What You Need to Know It's “dead and buried and Merrill Lynch was the first one to attend the shiva,” says recruiter Danny Sarch. But others say it will always have a small place in helping advisors build business. Social media, referrals and more use of advisor teams are more effective than cold calling. The widely reported recent decision by Merrill Lynch Wealth Management to bar its 3,000 advisor trainees from making cold calls as part of the firm’s new training program is perhaps the surest sign yet that if cold calling isn’t already dead, it’s getting there, according to industry experts interviewed by ThinkAdvisor.