Just pump your fist and say "HIIIIIIIYYYEEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"  Oh, wait...that's HOWARD Dean...

How about "I've left my firm and wanted you to know that I've formed Deaniac Investment Management.  I'm in an office at 111 Main Street and my new number is 867-5309.  I've enjoyed working with you and wanted you to know where I was so you could reach me if you needed anything."  If the client gives you an opening, like asking what happens to their account, you can always add "Certainly you are welcome to stay at brand X, but I wanted you to know that I am still working as an investment advisor and you have alternatives."  Any client worth taking can figure out at that point that all they have to do to move is ask.

Depending on what your non-compete/non-solicit says, even that it probably pushing it.  I didn't even say that much...only that I'd left and my new number was XXX-XXXX.  Your A clients will ask to move at that point if you've done your job while at brand X.

As always, I'm not a lawyer and this is not legal advice, so don't do any of this without consulting legal counsel.

Welcome to the jungle...

Wow Indyone, I've never seen anyone be that relaxed about it.  Here is just a few things clients have told me about their contact w/ their former FA.  By the way, everytime I've seen an FA quit, they do it on a Friday afternoon and their clients have ACATS forms on Saturday morning. I do not know the legal ramifications of any of this though, so contact a lawyer.

"Brand X was pushing products, I can be more objective and independent here"

"I will own my practice here"

"Brand X kept raising their fees and commissions to levels that I was't comfortable with, so moving to me will lower your fees"

"All the problems we've had were all Brand X's fault because of their policies and procedures.  They just weren't flexible"

"Now that my team is gone, Brand X will probably close the local office and your account will be handled by office 123 that's 100 miles away"

"Brand X just wouldn't let me do business my way."

I basically took the same tactics as Indyone.  I didn't want to get into trouble with my prior B/D and on advice of my lawyer my letter to previous clients contained information only about where I was now and how to contact me.  No overt solicitation to leave the other company and DO NOT send ACAT forms with the informative letter.

However, when the clients called me or showed interest when I was talking to them then I used the iconsult method.  I especially stressed that as an independent I would not be forced to make an artificial quota set by some "corporate suit" in another part of the country.   That resonates very well with my clients as we are in an area of the country that tends to be very independent minded when it comes to governmental control and big brother telling us what to do. 

The clients figure out very quickly that quota = churning. 

Indy is right on in that your good clients will immediately come with you if you have done a good job in building relationships with them and in managing their portfolios.

All good points.  I also was truthful about why I left when asked.  I didn’t necessarily go negative on my ex-firm…the truth was more than adequate and included some of the points mentioned by iconsult, particularly the fact that I wasn’t allowed to use some investment alternatives that I thought would be very beneficial for clients.

It sounds like you guys have more integrity than my former co-workers. 

Here's how I hammer your book when you are leaving:

Did he discuss his compensation reasons for leaving?

Where is he going to get his research now?

Who watches his trades?

A lot of indies work from home. Is he going to be working part time, or full time?

Let me take a guess, all of a sudden your investment strategy needs changed, basically because he changed firms?

Deaniac, too bad I wasn't allowed to hammer your book.

Did he discuss his compensation reasons for leaving?

Yes.  He told me that since he wasn't paying for multi-million dollar GP salaries, he could make the same living without having to generate high levels of commissions and trades.  It sounds like I'll get much better service since he's not having to constantly hustle for more and more new clients to satisfy the agenda of some greedy supervisor.

Where is he going to get his research now?

He's able to get independent stock research from firms like S&P, and Wall Street research from firms like Credit Suisse First Boston, which has consistently ranked higher than the research he had at his old firm.

Who watches his trades?

I suppose the same type of compliance people that reviewed trades at his old office.  I trust him and don't really worry about that because he's always been open and honest with me.

A lot of indies work from home. Is he going to be working part time, or full time?

I don't understand what you're talking about.  I've been to his new office and it's much nicer than his old one.  Better yet, it doesn't smell like meatball subs.

Let me take a guess, all of a sudden your investment strategy needs changed, basically because he changed firms?

As a matter of fact, it has.  He's taking me completely off commissions.  Now when he calls, we can talk about portfolio strategy instead of me having to always fend off the bond of the week.

You're not dealing with very sophisticated competition if that crap is working for you.  The local Jonsers went together and ran ads when I left saying crap like "Has your advisor changed firms recently?  Now may be a great time to take a look at Edward Jones."  In the nine months since I left. they netted one client with a total of $80,000...and he's since spoken with me to tell me that he's sorry he made the switch.

If that's all you've got, you sure wouldn't hammer my book.

#1. Jones sells 2 products and I can now sell X

#2. Jones ethics have taken a turn for the worse. Mention the 350 or so

that are milking 70% off of the top. Mention the $200+ million in revenue

sharing for pushing inferior funds.





That is all you need.

It doesn't matter who comes in to "hammer" your book.  Just be cool--and have a plan and you get more than enough of your clients to come with you.

I'd focus on how the new firm has so much more than what you had before...treat it as a promotion in your career--as the next logical step for you with you and your clientsn both benefitting.  It's cake.

[quote=rankstocks]

Here's how I hammer your book when you are leaving:

Did he discuss his compensation reasons for leaving?

Where is he going to get his research now?

Who watches his trades?

A lot of indies work from home. Is he going to be working part time, or full time?

Let me take a guess, all of a sudden your investment strategy needs changed, basically because he changed firms?

Deaniac, too bad I wasn't allowed to hammer your book.

[/quote]

More often than not the "hammer job" that the Jones rep does to your clients will backfire on him.  When I left 18 months ago I had some hot shot IR who thought he would do the same.  Big mistake.  I ended up with 90% of my assets.  The new IR made a complete idiot of himself, lying to some of my best clients that clearly knew better. 

Rankstocks, if you have any experience in this business you should know better.  Total bush league!

My “replacement” tried to “hammer” my book also.  I think he hammers nails into 2x4’s somewhere now.  3 months he lasted.  What an idiot…to challenge the mighty ZACKO!

Deaniac....We used same "plan of attack" as Indyone & iconsult100...except when we left Friday we:

Changed the voice mail message to announce a monthly workshop w/ date, time, place. (we knew it would take a few days for TR broker to figure out how to get msgs)

Sent out very BLAH letter. "Dear Clients & Friends, I am pleased to announce...etc" then on Saturday we began calling & setting appointments, signing ACAT forms.

[quote=rankstocks]

Here's how I hammer your book when you are leaving:

Did he discuss his compensation reasons for leaving?

Where is he going to get his research now?

Who watches his trades?

We have compliance, same as you. In addition there is a series 24.

A lot of indies work from home. Is he going to be working part time, or full time?

If memory serves, Jones IR's start out from home as well, no?

Let me take a guess, all of a sudden your investment strategy needs changed, basically because he changed firms?

I know at least in our case, the answer to the above is...no. As we told all of our clients, "they were good investments when you bought them, they still are today. We have enjoyed working with you over the years and would like to continue to do so."

Deaniac, too bad I wasn't allowed to hammer your book.

Here's how I hammer your book when you are leaving:

Did he discuss his compensation reasons for leaving?

Where is he going to get his research now?

Who watches his trades?

A lot of indies work from home. Is he going to be working part time, or full time?

Let me take a guess, all of a sudden your investment strategy needs changed, basically because he changed firms?

Deaniac, too bad I wasn't allowed to hammer your book.

RANK-

Are you one of those lower life forms that suck-up to the Regional Leader and start sniveling for assets the minute you hear someone left- instead of trying to RECRUIT an experienced broker? You mean you would like to lick the boots of the Leadership Team to get a few assets added to your miserable book instead of WORK for it yourself?

I thought you were a TRUE JONES person? You never tried to RECRUIT?

Noobs like you always made me puke.

[quote=The Truth] #1. Jones sells 2 products and I can now sell X

#2. Jones ethics have taken a turn for the worse. Mention the 350 or so

that are milking 70% off of the top. Mention the $200+ million in revenue

sharing for pushing inferior funds.





That is all you need. [/quote]

While you’re at it, mention the fact that you are doing this for your own personal financial reasons, not theirs. You can say all you want that you have more options than at Jones, but you are leaving for your own financial gain. Period.

That may be for some, but it wasn't why I left (and went six weeks without a paycheck).  Sure, I figured that eventually, I'd probably make more money, but that was far from the reason I decided to move on.  I left for the freedom to run my business the way I felt it should be ran without interference from bankers who didn't understand my business and who were more interested in the bottom line than the welfare of my clients.

Just wondering what is wrong for leaving for more money. I see nothing wrong as long as the customer isn't impacted or at least understands. Hulkster, I used to believe the crap the EDJ management would tell us about fee based/money management programs. Now they are starting to embrace (at the usual snails pace) MAP and who knows maybe they will be forced to rethink their recurring revenue streams in the future.

At least we should be able to build a fee based biz so that we can relax and plan rather than sweat it out every month. How is that good for the client if we are constantly concerned about our monthly nut. It certainly isn't good for us to start every month at zero.

It has always been reinforced that there is only one customer. At EDJ it is the GP. I find it ironic that we are criticized for doing the same thing as the GP's, looking out for our own families. I ask the question what the hell is wrong with that?

While you're at it, mention the fact that you are doing this for your own personal financial reasons, not theirs. You can say all you want that you have more options than at Jones, but you are leaving for your own financial gain. Period.

There is no period about it, only in your little black and white world. 

Yes, I left so I could actually make more money. Ooooh aaaaah.  As if you are running a charitable business at EDJ. You don't care about making a living there do you?  Of course not.  All you guys wear those halos so well.  Sanctimonious pricks.

As Indyone put it very accurately. I can make more money by doing less. Less trading and "repositioning" (scare quotes) of client's accounts. Less reliance on the commission treadmill and more ability to actually service the clients that I have.  Sure I make more money NOW, but I spent about 20K to set up my office, advertise, get new sales materials reflecting my DBA. 

Money wasn't the motivating factor for me. I just wanted to get away from the EDJ compound and be able to run my business MY way.  Again, in your little black and white world, I'm sure you assume I mean that my way is free wheeling without any compliance and that I am selling......cue the evil music.......Equity Indexed Annuities.  Far from it.  I am able to offer more investment products, have better and more research than the proprietary EDJ research, access to better life and long term care products, option trading, fee accounts, far far better technology and so on.  The compliance department is more thorough than that at Jones.

So you can just get down off of that imaginary high horse and realize that there are many other reasons than just being able to make more money to leave Jones.  It is being able to make a better living. It is being able to enjoy my life again and being able to better help my clients.

[quote=Incredible Hulk] [quote=The Truth] #1. Jones sells 2 products and I can now sell X
#2. Jones ethics have taken a turn for the worse. Mention the 350 or so
that are milking 70% off of the top. Mention the $200+ million in revenue
sharing for pushing inferior funds.


That is all you need. [/quote]
While you're at it, mention the fact that you are doing this for your own personal financial reasons, not theirs. You can say all you want that you have more options than at Jones, but you are leaving for your own financial gain. Period.[/quote]

Again I can only speak for ourselves here, BUT...What is so wrong about wanting to make more money? At Jones, don't you strive everymonth to have another BME? How many FA's do you see living in  homeless shelters? We aren't running a not-for-profit here.

We were honest with our clients about leaving and told them we would stand to make more money and want to know what? The positive response was overwhelming! Especially from self-employed clients, who can relate to "owning YOUR OWN business". In fact one client's exact response was - "THAT'S what I wanted to know, I would hate to think you would go through all this hassle, without standing to gain financially from it...where do I sign?"