Articles Written by Jon Henschen

Steering Hooks

00:00 01 November in Articles Written by Jon Henschen by rafferty

by Jonathan Henschen, CFS and featured in Broker Dealer Journal November, 2007: Over the years I’ve had the privilege of being the “fly on the wall,” hearing both the perspective of broker/dealers seeking qualified professionals and Advisors shopping for a suitable new firm. Not only do I deal with over 70 independent broker/dealers and their recruiters and management, I get to hear prospective Advisors’ uninhibited feedback on why they choose one broker/dealer over another. As a result, I’ve been able to put together this sampling of some of the many so-called “steering hooks” recruiters and management use to win over Advisors who’ve come knocking on their doors. Herd Dynamics. Broker/Dealer to Advisor Prospect: “We’ve brought over many Advisors from your current firm and they’ve worked out well, enjoying increased production and much greater professional...

Target Recruiting: Who Do You Want and Who Do They Want

00:00 01 November in Articles Written by Jon Henschen by rafferty

by Jonathan Henschen, CFS and featured in Broker Dealer Journal November, 2007: During a recent conversation with a client of mine, a broker/dealer president, the issue of the firm’s recruiting market came up. On the one hand, the firm was frustrated by a lack of recruiting success. On the other hand, the client was generally comfortable with his firm’s recruiting market because they were top producers with little if any compliance issues. Specifically, the firm’s reps are institutional traders specializing in stock-and-bond trading for clients who are money managers, insurance companies and municipalities - a market for which there are decided pros and cons. I explained to my client that he’d been receiving so few recruiting leads from us because few reps target the “Institutional” market. As a result, I said, I could...

Relationship Building For Broker Dealer Recruiting

00:00 01 August in Articles Written by Jon Henschen by rafferty

by Jonathan Henschen, CFS and featured in Broker/Dealer Journal August, 2007: In 1989, one of those “penny” stocks so common at the time sponsored my Series 7 license.  After passing the exam, I spent three days listening in as experienced brokers made cold prospecting calls.  At each advisor’s side was a copy of Jim Pickens’ and Ben Gay III’s, The Closer, now in its fifth edition (LJR Group/Hampton Books, 1980). For those unfamiliar with The Closer, it’s the classic, how-to sales text that promotes the same techniques demonstrated in “Boiler Room,” an intense film released in 2000 starring Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel and Nia Long. “Boiler Room” is well-named, pulsing with the vigor of rich young people wreaking the deliberate mayhem that comes from greed run amok. Boiler Room’s testosterone-junkie brokers at the...