You to client or client to you?
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How important is it to have your office near the area you want to work? Is it possible to work at a local complex but focus your efforts on an area 30 or 40 miles away?
I ask because there's a few wirehouses near where I live but the household income is much better closer to NYC. So do your clients meet with you in your office or do you meet with them at their home?Potential,
The answer is, it depends. I live in a suburb which is at least 50 miles from a major city (which makes it well, not really a suburb). So I need to be relatively close to where people work AND live (most people don't commute far in my area - most work locally). However, the dynamics are much different in the metro NYC area. Plenty of advisors and firms in NJ, Long Island, and lower CT serving people that work in the city. I would say you either need to be close to where they work OR live. But closer to where they work is probably preferred. Having worked and lived in NYC for years, most people (other than hourly shift workers) tend to arrive at work later and work later at night. So evening appointments at home after an hour commute at 7:00 at night is tough. But I also don't really know where you live/work or where you are trying to target, so I may be off base. I was just giving a starting point for the thread. I WILL say, for my clients that do commute some distance, most live near my office, and I tend to meet with them on evenings, days off, or weekends. Not many people commute to my area very far.If you want people to come to your office, it seems pretty obvious that you'll want your office to be close to these people.
Do you want to have to drive 45 + minutes for all of your appointments?
Hmm, maybe I can split the difference and look for an office somewhere between. I just wasn’t sure if most appointments were in office or at their dining room table. But office seems more likely … and more convenient since you split the driving. Something to think about…
As time goes on, most appointments are not at their homes. But remember, sometimes they may be coming to you from their home, and may not want to drive 40 miles. So if your practice is retiree-heavy, you need to be near their homes.
I don't like the idea of splitting the distance. Now you are not near their home, you're not near their office, you're not networking in town where they work. Bad idea. Either be in the city where they work, or near their home-towns. Unless you plan on a permanent road-show.I swear I read some posts a while back, from a couple different people, who discussed how they'd targeted some towns that were like 5 hours away.
Maybe they'll chime in. Or maybe I dreamed that.I think you need to be somewhere in the middle
The best clients are the ones that you can meet up w/ , and if the most affluent live by the city , then you just answered your own question.
I live right next to the city and my daily commute is 40 mins via PT because Im not a big shot yet.
Yes , our guys head out to Cali at least once a year to touch base w/ their big guys there.
It is essential to keep them