Why dont you try getting some balls and talking to your manager.  You dont have to be mad and confrontational, but simply express that you have an interest in working with some of these account distributions.  If he says no, ask him to clarify when you will have that opportunity.  If he still resists, ask him if there is a reason that Mr. Smith(his workout buddy) seems to get them, and if it takes you doing things like him or helping/working with him to get you a better chance of being able to service those potential clients in the future.  Nobody is going to take offense to you wanting more work and to make money, it just depends on your attitude when you do it.  And dont wine like a woman when you are in there, be firm.

Chances are if this is his booty buddy that it will be a waste of time, but at least you went in and said something about it rather than complaining to a message board full of people who will never sympathize. 

wine=whine

Baylor,

Is that what you did to earn all those inherited accumulator and incentive plus accounts????

we do now have a program to distribute these orphan clients to our advisors.  seems to be going on a non-discriminatory basis so far.  I only got together with 4 orphans last year.  I prequalified them before they came in (i contacted maybe 25), and pushed about 18k worth of production in my pocket.  So it was worth the time, but you would hate to rely on it or wish for that to be the focus of your practice. 

I wont touch the orphans that are all locked up in the AXA products, unless its a old life policy that needs a replacement w/1035.  But Blarmston, most are worthless and just a pain in your ace. 

btw, i left the evil empire about 2 weeks ago to go independent with NFP.  Seems to be a great choice thusfar, and my clients like the platform much better.  I am one of the only ones I know that has left on good terms.  It wasnt a ' F AXA, they screwed me out of success', simply NFP uses Pershing as the clearing house so transfers are a piece of cake, pay is double, much less overhead(i know that sounds crazy since im indie, but i would have to explain further), and the options i can offer clients has expanded tremendously on the investment side of business. 

Baylor,

Good luck with your new endeavors.....

In my experience most inherited accounts are a complete waste of time…very few diamonds in the pile.  Most are accounts that departing advisors did not want.

[quote=Soothsayer]

If you’ve had 400K of accounts distributed to you in your career, then that is exactly 400K more than I’ve ever had.  Early in my career, I was passed over for distributions because I didn’t have the racey production numbers of some of my peer group.  I focused on serious investors rather than greedy speculators, and built a solid, bear market proof practice based on mutual respect.  When the sht hit the fan beginning in 2000, and some of these pretenders started dropping like flies, their accounts were distributed to others of their ilk who all of sudden found themselves “struggling.”  Once again I was passed over because “your business is flourishing and frankly you don’t need the help.”  When the pretenders who inherited accounts, and then inherited more accounts still ate sht and dropped out of the business (we’re into late '02 and '03 now) I was passed over yet again.  Why?  Because “the poor clients have been through a couple of inexperienced brokers, and now they really are asking for a little older, more experienced hand.”  The read between the lines:  My own production is sucking ass at the moment, my own clients are leaving in droves, and I’ll take whatever I can get. 

So, I've heard all of the excuses for why I've never had an account distributed to me.  The bottom line is because I realize than I am an independent thinker who usually marches to the beat of my own drum.  I'm certainly no asskisser, and I stand up for myself and my clients in my investment philosophy and treating them the way I would want to be treated if I were on the other side of the table.  A manager would probably label me "not a team player".  Reading between the lines again: He's smart, he's sharp, his clients love him, and I view him as a threat.  Don't give that guy a damn thing! 

I've accepted things as they are, but also understand that account distribution policies (if one even exists) at most firms leave a whole bunch to be desired.  Okay, now make me look stupid......

I got a distribution of a client with $400K in A share mutual
funds.  The guy turned out to be on the board of a large
foundation, we got an RFP (which normally is just an invitation to kill
a bunch of trees so they can feel good about getting a few opinions
prios to going with the existing manager), a request a template for a
new Investment Policy Statement, and we ended up picking up a couple
million bucks.   This spured on a few other deals blah blah
blah. 



ANY OPPORTUNITY GIVEN TO ME, DIRECTED TOWARDS ME, AND WITHIN A SNIFF OF
ME, OUR TEAM WILL JUMP ON.  ACCOUNT DISTRIBUTIONS ARE JUST ONE
MORE OF THOSE OPPORTUNITIES.  POLICY?  DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO
TO MOVE UP IN THE RANKING. 

Good advice rightway.

Assertive women get the "bitchy" label when people don't like them.  That's a fact.  Assertive men who aren't liked are called "jerks". 

So you need to figure out how to be assertive while still being likeable.  Shouldn't be hard, you're in sales.  Sell your boss on liking you enough to shepherd accounts in your direction, whether you give him a nice card, or offer to keep his kids for an evening, or give him a nice bottle of wine.  You gotta give to get.

Ace