Best time of the day/week to cold-call?

Bobb:

traders you either want to do it early in the morning or after the close. Friday afternoons wouldn't be bad either

I want to get the fuk out of the office on Friday afternoon, i am sorry....

I asked that question 5-6 years ago to my mentor: he told me, whenever you feel is a good time... IE: NOT when I am at lunch or eating my cereals in the morning. OR on market open, close, or when numbers are being announced... As a sales person I get my calls after 9 AM, but east cost opens around 9:30 so you'd like to do it later if you are in the US> Basically. it depends.

During recruitment and many months before...I tried to send a few e-mails every day and would send them at 8am in the morning hoping to come to their mailbox in the morning while they were looking through e-mail. I had a lot of success with that.

did you do it on mondays too?

sounds like you've got a case of the mondays!

I'll give you my perspective, not as someone trying to network but someone who cold calls every day in PWM: Mondays are not any worse than any other day. The only time that is particularly not good is Friday afternoons. Mondays are fair game.

Mondays are just as good as any day for cold-emailing IBD analysts, especially since analysts work through weekends and Monday is not of as big of significance to them as a workday

sent off about 20 emails. 1 response so far.

I like to send my emails mid-morning (round 11am) on weekdays. I think it is impossible to pick a time when analyst/traders are not busy during the day. I always start with an email with the aim of eventually getting them on the phone.

Yeah I guess it is pretty difficult to pick the exact time. But I kind of feel (from my own experience perhaps) that if I find the email in my less busy time, I tend to be a bit nicer and more helpful.

11am sounds good, too. What about 4-6pm, or 8-10pm? That's when I usually send out most of my emails.

One additional question: how persistent are you guys if the person whom you want to get on the phone does not respond?

You guys are kidding, right? Analysts?

I don't usually target analysts. I tend to focus on associates and VPs. I think emailing them around 4-6pm is okay. I wouldn't email them between 8-10pm. If they are traders they are usually done for the day and might get annoyed with your email. I am not persistent if the person is non-responsive. If they want to get in contact with you they will, if they don't they won't. Cold calling/emailing is a numbers game. You also have to be patient and targeted in your approach. Feel free to pm me paperlec if you want to discuss this more. I am not an expert but I have been doing this for a couple of months and I could at least point out the mistakes that I have made so that you don't repeat them.

Bump. Any other suggestions?

Cold call them or go to the building and try to talk face to face?

Don't be creepy brah.

Oh I'm going to the building. I'm fucking doing it.

Does anybody actually recommend this shit? Is this real life? Why not just show up to the MD's house at dinner time with a bowl of potato salad?

sure just tell security you know squirtlez from wso every thing should be kewl

They have a reception desk. And they can certainly turn me away. Most of the places have a "Due to overwhelming demand...." and "we'll contact you if there is a need...". Hence, I have no rejections from these places I just haven't heard back. Which means that I don't have a solid "no" yet. The worse they can do is to tell me to get lost, so why wouldn't I do this? At least I'll know I should just give up afterwards.

You should find out the home phone number and call right now. They'll be really happy that it's not some kind of emergency and probably give you a job on the spot. I mean, what better way to show ur research skills?!?!

PS: You're welcome. I want the cut of the sign on bonus

Man.....I'm totally telling everyone I know squirtlez. Blastoise will you be a character reference?

But the question still stands. If you were ballsy and desperate enough to do this, which I am, at what time would you do it?

After all it's so crazy, it just might work.

I have done it. Not in the US though. I asked them about unpaid internship positions and got one offer out of 10 trials. But two days later a friend of mine offered me a paid job and I rejected the internship offer.

Do it. Walk into the office. It works. But don't hide in the bathroom (real story), which is what some girls did at my work, and we called security.

As a follow-up:

I have, with a girl friend, put on a nice suit and made rounds on the floors of China's biggest PE shops. No one noticed. Just look sharp, be confident, and have a paper in your hand.

If someone stops you, just say, "Oh, this isn't XXX?"

To add more to your nuclear balls, here's what I did with my friend Anita.

-We were in Beijing's SOHO district, and it's 4am after clubbing/eating/drinking. We stumble into this unfinished mall complex, like Gucci, Prada, etc. with all this construction, dry-wall, etc. We just wanted to find a place to pee.

So, we tiptoe up and down the stairs of this building, where some construction workers were sleeping. Walking down to Flight 2, a security guard sees us through the door.

Instead of running away, I gave him a salute. I was in a suit and my friend was hot--so, he probably thought I was the owner's rich bastard son.

True story.

Do it. The most they can do is call the cops, but you'd be long gone by then.

Do it after the market closes, but don't wait too long. The senior guys will start leaving after an hour or so. Also, you should figure out some of the names of people working there, otherwise what will you ask the receptionist? Good luck... it's a real long shot, but I can't see anyone getting too upset over it.