Lpl buys more underproducers!
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Article announces the purchase of Pacific Life's brokerdealer unit (save Unitd Planners, M.I. Stern and Sorrento) consisting of 2,200 brokers and revs of $350MM (average prodo =$160,000)
That according to Investment News 03/05/07.
According to IN 01/29/07 Pacific Select group had 2,754 advisors and less than half of them (1,278) did over $100,000 gross. Of this number all 334 of United Planners were north of 100M.
LPL already had 6,940 advisors with a mere 3,680 of them being north of 100M. Now they'll have 9,140 head count with 4,624 above the "high water" mark (at best!) Nearly HALF of the advisors are below $100,000 GROSS PRODUCTION!
How does this make you LPL guys (who seem to be mostly EX-Jones guys) see your firm? Do you think that maybe LPL is going to be spending inordinate resourses and dollars for this burdensome load? They will put extra burden on your back office, they will take away time that could be spent improving your software systems, they'll use up space on your server.
So what comes next? Does LPL go wirehouse? Does it start to say, produce or you're out, and we're going to reassign your measley book? They paid for the assets and the production, they've got two private equity Vulture Capital firms owning 60% of LPL. Two things about Private Equity funders, they want a return and they want it sooner, not later!
I could be wrong and I'm glad to hear why.
From one producing above your bogey, I wouldn't be at all upset if LPL raises the bar a bit. On the other hand, if they can profitably cover small producers without impacting my level of service, I don't have a problem with that either. Perhaps a two-tier approach like one that one of my fund companies uses would make the most sense...have a second set of hotline numbers for the larger producers where LPL would focus a higher percentage of their best customer service associates, while letting more of the less experienced associates cut their teeth on smaller producers.
I think anyone who is affiliated with LPL has a right to be concerned about service when the company is expanding as rapidly as they have. Obviously, you get economies of scale with larger numbers, but I have concerns about not having a sufficient number of experienced customer service people to handle the influx. At this point, all I can do is hope that they've done their homework and staffed accordingly. I don't know if your'e wrong or not. A lot of things are unknown and out of our control, so I choose to not spend much time worrying about it at this point. Time will tell, and we can always vote with our feet if necessary. At this point, I personally don't have any preferred alternatives.
[quote=Indyone]
Perhaps a two-tier approach like one that one of my fund companies uses would make the most sense…have a second set of hotline numbers for the larger producers where LPL would focus a higher percentage of their best customer service associates, while letting more of the less experienced associates cut their teeth on smaller producers.
[/quote]Indy-they already do that!
The first week I was practicing on my own, I was a little irritated by the length of wait on the calls. But, I also remember about 6-8 months ago at Amway..er Jones, my wait times became extremely long on the phone because of a change there. I do worry about the service they can provide with all the newbies and now the purchase coming online. But, as the weeks pass and I get more comfortable with the new system the call wait seems to be shorter. It may have been my patience level --pushing as many acats as possible. Good question though.
[quote=joedabrkr] [quote=Indyone] Perhaps a two-tier approach like one that one of my fund companies uses would make the most sense...have a second set of hotline numbers for the larger producers where LPL would focus a higher percentage of their best customer service associates, while letting more of the less experienced associates cut their teeth on smaller producers.[/quote]
Indy-they already do that![/quote]
They DO?!!! I wonder which number I have...
bspears, And others!
As you use LPL system and paper work more you will need to talk to the home office less.
The paper work can be confusing
But coming from Jones you will need some time. Nothing against you but LPL has so much more to offer you and the clients it could take you a year or so to understand some of the investments options and platforms.
Good luck and welcome aboard!
[quote=Indyone]
[quote=joedabrkr] [quote=Indyone] Perhaps a two-tier approach like one that one of my fund companies uses would make the most sense…have a second set of hotline numbers for the larger producers where LPL would focus a higher percentage of their best customer service associates, while letting more of the less experienced associates cut their teeth on smaller producers.[/quote]
Indy-they already do that![/quote]
They DO?!!! I wonder which number I have...
[/quote]The "special number" is for Chairman's club, I believe.
OK Joedabearer of bad news…since I’m a little short of $600K annual, I now know what number I have. The good news is that I’ve gotten excellent service even though I found out that I’m a grunt…an above-average grunt, but a grunt nonetheless.
[quote=Indyone]OK Joedabearer of bad news…since I’m a little short of $600K annual, I now know what number I have. The good news is that I’ve gotten excellent service even though I found out that I’m a grunt…an above-average grunt, but a grunt nonetheless.[/quote]
I too have found the service to be good, despite the fact that I am slightly below your slightly above averageness.
A friend of mine used to share office space with a million dollar producer, and said big hitter’s assistant had access to the special extension at the service center. Apparently the service was pretty amazing, and my buddy would sometimes use it when he had a particularly difficult issue to address.
[quote=Cowboy93]I believe they lose money on every producer, but make it up in volume.[/quote]
I'm smilin cause I'm pretty sure that was meant as joke.
Greenbacks,
You're right on. I'm in information overload!! What a tremendous jump on platforms! I PM'd someone about the steep learning curve here and to just try to learn a platform or two and then keep adding. ALso, the wholesalers have a tremendous amount of info they want you to see. For Spiffys benefit, this is not an overstatement!! To all the Jones people..."Good Luck, and Good SELLING"