Day 1 Doorknocking (EDJ)
49 RepliesJump to last post
I’ve gotten my arse handed to me today doorknocking and I like to think I’m pretty good at this. Somedays you are the bug, somedays you are the windshield.
About to crank out one more street and then make some calls.
My point … Keep knocking. You only need to find one or two really good ones a day.
Knocked on a ton of doors, spoke to hardly no one. Those that answered were in bad moods or I ruined their day by knocking. It’s usually different, my worst outting in 4 months. Tomorrow is a new day.
I did end the day talking to a lady that has a 401k from an old job. She brushed me off a little but I’ll work on her. Guess I was giving off a bad vibe today or something…
Some days are just like that. Some neighborhoods are like that. Neighborhoods have personalities. Some are warm and inviting and even if you don’t get any $500K rollovers that day, you feel good walking away from it. Others, even if you do find the $500K rollover, you feel like you need to take a shower when your done just to get past the negative vibes the people gave off.
I say take it and run. You have some credibility because you won't be working out of the trunk of your car and when a prospect asks where your office is you won't have to answer "we're working on negotiating my lease". I took over a small office of 3 million when I was a Jones and very little was worthwhile as I was the third person but it was better than nothing. I left to take over more at a CU so I can relate to being despised by colleagues, to hell with them I say. Just don't get too comfortable, you're probably getting the bottom of the barrel of the FA's clients, CD rate whores and PAC plans so just keep prospecting and act like they're not even there. How big a GK did you get?[/quote][quote=EJRookie] [quote=Mr.Blonde]Goodknight? uh oh[/quote]
Dammit. 1/2 the FAs I talk to are jealous, the other 1/2 act like it’s a contagious disease. What’s your take on it, Mr. Blonde?
It's a little over 10 million. I've known the FA for a while, and he was honest with me. His words "most of these accounts are stuff that I just don't want to deal with. There are a few great accounts in there, but I hate seeing those people pulling into the parking lot. They're your problem now". I'm not putting too much faith in it, but it's definitely nice to be able to say "my office is _______".
You know what, it f’s up your bonus opportunity because the standards are much higher, but at the end of the day, it’s really about making it in this business. Starting from scratch out of your house, your chances are about 10%. Doing a 10mm Goodknight, your chances are probably more like 70-80%.
And it's good that your vet was honest with you about the book. I pulled a handful of gems out of my Goodknights (honestly, I have about 10 households left of my goodknight accounts), but some months it made the difference, and a few have turned into real good clients. Yes, many, many were pains in the arse, but I also got good practice with reviews on people where I already had their money, so I wasn't worried about "selling" something. I then did a Legacy Plan for a new FA, but forced him to take my bottom-of-the-barrel clients I got from the Goodknight (a "Partner" Plan). I gave him maybe 350K, but it was like 45 households.[quote=B24]You know what, it f’s up your bonus opportunity because the standards are much higher, but at the end of the day, it’s really about making it in this business. Starting from scratch out of your house, your chances are about 10%. Doing a 10mm Goodknight, your chances are probably more like 70-80%.
And it's good that your vet was honest with you about the book. I pulled a handful of gems out of my Goodknights (honestly, I have about 10 households left of my goodknight accounts), but some months it made the difference, and a few have turned into real good clients. Yes, many, many were pains in the arse, but I also got good practice with reviews on people where I already had their money, so I wasn't worried about "selling" something.[/quote]Yeah, I knew that it would significantly raise my minimums. The book is about 300 accounts, all of which were opened by him. I'll be happy if I keep 1/2 of them. He's 8 years in as a new/new, I'm hoping that I'll be in a position to trim the fat a little when I'm that far in.
Here’s what you do. Try to learn what you can about all of them. Once you determine if they are “mineable” or not, put them on your lists: one for the “follow-ups”, one for the “never waste time on again”. Be careful here - there might be people that you gel with, and though may not be loaded, may be a source of referrals - these will be tought to ferret out, but you never know.
Then really just focus on your top X% of GK clients. It will probably be less than 25 people. But hey, 25 quality clients is nothing to sneeze at. Most likely, a large % of the assets is a small % of the clients. For me, it was WAAAy out of line. I got $5mm. About 4.5mm was in 4 households. The other 175 accounts were the other $500K (actually a little less than 500K when all was said and done). But don't let the "Jones trap" convince you to try to cross-sell some term-life or a $50/mo. DCA to that 29 year-old with a $3,256 Roth IRA. You will just be wasting your time and amking no money doing it. It might make you feel good, and might open some more accounts, but you will FAIL if you use this strategy. Find out your "Top 25" (or whatever the number is) as quickly as possible, then move on. Above all-else, KEEP PROSPECTING. This is exactly how GK's can fail out. They think $10mm in crappy assets is going to sustain them. DON'T GET LAZY.Thanks, B24. I appreciate the advice! That’s the recurring theme… Keep prospecting! I’m really not looking forward to doorknocking for 5 years, but I guess I’ll do what it takes. I hope I can get my referral system working for me, the sooner that happens, the sooner I get off the doorstep.
[quote=EJRookie] [quote=B24]You know what, it f’s up your bonus opportunity because the standards are much higher, but at the end of the day, it’s really about making it in this business. Starting from scratch out of your house, your chances are about 10%. Doing a 10mm Goodknight, your chances are probably more like 70-80%.
And it's good that your vet was honest with you about the book. I pulled a handful of gems out of my Goodknights (honestly, I have about 10 households left of my goodknight accounts), but some months it made the difference, and a few have turned into real good clients. Yes, many, many were pains in the arse, but I also got good practice with reviews on people where I already had their money, so I wasn't worried about "selling" something.[/quote]Yeah, I knew that it would significantly raise my minimums. The book is about 300 accounts, all of which were opened by him. I'll be happy if I keep 1/2 of them. He's 8 years in as a new/new, I'm hoping that I'll be in a position to trim the fat a little when I'm that far in.
[/quote] I'll tell you what you do. Right away schedule an appointment with EVERY SINGLE CLIENT. When they come in, get to know EVERYTHING about them and find out every bit of money that they have elsewhere. You'll find that the majority of them don't have half their money with you and alot of the time it is because they didn't like the previous FA. I know alot of people that have just absolutely hated their GK clients, but I took over a small office and I brought in nearly $6M from the existing clients in a month. Your GKis twice what my office was. The one's who don't have any money, won't answer the phone, or don't value your advice, just delete their account. No point in having 300 accounts of people that don't wanna talk to you. Your business will build based on how you start building it. You get what you ask for. If you start deleting accounts, getting rid of clients who have very little money, but don't value your advice and only deal with the people who like you, value your advice, and have money then your GK will be the best thing that ever happened to you. I'm one of those that believe GKS and Existing offices just aren't worked the right way and thats why people feel like they are a burden. They became clients for a reason at one point, which means they have a good chance of being a good client to you. If they aren't, don't keep them. Your wasting your time, which is what alot of people do with their GK's.
Thats the closest thing wind has ever given to good advice. I do love how you again threw ur fake numbers in there though, never woulda saw that one coming.
[quote=MsBroker]Wouldn’t 6mm in assets equal quite a bit more than 27 gross?[/quote]
WHY? WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO US MsBroker? Have you not learned anything from me and our special time together? If Windy writes more than two lines and there are numbers in it… simply ignore.
Oops… maybe I wanted to see someone else’s thread get highjacked by Windy’s production debate and the innumerable gay jokes that come with. By god, if I can’t have a decent wind-free thread, noone can.
Well, not reallly, I was just supporting fa09 there.
Fake numbers? You do realize, that you can transfer existing assets and not make much money off of it right? I said i brought in assets, not invested $6M cash. Oh and my bad, it’s been a month and a half and last month wasn’t an ugly month either. Anymore questions, or can we stay on topic?
Call me crazy but I totally believe every client Windy spoke to had double the $$$ somewhere else and moved them in because he sat down with him. (on avg.)
Face it guys - everyone of your clients is only telling you 1/2 of the truth. All their other money is somewhere else and studs like windbag, if they talk to him, will it get all with one conversation.
So what about day 2 3 4 5 & 6 ???
" I'm really not looking forward to doorknocking for 5 years, but I guess I'll do what it takes. I hope I can get my referral system working for me, the sooner that happens, the sooner I get off the doorstep" You can not change your reality but you can change how you perceive it. WHAT IF you loved door knocking and your enthusiasm and quick whit came through when you did it? WHAT IF you looked foreword to it? How long would it be until you had your own office and a fat book that was all yours for life?[quote=Ronnie Dobbs][quote=EJRookie] [quote=B24]You know what, it f’s up your bonus opportunity because the standards are much higher, but at the end of the day, it’s really about making it in this business. Starting from scratch out of your house, your chances are about 10%. Doing a 10mm Goodknight, your chances are probably more like 70-80%.
And it's good that your vet was honest with you about the book. I pulled a handful of gems out of my Goodknights (honestly, I have about 10 households left of my goodknight accounts), but some months it made the difference, and a few have turned into real good clients. Yes, many, many were pains in the arse, but I also got good practice with reviews on people where I already had their money, so I wasn't worried about "selling" something.[/quote]Yeah, I knew that it would significantly raise my minimums. The book is about 300 accounts, all of which were opened by him. I'll be happy if I keep 1/2 of them. He's 8 years in as a new/new, I'm hoping that I'll be in a position to trim the fat a little when I'm that far in.
[/quote] I'll tell you what you do. Right away schedule an appointment with EVERY SINGLE CLIENT. When they come in, get to know EVERYTHING about them and find out every bit of money that they have elsewhere. You'll find that the majority of them don't have half their money with you and alot of the time it is because they didn't like the previous FA. I know alot of people that have just absolutely hated their GK clients, but I took over a small office and I brought in nearly $6M from the existing clients in a month. Your GKis twice what my office was. The one's who don't have any money, won't answer the phone, or don't value your advice, just delete their account. No point in having 300 accounts of people that don't wanna talk to you. Your business will build based on how you start building it. You get what you ask for. If you start deleting accounts, getting rid of clients who have very little money, but don't value your advice and only deal with the people who like you, value your advice, and have money then your GK will be the best thing that ever happened to you. I'm one of those that believe GKS and Existing offices just aren't worked the right way and thats why people feel like they are a burden. They became clients for a reason at one point, which means they have a good chance of being a good client to you. If they aren't, don't keep them. Your wasting your time, which is what alot of people do with their GK's.[/quote]
I'm afraid Ronnie might be over exaggerating this a little. Be very careful about how you approach any discontinuation in business relationship with these people. Contact your FSD, they will help you approach it.
You can't just get rid of clients and delete their accounts.
Actually, you can if there is no activity and no money in the account. If you cannot contact them, you bet you can. Already spoke with FSD and i’ve already deleted plenty.
We are not talking about unfunded accounts, we are talking about accounts that have “little money”, or those “that don’t value your advice”. You can’t force a client to just close their funded accounts and send them their money, unless your FSD has different rules than mine. I would speculate that a lot of the 300 households in the aforementioned GK have money in them.
I am trying to help you not spread bad information just to satisfy your ego.
[quote=iceco1d]I thought he was talking about making them Edward Jones “house accounts.” Am I wrong?[/quote]
I don’t think we do that (I could totally be wrong, I haven’t tried to “fire” too many clients). I have (yes, current tense) a client whose needs cannot be met by our business model. FSD agrees, instructed me to suggest a move to another firm and told me that I can refuse buys, not sells, and cannot force a change in firm.
The FSD never gave me an option to make it a house account, I suspect that they would have if it were available.