It shouldn’t be a truce but a surrender.  I will accept the surrender or truce in “jones speak”. 

I will agree it is getting ugly, in which I'm guilty.  I will acknowledge I'm Indy and hate Jones to no end.  This will be the day I bury the hatchet. Have a Happy Thanksgiving week.  Where is my damn frozen Turkey.  (Sorry, couldn't resist)

agreed no more "nastiness" just facts?    

[quote=bspears]It shouldn’t be a truce but a surrender.  I will accept the surrender or truce in “jones speak”. 

I will agree it is getting ugly, in which I'm guilty.  I will acknowledge I'm Indy and hate Jones to no end.  This will be the day I bury the hatchet. Have a Happy Thanksgiving week.  Where is my damn frozen Turkey.  (Sorry, couldn't resist)[/quote] I got your turkey and if you work the holiday extravaganza it will be released unharmed and uneaten.... If you don't ... bye bye turkey....

Hey spears,  what do you call on?  Stocks, CDs, shorter bonds?  Or are you just going for appts?

  BTW, I like the turkey.  I do whatever I can to win it.  I see it as supporting the local economy because they are shipped from a place in Podunk, MO.  Makes me feel good knowing that turkey farmer is going to have a good Christmas simply because Jones does this contest every fall. 

Oh noooo…I simply ask the prospect if they work with anyone presently.  The answer they give me will make the conversation go in many different directions.  I’m only qualifying at this point.  I let the prospect dictate our relationship.  If they work with cd’s, I will find out what maturity length they are comfortable with…and so on…If they “never invested in that risky stuff” (podunk missouri accent)…well they become a red (jones speak)

  My prospecting technique is quasy contact/guerilla marketing.  If you listen to the cold callers, its the olny thing that works.  The guerilla marketers say their approach is the best.  I agree with both.  I have so many calls to prospects already in my CMS per day, out 1 year.  Prospects come and go in the system based on my first conversation.    I send e-mail info to clients and prospects who give me their info.  The content is provided by LPL.  I mail newsletter every 2 months, some content I put in and some LPL provides, some I get from vendors.  I do as many press releases as possible.  Recently, I attended JP Morgan program on practice building.   I had an attendee take a picture of myself and the presenter.  I put together an article, got it approved and had it put into some local newspapers.    My goal is to eventually have my local community to look at me as they would a doctor, CPA or an attorney.  If all I do is cold call a particuar product everytime, the prospect will perceive me as being very needy of his business.  They believe you have nothing better todo than try to scrape up business. It comes off as needy and desperate.    So to answer your question, I don't call with a particular product UNLESS the prospect says they "have bonds with Morgan Stanley and like them for the income".  Then, with your permission mr prospect, can I contact you when we get a 5.5% or better rate comes in?   Did I answer your question?????

I felt it was on the spot for where I'm at.  I haven't had any calls from JP Morgan after the session.  Newnew, I take parts from both processes and incorporate into my own.  I have tweaked what was taught at Jones and tweaked what I've read on Bill Good, Guerilla Marketing for Advisor's.   I will take what I can from anyone and make it my own, because in my town, noone else is doing my mix.  The new Jones guy will try and call people he doesn't know, the bank guys don't do much of anything.  THe LPL office tells me they don't do anything, but just receive referrals.  I fit in the middle.

In my office Joe, I have set callback times for wholesalers, advertising etc.  My assistant gets a talking to if I'm interupted between 9-11am and 1-3pm.  I control who talks to me about product and when.  The one thing I've done here is set my business up the way I want it.  Even on the assistant side, I have to remind her...if I'm not talking to clients or prospects, I shouldn't be doing it.  As an employee she needs to realize the more interuptions I get, puts my business and her lively hood in question. It is an ongoing struggle with my assistant to take on more and more responsibility.  I brought her from Jones, and she was used to sitting and reading books.    I want my clients and prospects to discuss the minor minutae with the assistant, and leave the investment needs to me.  I want people to want to do business with me, and I want them to have to wait a week or so to get in to see me.  I want to have a process in place in which if the prospect is not willing to follow, they can't be here.  I want it to be "something" to be here.  Kind of snotty, but its what I want.  I don't plan on an asset minimum, because if someone who has a 22k rollover and will follow my process then why shouldn't they be here.  Sorry for the long winded response Joe but I felt there was a deeper answer to your question than Go to all the seminars you can, and control who you talk with.

[quote=Spaceman Spiff]

  BTW, I like the turkey.  I do whatever I can to win it.  I see it as supporting the local economy because they are shipped from a place in Podunk, MO.  Makes me feel good knowing that turkey farmer is going to have a good Christmas simply because Jones does this contest every fall.  [/quote]   Burger Farms.  Check the next Crackerbarrell your wholesaler takes you to and you will find them there.  FWIW   IndyEDJ

[quote=bspears]

I felt it was on the spot for where I’m at.  I haven’t had any calls from JP Morgan after the session.  Newnew, I take parts from both processes and incorporate into my own.  I have tweaked what was taught at Jones and tweaked what I’ve read on Bill Good, Guerilla Marketing for Advisor’s.   I will take what I can from anyone and make it my own, because in my town, noone else is doing my mix.  The new Jones guy will try and call people he doesn’t know, the bank guys don’t do much of anything.  THe LPL office tells me they don’t do anything, but just receive referrals.  I fit in the middle.

In my office Joe, I have set callback times for wholesalers, advertising etc.  My assistant gets a talking to if I'm interupted between 9-11am and 1-3pm.  I control who talks to me about product and when.  The one thing I've done here is set my business up the way I want it.  Even on the assistant side, I have to remind her...if I'm not talking to clients or prospects, I shouldn't be doing it.  As an employee she needs to realize the more interuptions I get, puts my business and her lively hood in question. It is an ongoing struggle with my assistant to take on more and more responsibility.  I brought her from Jones, and she was used to sitting and reading books.    I want my clients and prospects to discuss the minor minutae with the assistant, and leave the investment needs to me.  I want people to want to do business with me, and I want them to have to wait a week or so to get in to see me.  I want to have a process in place in which if the prospect is not willing to follow, they can't be here.  I want it to be "something" to be here.  Kind of snotty, but its what I want.  I don't plan on an asset minimum, because if someone who has a 22k rollover and will follow my process then why shouldn't they be here.  Sorry for the long winded response Joe but I felt there was a deeper answer to your question than Go to all the seminars you can, and control who you talk with.[/quote]

Spears no need to apologize....you've given me a couple ideas, and reinforced a few old ones.  Thanks, and have a good holiday!

Thanks for the info Indy.  Now I won't try so hard next year. 

Spears, that may be the most intelligent thing I've ever read from you.   A few more posts like that and people may start thinking you can have a thought beyond how much you despise EDJ.

[quote=bspears]In my office Joe, I have set callback times for wholesalers, advertising etc.  My assistant gets a talking to if I’m interupted between 9-11am and 1-3pm.  I control who talks to me about product and when.  The one thing I’ve done here is set my business up the way I want it.  Even on the assistant side, I have to remind her…if I’m not talking to clients or prospects, I shouldn’t be doing it.  As an employee she needs to realize the more interuptions I get, puts my business and her lively hood in question. It is an ongoing struggle with my assistant to take on more and more responsibility.  I brought her from Jones, and she was used to sitting and reading books. 

  I want my clients and prospects to discuss the minor minutae with the assistant, and leave the investment needs to me.  I want people to want to do business with me, and I want them to have to wait a week or so to get in to see me.  I want to have a process in place in which if the prospect is not willing to follow, they can't be here.  I want it to be "something" to be here.  Kind of snotty, but its what I want.  I don't plan on an asset minimum, because if someone who has a 22k rollover and will follow my process then why shouldn't they be here.  Sorry for the long winded response Joe but I felt there was a deeper answer to your question than Go to all the seminars you can, and control who you talk with.[/quote]   I'm curious...why was it so much easier at EDJ that she had all the extra time?  Based on the clues you've left above, I'm guessing that you are questioning the wisdom of bringing your assistant along.  My assistant is nothing like you've described here.  Many client calls never reach me as she takes care of most servicing issues.  Wholesalers not on the approved list NEVER get through.  She busts her can and I reward her appropriately.  It sounds to me like you may have the wrong person on the bus.   On presenting your time as a scarce commodity, I'm right there with you.  If someone drops in, usually, I make them set an appointment and come back.  There has to be a compelling reason to see them immediately or I just don't.  I've also for the most part, got clients out of the habit of calling the office at 8am Monday morning.  Short of bona-fide emergencies or time-sensitive trades, I don't return phone calls until Monday afternoon.  Sometimes, I don't even come in until Monday afternoon...just work at home in the morning.  Clients are getting trained and for the most part, don't even try anymore.  That was one thing that always pissed me off at my former employers.  One Monday morning, I had two clients waiting for the door to open...I slow-boiled through both appts...niether of which amounted to a hill of beans.  When I went independent, that was one thing I vowed to do...quit prostituting myself with my clients.  I'm not an ass about it, but they get the idea quickly that (1) I'm fairly busy and (2) my time is valuable.  Almost all of them now call ahead and have the consideration to make an appointment.  The ones that don't get schooled again.  I left a couple of droppers back at the bank because I knew they'd be next to impossible to retrain and I just didn't have the energy or patience to deal with them.  I always wondered if these people just dropped in on their doctor, lawyer or accountant...and I decided that I shouldn't be any different.  Clients for the most part respect this and the few that don't can go elsewhere.  Life is too short to deal with inconsiderate assholes.   ...and I have set a "soft" minimum.  New clients with relationships of less than $250K are told up front that I can set them up, but they will most likely deal with a second advisor that will be hired in the not-too-distant future as their point of first contact.  I had to do this to keep my promise to the clients who originally came over.  I told them that I would do what I could to be their primary advisor for as long as I was in the business.  I can't promise that to every new client indefinitely, so as of 1/1/2007, I started with the soft minimum.  No one has yet had a problem with this policy and if anything, it's convinced a couple of them to consolidate more assets here to beat the minimum.  As someone else said here before, I'm not interested in being their $10K experiment to "see how you can do".