Choosing an EJ location
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I was hired by Jones, and will be starting this summer. I looked at the door knocking a bit differently; I wanted to see what it would take for me to do it, what the responses/reception would be, and if I saw myself doing this for the foreseeable future.
As far as the subsequent interview goes, the gentleman barely looked at them. You could write anything in the sheets and nobody would honestly know. Do the door knocking under the conditions you will have to when your paycheck depends on it, and it may answer more questions for you than the forum. Just the .02 from someone who has yet to even start training.[quote=Potential][quote=buyandhold]Good one. Thanks for making me smile.
Cold calling? I will have to look into that. None of us have ever considered that before.[/quote] Why the sarcasm? Did I imply no one had ever thought of cold calling before? [quote=buyandhold]The rigors of doorknocking?[/quote] Yeah, the rigors. I would say making a phone call is easier than walking around in 25 degree weather while it's snowing (like it is right now), wouldn't you? [quote=buyandhold] Now if I had to tote around a jackhammer for 10 hours in the freezing weather, like my old man, that would be rigorous. [/quote] I guess if your old man ever logs in, he'll have the right to ridicule me for calling doorknocking rigorous. Seriously, I don't want to be contentious. If you don't have something constructive to say, please spare me the mindless jeering and derision. Doorknocking is more rigorous than phone calling. That's a fact, not an opinion.[/quote]Please say rigroes, instead of rigors. Thanks.
[quote=Potential][quote=buyandhold]Good one. Thanks for making me smile.
Cold calling? I will have to look into that. None of us have ever considered that before.[/quote] Why the sarcasm? Did I imply no one had ever thought of cold calling before? [quote=buyandhold]The rigors of doorknocking?[/quote] Yeah, the rigors. I would say making a phone call is easier than walking around in 25 degree weather while it's snowing (like it is right now), wouldn't you? [quote=buyandhold] Now if I had to tote around a jackhammer for 10 hours in the freezing weather, like my old man, that would be rigorous. [/quote] I guess if your old man ever logs in, he'll have the right to ridicule me for calling doorknocking rigorous. Seriously, I don't want to be contentious. If you don't have something constructive to say, please spare me the mindless jeering and derision. Doorknocking is more rigorous than phone calling. That's a fact, not an opinion.[/quote]I'm not from EJ and a conversation about their methodology is foreign to me, might as well be written in German/ But for sure. despite your intentions, you are being contentious.
[quote=Chuck]maddmatt
I am with jones and almost 2yrs out of the gate. Here is my 2 cents. Year one selling not as hard as you think, you are working your tail off and getting a salary, very small but you aren't starting at zero. Year two, that salary is gone and the pressure to produce and survive mounts. I have found that the lows in this biz are really low, but all it takes is one day to turn them around. As long as your lows are getting higher rather than lower, you should be fine... can't say enough about just doing the work and keeping it positive between the ears. Good luck to you at whatever firm you choose, it will be 10 times as hard as you think it will be, no matter how much you read these forums. [/quote] Appreciate the heads up. The article in WSJ also stated the average Jones rep. earns $65K a year, yet the interviewer at Jones told me it was $299K. I imagine somewhere in between is the truth, but it does matter how accurate these numbers are. If $65K is accurate, that seems a tad low. Unless they meant 1st year and neglected to say that. Any ideas?HAHAHA the guy who told you $299k was sniffing glue. There are only 4 FA’s in my region pulling down 299K and I think 1 of them is well below that right now. 65k probably is accurate but you have to keep in mind, that number includes the couple thousand >2yrs FA’s who are making 35-50k. After 4 yrs you should be pulling down about 100-120k. The average in my region is probably around 175k. Just think of it this way, Top Producers is anything over 500k gross. Thats only 200k net. There were only like 258 Top Producers last year.
food for thoughtAverages don’t mean diddly. I can say for certain that the average for the firm is much higher than 65K. But it is certainly NOT 299K. If I could venture a guess, I would say it is somewhere in the 125K range. Keep in mind, though there are like 12,000 FA’s, about half of them started in the past 5 years, so it’s a very young company, in terms of tenure. And also, 65K net does not even equate to a profitable office (you need to be somewhere around 85K net to be profitable, even though it’s more a function of gross production and expenses).
I would guess the article was talking more about someone in their first few years or something.Spiff nailed it. But my point was that the majority of my clients aren't even in my office's zipcode. And I would suggest that it's the same thing for most other brokers. So my "true" territory is more like my county, which has 250,000 people (100,000 households). I would say 85% of my clients, give or take, are within my county. The reported LNIA's in my county are about $35Billion. So I live in a rather wealthy area. And I think 35B's can be split among a few of us. And there are (I think) 8 Jones FA's in my county.[/quote] Spiff/B24... My location has 460mm L.I.A., Jones currently has almost 5%mkt share currently, competition in town is negligeable (ins. salesmen). Good or bad situation overall, considering apparently the assets are lower than usual? Thanks![quote=DCnew]B24, what are the liguid investable asset projections for the town of 12k? just curious. Seems like alot of brokers for such a small community
460mm is a small zip code, but I have to assume that you pull clients (or can) from other markets. If you are looking at the Market Share report from Jones, keep in mind, those are just zip codes. Most of us pull clients from well beyond our own zip code. So look at all the zips that you pull clients from and add them up. I would guess it’s a much bigger number.
Just look at your market share. 5% of 460mm is only 23mm. So the other Jones guys must be pulling market share from other zips.[quote=B24]Averages don’t mean diddly. I can say for certain that the average for the firm is much higher than 65K. But it is certainly NOT 299K. If I could venture a guess, I would say it is somewhere in the 125K range. Keep in mind, though there are like 12,000 FA’s, about half of them started in the past 5 years, so it’s a very young company, in terms of tenure. And also, 65K net does not even equate to a profitable office (you need to be somewhere around 85K net to be profitable, even though it’s more a function of gross production and expenses).
I would guess the article was talking more about someone in their first few years or something.[/quote] I thought $65K sounded low. Of course, I don't plan on being average, but these numbers do help a person assess an opportunity. If the average doctor only made $35K a year I doubt very many people would pay for medical school. I have heard for years that the average stockbroker made around $58K per year. Taking the bank reps and newbies I figured this to be a six figure opportunity or higher for a hustler. I can see the first two or three years will be an ass whipping. I am amazed at the recent growth at Jones. Is this a good or bad thing?[quote=UNDERMINDED]HAHAHA the guy who told you $299k was sniffing glue. There are only 4 FA’s in my region pulling down 299K and I think 1 of them is well below that right now. 65k probably is accurate but you have to keep in mind, that number includes the couple thousand >2yrs FA’s who are making 35-50k. After 4 yrs you should be pulling down about 100-120k. The average in my region is probably around 175k. Just think of it this way, Top Producers is anything over 500k gross. Thats only 200k net. There were only like 258 Top Producers last year.
food for thought[/quote] Makes sense. Thanks for the input.The average home-office person answers the phone and gives out information they pull off the system. Not to discredit them, but there are lots of entry-level employees at the home office.
This is a quote from some Edward Jones material..."The average yearly earnings for Edward Jones Financial Advisors with 7 or more years' tenure who are meeting expectations is $203000..."
According to most of the reps I've spoken with first year earnings usually average from 45K-55K depending on production. I guess if you consider the Pareto Principle, the top 20% generally make 80% of the total income. My GUESS would be that if you actually did a weighted average of all Jones reps...a cross section of reps might look something like this: top 5% make 300K or more, next 10% make 150K-300K, middle 50% make 75K-150K, and the rest make less. Of course, this is complete conjecture and has no basis in reality. Just a guess based on intuition. My contention is that the few top guys are skewing the average a lot more than the multitude of bottom guys. Anyone in any type of sales is familiar with this type of distribution of wealth. As a result, I take everything I "hear" with a grain of salt. I'll find out soon enough how much I'll make as a Jones rep...I was just hired!Thank you much! Looking forward to the day when I know what I don’t know, so I can ask you guys some intelligent questions.
[quote=Fud Box]
This is a quote from some Edward Jones material..."The average yearly earnings for Edward Jones Financial Advisors with 7 or more years' tenure who are meeting expectations is $203000..."
[/quote] That $203,000 almost certainly includes bonuses, trip values, profit sharing, etc.I went to the mall over the weekend and got 38 interviews in 2.5 hours. It was like shooting fish in a barrel, only 3 people I approached didn't want to interview. Do you think EJ will care (or even check) that I didn't do it door-to-door? I'm thinking about going back out and getting another 20 door-to-door, just in case.As far as the subsequent interview goes, the gentleman barely looked at them.
Potential,
The surveys would be fine for the interview, but I HIGHLY recommend you go back out in a higher end neighborhood, preferably comparable to the potential office location and door knock for YOUR sake, and make sure your willing to do this long term. Just a little advice Oh, and 3-7 are usually prime hours.