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.