Supernova Consulting Group

Playboy Representative on Campus

I walked into the crowded freshman dorm and introduced myself as Playboy's representative on campus. I said," I am taking orders for subscriptions to Playboy for 12, 24 or  36 months". I signed up the entire dorm. As a freshman who needed money, I knew I had hit a gold mine, and I worked it very hard. Following my success at school, I decided that I would sell Readers Digest door to door to housewives. Well, I learned a good lesson that summer. Not all magazines are created equal. I sold one to my Mom. Not one after that.

In the early 80's, when I was managing for ML in Chicago, we were offering money-market accounts paying 22%. They were selling like Playboys to freshman boys. The FA's didn't want to sell them because they didn't get paid. Dan Tulley said, "Sell them to anyone who wants one", so we did.  Later, those assets  became the fuel for the booming equities of the 90's. Was it the best thing for them? No. They should have bought 14%, Zero-coupon, 30-year treasuries; but they wouldn't, because they were convinced interest rates were rising. The Playboy and the money market fund were, at the time, the "product of least resistance".

Then, as now, there is always a POLR( Product of Least Resistance). What is it today?  You tell me.  What should you do with the POLR? As a new FA, you must grow your practice. Knowing what the market wants and is willing to act on immediately will shorten your sales cycle. First rule, of course, as in medicine, is to do no harm. When looking at a high-yielding, preferred, or whatever the POLR is today, remember Rule #1.  As you gain the trust and confidence of your client, steer them away from the POLR to the product that will meet their needs over the long term. As you educate, entertain and retain your clients, always remember that your clients are driven by emotion. Your job is to balance that emotion with logic and help them to make better choices.

Original Eight Steps to Success

Supernova originated with The Eight Steps to Success. During the early 90's Merrill Lynch was in the midst of a major focus on asset gathering and it was working. I sat with Jon Spafford in Indianapolis,IN talking about a creative strategy that was revolutionary at the time. He called it Automate, Elevate and Annuitize. As he explained his plan, the firms strategy became clear and doable. He believed heartily in asset gathering, but he knew it had a downside risk. Too many accounts and a reduction in service. His strategy seemed to solve the problem. What was this strategy? Automate= use of technology to assist the Financial Advisors to automate their contact process. All customer contact for Jon became appointments, even the phone calls. He called the phone appointments AT&Ters. He had regularly scheduled appointments with every client every quarter. Ten years later this is more relevant than ever. As your clients time and attention have become shorter, playing phone tag seems even crazier. Arrange all important calls as AT&Ters. Respect your clients and their time and make your life simpler. Be like other professionals and do all important work by appointment.