I don’t recall making any great contacts while I was drenched in sweat, feeling horrible, smelling nasty.  When it is 110 degrees outside, you just have to door knock in malls.  When I was starting with EDJ I actually bumped into another new EDJ guy at the mall one day, he was prospecting everyone that walked by.  I never did it, but looking back, if you don’t get security after you, it was smart.

Why ask any question? Curiosity Trying to figure out what other people think. Which anybody can do without being insulting. Around here, people hate people at their door. So I’ll ask again, without implications, "How is doorknocking perceived?"



So everybody gets paid a salary in other professions. I’ll give you a complete example of a profession that doesn’t get paid a salary and doesn’t doorknock. Chiropractors.



Whether you think they are quacks or not (my wife does). But mine pulls in around $700k a year. When he left school, he had $100k in debt (eight years - chiro undergo more classroom hours than M.D.), got a loan for his practice, put out a sign, asked for referrals, networked and here it is 10 years later.



Another guy just starting out, doing the same thing. It’s the method they use, and obviously it works.

Door knocking is perceived as a negative by most people, but so what?

Now that’s an answer!



But some people do care about perceptions.

Whether you think they are quacks or not (my wife does). But mine pulls in around $700k a year. When he left school, he had $100k in debt (eight years - chiro undergo more classroom hours than M.D.), got a loan for his practice, put out a sign, asked for referrals, networked and here it is 10 years later. 

The school this guy went to is kind of weird. After the first adjustment, he calls you that night to see how you are feeling (kind of like reviewing statements after the client gets their first statement).



The guy who referred me to him (who went to the same school) was new and spent his time going to networking events, trade shows and then followed up with calls to get them in to “begin their path to true health”. Personally, I think a lot of what he’s selling is crap, but my neck and back have been killing me since Iraq, and I haven’t had any pain since going, so I’ll keep going.



Then they have these workshops that you are “required” to go to.



Still, I think you make a valid point. The professions are for the most part distinctly different.



However, since you said before that CPAs and lawyers work somewhere with a salary, I don’t see how we can possibly fall between them.



Our profession is unique. And I would say maybe there is no close comparison. The issue is appearance. Door-knocking works. That’s a fact and there’s no doubt about it. I just think there are better ways. Maybe not better, but more efficient ways.

I just think there are better ways. Maybe not better, but more efficient ways.

Akkula



I’ve already outlined my process in previous posts on this thread. The efficiency of the method is that if I talk to 5 people, 3 will do business with me. It’s because these are strong referrals and I’ve built an expectation that I’m growing my business, and that I’m the one they should work with.



From what I understand you are new to the actual financial advisor business, having been on the 401k side of things. I’m not sure I would be talking about guts to someone who has actually been in the trenches. Just a thought, not trying to belittle you.



By the way, I started new/new out of my 1 bedroom apartment.



It seems like you have the right attitude, and that you’ll go far. I wish you luck.

Magician - waive your magic wand and make yourself disappear.

No thanks.

All right after reading this entire post I have decided to put in my opinion.  First of all we all know EDJ is requiring their brokers to door knock.  With that being said since I have never knocked although I do targeted cold calling if you like opening $5,000 accounts with a slight chance at something even remotely worthwhile like over $100,000 then knock away.  If you look at the most successfull firm as measured by AUM and production per broker then in no way is knocking something someone at Goldman, Lehman, MS, ML, SB, WB, or an established Indy is  doing.  EDJ brokers seem to be happy working in very small markets and making production over 200K.  A lot of advisors have different business models and quite frankly a prospect with a $2 million dollar account is probably not going to say wow you knocked on my door you need to manage this money.  To me this strategy seems suited for small accounts in small cities where there is little competition other than an insurance guy who puts his clients in all American Funds.  I am not saying it is wrong or that you are wrong for doing it.  Being based in a major west coast city this strategy to me is completely worhtless.  But there are some EDJ brokers out here but I gurantee you they are not big producres by any means.  Bringing in clients is important but building your book fee-based with some kind of minimum is most important unless you want avg accts at $25,000 or something.  Since we all know EJ really doesn’t have fee based biz I say door knock build your clientele,  specialize in a niche, and then go Indy or joing an existng Indy office so you own your book and have true Freedom!

Do you really know anything at all about EDJ or are you just making wild guesses about the avg FA based on what you read here? 

Spiff is right.



There are some pretty big producers at EDJ, and I think the top producer is in ND. The other guys would know more.



And as much as I hate the inefficiency of door-knocking, I know a guy who pulled in a 6 million dollar account from doorknocking. He is indy with LPL now, but he did get it. It took him two years of going to the guys house and helping the old guy trim trees, but he got it.

Spiff to respond to your points:

The guy with the 6 mil was only with Jones for three years total, not very experienced, and I would say still not very knowledgeable.



I don’t know, a lot of these guys are GREAT salesman. Also, most people don’t knock after five years even if they did to begin with (there are exceptions, I know a 600k producer that still goes out - he loves it).



I do agree about platform, capabilities and product depth. It sucks. However, some people with that much money don’t really know a lot and don’t ask for all of the advanced investments. If they think they are going to get a 10% average annual return and not have to pay a commission and low expenses each year (a la American Funds).



That said, most of my clients do desire a truly wide range of capabilities. A lot of times, I find myself faced with great referrals who like me and want to do business with me, but want a fee-based account, the ability to invest in private equity, utilize options strategies, and some riskier type investments, etc.



And small towns have all of the LOOT anyway! Man, if you’re the only gig in town and their are wealthy farmers around, they’d rather deal with the redneck Jones broker so he doesn’t have to go into the city to talk with the Merrill guy. As soon as the kid graduates, we’re heading to Kemmerer, Wyoming and starting up a ranch.



In fairness though, you did say, “EDJ brokers seem to be happy working in small markets making 200k”.



I’m just saying.

Pardon me, I spelled there the wrong way. “their”.



And I meant to say in my gripe about capabilities that I lose those referrals. It sucks.

No, you didn’t say Jones doesn’t have any big producers.   You said “But there are some EDJ brokers out here but I gurantee you they are not big producres by any means.” 

If you have a big enough network and natural market you don't need to cold walk/cold call.  However, if you are like 99% of new FAs under 40, you need to do some type of cold prospecting because you simply don't have a big enough network of people with assets nor are your savvy enough to get people to trust you.  It seems the only way to solve both of these problems is to get experience by talking to as many people as you can.

Magician, if it works for you not to cold call, more power to you.  From everything I have been told and have experienced in other industries, cold calling can work and can help you develop your skills when you do get a warmer lead from networking. 

If you look back, I never said it didn’t work. In fact, I have said that it will indeed work.



Everybody has some sort of network. You start with what you have. Like I said, if you’ve made it this far in life without friends, like I said, might be a good idea to quit.



I’ve just seen guys do it my way, and cold calling. Both work. Mine is a concentrated effort, the other is a “contact” sport.



I think you’re selling yourself short if you don’t capitalize on the people you know.



I tried doorknocking by the way. And I started in August. In the South. And I did it for ten hours a day for six weeks. Got one account off of it. 25k. Working with people I knew was a lot cooler, and it was a lot more productive. It is entirely possible that it just didn’t work for me face-to-face and cold calling would have worked better for me.

Could also be that 6 weeks isn’t enough time for a process like doorknocking to really work like it’s supposed to.  If it takes on average 5+ contacts to make someone a client, you can’t do that in 6 weeks.