Q: What part of the training was the most helpful?
A: When you’re training at Edward Jones, they aren’t looking for your weaknesses; they’re looking for your strengths. They showed me videotapes of myself to show how I interact and talk with people, and they pointed out a lot of the positives. They told me not to worry about the financial end of it, because they could teach me that. They said I had a great way of being with people, and from that moment on I knew I had what it took. I had some mixed emotions starting out. Because I didn’t have a background in the financial services industry, I sometimes felt overwhelmed, like I was trying to drink through a fire hose in terms of the information coming at me. On the other hand, the camaraderie was great. I met close lifelong friends going through training. It was probably one of the more exciting times of my life because of how much I was learning and all the people I was meeting. Once I learned the approach to use and how well it works, it was invigorating to get out there, meet people and build a client base. The Visions class was one that really helped me look forward in my business rather than backward. It helped me with my business on the micro level, but it also showed me how to look at the long-term trends of the business. Of all the training, that’s the one that put me over the hump. Q: What about the Edward Jones opportunity appealed to you?
A: In the early training stages, you are assigned to someone who’s going to support you along the way. But there are informal supports as well. We really encourage people to call one another when they’re having a bad day. When you’re in your office on a day-to-day basis, it’s the people in your region who are going to give you the most support. The way the culture of Edward Jones is really transmitted is through its partners. It’s often something I’m not conscious of. When you stop and think about it, it goes back to what Ted Jones, the son of the firm's founder, set up when he made people partners of the firm. We’re owners and because of that we care about not spending money we don’t have to. When you have people who are hired and trained and then leave the firm, it’s expensive. We want everyone to be a success. As owners, we know it just makes good business sense to help one another. Q: Describe what it’s like to build a business.
A: I always think of the movie Groundhog Day: You get up, and you do the same thing over and over. It’s a very disciplined endeavor. I’ve had to face parts of myself I never had to face in my previous job. When you build a business, you really have to face yourself and say, “If I want to be successful, I’m going to have to give up certain parts of my personality”: the time-wasting part; the part that wants to read newspapers or visit with other Financial Advisors rather than call clients. Some days it’s hard, but that’s what you have to do when you’re a Financial Advisor. I like to focus on a lot of things at once. Training points you to what’s important at this stage of your business, and it changes as you go through the firm. However, when you start, Edward Jones gives you a recipe to follow and lets you know what products in particular you should focus on. You have some freedom in how you structure your day, but these are the things you need to get done by a given date. Most of the worry was taken care of by Edward Jones because they’ve done this before; they have it down pat. The training really helped me to organize my day, especially in the beginning, because it is a very overwhelming experience to start your own business. When all the work has paid off and you’re an owner in the firm, it changes the way you think about everything. Q: Explain the dynamics of working in a two-person office.
A: The relationship that I have with Sr. Branch Office Administrator Mike Dasher is certainly key because when there are only two people in each office, you have to be firing on all cylinders. Mike has been my BOA for seven years, and it’s an extremely effective arrangement. It involves a lot of give and take. At our stage of the business, you have to be extremely cost- and time-effective. We spend a lot of time looking over systems, developing and improving things. Mike is very organized and task-oriented. He brings to the business those qualities that I don’t have, and we complement each other well. Q: Are there any memorable experiences, perhaps with a client, that encapsulate or typify what it’s like to work for Edward Jones?
A: One morning I overheard a client asking Mike about trip insurance. He wanted to get some health insurance to go to Disneyland with his family, and since we don’t provide that type of service, we referred him elsewhere. I didn’t think about it for a few minutes, but then I started to wonder why he suddenly needed to go to Disneyland. Because he was a friend as well as a client, I phoned him. He said, “I’m dealing with a very serious cancer diagnosis, and I need to come see you.” He came in with his wife, and I remember the day like it was yesterday. The tension was heavy in the air. I could tell they had both been crying. He didn’t explain a lot; he didn’t need to. He just said, “All I’m here to do right now is make sure my family is going to be OK." He didn’t remember what investments or insurance he owned. Even though he didn’t remember what he had, he did remember arguing with me about whether he needed it. Luckily, over his own objections, he did purchase it. When he left, he shook my hand and said that he wouldn’t have thought to buy that insurance if it weren’t for me. Before that moment, I never realized how much was riding on every every meeting I have with a client. The really important thing was that his family was going to be looked after. Even though they’re going to have a hard landing, it’s going to be a little softer because of the work we did. Q: Describe what the Edward Jones culture means to you.
A: If you’re going to work for Edward Jones, you can only lead your clients to the ground you stand on, and it has to be an ethical one. It’s about not getting caught up in investment fads. It’s about not being opportunistic. It’s about always thinking of the long term. There will be times when you’re going to have to turn people down, and it’s going to cost you a commission. There are certain types of trading we won’t do, whether it’s penny stocks or just products that are the fad of the day. Sometimes people don’t understand and are going to be disappointed. I’ve had to turn down money, and it hurt because some months I really could have used it. Still, it was the right decision for the client, from an ethical standpoint. As a Financial Advisor for Edward Jones, there will be times when you are going to have to be prepared to do that, too. The best part about working for Edward Jones is the freedom you get: the freedom to earn more money, to take holidays, to take advantage of flex time, to control your own destiny. I couldn’t go back to the regular work world now that I’ve experienced this. The extent to which Edward Jones values the Financial Advisors and frontline workers is not like any other firm. You’re consulted a lot, and generally it’s the Financial Advisor that fixes any problems because, as an owner, you want to be involved in what’s going on. The people who are on the front line are the ones who can fix the problems, and there’s no point in bringing in someone from the outside. That, I think, is a unique part of our culture. I came from a helping-profession background, and Edward Jones is one of the firms that has it right when it comes to helping people out. They really bend over backward to help, especially the new people who need it. Q: What about the Edward Jones opportunity appealed to you?
A: If I had to tell someone what makes Edward Jones such a unique opportunity, I would say that it might be your one chance to break free to reach your own dreams, dreams for your family, to travel. Plus, along the way you’re going to get to help a whole lot of people in ways that you can’t imagine. That’s what Edward Jones is going to do for you and the people you serve. Edward Jones did a great job of talking to my wife about the opportunity. Because they had told her specifically about the benefits and the travel, by the time I had signed on the dotted line, she was for it. She could see that it was going to be good for our future, that building a business was really in the family’s best interest. Q: What one thing would you tell someone considering the Edward Jones opportunity?
A: When you start a business, you often hear you’re your own boss. That’s not entirely the case: The clients are your boss, so there’s a certain structure that your day has to have. However, at Edward Jones you can organize that structure to accommodate your schedule. You have a lot of autonomy. You can choose who you take on as clients. You can choose how to structure your day. But ultimately you have a certain amount of work and a certain amount of calls that you have to do each day. Luckily, Edward Jones provides that framework. I’m using the same skills that I used in previous jobs, but there’s no comparison because, for one thing, I never dreamed I’d be making this type of money, especially in the last few years. I never thought I’d be able to put that much money in my retirement account in a single year. In terms of mobility, Edward Jones has tremendous opportunities for movement throughout the firm, both within your own business and going to the head office. It’s opened up a whole new world. Q: Articulate the spirit of volunteerism that exists at Edward Jones.
A: Edward Jones’ culture is based on volunteerism because so many of us are owners. Owners tend to want to take care of things themselves. We step forward and volunteer for different positions to help other Financial Advisors. Who else is going to do it but a person who has been on the front line and knows what the other Financial Advisor is going through? There is a tremendous web of support in every region. The firm provides a lot of training, but for day-to-day issues and struggles, it’s going to be the guy down the street who will help you out. Moreover, Edward Jones has a great respect for the frontline Financial Advisors, almost a reverence for their skills. Training can’t really be delegated to anyone else. That’s where the volunteerism comes in. One reason is that we’re the owners of the firm, and owners always act differently. I also don’t really think there’s anybody else who is going to be able to support trainees like we can. Q: How important is it to have your branch office located in your community?
A: One of the things about being involved in the community is that it makes it easier to do business. People know you on that level, so it’s a lot less threatening when you approach them. A lot of contacts and clients come from the community boards that I sit on. When you’re part of the community, you’re invested in it, and it shows that you care a lot more than if you’re talking from a call center far away. Q: How do Canadians view Edward Jones?
A: I would say people in Canada see the banks as a nonprofit institution working for their best interest. What Edward Jones brings into the mix in Canada is that this is the first time where you have someone looking at the whole financial picture of somebody’s life and not just trying to push a particular product or investment on them. We’ve really expanded the investment world for people in Canada because they’re not used to buying stocks to the same extent that people are in the U.S. They’re not used to shopping their money around. The competitive nature of what we’ve brought into Canada is unique, and it certainly wasn’t there 10 years ago. Q: What is the biggest challenge you have encountered during your career at Edward Jones?
A: You have years when everything goes wrong; I had an especially tough time when my mom passed away, I remember. Still, you’ve got to keep going, and you have to function when you don’t want to make outgoing calls. That’s probably been the hardest thing. It’s when your discipline really comes into play. You really have to develop some good systems because there will be days when you don’t feel like talking to anybody. In some jobs you’re going to get a paycheck even if you want to burrow down and hide for three weeks. That’s not the case with Edward Jones. When you’re depressed and you don’t really feel like calling anybody, you’ve got to fight through that. That’s probably the biggest challenge. Q: How does technology at Edward Jones help you grow your business?
A: The key piece of technology at Edward Jones is our Contact Management System, which not only includes the names of all your clients but also ranks them. It says when you should call them, gives you information on their lives, what money they have coming due. That’s the lifeblood of Edward Jones and of my business. It’s very effective in terms of tracking calls. Once you have 400 or 500 clients, this becomes a big issue. Call them on time; don’t call them late; call them when you need to. It’s outstanding software that uses simple technology to help you manage your business. Q: How have the four points of compensation impacted your income?
A: When Ted Jones came up with the diversification trip idea, he knew that most of us talk about trips that we never take. Edward Jones wants Financial Advisors to enjoy their lives and not always be thinking that they can put things off until retirement. Ted knew that we need to do these things now, when we have the chance. So really it’s about giving the Financial Advisors and their families a chance to experience and share in the wealth of Edward Jones through trips and experiences we otherwise wouldn’t take. The compensation plan allows you to go spectacular places you’ve never gone before. Edward Jones allows you to save money for retirement in a way that most people wouldn’t do on their own. You get your deferred profit sharing. In addition to these elements, you may receive the opportunity to become a partner. I would never have squirreled away this much money at this stage in my life if I hadn’t been with Edward Jones. You get to enjoy your life for the moment, but you’re also prepared for the long term. Q: What qualities do you think a person needs to thrive as a Financial Advisor?
A: You have to be ethical. You won’t last long if you’re greedy or just into short-term money and short-term relationships, and you have to have a tremendous work ethic. You have to discipline yourself and be prepared. I think we’re all attached to our bad habits. But you’re going to have to give up whatever you do to avoid getting to work because ultimately it’s about every call you make. It’s a real numbers game in the sense that you have to make a certain number of outgoing calls and contact enough people to bring enough revenue into your firm. No one is going to do it for you.
|
