Know Your Customer
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Hey guys,
I am a newly hired FA at Edward Jones. I have been reading many of these posts through out the interview process and find this site very informative and up to date. Although i have a B.A. in Psych and am finishing up my MBA, I am starting a totally new career. I have sales experience and know of all the struggles and everything that comes along with this career. I start August 11th with my Study For Success and Exams. The question i have is this: What is the Know Your Customer and/or Graduation dates in St. Louis consist of? Is it very streneous or is it like alot of training i have been to for past jobs that consisted of a few hours of sleeping in class and then everyone going out every night. I am just curious what to expect. Thanks alot guys..Plan on 12 hour days, building presentations, role playing, computer demos, guest speakers, etc. Not just classroom lecture. You’re going to be in a room of 10-12 other folks for the majority of the week, so you won’t be able to sit in the back and snooze. You’ll hear more about it when you pass your S7. Good luck with that.
Training goes by pretty quickly in class. I thought it was pretty funny watching people make a fool of themselves. However it depends on the group you get stuck with. If you get someone that is going to ask a lot of dumb questions, you’ll want to kill yourself…
Lots of late nights at the trainwreck… You’ll know when you get there.
I had fun at KYC, Eval Grad, PDP. I didn’t mind the week long classes. I kinda enjoyed it… and NO I dont like going to classes. I usually always skipped in college. Some times it is a snoozer but overall goes by fairly quickly.
It is interesting to go to KYC and then come back from your location to EVAL/GRAD and interact with everyone that is doing the same thing you are.
Spiff is correct, plan on 12 hour days plus some homework in the evenings. Most days you'll have to be at the training center at 7:00 a.m., so you'll want to be on the 6:30 shuttle. Be prepared to be abruptly snatched out of your comfort zone. You'll be doing "role playing" with the instructor, classmates and trainees from other classes. You'll also be called on regularly by the instructor to role play in front of the class. You'll be very tired by Wednesday, but since you'll be seated in a fairly small rectangle of desks, there is zero opportunity to catch a nap. Welcome to the greatest sales force on earth, and good luck on the 7 and 66.I have sales experience and know of all the struggles and everything that comes along with this career.
Luckily in the current sales job i have been at for the past 2 years, we have had alot of vendor training, role playing, sales training and such. So atleast i have an idea what it will be like with the whole “out of your comfort zone” idea. I’m familiar with sales, so that may be what your talking about. I appreciate the luck for the exams I am sure i could use it.
Well, maybe not everyone. Our class had two people who didn't make it back to EVAL/GRAD. One guy was a retired executive from Slim Jim, who thought this would be a fund second career (he was in his late 50s). I think he thought he would just invest his friends' money and have a nice income rolling in. After a week of doorknocking, he decided that this was actually work (shocker), and he quit. The fact that he had a strong New York accent, and was prospecting in North Carolina probably didn't help.…
It is interesting to go to KYC and then come back from your location to EVAL/GRAD and interact with everyone that is doing the same thing you are.
Just got back and you get lunch & dinner at the schoolhouse if that gives you any indication. What’s more there is homework consisting of going out of your room and practicing your door knocking. You need to be comfortable with feeling uncomfortable because while the material wasn’t all that challenging, getting out of your comfort zone was. Focus on the 7 first-without that under your belt you won’t be going to KYC.
They film your presentation and then critique it in front of you. Quite Funny!!
You don’t need to try and be-little by saying “Focus on the 7 or you aren’t going”, because that is irrelevant to the question i asked. I know what to focus on, so turning this into a “Listen to me cause i know all” post isn’t going to answer my question. If i need advice on the 7…I’ll ask. Needless to say, i hate negativity on these things.