Sales is brutal, especially if you are just handed a stack of D&B's and have no sales training. If you have a decent product, and you are taught how to sell, you can make good money. I started as a commodity broker working for a bucketshop. I was fortunate - I pushed hard on a trade, and despite the ridiculous vig, my clients and I made a fortune. My first year I made about 70K in commissions - and that was working from 6-6, bag lunch at my desk. I had zero experience in sales and didn't know what a commodity was. My second year, I made about 175K in commish in the first 6 months, and about the same being in the same trade as my clients. It IS possible. It's just highly unlikely that you will succeed.
Can't cold call anymore with the Do Not Call List in effect. Also, what kind of moron will pay $100+ full service commission to buy or sell stocks these days? This is a dinosaur industry unless you are an established broker with a book full of wealthy clients.
4.5 years is like eternity in the brokerage biz. Most new brokers will be given 6-9 months to prove themselves at most or else they'll be shown the door.
while i agree with innate skill...hard work can also produce ( sales is a numbers game ) .. trust me i used to open 2-3 accounts a month on a cold call...and i was far from being a good salesman ( my english was not so good and i was talking to whales ). Then there where guys next to me who would just pick up the phone and would close in one call...im not diosagreeing with ya..im just saying hard work and hitting more numbers can produce..peace
While the DNC was a hurdle the brokerage business did not like, there are plenty of cold calling opportunities out there. As for what 'moron' pays these commissions, MANY MANY people pay the commissions. See, you have to understand what 'morons' are visiting firms - these are people that usually don't have a clue and know they need a professional. In turn, they pay the fees happily. People that would not visit this board ever. People that just want to turn their stuff over and say 'you do it'. And there are so very many of these people out there... Hence the reason full service firms have gone nowhere (actually grown assets) even after people said they would be dead once ETrade, etc came about. And this is coming from actual experience, not my opinion. Your major firms - Merrill, Morgan Stanley, UBS, etc - are doing just fine with the plenty of 'morons' out there. And as wealth changes generations over the next few years, a fresh bread of 'morons' will be coming in.
I disagree, the amount of skill required to be a broker is very little, if any. Take a ton of hard work and decent sales training and you can make it as a broker. I saw it all the time when I was a broker, so this statement is based on actual real life experience not an opinion.
Brokers, Financial advisors, whatever you want to call them.. don't really work for commission anymore. The business has moved to all inclusive fee's, i.e. "WRAP" fees. I call a broker give him 100K, he agrees to have my money be managed by an outside manager, the manager gets a third of the fee, broker and firm get the other 2/3'rds. The nice thing about this model is that if the performance is poor, your broker can blame the money manager fire them and move your money to a different manager. Broker does no work except try to get clients..
I get a couple calls a month at work (it is still OK to call businesses apparently and I am the owner). I have been pitched gold coins, a penny stock and Ford stock in the last month or so. They always sound like they are in a boiler room for some reason when they call .
Once you start making 6 figures you'll realize how little it is. I'll let you know how I feel when I break into 7 figures. opm8
Any sales related job can make over 100K a year if you work hard at it. Car salesmen, amway sales. Even the Avon lady can make up to 100K year if she worked extra hard. Tupperware sales also. Car mechanics are also known to make over 100K a year. Even that non-English speaking Mexican fruit stand owner at your local farmers market could be making over 100K a year. You know the one that looks homeless and poor. Well he has you fooled. He probably has a million in his bank account. It just depends how hard you work and if you are good at sales. Some people work hard 24 hours a day and can't sell nothing. Sales isn't for everybody.