I started at Waddell & Reed and jumped ship as soon as I completed the Series 7 and 66 exams.  In my early prospecting days I was constantly asked “Who?” when I mentioned where I worked.  Getting people to pay for a financial plan when you can only offer (in my opinion) a limited menu, works against you.
Prudential has the name recognition and the product line.  But you will find that insurance is the main line of business.  Everything else is an afterthought.  If you do not mind being an insurance salesman, the go for it.
But even with the products and the name recognition, it may not be any easier for you.  You’ll be selling stuff no one really wants to buy - - until they need it and by that time they cannot get it (at a reasonable price…).

I have only heard bad things about Waddell and Reed.  I would check out Jones before them.

W&R is a okay place to start. As soon as you learn a little about the biz and the MFunds, Insurance, Planning…I would get out of there. As mentioned prior, Prudential is going to lean towards insurance based investments (even though they say they don’t). They have a pretty popular 401k platform as well. The fact that you can work under a “senior” advisor may be beneficial. I am sure that will come at a cost to you.
If you can find an indy “senior” advisor that will make the same offer, that could be the best bet. If not, I would move over to Prudential knowing that you will most likely move again later on.
You have a few more years to get under you before you will really know if this is it for you. You have to be patient and not desperate. Waddell breeds desperate advisors. That is part of the problem I am sure. Selling Plans in the current environment is tough.
Good luck and let us know what you decide.

When you say “limited success,” what does that mean?  What’s your AUM & production? 

 
Thanks for the answers so far. I have only about 900k in AUM and have only made about 18k. I have a separate home based business that I make my living on. Tired of putting all this time in and not getting much closed. I have about 34k in commissions that I feel I should be able to close this quarter but the clients seem to be dragging there feet. I feel they do not trust me. Every prospect I meet has never heard of W&R. Could that be a serious problem? Of course they tell me its not the problem. The atmosphere at W&R is not aggressive at all. Most of the advisors there seem kinda lazy to me. Maybe thats just me.
I am setting up 8-10 quality appointments a week, just can’t close. My friend at Prundential, says my production should be much higher given the prospecting success that I am doing. These are my 3 concerns and why I am considering moving:

[quote][quote]When you say “limited success,” what does that mean?  What’s your AUM & production? [/quote] 
 
Thanks for the answers so far. I have only about 900k in AUM and have only made about 18k. I have a separate home based business that I make my living on. Tired of putting all this time in and not getting much closed. I have about 34k in commissions that I feel I should be able to close this quarter but the clients seem to be dragging there feet. I feel they do not trust me. Every prospect I meet has never heard of W&R. Could that be a serious problem? Of course they tell me its not the problem. The atmosphere at W&R is not aggressive at all. Most of the advisors there seem kinda lazy to me. Maybe thats just me.
I am setting up 8-10 quality appointments a week, just can’t close. My friend at Prundential, says my production should be much higher given the prospecting success that I am doing. These are my 3 concerns and why I am considering moving:

W&R is a crap company. But that is beside the point. People don’t buy company, they buy a good product. If they haven’t heard of W&R then they are dependent upon you to sell them. Obviously, you aren’t able to sell them. If you believe in and like the product you’re selling, then the close is natural. Tell me, have you bought the plan or the products for your own portfolio? If not, then why should your clients? I bought a VA with a portion of my assets. When I sell a VA now, I explain to clients why I own one. Needless to say, I close a lot of VA’s.

Maybe one of the reasons you aren't able to close as well as you'd like is because you didn't qualify them first. They sound more like "suspects" than "prospects".  Take their temperature on why they want YOU before wasting a lot of time. They can get product anywhere, but why do they want YOU???

Pjane007,

I am in the exam phase of W/R and am excited about joining but I guess I have some butterflies as well. I’ve worked either in the service or sales since I was 16 and am stoked that I am getting into this industry finally. But yea I have some butterflies of course. Anyways, I have been lurking these forums for a little while and finally decided to post.

What I’ve been hearing mostly about starting out at W/R is the first year is HARD and everything else is basically a non/minor issue like product knowledge your ability to sell. From what I understand it’s our job to get our name in the market and outside of the office as fast as we can and on a daily basis. Thrown to the wolves? Yea maybe, but it’s a lot better than sitting in an office all day with someone constantly checking on your because that’s their job. I prefer this than the office politics when I was in retail banking.

But about the sales ability and product knowledge, don’t get me wrong, both those are issues that are very important for anyone selling ANYTHING but to me that will come naturally. You will eventually learn the product you are selling either by the training you did or over time naturally, and your ability to sell improves as with any sales job whether you have sales goals or working as a barista. Sales is all the same, just depends on the level of sales required.

What I am confused about is that you seem to be making MORE than enough meetings with potentials each week and nothing to prove. It’s like you get 8-10 dates a week and no pussy, that 40 chicks a month and you didn’t even get to touch a boob! Haha I don’t want to sound mean, instead it seems like it’s more about your ability to sell. So back to what I was saying about the main hard part about first year or more – sounds like you got your name out there fine and cause people are coming in your door at LEAST 1 per day which is good. I’ve heard the norm is 1 per week!!! Anyways..

Navet was saying, “If you believe in and like the product you're selling, then the close is natural.” This is true man. Make the sales process normal and less like a sales process. They tell me to get away from trying to sell products and closer to actually helping people on an annual basis. It makes sense cause theoretically you WILL be helping them again as the product line consists of mostly long-term products so that you will HAVE to see them in the future.

Did you ever go on a date with a chick and the only thing you had on your mind was getting in her pants? Usually it doesn’t work out cause she knows, it’s better to make conversation and spend some quality time so she likes to hang out with you. Again, its not like you’re just trying to sell an orgasm, you are actually trying to get to know them and find out what her dreams and goals are. O.o

Damn, sorry for the wall of text hope it helps! :)

sorry for the repeat, the system is going nuts

So who did u choose? WnR or pru? I work for pru, feel free to ask me what I think of it.