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Take a day to sharpen the saw? (EDJ)

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Dec 4, 2008 6:40 am

1. When starting out door knocking at EDJ did you even take a day off during the week? If so what day did you choose and why did you choose that day? <?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

 

2. If you went 7 days per week in the beginning (door knocking) at what point did you finally find time for a day off?

 

I personally am emotionally prepared for 12-14 hour days 7 days per week in the beginning of my door knocking campaign dealing with the same type of work I performed when selling Vacuums door to door back in the day. Anything less than what I’m expecting will be a pleasant surprise.

Dec 4, 2008 2:04 pm

I didn’t take any weekdays off.  However, I never worked on Sundays (other than doing paperwork).  But I never prospected on Sundays.

  B, just be careful about what you promise yourself.  12-14 days in this business will make you numb after a while.  The important thing is to not mistake long hours with effectiveness.  You are like the 500th person to come on her and say exactly what you said ("I will work all daya everyday, blah, blah).  But long hours, in my opinion, is not typically the reason I see people succeed.  Most of the people I see that succeed in this business did it because they knew how to effectively develop relationships with people that have money.   Not that successful FA's don't work long hours, but I don't think it's a cause-and-effect relationship.  I think it goes the other way.  Successful FA's work long hours because they have so much business.
Dec 4, 2008 2:31 pm

Vacuums sales = Edward Jones Rep…priceless…

Dec 4, 2008 2:38 pm

And what kind of business was it that you ran before Jones that gave you such vast industry knowledge?

Dec 4, 2008 2:48 pm

6 Years active duty military, MBA, and learning as much as possible before my EDJ start date. I just successfully held sales jobs via telemarketing and door to door when I was younger and well before my days as a service member. I sold things throughout college to buy ramen but now I'll doing it at a much more mature(I hope) level.

Dec 4, 2008 3:03 pm

Fuller brush sales, used car sales, phone book sales and, just for kicks, encyclopedia sales.  Jones kept calling me and finally after a stellar year selling the STAR 4000 corn broom brush, I gave in and joined Jones.  I have to say…the Fuller Brush company is 10x’s better firm than Jones, hands down, no competition. 

Dec 4, 2008 3:23 pm
bspears:

Vacuums sales = Edward Jones Rep…priceless…

  Now that was an alley oop if I ever seen one...Bada Bing!!
Dec 4, 2008 3:27 pm

Vacuum sales? I think you are pulling our legs here with these posts.

You can't possibly knock on doors for 12 hours. You will collapse. You can't knock on doors on Sundays -- or Saturdays in Jewish neighborhoods. Tops, I used to spend six hours a day actually walking. Then another three hours inputting people who will never invest with me and sending them cards they throw in the garbage. Looking back, I would have been more productive had I found a CPA to take to lunch every day and then gone home.    
Dec 4, 2008 3:35 pm

Here’s the deal, though.  I look back and realize that I was able to cut my teeth on people that were never going to invest with me.  It eased me into the process.  I could not have just walked up to a CPA and said “hey, want to send me referrals?”.   As painful as it was, for newbies, I think it’s a way to get you some exposure to prospecting without looking dumb in front of REAL potential cleints.  Once you do the cold-walking or cold-calling thing for awhile and get some clients, you gain enough confidence to start throwing your line out at bigger fish.

Dec 4, 2008 3:38 pm

[quote=buyandhold]Vacuum sales? I think you are pulling our legs here with these posts.

You can't possibly knock on doors for 12 hours. You will collapse. You can't knock on doors on Sundays -- or Saturdays in Jewish neighborhoods. Tops, I used to spend six hours a day actually walking. Then another three hours inputting people who will never invest with me and sending them cards they throw in the garbage. Looking back, I would have been more productive had I found a CPA to take to lunch every day and then gone home.    [/quote]

Don't you think that you and the CPA would have gotten tired of each other after a few weeks?
Dec 4, 2008 3:42 pm

[[/quote]

Don’t you think that you and the CPA would have gotten tired of each other after a few weeks?
[/quote]

  Not if we were talking about index annuities.  
Dec 4, 2008 4:40 pm

Touche…there’s a new class of comic relief here.  I just love it…

Dec 4, 2008 5:09 pm

Baster, You should be completely 100% focused on passing that 7 right now.  You may not make it far enough to have to knock on doors if you don’t.

Dec 4, 2008 9:31 pm

Baster (what’s up with that name anyway?). Here’s a doorknocking tip.

  Figure out what day is trash day in the various neighborhoods that you want to doorknock. Only doorknock on trash day.  As you drive down the street, only knock on doors that have put their trashcans back in their garage. That's it, that's the secret.  Your "at home %" will go WAY up.  So, you will talk with more people in less time.  Doing this, you can talk to as many people in two or three hours as you would have had you just knocked on EVERY door in the neighborhood.
Dec 5, 2008 1:22 am

While you are taking up the trash can, why not weed the garden, walk to dog (pick up the dog crap). Pick up the newspaper off the porch…then ask for the sale!!! How stupid is the trash can suggestion. Oh it is snowing now…maybe I should shovel the side walk too…

Dec 5, 2008 1:36 am

he didn’t say anything about grabbing their trash.

  If the person put away their garbage cans you know that they're home.   too many people read these posts just hoping to find something they can be a smart ass about...
Dec 5, 2008 1:42 am

[quote=now_indy]Baster (what’s up with that name anyway?). Here’s a doorknocking tip.

  Figure out what day is trash day in the various neighborhoods that you want to doorknock. Only doorknock on trash day.  As you drive down the street, only knock on doors that have put their trashcans back in their garage. That's it, that's the secret.  Your "at home %" will go WAY up.  So, you will talk with more people in less time.  Doing this, you can talk to as many people in two or three hours as you would have had you just knocked on EVERY door in the neighborhood.[/quote]

I like that!
Dec 5, 2008 2:52 pm

Or, you can go to any neighborhood at any time and start by knocking on all the houses with their garage doors up. 

  Just knock on the doors.  Go when you think you have the best chance of catching people at home.  Don't overthink doorknocking.   
Dec 5, 2008 3:30 pm

[quote=F.A.4]he didn’t say anything about grabbing their trash.

  If the person put away their garbage cans you know that they're home.   too many people read these posts just hoping to find something they can be a smart ass about...[/quote]   Thanks FA4, some people are just idiots, nothing we can do for them.
Dec 5, 2008 7:33 pm

I hear so much of this, “I’m going to call people/knock on doors for 16-18 hours a day, 7 days a week…”

  It's simply not possible.   Unless you are superhuman, you can work hard or you can work long, you can't do both.  Also, the reality is that every time that you book an appointment, it creates work for you to do.  The more appointments that you have, the less time that you have to do the work and the more likely that you will be doing work when you should be prospecting.   What if you put together an action plan that is much more realistic.  "Every day, Monday-Friday, I will see people or fight to see them from 8:00-2:00."  That's it.   Never have a day where you don't do this and you will have a huge practice.  I'm not saying to not call during the evening or weekends, but don't put yourself in a position where you need to do so.  If you don't have a full schedule and you have people who you can't reach during the day, call during nights and weekends.  Otherwise, don't bother.   By doing this, you will still be working long hours.  You'll have appointments that get set after 2:00 and weekends, but you will also have time to get the work done.  Trust me that if you do this, you will pretty quickly have a full calendar.  Once you have a full calendar, it only takes a short period of time to keep the calendar full.   If you have 3 total appointments set for the next 5 days, and you make 3 on the phone today, there is a very good chance that when you come into the office on Monday, you will still only have 3 appointments set for the next 5 days.  If you have 25 appointments set for the next 5 days, and set 3 new ones on the phone, you'll come in on Monday with 25 set.   The point is that it's hard to fill a calendar, but easy to keep a busy calendar filled.