Art of the Pitch - Part II

Random samples from the creative birthcanals of pitching and prospecting

Round 1
"Let me think about it, need some time"
"Are you serious? Come on Gary, I mean what is time?, the Swiss manufacture it. Here in the U.S. we say it is money; the Hindus say it doesn't exist. Do you know what I say ?, time is a crook, because it steals opportunities from hard working people like you and me, work with me on 1000 shares you will be impressed"
"I still need to think about it", sigh
"Look, it's not rocket science, you don't build your future on dreams and contemplation you build it on actions, your actions"
"Look, take me off your list, and don't call me back"
"Okay, I'll take you off my list of successful people who want to make money, and I won't call you back I'll call you Gary"
"Click", I should've never prospected that guy.

Round 2
"I already told you I don't do business like this over the phone", quick click
"OK, how about holding the phone over your head and we can do this under the phone"
"Funny guy, but I don't do cold calls"
"How about just a warm conversation?"
"Click"

Round 3
"I like the idea but I need to think about it", another one
"Let me paint you a picture, you're walking down the street, you see a $5 dollar bill on the ground, are you gonna pick it up as fast as humanly possible or are you going to think about it?"
"I'll pick it up before you can even see it"
"My point exactly, you're not gonna go to the doctor get your eyes checked first to make sure that it was a $5 bill before you picked it up, and you're not going to stand there and wait for the sunlight to hit it at a different angle before you figure out it's a $5 bill, and that's why I'm on the phone with you right now, I'm giving you a map to that $5 bill, nothing to think about"
"Yeah but I don't like you brokers, you lose money"
"Woaah, listen, and in your line of work there are crappy business owners who lose money too, don't piss down my leg and tell me it's raining with that comment. Brokers are like wives you have to go through a few girlfriends in order to find the right one; same applies to your broker just as expensive but it's worth it"
"Nah, I married my first girlfriend", "Click"

My First Day Pitching

I remember my first day pitching stocks I felt like an up market on a down day, nervous and clueless. It took me four weeks to memorize the scripts, every night before going home I would get tested for an hour. you see, the funny thing is, most brokers would make terrific actors hell that's what they do everyday for 10-14 hours. of course there is more money in acting, and you're not responsible for guaranteeing that $10 ticket to see the movie or an increased return in viewing pleasure. but then again, everyone sees the actor vs. just the voice of the broker. I guess that's why they get paid more, it's sort of an extra insurance policy to say, "Hey you're recognizable", but I digress.

Five pages of script are running through my head, gotta say this if this happens, gotta act this way if this happens, gotta give the lead broker the sign just in case I smell buy signals. I seriously needed that cigarette. First call, "Hi Tom, getting back to you with an idea here with maximum potential, limited downside risk, grab a pen, I'll be brief." "Is this a call about investments?", "Yeah we spoke a while back, you said you had $300k in the market, were working with Dunn Allen and were holding onto some MSFT". "Perhaps I should've left a better impression, but the company I'm working on right now is" Never leave room or hesitate just roll right into it, never give the guy a split second to manufacture a reason to get you off, just keep rolling through. Well, I rolled through to the second paragraph of the pitch before I realized he hung up, damn it. Next call, "Hi Rich !!!", always add a bit of emotion, "Getting back to you with an idea here with maximum potential, minimum downside risk", the script is always the same. "Not interested right now", "Look Rich, I wasn't interested either until I heard the idea, now the company I'm working on right now is....." Rich let me get to ask for the order at least before hanging up. Sigh, perseverance is the key to success, third call. "Hi Barry, getting back to you with an idea here.......blah blah blah." "Well I'm kinda busy right now.", "Look I can appreciate that Barry, but sometime the best opportunities come at the least appropriate times, and I call my client with these ideas maybe not when it's convenient but when the market dictates the call, when it's most profitable." "Okay what do you have?" Third pitch, I'm warmed up, ready to reach through the phone into Barry's pockets if I have to. I get to the close asking for the order, "Okay 100 shares is fine." At this point, I try to be cool, no excitement, just calm down I keep telling myself. If Barry, hears any thing strange in my voice he'll know this is my first day pitching. The lead broker runs over to me and walks me through everything, ever heard an echo when being pitched by a broker? It's not an echo, it's someone else feeding the guy lines while he's pitching you. No lie, but then again even bad actors sometimes have teleprompters. "And I appreciate the vote of confidence......blah blah blah."

It's not a vote of confidence, the guy actually believes that you believe that the stock is going to do what you say it's going to do, even if you have no clue; you sounded convincing. I remembered talking to a prospect once who had lost $70k in an investment, a take-over pitch. I asked him candidly, what prompted him to make the investment even though he lacked confidence in the market. "But he sounded so sure of himself, he was absolutely certain", he responded. That's the key to opening accounts, self-confidence. An old broker told me once, "You have to act exactly as they would like to see themselves act on the other side of the phone."

Art of the Pitch - Part I

"Now listen Mike here's the bottom line(whoever invented this business phrase was a genius), I don't have a hundred monkeys throwing darts at charts here, that's not how I come up with my ideas, I read throught the 10ks,10qs, have you ever read a 10q/10k before?", "Not really", he mumbles, "That's my point exactly Mike I watch the stock like a hawk, i don't even take restroom breaks there's an empty bottle right next to me"; laughter, "I have to know more about this company than even the CEO, because I know his shareholders, I have more of a vested interest." he mutters something, "Do you see where I'm coming from?" "Yeah, but", he's grasping. "No but, listen let me paint you a picture, if you believe in me right now, you'll be in a great position in the future., pick up 500 shares" silence, he who talks first loses, "I can't believe I'm doing this, okay" "Now where would you like the confirmations sent to the home or the business?"
After taking down the info, I had to make sure he wasn't going to cancel out on me, "Now listen, my commission is $125 each way, so you can pick up 1 share or 10,000 shares and the commission is still the same, is 500 shares a good way to begin and would you like to assume a larger position?" Silence, "I think I'll go with 2000 shares to make it worthwhile." Mike was sold and my job was done, "Listen I appreciate the vote of confidence, have a profitable afternoon." click.
Selling a stock is easy, the best closers use the straight-line method. It's an approach that allows you to stay in control of the pitch while guiding the prospect into saying yes because he's run out of excuses and is literally in the corner (closed).
The formula for the straight-line method approach is simple, you structure your pitch based on anticipating the 4 to 5 main rebuttals, these will be covered in the next post:
- Lack of confidence
- Think about it
- Not liquid
- I don't know you
- Talk to my wife (any guy giving this excuse shouldn't have been prospected anyway IMO, no testicular fortitude)

Pitched by a Broker - Part II

I always liked getting pitched by brokers, it helped me to sharpen and strengthen my game on the phone. The last thing any broker wants to do is to unwittingly pitch another broker it's sort of like selling a new car to a used car salesman. Not only will he convince you that a used car is better, he'll probably end up selling you one of his own. Just for kicks and giggles I ask him about the other competitors out there, like Qualcom. He dives into it with passion and a convincing tone as to why Nokia is better, then silence. The pitch break, where the broker runs out things to say and starts asking you questions, "Are you still maintaining your account with Mark Allen?", bemused I say "yes". Then my mind starts working on overtime, and a smile comes across my face. I give him the "think about it" excuse followed by the "liquidity" excuse just to gauge the response. My smile grows wider as he gives me his rebuttals, I felt sorry for him those rebuttals had been recycled for the past 20 years. No wonder prospects always say, "All you brokers say the same thing.", Jesse was text-book. Literally reading the rebuttals off the page, slowing down as he got to the end of the page and I heard the movement of paper in the background as her turned to the next page of his rebuttals.

Unfazed, he followed up with the competitive account pitch, "put me up against your other brokers, I'm telling you.......", as his voice trailed off in my mind I remembered the fact that he brought up my old Mark Allen IRA account. Like a lion pouncing on a bewildered wildebeest, Jesse jumps straight in, "So i have your best address here at 135 Boyle Rd, Staten Island and your date of birth is October 19th. 1977?" Alarms started going off in the back of my mind, crap, I did have an old IRA account before at the previous firm where I worked but how the hell? "Woaaah Jesse, how did you get my information?", classic response, "Well ummh, from our database we have researchers etc. who find information for us", "Really", I respond, "How much do you pay for that?, "Well it varies from 200 bucks up". I was getting bored and really needed to get back to pitching my prospects, so I let him have it. "Do me a favor, call your researcher and get your money back, because if they did enough research you would know that I'm a registered rep. in the business; silence, click.

I grinned to myself, this business had gotten lazy. The art of cold-calling and prospecting had fallen to the wayside and the black-market business of purchasing client account statements had become the norm. Times were looking grim for the business indeed and I needed to go have another cigarette.

Pitched by a Broker - Part I

Early spring 2009, the market was in turmoil providing as much insight into its future as a blind palm-reader. I was having a cigarette outside my office building on Wall Street, watching the tourists and trying to make an educated guess as to whether retail stores and tourism would replace the Wall Street known for its commissions and bonuses. I gave a huge sigh and tried not to self-prophesise my way out of a career. It was a good day, I had already closed two accounts and it was only 10:00 a.m. I considered myself not good, but lucky because I was an empath by nature. I was always two steps ahead of the emotions coming from the guy on the other end of the phone, but more on that later.

The cell phone rang, "Hi Ira, this is Jesse Malone from East Hudson Securities". "What's up?". Now, brokers get calls from other brokers typically for a few reasons, mainly to pitch the broker into joining their firm. Typically the recruiting broker gets a 5% over-ride on the incoming broker's commissions, not a bad set-up. So i wasn't surprised until he gave me the back door pitch, " Well last time we spoke I brought you RIMM at $65 it's now at $95, I'm calling today to talk to you about Nokia, are you familiar with this company?" Jesse did not screw around, I liked the hard-rough New York accent and the determination in delivery, he was giving me an earnings play pitch. With the earnings play pitch; there is always a sense of urgency like a shot of Tabasco sauce. After his first close, I decided to have a little fun and dashed back to the office to put him on speaker phone for everyone to listen and learn.