Interview

Front 1

How would you describe yourself?

Back 1

1) My background to date has been centered around preparing myself to become the very best sales professional I can become.
2) I completed a commerce degree at Otago University in 2002. My past experiences have been in sales and customer service.
3)Both aspects have prepared me well for this role.

Front 2

What specific goals, including those related to your occupation, have you established for your life?

Back 2

1) I want to be working for an excellent company like yours in a job in which I have the capacity to grow.
2) I plan to contribute my leadership, interpersonal, and technical skills.

Front 3

Describe your ideal job?

Back 3

1) My ideal job is one that incorperates both my education and practical work skills to the best that I can be.
2) Namely combining my education in business with my working knowledge of customer service operations, entreprenuerial abilities, and interpersonal skills.

Front 4

What influenced you to choose this career?

Back 4

1) My past experiences have shown me that I enjoy facing and overcoming the challenge of making a sale.
2) Without a doubt, once I have practiced my presentation and prepared myself for objections, I feel very confident approaching people I don't know and convincing them that they need my product.
3) Lastly, I like sales because my potential for success is limited only by how much of myself I dedicate toward my goal. If any profession is founded on self-determinism, it surely must be sales.

Front 5

Why are you doing the CFA exam?

Back 5

This is so I can achieve a better working knowledge of financial analysis, which would allow me contribute to my client base as a better financial consultant.

Front 6

What do you think it takes to be successful in this career?

Back 6

1) I believe successful salespeople put forth that extra effort that turns potential clients into first-time customers.
2) Salespeople who attend to the details by doing whatever it takes to win over a prospective customer distinguish themselves from the countless others who don't go to any extra effort.
3) Also, I think that knowledge is power. Learning all there is to learn about your product, your competitors, and personal selling.
3) I also think this process needs to be continuous in order to be successful

Front 7

What motivates you?

Back 7

1) You would think that because I am interested in sales, only financial compensation would motivate me to achieve.
2) Although monetary rewards are important to me, I am driven to succeed internally. More than anything, I want to be respected by my friends and coworkers for being the best at what I do. Whether I am considered to be the best salesperson in the company or the best columnist for my university newspaper, I want to be recognized as the best.

Front 8

Give us a reason to hire you?

Back 8

1) I sincerely believe that I'm the best person for the job.
2) I realize that there are many other sales professionals who can do this job. I also have that ability.
3) But I also bring an additional quality that makes me the very best person for the job -- my attitude for excellence. Not just giving lip service to excellence, but putting every part of myself into achieving it.

Front 9

Would you describe yourself as goal-driven?

Back 9

1) Yes, and I demonstrated this by my new client figures for quarter one, 2007
3) After being set a target conversion rate of 14% by the end of the quarter, I accomplished 20.7%
3) this includes my final day, in which I signed up 12 new clients, which has never been done in the last five years.

Front 10

Can you describe your long-term goals?

Back 10

1) My primary objectives are to learn as much as possible about your companys offering, organisational structure, and professional research techniques
2) this is so that I may become one of the most productive members of your organsation

Front 11

where do you want to be in five years?

Back 11

1) Although it is hard to predict the future, I sincerely believe that I will become a very good financial consultant.
2) I believe that my abilities will allow me to excel to the point that I can seek other opportunities as a portfolio manager (the next step) and possibly even higher.
My ultimate goal continues to be -- and will always be -- to be the best at whatever level I am working at.

Front 12

What quality or attribute do you feel will most contribute to your career success?

Back 12

1) My greatest strength is my flexibility. I have learned that work conditions change from day to day and throughout the day, as well, no matter where I have worked in the past.
2) I also have realized that certain projects require individual attention and others involve a teamwork approach. My flexibility to adapt to the different demands of the job has allowed me to surpass my achieve the results i've achieved.

Front 13

What is a weakness of yours?

Back 13

If I start on a client, I sometimes find it hard to delegate because I'm concerned others won't do the job as well as I can.

Front 14

Describe the characteristics of a successful manager?

Back 14

1) A successful manager should have the vision and capabilities to formulate strategies to reach his or her objectives and communicate these ideas to his or her team members.
2) In addition to serving as a positive role model for co-workers, successful managers must also be capable of inspiring others to recognize, develop, and apply their talents to their utmost potential to reach a common goal.

Front 15

Tell me what you know about our company.

Back 15

1) Edison is Europe's leading independent investment research company.
2) Work with corporates, investment banks and fund managers to produce research that to all investment professionals
3) I also know that your goal is to provide the research of choice for Companies, Investment Banks and Institutional Investors

Front 16

what makes you want a position in this company in particular?

Back 16

1) I am convinced that Edison would be a fantastic place to work.
2) number one, You are the top equity research house in the UK which means i'm getting in a company that strives to be the best
3) and number two, I believe that the company genuinely sees the role of business development manager as important for the organisations growth.
3) And because of that I believe that Edison will provide a very supportive environment in which I can achieve fantastic results.

Front 17

Is money important to you?

Back 17

1) Its only one piece of the package. it's critical to me to enjoy what I'm doing, fit into the corporate culture, and feel I'm making a genuine contribution.
2) What makes me happy is having a satisfying job that provides challenge and new situations daily.

Front 18

Certified ID scenario:

Back 18

1) One client was finding the process of completing certified ID difficult
2) In order to simply the situation, I Called the bank directly and booked an appointment with the staff members name
3) Gave the staff member my fax number
4) Called back the client and confirmed the appointment
5) Result was a new client who se documents were faxed over by the bank the next day

Front 19

Investment show scenario

Back 19

1) Very little foot traffic
2) Other salesmen from City Equities left
3) however I knew that a presentation was about to finish at 4.30pm
4) so i waited for two hours until the presentation was over
4) Received four signature forms from potential clients during 4.30 to 5pm,
which was more than we received all day

Front 20

Describe a situation where you displayed initiative?

Back 20

1) Christmas trees with attitude
2) Next door neighbour was selling trees for $6 but it was 15 minutes out of town.
3) Brokered a deal to buy them for $4 for a trailer 10 per time.
4) Sold for $10 in the centre of town.
5) Excellent business, I made $2500 profit in three weeks work

Front 21

Coca-Cola contract with Unilever

Back 21

1) A potential contract of $40,000 per year
2) Client had always been with our closest rival, Frucor beverages.
3) Listened, didn't just sell
4) Asked them what was important to them in a vending providor.
5) Their response was commission for their Xmas party
6) After a ROI equation was worked out, I received head office permission to offer a substantial package
7) they accepted, it turned out to be one of our biggest vending clients for the area

Front 22

Val Morgan Advertising scenario

Back 22

1) I had a client (sandwich king) who wanted to cancel thier advertising subcription because it was costing them too much money.
2) I requested a face to face meeting.
3) I remembered the cleint telling me students made up a signiicant portion of thier profits
4) prepared a proposal presenting the numbers of people aged 18-24 who attend the movies
5) Client was happy with this and eventually renewed thier subscription

Front 23

Exam and flashcards scenario

Back 23

1) I was finding it difficult to get the time to study
2) Boss said blues were priority, and wanted to have a life outside of work
3) So I devised a system of remembering factual information using flashcards
4) This allowed me to study during my "downtime" on the tube
5) used this technique for both FSA exams
6) passed both 1st attempt

Front 24

Sherol scenario (Irish clients letter)

Back 24

1) I was asked to put together a brainstorm to improve our conversion rate
2) Misunderstanding my boss, I thought it was just an informal set of ideas.
3) When I presented it to him days later, he was upset with the quality since it had to be presented to our senior management
4) I explained my misunderstanding, apologized, reworked the letter in a formal manner, and had it back to him with enough time for him to review it before he presented it successfully at the meeting.

Front 25

Community service leadership example

Back 25

1) As head of a community-service group at school, I was faced with a board member not carrying out his duties as management development deputy leader.
2) I consulted with him as to what we could do together to fix the problem. We agreed that he really couldn't devote the time that it took to carry out certain projects, and he ended up resigning his position
3) he also stated he would help his replacement in whatever capacity he could.
4) It made me feel as though we had come to the conclusion together, rather than him thinking I was criticizing his performance
5) I had a plan of action and carried it out successfully.

Front 26

university market research survey

Back 26

1) My final year at university i had to complete a complex marketing research assignment.
2) only secondary research available for direct marketing was NZ wide
3) I decided to use primary research involving preferences, buying habits, opinions, and attitudes
4) although more difficult, i believe because it was specific to the market, it helped in me achieving a good mark

Front 27

when was Edison research started?

Back 27

2003

Front 28

what does edison provide for companies?

Back 28

1) independent reports, forecasts and valuations on each company we cover.
2) updates such as half-year results and acquisition news

Front 29

what does edison do for investment banks?

Back 29

1) Work with corporate finance departments, brokers and venture capitalists that are looking for more detailed, industry focused reports.
2) Edison also supports a number of brokers' own research departments.

Front 30

What does edison provide for investors?

Back 30

1) stock specific or a broad view on a sector.
2) Each analyst also has an excellent understanding of the companies and models within each sector

Front 31

How does Edison publish its research?

Back 31

1) Hosting arrangements with well known platforms
2) these include bloomberg, reuters, and thomson financial

Front 32

Who are two of Edison's key investor audiences?

Back 32

1) Private client brokers
2) Specialist funds

Front 33

what is edisons competitive advantage

Back 33

1) More value than the usual snapshot you get from brokers on small companies
2) Independent research
3) Sensible, balanced, and concise information

Front 34

what is the difference between buy-side and sell-side research?

Back 34

- Buy-side firms profit from trading on both buy and
sell-side research
- sell-side firms profit from selling their research

Front 35

what industries is Edison in?

Back 35

1) Automotive, alternative energy
2) construction, chemicals,
3) technology and telecoms

Front 36

why is edison specialising in the small to mid cap stocks?

Back 36

1) There are many exciting and attractive smaller quoted companies and most of these for some time can go under- or totally unresearched.

2) Sensible, balanced, concise and well written research coverage of these companies is at a premium for both the professional and private investor

Front 37

Who are the major competitors of Edison?

Back 37

1) ARANCA
2) Arete Research
3) Equity Developement Ltd
4) Ford Equity Research

Front 38

What sort of things would be in a sell-side research report?

Back 38

1) Company profile
2) Price history
2) Quotes
3) News and information
4) Charts
5) Technical analysis

Front 39

What is the difference between buy-side and sell-side research?

Back 39

1) Sell-side equity research is when these analysts provide their research to clients. 2) Buy-side equity research is when the analysts do their own research to invest their firm's money (e.g. mutual funds, hedge funds).