Who would have thought dialing for dollars could be so much fun? For pennies on the dollar you could buy thousands of leads in select states and set parameters of your choosing.

To make money “chop shop” style you will need the following:

1. A telephone blocking the number on outbound calls.
2. Thick Skin
3. Male Leads (We don’t pitch the bitch.)
4. Puma Jumpsuit.

Welcome to Cold Calling 101. The sample lead above, (rendered to protect identity) is a fair representation as to how a boiler room works and the mentality of the brokers behind the high-energy phone calls. Everyday thousands of Americans are harassed at work by money-hungry brokers hopped-up on a mix of high testosterone, Red Bull, and Ritalin. For Nicky Papers, (yours truly!) it was a combination of all of the above on typical office afternoon.

So what are the “sharks” looking for exactly?

Currently working with Brokers: A prospect who works with multiple brokers shows that he’s not completely committed to anybody and will cut a check if he likes an idea. (He’s done this before…) Be wary of guys who use online brokerages as they don’t see the need in being told what to do. For prospects that have brokers out of state, (especially in NY) it’s a clear indicator that they are receptive to doing business completely over the phone.

Owns Stock: Prospects that trade common stock are our type of guys! We are looking for liquidity and a gamblers mentality. At this time, if they’ve made some money on a stock they’ll share the ticker with you. On the sample lead the prospect was kind enough to tell us that (NASDAQ: SLAB) Silicon Laboratories took the prize as he doubled his money on it. Reference something similar on the next call to open the account.

Ballpark Portfolio Size: So, how much are you playing with in the market? We were looking for guys with over 100k in the market. In pursuit of gaining a piece of that portfolio, anything over 100k is a safe number to weed out the piker’s from the players. In this case, our prospect is playing with 900k. “A fucking whale baby!”

Personal Info: After capturing the aforementioned “meat and potatoes”, now it’s time to bullshit a little. So are you still making six-figures? (Of course.) What do you like to do in your spare time? Still chasing the ladies? At this time the victim will lighten up and tell you some tales of adventure and romance. Our prospect (above) enjoyed fishing for trout. (How exciting!) It’s not much, but valuable enough to pull out your ass on the next phone call.

This prospect turned into a slippery eel and got away on the follow-up call. Now don’t think I was the Michael Jordan of cold-calling, but for being 21 years old I was pretty ferocious. With a solid 5%-in, 5%-out game plan in place, the broker’s always on top. And if the stock actually went up, more power to them!