First WB buys AGE...Eddie Jones next?

As an Ex-Joneser and soon to be ex-AGE guy I can only speculate that the WB/AGE merger will only bring thoughts of an IPO to EDJ. 

that would be the next event in my opinion.  Why not go public, monetize the partnership, and keep control?  Go public/sell to private equity 40% of the firm (like LPL).  You get 3x your money and keep control....

mwv

Edward Jones will NOT be going public, nor will they be bought out and offices closed.  The model at Jones is too similar to independent firms except that the HOME OFFICE gets a much larger piece of the production pie.  Imagine working at LPL with a 60-40 split with 60 going to management.  Right now, Jones is in its highest profitability bracket at the firm, which means money is raining in St. Louis.  The GP's and even the LP's are raking it in right now.  Yeah, that makes teh firm look attractive to potential buyers, but the somewhat Kiwi-asparagus flavor of the green koolaid is too addictive to the partners.  I'm not really sure the GP's could go public without a majority vote by the 10000 LP's.  The same goes for a buyout.  Right now, Jimmy looks to pull in 8 digits this year (assuming the market doesn't recede a ton) so he won't even consider it an option.

As far as growth goes, EDJ will only get bigger and more profitable in the current situation.  They continue to bring out 100+ new "financial professionals" every month and throw them against the somewhat slippery wall.  They don't really care who sticks but they know that eventually someone will.  The recruiting/replacement costs have proven to be worth the trade off for getting someone to finally get that 8 million AUM, five brokers in four years office up to a 30 million aum office and maintain profitability.  i don't even think that Jones cares as much about client retention in those situations because there are plenty of 20k rollover/$50 a month clients waiting to be had for the next guy and no other major firms competing for them.  I would guess that Jones would cost Wach or anyone else far more than AGE did.  So I don't really see it happening. Just my thoughts.

EdJehovah:

You typify the general Jones broker: a drone who has no comprehension of equities or capital markets. Merrill's ticker is MER

Go knoock on some more doors or put some aluminum foil on your satellite receiver

[quote=nyhavn17]

EdJehovah:

You typify the general Jones broker: a drone who has no comprehension of equities or capital markets. Merrill's ticker is MER

Go knoock on some more doors or put some aluminum foil on your satellite receiver

[/quote]

 My bad dude.  Your right.  Get faggot spittin mad why dont' you.  Screw your momma too.

 -ed

Bteam...A general partner (one of the HNIC) told me Jones would be willing to be acquired "at a high price."

Yes, Jones will sell you out just like management at AG and any other firm will. I've heard it from the horse's mouth.

[quote=nyhavn17]

EdJehovah:

You typify the general Jones broker: a drone who has no comprehension of equities or capital markets. Merrill's ticker is MER

Go knoock on some more doors or put some aluminum foil on your satellite receiver

[/quote]

What happens when you put foil on a satellite receiver?

[quote=Bobby Hull][quote=nyhavn17]

EdJehovah:

You typify the general Jones broker: a drone who has no comprehension of equities or capital markets. Merrill's ticker is MER

Go knoock on some more doors or put some aluminum foil on your satellite receiver

[/quote]

What happens when you put foil on a satellite receiver?

Everyone has a price and if the philanthropic GP's get it at some point the old guard will have to give in. I don't think now is the time for them, but who knows with all the capital being thrown around these days. If AGE can go, I suppose Jones can to.

The other important factor to consider  is the monumental task of closing and consolidating offices. No one would want to replicate the costly Jones model. One has to remember the real profit for the GP's isn't the retail brokerage. It's the backdoor where the serious money is made with the agencies they created who wholesale the products to the retail side.

Maybe at Summer Regionals when we're not doing cheers they will announce the exact dollar figure.

Faro-

Ahh, the summer regionals.

Hi my name is ________, my can sell date was __________, and the one thing I would like to take away from this weekend is _____________.

Remember, no excessive drinking. You have your reputation to consider...

I get the sense that the local economies of each city that has a one-man EJ shop would improve - just by collecting sales taxes.

Think about it.  Open up that RETAIL office/store space and let some yogurt shop occupy it.  Put all the brokers into an (heaven forbid) an office building to SHARE.

Lots more activity and money to go in there than with EJ.

Okay, that was a Low Blow, but I still think it would help EJ's bottom line and improve the local economies by moving all EJ brokers into 1 floor of a nice office building.

I saved about 25% when I went independent. My satellite costs alone which minimzed my bonuses at Jones was 1300/month. Now they are 150/month.

The rational person would suggest that it doesn't make sense for Jones to have offices on every street corner. It only makes sense for the GP's.

Spiff...you are probably driving home from regionals, what say you?

How could it not make sense for Jones, but make sense for the GPs? They

ARE Jones.



Is there any other business that puts an office on every corner? I thought

McDonalds, but they actually limit their expansion. Subway…no they limit

too.



Why do they put an office on every corner? No other business does that.

[quote=Edward Pwns]
Why do they put an office on every corner? No other business does that. [/quote]

Could it be because they want you to think it is "your" business?  That way, you will work harder, AND stay longer to try and salvage "your" business.

At last year's summer regionals (I knew I was going to LPL, so I went through it with eyes WIDE open), during the awards ceremony, the NIRSS kept giving awards to the new IRs and saying "He opened X accounts for HIS business, yes HIS business."  They kept stressing that it is YOUR business. It is NOT your business. You find that out when you leave.  You leave with NOTHING (except the toilet paper, office niknaks, etc.).

Having "your" office reinforces that false concept of ownership. People are more willing to sacrifice to own their own business.

Now_indy, what was your average real net %, after expenses, insurance,etc,

at Jones?

The return on GP capital was 62% last year. It was 58% the year before.

Why would you give that up? Why would the GP’s want to start working

for “The Man”? Yes, they could get a handsome payout. But I think they

are going to expand much further before they sell out. AND, I think some

things will change in the firm before they would go public. They would

NEED to have a competitive advisory fee service (who is going to buy

billions of $$'s in assets with 25bps trails??). They would have to have a

real plan in place for retention, and it would need to include some way of

avoiding the Indy exodus.



I think they have put too many obstacles to acquisition in place.

However, someone MAY want to buy the Revenue Sharing income stream.

Boy, it would be a complicated transaction to navigate. Just too many

things to consider.



BUT, you can never say never.

Jones will not go public and won't be bought out.  I know that the folks over at AGE said they wouldn't be bought out either, but Jones is just too different to fit with anyone else.  But when Bagby dropped the poison pill a while ago and with the way UBS was buying shares, the AGE people had to know something was brewing.  We don't see anything like that at Jones.  I've heard Bachman say that if someone were to offer us 10X book value we would seriously have to consider merging. 

If that day does come, I'm calling a couple of my buddies that I trust and we're going indy.  Maybe the whole region will just pick up and move to LPL or RJ. 

[quote=skippy]

I get the sense that the local economies of each city that has a one-man EJ shop would improve - just by collecting sales taxes.

Think about it.  Open up that RETAIL office/store space and let some yogurt shop occupy it.  Put all the brokers into an (heaven forbid) an office building to SHARE.

Lots more activity and money to go in there than with EJ.

Okay, that was a Low Blow, but I still think it would help EJ's bottom line and improve the local economies by moving all EJ brokers into 1 floor of a nice office building.

[/quote]

You are absolutely right.  It would help the bottom line.  It's a business decision to be different than anyone else.  The only place it would really matter is in larger cities.  In my area we could put three large offices together and get the job done.  But noone would know about us.  It's interesting that when I talk to someone who says they're with Merrill, they never say the local office.  They say they're with the on over in West St. Louis County.  I don't even know if they know there is a local Merrill office.  But when I talk with someone who is with Jones, 70% of the time it's someone within a mile or two of that house or business. 

We put the offices where they are convenient to people.  Close to the other businesses they frequent.  Name recognition, branding, whatever you want to call it, it works.  

 SPiffy, you sound better. Must have just got back from the Summer--just-in-time-koolaid Regional...Eh..do you have your wood plaque up yet?

No, not yet.  I'm trying to figure out which awards to take down in order to put up the new ones.  Should the Doug Hill picture come down to be replaced by the John Bachman pic or should I just have them both up?

Yeah, regionals were this last weekend.  I didn't get much from the meetings, but had a great time anyway.  Tech is getting better, no, the GPs aren't going to up our payout, recruit, recruit, recruit.  Same old stuff.  But it's fun to get together with a bunch of people who do the same thing so we can talk shop all weekend. 

[quote=Edward Pwns]Now_indy, what was your average real net %, after expenses, insurance,etc,
at Jones?

[/quote]

It's been a little over a year, so my numbers are a bit rusty. It fluctuated every month, but my monthly "nut" was about $1250 (family health ins., phones, toilet paper, office supplies, postage, Jones newsletters and postcards, Jones trinkets, PFO kits, Green Jones folders, etc.).  Oh, and don't forget the 1% "marketing" fee they take, making it really a 39% payout . Obviously, the better the month, the less of an effect this $1250 had on the net, but I don't think my true net to me (before taxes) was ever higher than 35%, it was usually around 30% before taxes.

I was never a big producer at Jones (I left at Segment 3), so I never hit a bonus. To be profitable, I think I had to average at least $28,000/month just to break even due to my rent, highly paid BOA, their crazy allocation scheme, etc.

I tried to break into my old office just to get my Doug Hill picture back, but the extra key didn’t work.  I had my wife hand out my daughters softball trophies to me…just to stop the weeping and withdrawal I was going through…not getting a chance to hang with all you doorknockers…Maybe the trip to Napa Labor day weekend I just booked will help…who knows?

Mr. Spiff is located in St. Louis. Thus, we understand his passion for the apple koolaid.

So, it’s my location that drives my passion.  Now I understand my love of Jones.  Nothing to do with the great experiences I’ve had here, or the other FAs in the region that I enjoy working with (and sometimes against), or the opportunites that are in front of me.  I’m glad it’s something as simple as my location.  Thanks for clearing that up.

Spiffmeister-

OK. I'll bite. Give us an example of how you enjoy working against a fellow Jones Rep.

This should be good.

When the office around the corner loses another broker, he sucks in some of the assets. 

OK, I’ve figured it out…Spaceman Spiff is…JIM WEDDLE!

Make sure to say hi to the Protective Annuity wholesaler for me. I remember one humbling comment by a client… who the hell is Jack Phelan and why do you have so many of his awards?

Spiff,

(below are a few questions I posted a few days back, I'd be    curious to hear your input)

Take a look at your current households and accounts, do you really see every client quarterly or semi-annually? What are the size of your avg households?  You will end up as many vets that were in my region if your as successful as you should be at 10-15 years in the biz, 3,000 accounts and 1,200 households (This is what the Jones Model is built to do).  You will have pages of bond calls which as a new IR you dream of however becomes a nightmare for a vet down the road. Can you honestly tell me your clients are benefiting from your advisory services?  Jones has those capabilities you listed above, my point is the way the model is devised you can't sustain seg 5 numbers and sit with all of your clients, and by the way your adding 10 more next month...so then you goodknight, which I did and it becomes an endless cycle of revolving door clients.  If you honestly read through your household list of clients your memory would start to fade on page 8.

I felt like a dope one night while I was proposing an IRA rollover from a former co-worker and friend.  I guess the "hamburger" got pretty drilled into me in training... 

My friend, in front of his wife who I was trying to impress, asked me why I kept saying "that's a great question."  I have since dropped that and will just be myself.  If that doesn't work so be it.

I like it here but I did get a little creeped out when at a regional meeting the RL had us recite some Jones saying.  I was wondering the whole time if I was the only one that thought this was strange.  I wasn't - another broker who I can be open with and that went through training with me agreed.  Whew!

The protective wholesaler says hi, and does he have a living benefit rider for you!

Go ahead, do what's right for the client. That means calling on a thirty year bond and pushing for the order.

[quote=advisor28]

Spiff,

(below are a few questions I posted a few days back, I'd be    curious to hear your input)

Take a look at your current households and accounts, do you really see every client quarterly or semi-annually? What are the size of your avg households?  You will end up as many vets that were in my region if your as successful as you should be at 10-15 years in the biz, 3,000 accounts and 1,200 households (This is what the Jones Model is built to do).  [QUOTE]

To keep sane in this business you generally want to target about 100-200 accounts in total, which suggests you want a typical account to be 250K+.

Even then, the comissioned model basicly means churn or ignore, so FA's chase after new assets to keep getting the 4.5% cut on new money.

Without discretionary authority it is a nightmare calling up clients to get permission to trade accounts, hence you can't do any real investment management.

Thus its GFA/CIB for everyone!!!!

The top producer in my region does have a counter to the 1200 household model and many other Jonesees are following suit.  His goal (which is quickly being accomplished) is to do a goodknight as often as possible to pass on smaller accounts to newbies.  Once he got to about 500 accounts he started to goodknight.  Each time he does one he wants to reduce his accounts but maximize his AUM.  Right now he is at about 250 accounts worth 100 Million.  His goal is to goodknight down to 100 accounts worth 100 million.  This gives newbies in the area a better start with some decent clients (not just the throw aways) and lets him work only a couple of days a week.  Again, he is a top producer so he has some very big accounts but his personal minimum new account size keeps getting bigger and he is doing a great favor (at very little gain to himself) by giving away some good clients.  Just an example of how to efficiently streamline your business at a big firm and be compensated by both more time and more money.  He now focuses exclusively on the 500k and 1m rollovers instead of the 800 monthly bond calls. 

[quote=advisor28]

Spiff,

(below are a few questions I posted a few days back, I'd be    curious to hear your input)

Take a look at your current households and accounts, do you really see every client quarterly or semi-annually? What are the size of your avg households?  You will end up as many vets that were in my region if your as successful as you should be at 10-15 years in the biz, 3,000 accounts and 1,200 households (This is what the Jones Model is built to do).  You will have pages of bond calls which as a new IR you dream of however becomes a nightmare for a vet down the road. Can you honestly tell me your clients are benefiting from your advisory services?  Jones has those capabilities you listed above, my point is the way the model is devised you can't sustain seg 5 numbers and sit with all of your clients, and by the way your adding 10 more next month...so then you goodknight, which I did and it becomes an endless cycle of revolving door clients.  If you honestly read through your household list of clients your memory would start to fade on page 8.

[/quote]

The simple answer to your question is no.  The people who are really important to my business, I do make a point to meet in person with them semi annually.  I agree that at some point the business model at Jones will control the FA, instead of the other way around.  My goal at the beginning of this career was 100 clients with $1 million per.  I think that's shooting a little low given my age and rate at which I know I can bring in assets plus natural growth of the book. 

Just like any other business I have clients I see frequently, some I see maybe once a year, and others that I've not seen since we opened the account.  Not from a lack of trying on my part to see them more often.  Some people are just as happy talking with you on the phone. 

I'm in the process of really working through the advisory process with any client who wants to do it.  Again, some don't want to. 

Managing 1200 relationships is impossible.  Thus the Goodknight.  The vets who have made the Goodknight program work are the ones who did it more than once.  I think you have to be willing to take off a little meat when you trim the fat.  Some vets aren't willing to do it.  The do the GNK just to get the kudos and subsequent LP, but not really to make their businesses better. 

With that said, I think Jones does a great job in teaching those who are willing to listen how to manage a lot of  households.  The acceleration program when followed religiously works great.  I'm sure we're not the only firm that has a program like that.  But I get the impression that a lot of places just ignore a lot of people.  

Lastly, I think you're wrong about not being able to sit down with all of your clients and sustain Seg 5 numbers.  I can think of 20+ people that I know personally from the St. Louis area alone that do it all the time.  I'm sure there are hundreds that have figured out how to get it done.  The thing about financial planning is that it doesn't have to be recreated every time you sit down.  Once you get the plan in place it's a matter of monitoring and making small adjustments.  The FAs who hit Seg 5 numbers have figured out how to manage that process really well.  Maybe your idea of planning is more time consuming on an ongoing basis than mine.  Thus the need to charge a client 1% a year for your "services". 

[quote=AllREIT] [quote=advisor28]

Spiff,

(below are a few questions I posted a few days back, I'd be    curious to hear your input)

Take a look at your current households and accounts, do you really see every client quarterly or semi-annually? What are the size of your avg households?  You will end up as many vets that were in my region if your as successful as you should be at 10-15 years in the biz, 3,000 accounts and 1,200 households (This is what the Jones Model is built to do).  [QUOTE]

To keep sane in this business you generally want to target about 100-200 accounts in total, which suggests you want a typical account to be 250K+.

Even then, the comissioned model basicly means churn or ignore, so FA's chase after new assets to keep getting the 4.5% cut on new money.

Without discretionary authority it is a nightmare calling up clients to get permission to trade accounts, hence you can't do any real investment management.

Thus its GFA/CIB for everyone!!!!

[/quote]

AllREIT - I think you're confusing investment management with Financial Planning.  I think they are two different things.  It's the difference between a CFP and a CFA.  I don't want to be a CFA, but I do plan on becoming a CFP. 

BTW - a $50K of AGTHX and $50K of CAIBX last 10 years averaged 11.75%.  Tripled in that time.  Only down 17.5% peak to trough 00-02.  I think my clients would have been well served with that mix. 

[quote=Spaceman Spiff]Maybe your idea of planning is more
time consuming on an ongoing basis than mine.  Thus the need
to charge a client 1% a year for your “services”.  [/quote]



If your plan it take a M* printout, and say "Your target allocations to
GFA and CIB are on target, If anything I recomend buying more of each. " what you say works.



Spiff, part of what skews your understanding is that people who want
in-depth planning services or have serious investment management needs
don’t go to EDJ in the first place. I’m not saying they shouldn’t. But
if you had $1M in investable assets would you want to be Spiff’s
1099’th client?



One of the good things you could do is to take a week to go over your
book account by account and sort it into A/B/C clients and also by
account size and time spent. See if you can find A/B clients who
haven’t been contacted, and then go contact them.



Life is so much simpler when you are working off of a book of 100-200 names @ $1M each vs 1000-1200 names @ 100K each.

Who says they don't?  Are they flocking to the local indies, Morgan, Merrill?  What if in the town I'm in the local Morgan Stanley office has a really bad reputation?  Might I at least go talk to the local EDJ guy first?  I would guess in many towns across the country the local EDJ guy is THE guy to go to with ANY financial concerns.  And in some places it's the local Merrill guy.  I believe the firm you're with is only a part of why people work with you. 

Do you really think that clients know how many other clients we have?  Unless we tell them, I don't know how they'd know.  As long as they're getting the service they want and returns they expect I don't know that they'd care if I have 100 clients or 1000.  I would.  They probably wouldn't. 

Seriously, how much time does it take to run 200 portfolios and do the planning for them.  Especially if you don't have to talk to them to make decisions.  It's not like you have to really crunch any numbers, since all of your software is SOOOO much better than mine.  What do you think?  3 hours per day?  4 maybe?  Is that time spent on actually evaluating each portfolio or just searching for new investments?  How much better would your income be if you could work with 400 $1 Mil accounts?  Would it really double the work to double the client base?  My guess is no.  

How many changes really need to be made on a daily basis in an account?  Does the buy and hold philosophy not exist or hold true anymore besides at EDJ?  It wasn't too long ago that if you traded daily in an account it was called churning.  Of course those were the days before fee based accounts, which legalized churning for a lot of firms. 

See, the funny thing about my accounts is I don't need to do what you're suggesting.  I KNOW when I last contacted my clients and when I'm going to contact them in the future.  My computer keeps track of it and my BOA and I have a system for adding new clients to the mix.  I'll never lose an account because of the lack of service.   

[quote=Spaceman Spiff]Do you really think that clients know
how many other clients we have?  Unless we tell them, I don’t know
how they’d know.  As long as they’re getting the service they want
and returns they expect I don’t know that they’d care if I have
100 clients or 1000.  I would.  They probably
wouldn’t.  [/quote]

You're starting from the assumption (probably enchanced by personal experience) that EDJ services a clientele that wouldn't recognise better service if they got it. After you have your GFA/CIB what else do you need but more GFA?

You as a one/two person office can't do a deep job with clients. Now I don't know if clients care, but I assume that if they were fully informed they would prefer to be part of smaller practice.

[QUOTE]Seriously, how much time does it take to run 200 portfolios and do the planning for them.  Especially if you don't have to talk to them to make decisions.  It's not like you have to really crunch any numbers, since all of your software is SOOOO much better than mine.  What do you think?  3 hours per day?  4 maybe?  Is that time spent on actually evaluating each portfolio or just searching for new investments? How much better would your income be if you could work with 400 $1 Mil accounts?  Would it really double the work to double the client base?  My guess is no. [QUOTE]]

No, it would less work for equal pay. That's the whole point of having a bigger deeper book. Since the marginal return on New money is the same as on old money, I'm not a constantly looking for new money. I could scale the business if I wanted too, but I don't have to, and don't think overscaling it would be in the best interests of clients.

Its the same reason why Tweedy Browne/First Eagle and many other mutual fund companies have closed mutual funds to new investors. Vs AF which is always open for business.

For myself, once we've built up the book to where we want it. The main focus is doing the best job on investments and building a deeper realtionship with clients. I have no desire to grow this business past the point where I can't invite all my clients to house party.

As for time spent on investment management, its a fair amount. During earnings season, alot of time, during slack periods somewhat less. But thats what you're paid to do.

[quote]How many changes really need to be made on a daily basis in an account?  Does the buy and hold philosophy not exist or hold true anymore besides at EDJ?  It wasn't too long ago that if you traded daily in an account it was called churning.  Of course those were the days before fee based accounts, which legalized churning for a lot of firms.[/quote]

There is buy and hold because its the right thing to do, and there is buy and hold because you don't know any better or don't have the time to watch and follow up on your investments.

Not all stocks improve with time, so for example I've been selling back positions in equity REITs and buying other REITs. Other times stocks go up in value and you need to sell them/trim them back.

E.g when SFC got taken out, that lead to a round of client calls. And it was a sad call, because SFC was a nice company. All the good REITs are taken.

The whole EDJ model is set it and forget it, because if the IR's actually had to be stewards of their clients money, they would never have time for selling.

BTW, If anything a fee based account discourages trading, since trading costs come out of the fixed fee.

[QUOTE]See, the funny thing about my accounts is I don't need to do what you're suggesting.  I KNOW when I last contacted my clients and when I'm going to contact them in the future.  My computer keeps track of it and my BOA and I have a system for adding new clients to the mix.  I'll never lose an account because of the lack of service.   

I do miss the contact manager…It was always nice to see what I was trying to shove down their throats two months ago…just to make sure I switched it up every now and then…

AllREIT - I really think you're off base with this arguement.  Probably, similar to me, because you've had to convince yourself that your way of doing things is better than everyone else's because you have to sell it that way.  Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. 

Are you seriously saying that because I am the only FA in my office that I CAN'T do a "deep" job with my clients?  Really?  So all those guys out there that are in one man shops aren't doing a good job with their clients?  Or is it just EDJ FAs who can't do a good job?  Maybe you should explain to me what your version of deep is.  This may get back into the financial planning vs. investment management. 

I wouldn't call the Jones model set and forget.  We do hold our investments longer than the average company,  but it's not set and forget.  They're normally mutual fund based portfolios, so rebalancing to keep them within the asset allocation plan is important.  We take profits on stocks, we sell them when necessary.  Just like you and  your REITs. 

I don't have a big issue with fee based accounts.  But I don't think the industry as a whole has figured out exactly what the right way to use them is.  I seem to run across two different scenarios with fee based accounts.  First is the actively traded version.  20 stock trades a month, constant changes from one sector to another, or one fund to another, without any rhyme or reason.  Seems to be trading to justify the fee, because the performance doesn't normally justify the trading or the expense.  Second is the "I'm getting paid the fee whether I do anything or not" account.  No trades, no planning, no contact.  Just the fee arrangement.  Usually this is better for the broker, not the clients.  

I wonder if you've ever sat down with a good Jones FA to see what they do with their clients or how they run their practice?  I'm not talking about the new guy, but the one who has made it and is successful.  The Seg 4 or 5 guy.  I'd bet you'd be suprised at how good a job they do with their clients.

[quote=Spaceman Spiff][quote=skippy]

I get the sense that the local economies of each city that has a one-man EJ shop would improve - just by collecting sales taxes.

Think about it.  Open up that RETAIL office/store space and let some yogurt shop occupy it.  Put all the brokers into an (heaven forbid) an office building to SHARE.

Lots more activity and money to go in there than with EJ.

Okay, that was a Low Blow, but I still think it would help EJ's bottom line and improve the local economies by moving all EJ brokers into 1 floor of a nice office building.

[/quote]

You are absolutely right.  It would help the bottom line.  It's a business decision to be different than anyone else.  The only place it would really matter is in larger cities.  In my area we could put three large offices together and get the job done.  But noone would know about us.  It's interesting that when I talk to someone who says they're with Merrill, they never say the local office.  They say they're with the on over in West St. Louis County.  I don't even know if they know there is a local Merrill office.  But when I talk with someone who is with Jones, 70% of the time it's someone within a mile or two of that house or business. 

We put the offices where they are convenient to people.  Close to the other businesses they frequent.  Name recognition, branding, whatever you want to call it, it works.  

[/quote]

Are you talking about Eddie Jones or Walmart.  I go to Walmart because it is in the area.  I have clients in 15 states and they come to be because of what I give to them, I make my rounds once a year in person and quarterly over the phone.  They don't care that I am no with in a morning's walk to my office.

[quote=Edward Pwns]How could it not make sense for Jones, but make sense for the GPs? They
ARE Jones.

Is there any other business that puts an office on every corner? I thought
McDonalds, but they actually limit their expansion. Subway.....no they limit
too.

Why do they put an office on every corner? No other business does that. [/quote]

Starbucks!!

[quote=Spaceman Spiff]

you seriously saying that because I am the only FA in my office that I CAN'T do a "deep" job with my clients? 

[/quote]

I have worked for Jones for 16 years before going to a wirehouse then indy with RJ.  I have noticed that many wirehouse brokers do not understand the EDJ model and how it is very effective in the real world.  The best EDJ brokers would be good at ANY wirehouse out there, ML included.

The strengths are one support staff to each broker, and the local EDJ office.  The weakeness is their lack of research and the communication systems. All of those are well documented.

Next time someone blasts Jones from the wirehouse, ask them how many dedicated support staffers they have to service their clients and how long their commute is.  Mine at Wachovia was 1/8 of an SA and a 140 mile commute.  It shuts them up pretty quick. 

IndyEDJ

I run a novel concept at my office… I let the client determine the level of contact. Some clients want monthly calls, others bimonthly , some quarterly others twice a year. It’s all about what the CLIENT wants… Besides at Jones our service model is built to outservice a wirehouse office.