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."