I started out my career cold calling daily. 400 dials a day, 40 connects, 10 leads. Then 20 leads 5 connects 1 account was my goal. Unsolicited calls to 100's of CEO's who would 9 out of 10 times hang up on me and would tell me to go fly a kite. I think everyone got the PM from Alaric. Its a numbers game kid so keep it up. ;o)
I started at ML after NYU, summer of 1982. I called 90 to 100 per day. The floor manager told me I had to do a lot more. I hated it. After 3 months of a 2 year contract, I asked to be fired!
That might be true but it does not mean I need to accept it and do nothing about it. I put in the time to create a thread and reply to the sales rep in order to make a point and have others benefit. So, I am well aware it's a fact of life but I don't need to stand there silently and do nothing about it.
I have zero respect for companies that encourage or even employ people to cold call. If I knew a company I buy products from encourages such behavior then I would sever my relationship with them. It is a sleazy way to conduct business.
It was the only way to grow your business back then, unless you came with a silver spoon. Most important lesson I ever learned was to 'not think with my own pockets'. Once I understood that there were people who would send 100-200k from a phone call it was off to the races.
I received the same PM as well. The first sentence already made me suspicious: If he really had read my posts he would know that his company does NOT provide access to the futures markets in Europe and Asia which I actively trade. Let alone the claim of "blowing IB out of the water". Luckily he did not push further wen I replied that I was not interested.