SALES SCRIPTS, BULLETS, AND THE ONE-TWO PUNCH 179 Notice the use of ``let's'' in the sentence, ``Let's pick up 500 shares.'' The broker phrases the close that way for a reason: It puts the broker on your side of the fence. Thereafter, the call seems not so much like a sales pitch as like friendly advice from a trusted partner. The vigilant investor is not pulled in by that tactic. Whenever you hear your broker use the words we, us, or let's, ask yourself whose money the broker will be using to buy the investment and who, alone, will suffer the loss if the investment tanks. No Money? No Problem On one of Olde Discount's scripts, across from the objection ``I don't have any money'' was ``Explain the benefits of margin.'' If you have had a brokerage account for any length of time, you have heard your broker refer to margin. Margin is a loan that the brokerage firm gives you to allow you to buy more stock. Your broker loves margin. It enables the broker to sell you twice as many shares for the money you have available. More to the point, the broker can generate twice the commissions and supplement his income with a cut of the monthly interest that you pay. Brokerages love margin so much that they give their brokers con- tinually updated information about the maximum that each customer can borrow from the firm. When your broker looks at your account, she sees not only the securities, but also a number called buying power. Buying power is nothing more than the dollars that you could borrow if you were margined to the hilt. Your broker knows the buying power of your account and thinks of unused margin as a missed opportunity. The margin loan is secured by the investments in your account. If the value of the investments declines, the collateral that secures the American Managememt Association · www.amanet.org