUM.

Cold calling is still the most effective way to build your book; if you're not marketing online by targeting high-net-worth individuals.