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1st year knocking on doors

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Jan 1, 2010 3:20 am

Do the people that don't make it at Edward Jones fail because they don't actually get out and doornock their butt's off?

Others that started from scratch how did you do it?   I need to make a decision before I sign on the dotted line. So any positive feedback would be appreciative.   Yes, I know that this is a sales job. I have been in sales before. I am not afraid to discuss assett allocation, risk tolerance, bonds, American funds etc... Yes I am prepared to knock on door after door after door, cold call, send out mailers, set up a monthly community meeting about who what and why.   I don't know any rich people so all assetts will be gathered from cold calling and knocking, is it possible?        
Jan 1, 2010 3:24 am

[quote=I knock]

Do the people that don’t make it at Edward Jones fail because they don’t actually get out and doornock their butt’s off?



Others that started from scratch how did you do it?



I need to make a decision before I sign on the dotted line. So any positive feedback would be appreciative.



Yes, I know that this is a sales job.

I have been in sales before.

I am not afraid to discuss assett allocation, risk tolerance, bonds, American funds etc…

Yes I am prepared to knock on door after door after door, cold call, send out mailers, set up a monthly community meeting about who what and why.



I don’t know any rich people so all assetts will be gathered from cold calling and knocking, is it possible?







[/quote]



It’s hard work, but you’ll be fine.
Jan 1, 2010 2:14 pm

[quote=I knock]Do the people that don’t make it at Edward Jones fail because they don’t actually get out and doornock their butt’s off?

Others that started from scratch how did you do it?  I need to make a decision before I sign on the dotted line. So any positive feedback would be appreciative.  Yes, I know that this is a sales job. I have been in sales before. I am not afraid to discuss assett allocation, risk tolerance, bonds, American funds etc... Yes I am prepared to knock on door after door after door, cold call, send out mailers, set up a monthly community meeting about who what and why.  I don't know any rich people so all assetts will be gathered from cold calling and knocking, is it possible?[/quote]
Edward Jones does not have a support staff which is dedicated to your success. You will be relying on other FAs who volunteer their time (for free). If you run into any bumps along the way (which you certainly will) you will need to rely on the support of other local FAs.

Before signing on the dotted line, I strongly recommend you go out and meet all the FAs in your surrounding area. Ask them how they built their business (hint: it is probably not door-knocking). Ask which other FAs you should meet.

I have found that most people who succeed at Jones either have a friend or family member in the business or they have a book of business handed to them to keep them afloat until they figure things out. There are people who succeed on their own, but they are rare. Good Luck!

Jan 1, 2010 2:40 pm

It’s very difficult. Not because it is hard work – it’s outdoors, it’s active, there are worse things to do – and not because of the rejection – if you are fairly mature you won’t care if strangers don’t like you — but because so much of it amounts to nothing. You can doorknock all week and none of those people will ever become clients. That gets discouraging.
Five more.
1. You have to be fairly personable, aggressive and knock on between 100 and 200 doors a day.
2. You have to have a fairly simple process – find old 401ks or orphan accounts and move them into American Funds or annuties.
3. You have to qualify people in a hurry. If you meet 25 people today, don’t go back to all 25 like they teach you, just go back to the three or four good ones. Spend the rest of the day finding  new people.
4. Be ready financially. It is going to take years before you make real money.
5. Remember that the best way to build the business is through your clients, so be very attentive to them and start asking for referals every time you talk to them.



Jan 2, 2010 12:43 am

[quote=Still@jones]

[quote=I knock]Do the people that don’t make it at Edward Jones fail because they don’t actually get out and doornock their butt’s off?

Others that started from scratch how did you do it?

I need to make a decision before I sign on the dotted line. So any positive feedback would be appreciative.

Yes, I know that this is a sales job.

I have been in sales before.

I am not afraid to discuss assett allocation, risk tolerance, bonds, American funds etc…

Yes I am prepared to knock on door after door after door, cold call, send out mailers, set up a monthly community meeting about who what and why.



I don’t know any rich people so all assetts will be gathered from cold calling and knocking, is it possible?[/quote]Edward Jones does not have a support staff which is dedicated to your success. You will be relying on other FAs who volunteer their time (for free). If you run into any bumps along the way (which you certainly will) you will need to rely on the support of other local FAs. Before signing on the dotted line, I strongly recommend you go out and meet all the FAs in your surrounding area. Ask them how they built their business (hint: it is probably not door-knocking). Ask which other FAs you should meet. I have found that most people who succeed at Jones either have a friend or family member in the business or they have a book of business handed to them to keep them afloat until they figure things out. There are people who succeed on their own, but they are rare. Good Luck![/quote]



Please note I was fired after 15 weeks for not doing the work Jones told me to do. I was smarter than jones.
Jan 2, 2010 2:50 am

you were fired…wow! so was I!!!
Jones is a really sh*tty company, don’t you think?
They just churn & burn new hires.

I started less than a year ago.
There were 64 people in my training class; there are 24 left.

Jan 3, 2010 4:15 am

Thanks for the feedback.

For those that were fired from Jones are you still in the business? Did you make at least $50K your first year?
Jan 3, 2010 2:09 pm
buyandhold:

It’s very difficult. Not because it is hard work – it’s outdoors, it’s active, there are worse things to do – and not because of the rejection – if you are fairly mature you won’t care if strangers don’t like you — but because so much of it amounts to nothing. You can doorknock all week and none of those people will ever become clients. That gets discouraging.
Five more.
1. You have to be fairly personable, aggressive and knock on between 100 and 200 doors a day.
2. You have to have a fairly simple process – find old 401ks or orphan accounts and move them into American Funds or annuties.
3. You have to qualify people in a hurry. If you meet 25 people today, don’t go back to all 25 like they teach you, just go back to the three or four good ones. Spend the rest of the day finding  new people.
4. Be ready financially. It is going to take years before you make real money.
5. Remember that the best way to build the business is through your clients, so be very attentive to them and start asking for referals every time you talk to them.



  Couldn't agree more. The local guys training me told me to call my prospects every month until they did business. The fact is you don't have time to wait 5 yrs for the guy to buy a bond. If they don't do something after 5-7 attempts you have to drop them to a mailing list only. You need to earn money now not build relationships with ghosts. That was my biggest mistake at Jones. Good luck to you, but I would grill the guys in your area about how they got their assets, how long they have been in business, and how they market themselves. Remember that you are doing the interviewing. Ask them tons of questions because Jones is selling the position to you. You need to find out your own information to see if you want to buy it.
Jan 3, 2010 2:10 pm

Year 1 isn’t the problem because Jones gives you a small salary. I made 50k my first year with the salary.

Jan 3, 2010 2:28 pm
AGEMAN:

I can’t imagine getting a very large HNW client through door knocking?! Any insight into this? I built my business through cold calling and then added seminars after about 10 months.



I'm going to guess there are about 1000 Jones advisors with books double your size. You tell me.
Jan 3, 2010 8:00 pm

AGE training had three tracts one could take. Networking, cold calling & door knocking. One of the trainers that I have the highest respect for said door knocking had the highest percentile of success. One would think it would be the net-workers but most of them become door knockers or cold callers within a month or two as their network runs out.

Jan 3, 2010 10:08 pm
AGEMAN:

[quote=WarRoom] [quote=AGEMAN] I can’t imagine getting a very large HNW client through door knocking?! Any insight into this? I built my business through cold calling and then added seminars after about 10 months. [/quote] I’m going to guess there are about 1000 Jones advisors with books double your size. You tell me.

Perhaps, but do they have to have 1000 clients to get there, because the average client is so small??[/quote]



I know one guy who got a $12 million account from door-knocking. He worked on the guy for two years. It precipitated his move to LPL, but he did get it door-knocking. He even said so after he left.



While most of the accounts received during door-knocking can be quite small, there are some large ones. I never got one.



It requires a few things to get accounts that size, just like any other method:



1) Repetition

2) Persistence

3) Building Trust

4) Luck



Jan 4, 2010 2:07 pm

Of the large accounts I got doorknocking, none of them came right away.  I have three accounts over $350K from doorknocking: First was $450K (now 350K due to some huge withdrawals) - this took several contacts after the DK, and one “let’s try again” 2 months after the guy called it off.  Then he referred me to his brother (a year later), so that was not “technically” a doorknock, and I just rolled over $1.3mm from his 401K (non-hardship in-service).  I also have an $850K account from a guy that took almost 3 years to get after the initial doorknock.  In each case, I think enough time, and enough contacts had elapsed, that they sort of forgot how we originally met.  I was never a guy that DK’ed, then called with a bond a week later.  I also rarely went back to the house unless it was an appt.  Because of my style of doorknocking, I wanted people to understand that I was just out doing a little introducing, not trying to sell anything (which I wasn’t).

  However, most of my other DK accounts are under $250K.
Jan 4, 2010 2:37 pm

I think it is a great week for doorknocking…get out there B24!!!

Jan 6, 2010 4:44 pm

Hey I knock,

  If you want to be successful at EDJ, you must get out and doorknock. In the beginning, you hit every house you can. After a year or two once you have a good pipeline to work with, along with what else you have built from meetings, networking, etc., you will still want to doorknock. Just then you become more selective at the houses you stop at.....fat squirrels in big trees. I know a number of 5 yr plus guys that will stop at a house with a pick-up and a cadillac. At Jones, plan to make 35k-75k your first year w/salary, the average is around 50k. So will you be above avg or below, depends on how hard you work.   good luck
Jan 6, 2010 4:49 pm

[quote=edjgp123]Hey I knock,

  If you want to be successful at EDJ, you must get out and doorknock. In the beginning, you hit every house you can. After a year or two once you have a good pipeline to work with, along with what else you have built from meetings, networking, etc., you will still want to doorknock. Just then you become more selective at the houses you stop at.....fat squirrels in big trees. I know a number of 5 yr plus guys that will stop at a house with a pick-up and a cadillac. At Jones, plan to make 35k-75k your first year w/salary, the average is around 50k. So will you be above avg or below, depends on how hard you work.   good luck[/quote]

This is not true.
Jan 6, 2010 4:51 pm

Might not be true for you Moraen…all I am saying, is if you follow the formula…It works.

Jan 6, 2010 5:03 pm

[quote=edjgp123]Might not be true for you Moraen…all I am saying, is if you follow the formula…It works.[/quote]

Yes it does.  I was saying that for the benefit of all the “doorknocking haters” (myself included).  Some Jones guys get in their head that if they are at Jones, they absolutely have to doorknock.

I also meant to preface the statement with, “with all due respect edjgp123”.

Jan 6, 2010 5:03 pm

[quote=edjgp123]Hey I knock,

  If you want to be successful at EDJ, you must get out and doorknock. In the beginning, you hit every house you can. After a year or two once you have a good pipeline to work with, along with what else you have built from meetings, networking, etc., you will still want to doorknock. Just then you become more selective at the houses you stop at.....fat squirrels in big trees. I know a number of 5 yr plus guys that will stop at a house with a pick-up and a cadillac. At Jones, plan to make 35k-75k your first year w/salary, the average is around 50k. So will you be above avg or below, depends on how hard you work.   good luck[/quote]   Very few of the really successful guys in our region doorknocked.  Although there are a few that started doorknocking in the early 90's, and did it religiously, and are now doing quite well.  But they run the 1000+ household type businesses, with an average HH of like 75-100K.  They make good money, but probably 750 of their clients get no service.  All depends on what type of business you want to run.  One guy has 1500 HH and 125K average HH.  He said he could give away 1000 households and not blink an eye on production and make his life easier, but can't find the right person to do a Goodknight with him.  He does have a GK right now, but I think the plan is only like $15mm or something.  He's tried twice before and they failed, so he's a little gunshy.   We have a 10 year guy near me, gave away 650 households (about $12mm, no joke) to a Goodknight, kept 250 HH (about 40mm), and now makes far more than he EVER did before.  But I can't believe the amount of time he must have wasted over the years on $10K accounts. 
Jan 6, 2010 5:12 pm

Thanks for the information.