As annoying as it is, I have seen no evidence, emperical or annecdotal, that more or fewer Jones FA's equates to more or less success.  I would agree that the cities with FA's on every corner may be tougher to start in (i.e. St. Louis), but something tells me that a town of 8000 with 2 FA's should not be an impediment to success.

My issue has more to do with the prospecting methods we utilize more than the additional body, which Still illustrated well. 

I have knocked on doors in every viable corner of my town with the exception of three / four streets.  A  new guy will go back over every inch of the community I touched trying to reach his numbers which was tough for me and I was the only game in town.  His prospecting of the same people I’m prospecting hurts our image as a company and to some degree my credibility.  Those prospects will begin to wonder if I’m still there, is this person replacing me?  There will also be fatigue on the prospects part.

It’s my opinion my town CAN handle two FAs, at some point.  It’s just not logical to pop them back to back. Especially after you see that someone is growing a viable business. Let it grow to a certain level, nurture it, and then grow.  Growth for growths sake is silly.  That’s there the logic fails…   It’s done though, I’ve moved on mentally.

If Volt were 3-5 years in and doing pretty comfortably for example spending 1/2 his time with existing clients/service and 1/2 his time prospecting using mainly networking, referrals, targeted cold-calls or cold-walking businesses, etc then it might make sense to bring in a newbie to pound the pavement and pick up the stuff the established advisor (volt) isn’t aware of or won’t get because he’s working smarter now rather than harder.

Having two people spending 100% of their time prospecting a town of 8000 using the same method is just stupid.

I think Jones puts two new FAs in one town so that when one quits, the other is ready to take over their book. I’m sure this makes sense in St.Louis…but for a new FA trying to build a book, it makes it harder to succeed. I think Volt is getting screwed…

Think of it this way…I would expect 300 clients/households is a good number for a Jones office. If Volt has to split his town, he and the other FA get 1,500 houses to knock. With these numbers, they need to convert 20% of those contacts into clients.

Didn’t Jones say 3% of contacts will become clients…he’s getting screwed!!!

I don’t think Jones is that devilish.  I honestly think they just have thier big market penetration map, and anywhere that doesn’t have X number of FA’s per X $$'s and households is an available location.  It’s a bit more complicated than that ( they factor in demographics, density, etc.), but generally, a location either can or cannot accomodate another FA per their metrics.  The country and company is much too big for them to go one by one saying “Oh look, Still@Jones is only out 6 months, and this guy is brand new, let’s put him there so if Still fails, the other guy will take over his accounts”.

Volt - the guy might not even end up in your town.  Didn't you say there were a few towns around you that didn't have anyone there?  If it were me, I'd have lunch with the new FA, tell him that you've already doorknocked the entire town, recently, and that his best shot for new prospects would be to go to one of those other towns during KYC.  Then, tell him to call the RL and tell him that you've done so much prospecting in that town that he keeps running into your prospects.  Tell the new guy that he needs to ask the RL if he can put his office in one of those other towns. 

I think Jones puts two new FAs in one town so that when one quits, the other is ready to take over their book. I’m sure this makes sense in St.Louis…but for a new FA trying to build a book, it makes it harder to succeed. I think Volt is getting screwed…

Think of it this way…I would expect 300 clients/households is a good number for a Jones office. If Volt has to split his town, he and the other FA get 1,500 houses to knock. With these numbers, they need to convert 20% of those contacts into clients.

Didn’t Jones say 3% of contacts will become clients…he’s getting screwed!!!

Volt-

When I was at Jones, this topic used to drive me up a wall. I wanted the firm to stop trying to add folks until I was a solid Seg 4 office and then I would help add persons that would be successful. The philosophy is to continue to throw people at an area until one sticks, once one sticks keep throwing people at it until two stick. And so on and so on. I don’t believe there is any malice there it is just the way they do business. In a town of 8000 if you have 2 jones reps, there are probably 10-12 other reps that are licensed to do investment business in that town. I would not worry about the Jones people I would be a lot more concerned with the other reps. In my town I had a seg 3 office while another office turned over 4 times all in a year and a half…I finally asked them to just fold that office and roll the assets to me as I got tired of explaining why there was no one there again…they wouldn’t do it. After you get a certain number of reps in a area who wash out at some point the next person will be successful no matter who they are because of the work done in the past.

I think a portion of your time should definitely be spent on people you won’t get today. The HNW clients require a longer gestation period of interaction, as still and E24 have said.

volt - no offense, but have you ever heard the term “backfill”? Or possibly, more appropriately, “Potential Backfill”?

To be honest, I needed a kick in the ass ... this provided it.  My business will profit from it.  Don't think Jones is evil, just stupid about this. 

Along those lines, someone on here, can’t remember who, segments their clients into three segments:

volt - no offense, but have you ever heard the term “backfill”? Or possibly, more appropriately, “Potential Backfill”?

Total growth numbers for a region are dictated (with some input from the region) from St Louis. Where to actually place the number provided from above is mostly a regional decision. That’s the way it works in our region anyway.

I can only comment from my experince.  I dictated where I’d go based upon the assets to advisor formula Jones had in place.  My RL could careless where that was as long as he got another body.  Have no reason to suspect they are pushing someone into my backwoods market to backfill but you never know and it does not change the situation on the ground.

[quote=B24]Along those lines, someone on here, can’t remember who, segments their clients into three segments:

I like these ideas, I decided to only work with #3 (although at Jones they aren’t really fee based). But clients with money, that I like to work with and like to work with me. I don’t see even bothering with the others. The way I see it is, if you build your business the way you want it (only dealing with good clients), you’ll only have those clients when your book is large. You can also decide later on, the number of clients you choose to have in your office. Ex: 100-200 Cleints with $200,000 or more or whatever number you choose. #1 & #2 (to me) shouldn’t even be a consideration unless you are going for a commission today (Which just causes conflicts of interest, when you are just trying to get a commission from em. #3 clients are going to be clients you get close to and always wanna do whats best for). I don’t see a reason to work with anyone, that doesn’t value what I have to say or causes alot of stress at my office. In my opinion, and this is just ME, if you focus on #3 ONLY, you’ll be alot better off in the long run. It’s worked for me.

I like these ideas, I decided to only work with #3 (although at Jones they aren’t really fee based). But clients with money, that I like to work with and like to work with me. I don’t see even bothering with the others. The way I see it is, if you build your business the way you want it (only dealing with good clients), you’ll only have those clients when your book is large. You can also decide later on, the number of clients you choose to have in your office. Ex: 100-200 Cleints with $200,000 or more or whatever number you choose. #1 & #2 (to me) shouldn’t even be a consideration unless you are going for a commission today (Which just causes conflicts of interest, when you are just trying to get a commission from em. #3 clients are going to be clients you get close to and always wanna do whats best for). I don’t see a reason to work with anyone, that doesn’t value what I have to say or causes alot of stress at my office. In my opinion, and this is just ME, if you focus on #3 ONLY, you’ll be alot better off in the long run. It’s worked for me.

Let me re-phrase that. If someone has below $100,000 and wants to do business, go for it. Just don't expect me to continually prospect someone with less money than that. I may do a repeat contact by phone, but after that I am finished. People with less money than that take forever to transfer over and usually become a problem child because they have $25,000 and think they are your biggest client. My clients with over $200,000 don't require that much work. they understand how things work.