Wow!  This says a lot.  It should make you ask, why?  

Read the entire article for insights into their why but I want this to stand out to you. 

Andy Sieg, president of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management says Merrill Lynch and the industry have moved well-beyond cold calling. In fact he added, “the(se) changes are in part designed to boost the success rate of outreach attempts.” What this means is cold outbound calling is not effective. It is not efficient in comparison to other outbound and relationship building strategies. 

What are those strategies? 

In this case, Merrill Lynch is directing their trainee participants to use more effective tools they identify as referrals and LinkedIn messaging. 

So, social selling, or whatever term you choose to use for digital relationship building wins again. The proof is in the data. Merrill Lynch’s actions helps confirm the data too.  

This article is published on:https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-24/merrill-lynch-s-3-000-trainee-brokers-barred-from-cold-calling