Branch Selection
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Maybe some of you Jones guys can help me out here. I’ve selected a location for my office and I know most of you said location won’t make or break you … but I do think it can help you.
A little background on the location: I live in a small college town, our main street is broken up in two areas. One area is closer to the college and parking is limited. The other area is a few miles away and a bit more spread out (the one I'm going after) Across the street from me would be a HUGE producer (2.5mm) with about a 500mm book pre-crash. He is with MSSB in a two person office. I chose the location because good parking, nice location, and want to leach some of his business off. SOOOOO here is the big question: About $1800.00 will show up on my P&L. Rent is $1000 and then you throw all the other stuff in (build out, etc.) Other locations are out there but not as "nice" in my opinion. Any feedback for me?That rent doesn’t sound bad, especially since you would consider it “nice”.
I would think of it just like buying a house. You are going to spend a lot of time there until you leave and go indy, so you might as well enjoy the space. The only other advice I would have is to have something on the ground floor actually ON the main street, if possible. My office is, and you would be suprised what you may see in the form of walk ins.Where do the majority of the clients that you want to prospect have a home? Will they pass your office on a daily commute? Are you close to their errands? What other types of offices are in your office building? How many suites are empty? How about your signage?
Hope that helps.Assuming your response to Noggin’s questions are all relatively positive, it sounds like a great spot. Chances are, there are lots of “client-type” people milling around that area, since there is a big producer across the street.
The rent is pretty cheap.The space available in my location ranges between $23-$30/sq foot unless you go with a maw/pop property owner who will let the roof cave in on you before fixing it.
Why are you Jones guys diffusing yourselves worrying about offices and rents? I thought the point of working for Jones is you didn’t have to do this stuff and now you’re doing the same thing the indy guys spend their time worrying about.
If I could re-do this ... I might have taken the expensive spot right next to the bank. Or the spot next to the largest CPA office in the area. As it is, $800 per for 1400 square (plus tax/utilities) was cheap 2 years ago. I could easily get the same 1400 square for $450 now. Really.
It was important to be at a crossroad where I was proximate to my entire book (a 15 mile radius from here). We don't have traffic, so no one travels more than 20 minutes to get anywhere. Congrats on the office, Volt.[quote=voltmoie]Maybe some of you Jones guys can help me out here. I’ve selected a location for my office and I know most of you said location won’t make or break you … but I do think it can help you.
A little background on the location: I live in a small college town, our main street is broken up in two areas. One area is closer to the college and parking is limited. The other area is a few miles away and a bit more spread out (the one I'm going after) Across the street from me would be a HUGE producer (2.5mm) with about a 500mm book pre-crash. He is with MSSB in a two person office. I chose the location because good parking, nice location, and want to leach some of his business off. SOOOOO here is the big question: About $1800.00 will show up on my P&L. Rent is $1000 and then you throw all the other stuff in (build out, etc.) Other locations are out there but not as "nice" in my opinion. Any feedback for me?[/quote]If you are planning to leave jones in 2 years, you should just pick the cheapest space that is already 99% built to jones standards.
[quote=Still@jones]
If you are planning to leave jones in 2 years, you should just pick the cheapest space that is already 99% built to jones standards.
[/quote]
The only thing I’m planning on is being able to decide in two years if I want to stay at Jones.
[quote=voltmoie]
[quote=Still@jones]
If you are planning to leave jones in 2 years, you should just pick the cheapest space that is already 99% built to jones standards.
[/quote]
The only thing I’m planning on is being able to decide in two years if I want to stay at Jones.
[/quote]
That makes sense. At least you are honoring your contract.
I'm going to tell the Weddle Me guy this, no Lp for you[quote=voltmoie] [quote=Still@jones]
If you are planning to leave jones in 2 years, you should just pick the cheapest space that is already 99% built to jones standards.
[/quote]
The only thing I’m planning on is being able to decide in two years if I want to stay at Jones.
[/quote]
That makes sense. At least you are honoring your contract.
[quote=voltmoie]Maybe some of you Jones guys can help me out here. I’ve selected a location for my office and I know most of you said location won’t make or break you … but I do think it can help you.
A little background on the location: I live in a small college town, our main street is broken up in two areas. One area is closer to the college and parking is limited. The other area is a few miles away and a bit more spread out (the one I'm going after) Across the street from me would be a HUGE producer (2.5mm) with about a 500mm book pre-crash. He is with MSSB in a two person office. I chose the location because good parking, nice location, and want to leach some of his business off. SOOOOO here is the big question: About $1800.00 will show up on my P&L. Rent is $1000 and then you throw all the other stuff in (build out, etc.) Other locations are out there but not as "nice" in my opinion. Any feedback for me?[/quote] Even if you keep building a nice book it will take you a couple years to be profitable so I would not really focus on how much the rent costs. If you feel this location is best for business go for it, I would rather get more commision now having a good location than getting a small bonus check one year early because you but costs and became profitable. I think you are on to something being next to the MSSB guy. He is probably not touching anyone under 500K or 1 million, so there will be a lot of low hanging fruit, plus when people get sick on never hearing from him they may walk across the street to your office and listen to what you have to say. Remember what they say about realestate, location, location, location. If it passes the eyeball test and it was good enough for the 2.5mm guy, there is probably a reason. One more thing, I know a lot of Jones guys when they get their office they start to spend a lot of time inside instead of going out and doing what made them successful, don't fall into this trap. Until you have 20 million AUM, you need to be out getting people in. Good luck.Our Merrill office has 4 brokers and one assistant (it used to have 2 - legacy Advest office).
The MS office has 4 brokers. The SB office has 6 brokers. The WFA office has 6 brokers.