[quote=Lapide]

B24,

The promo's are not only for "newbies".  Our region pushed hard for everyone to participate in the Saturday promos because the region wins money based on participation, that can be used for things during the summer regional meetings.  It's true that participation was optional, but when your RL sends out "wires" that he will be in the office making phone calls on a Saturday morning, it is implied that you should also be in your office making calls.

Lapide

Regarding the saturday promos, I was always amazed at how they could expect you to sell funds, watch STL TV, talk to a GP on the phone, and read all 30 or so wires from the regional leader. I guess if you sand-bagged some business (that would never happen), you would have more time to play the silly games. The few times that I worked it, I put my second line on hold to avoid the STL call and the prize carrying with it a tax bill. The big prize-a few hundred dollars for the region IR christmas party, and some to the BOA christmas party(never understood that, they did not work promo’s) Those were the days of promos and Van Kampen funded parties.

My former RL, who was and still is a great guy (also a GP), actually got the leadership team together and they had to make phone calls to people who didn’t participate in the last “promo” for the region.  I was out of town a few years back and couldn’t make it in to the office, next thing I know I’m getting a call from the Seg. 3 productivity leader asking me why I didn’t come in for the promo.  I told him I was out of town, and he actually told me I would be expected to log-on for the next big promo, a couple of months away.  I thought I only had to run an ethical profitable office and after that I could choose to participate if I wanted to or not.  I guess I was wrong.  I know each region is a little different and a lot depends on your RL, but we were really pushed to participate  on the firm-wide promos.  I have yet to get any e-mails from my new firm asking me to work on Saturdays.

These are classic. I don’t work at Jones but I’m reconsidering my career path now just to be closer to the humor.

I suspect there are branch managers, officers, brokers, secretary’s, etc. at every firm who are idiots; and Edward Jones is no exception.  My wife has this principal at the school where she teaches, and any time a teacher does something against policy, or wrong, she gathers every teacher for a meeting at 3 p.m. to tell ALL teachers that was against the rules.

Here’s a complaint.

[quote=rankstocks]

ExJones'er here--independent now, and happy about it.  Here's my 2 cents worth:

[quote=buyandhold][quote=Lapide]

B24,

The promo's are not only for "newbies".  Our region pushed hard for everyone to participate in the Saturday promos because the region wins money based on participation, that can be used for things during the summer regional meetings.  It's true that participation was optional, but when your RL sends out "wires" that he will be in the office making phone calls on a Saturday morning, it is implied that you should also be in your office making calls.

Lapide

b24, I was responding to lapide, not to you. Agree with your points.

Buyandhold,

[quote=Lapide]Buyandhold,

Hallelujah!

Thanks to Borker and a little inventiveness earlier, tonight’s edition will only feature 23 complaints. For those of you who have your own, I will post one more after my 23 tonight and I invite you to vent your own complaints.

1) The fact one minute you are a rock star and the next you the lowest of the low. - You know there’s a reason rock stars from the 80’s show up on reality TV these days.  They’re flash in the pan performers.  Same thing in the brokerage industry.    
2) The fact that you have to pay for chargebacks AND you only get 40%. - How does it work at other firms?  Is Jones doing something different than anyone else here? 
3) The fact that those cheap bastards make you pay for stamps - and in some places you pay for your phone, internet, envelopes, etc too.   
4) That they get upset when you get a client NOT knocking on a door - this one is the biggest lie I’ve ever seen written.  Jones doesn’t care where you get  your clients.  Get them from your fishbowl in the restaurant if you want.  Just get them.   
5) That when they ask you to speak in front of the region and you tell them what you are doing and it doesn’t go along with Jones master plan - they ostracize you. - This is just poor planning on the case of those folks who were planning the speakers.  Not a Jones issue.   
6) The fact that my old FSD couldn’t have been more than fifteen and likely wasn’t shaving - Is this because you didn’t agree with him, or that he was just simply wrong and sounded like he was 15?  As long as he can read the rule book and make sure you follow it, it really doesn’t matter how old he is.   
7) Or how about a guy who went from the PASS program to a $50 mil office, churned and burned for two and a half years, and was sent back to the home office to be part of the “advisory solutions” team. - yeah, that sucks.  Care to share a name?     
8) The fact that while they are not supposed to have territories… they DO in fact have territories! - sorry, wrong again.  No territories at Jones.  And if your region imposed one, it wasn’t sanctioned by HQ. 
9) Or how about a Jones FA who calls you up after you meet with a large prospect, and says, “So I hear you met with Ed, who works at XYZ.” Why, yes Bill I did. “Well, you know that I get all of the rollovers from XYZ”. Not this one bitch! - Is this a Jones HQ problem or a misconception of Bill’s?  Sounds like you handled it the way I would have, without the explitive. 
10) The fact that the roleplaying they do is bogus and a bunch of crap. Knock, knock “who’s there?” “Edward Jones broker.” “Edward Jones broker who?” Edward Jones broker dan you son! - I guess you’d have rather they just said for the next three weeks you’re going to be doorknocking from can til can’t.  Have fun.  No practice, no role play, nothing.  Yeah, that would’ve worked.  You were probably one of those insecure/cocky guys who thought role playing was beneath you.  You probably sucked at doorknocking too. 
11) The fact that if you send an email that talks about a security to a client who is serving in Iraq, it gets banned and you get a call from FSD. He’s in Iraq, bitches! I can’t pick up the handset, squeeze it a few times and get Joe on the phone!~ - You might have wanted to check with that 15 year old FSD before you started sending emails out on securities in the first place.  You couldn’t do it if he was in the office right next door to you.  The fact that he was in Iraq brings up a whole different set if variables that you are evidently unaware of.    
12) The fact an FA shows you his shoes and how he door-knocked his way to success and how worn they are - but on closer inspection - it is obvious that his dog started chewing the shit out of them. - Props are just that.  His book would have been a better thing to show you. 
13) The fact that a guy got a chunk of his ass bitten off (23 stitches I believe) and they are praising this guy like he is the ultimate advisor  - one good dog bite does not a good advisor make.  Perhaps you are confusing what they are praising him for. 
14) The fact that leadership (regional) doesn’t know jack (or jill) about financial planning or securities - and I’m sure that at your advanced stage in the biz you obviously know a whole lot more than the 20 year vet that is probably your RL.  Not to mention the other vets that have only been out half that time.  Yeah, you’re much more advanced than they are. 
15) Or how about when someone tells you he got that $24k month from doorknocking because his mentor told him to tell everybody that, only to find out that it was his grandfather - I guess grandpa makes you knock and wipe your feet before he hands you a couple of million and tells you what to do with it. - You seem to be placing a lot of the blame for things like this with Jones HQ.  That guy was a tool if he listened to his mentor.   
16) The fact the Jones trips have Jones people there. - Did you expect them to be from Morgan Stanley?  I’ve had some great trips and made great friends from around the country on those trips.  Met one of the small handful of $2 Mil producers and the only $3 Mil producer on those trips.  Tell me that in other firms I, a brand new 12 month vet,  could sit down and pick the brain of a $2 mil producer over a bowl of pasta in Italy.   
17) Or using a PDA to look at the contact management system is garbage - if you can’t see account info, what good is it? - They’re getting there.  But it’s not as functional as I’d like either. 
18) The fact that the technology advisor was so old that technology to him consisted of when stirrups were invented for horseback riding.  - Yeah, he retired.  We have a new guy now.  Vinny Ferrari.  Yep, Ferrari.  Thus the reason our tech is changing so rapidly. 
19) Or how about a girl takes over a $58 million branch and when people ask her how she is making $8k per month as a new existing, she replies, “I just make 25 contacts a day”. - How about when the guy from Smith Barney tells you how successful he is and you find out later it’s because he bought a $100mil book from a guy who is retiring.  Or you find out the reason the ML vet is so happy is because it’s his book that gets the assets from the new guys who fail.  This isn’t a Jones specific issue anywhere else but on this forum.   
20) Or how about it takes “liquid courage” for someone who is your “segment leader” to tell you that you are undermining everything they are trying to do at Jones. - Again, is this a personal thing or a Jones thing.  It sounds like you are a piece of work.   
21) Those same people get mad when you tell them you’ll carve designs in their throats with your fingers if they don’t keep their mouths closed. - Yes, officer, he did threaten me.  How do I file a restraining order? 
22) Or how at every regional meeting they play those stale ass videos designed to give you vertigo - You gotta love Ted and Jack.   
23) Here’s a good one. How about when you try to set up an endowment for someone close to you and you are told that “Jones doesn’t do that” then two months later, “Jim Bob’s daughter died, we are setting up this fund and I think you should all contribute”. Real names have been changed to protect the innocent.  - You may have me on this one.  I’ve not tried to set up an endowment.  Not even sure I’d know where to start.  I think I’d have to ask if what you were trying to set up is actually an endowment, or if you are just using that term because it best describes the use of the money.  For instance, did you want to set up an account for your best friend’s daughter after he died so that she could pay the bills.  That may technically not be an endowment.  Like I said, I don’t know for sure.   

Ok. that’s 23 for tonight.

I’ll start a new one and you can fill in your complaints:

1) The fact that people who love Jones are brainwashed tools who think that they work for the greatest company in the world, when in fact, it’s a scam to take from people who can ill afford to lose their money. - How is it a scam and what is Jones taking?  You really shouldn’t project your own shortcomings on the rest of the good Jones folks.  
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Spiff,

I believe when it all is put together that Jones has a corporate culture that encourages isolation and that makes it easier for them to insist that things get done the “Jones way” you know the right way… After you leave you realize what was going on as just exactly that, that doesn’t make Jones a criminal organization but certainly doesn’t leave one with warm feelings either. There are people who consider the company that have no idea what they are getting into and then there are those that know exactly what they are getting into. The culture is one of the things that keep Jones from attracting more transfer brokers in addtion to the technology. I am glad to have spent 6 years at jones learning and I am glad not to be there any longer than that. Does that make Jones evil, no no more than that makes it perfect. Personally having joined 2 other brokers with 35 years experience between them has taught me more in the last year than I learned at Jones in 6 years. That to me is the advantage of a multi broker office. I can certainly some who constantly have vemon for Jones. Many times you can confuse having a terrible regional leader with Jones being terrible and vice versa. I feel very sorry for my brethren that are still at Jones in my old region, they are being bled dry with no real light in the future for them. The Segment 3’s in my old region had a meeting with the new regional leader and 90% of the Seg 3’s are Red. They were told that when they go on goals there will be nothing that the RL will do for them. My heart goes out to them. Many of them took to heart the mantra that if you get to Segment 3 that things are different and we won’t put you on goals and fire you. The truth is a little different. I believe Jones is better than that, maybe they aren’t…

Noggin,

Spiff,



Let’s address some of your rebuttals (quite good I might add - looks like you spent some time on them).



1) As for rock stars being on reality shows, two different industries - you should know better.

2) Some firms pay for chargebacks - I’m independent now, so I don’t worry about it.

3) I pay for everything now, but my payout is 100%

4) It’s not a lie. When they ask you how you got the big client and you say, “well, I sent out an email letting everybody I know what I do, and this was someone’s parents who have a lot of money”, I was told, “that’s great, but you aren’t going to get any accounts like that NOT doorknocking… that’s what you really should be doing”. Don’t tell me something is a lie, when it’s happened to me.

5) How is it poor planning - they were upset that I wasn’t telling the newbies how to prospect the Jones way? What, they should not put someone who is successful up there? Isn’t that what they are trying to do, have people make money?

6) It’s because my FSD was educated like he was 15.

7) You must know who it is, or you wouldn’t ask. I can tell you he’s in the South.

8) Are you in HQ to know that? I know you used to be, but things “have changed as you’ve mentioned”. Would someone dare defy a regional leader and area partner?

9) I didn’t actually use the expletive. After that incident, I was told by my regional leader that unless it was a personal friend, that I should back off - that Bill had a relationship with these guys at XYZ - you can’t make this stuff up - I admit that my old region was probably more of an old boys club than most, but it surely was.

10)   Realistic role play would have been better. I took the visiting vet aside and asked him what it would really be like, and we worked on it - however, HQ has no clue what it’s really like even though they “go doorknocking just like we do”.

11) According to FINRA rules I can talk about securities. I can make no recommendations, I can make no guarantees. That is a Jones thing. I can give factual information. For instance, yes you own 100 shares of Apple. Accountlink was not working.

12) He had a great book - mostly garnered rollovers from XYZ company - yep it was Bill. He just camped out at HR at XYZ and must have walked back and forth for coffee so much his shoes got worn!

13) They guy was producing less than $120k when I left and he had already been there three years and taken over $6mil - you tell ME why they were praising him.

14) The difference between me and the RL’s is that I am a student of the markets, and am in fact taking level III of the CFA exam in June. How many RL’s do you know that have done that? Which I’ve also managed to do while running my own business.

15) Is the mentor not affiliated with Jones - did I miss something? Did we get mentors that work for other firms

16) Just so you know, I don’t give a flip about other firms. I give a flip about MY firm. I’ve been on those trips, and I’ve heard the endless chatter of how great Jones is. Give me a break, I’m on vacation!

17) I’m glad we agree on the PDA - I made a suggestion about using PDA’s with biometric readers and was told, “St. Louis is handling it”. OK, thanks for playin’

18) No offense to Vinny Ferrari - I actually like him, doesn’t seem like a complete tool like the rest. I wasn’t talking about home office - I was talking about the regional technology advisor - this guy was 80 if he was a day. Sorry for the confusion

19) I agree about SmithBarney and the other firms, but I joined Jones because I thought they were different - and they tell you that they are different - but there really is no difference, and that’s why I had to leave.

20) I was “undermining” what they were doing at Jones by telling new FAs that they could use different methods to prospect or they could spin their wheels doorknocking - trust me, in this area, doorknocking = bad idea. Forgive me for trying to help newbies.

21) Ok, this one was a little out of line. And really, I only threatened the guy who tried to grab my wife’s ass.

22) I love Ted - and Jack for that matter - Ted Jones was a great man and so was Jack Phelan - but the firm doesn’t seem to have Ted’s spirit anymore.

23) No, it was to create an endowment that would fund a scholarship. I tried several avenues through Jones, was told that it couldn’t be done. Then lo and behold! Someone close to the RL dies and bam! Of course we can do that.



Listen, Jones is a good firm - better than most. Most of my hate is just that - MINE. And while my old region may be unique in some regards, I’ve heard enough stories from other regions to know that it wasn’t just my region on some of these things. In fact, there were some that were worse than mine. Ironically, though I would never have left the firm if I had been in the region right next to mine. That RL is a class act and so are the advisors in that region. Everybody’s experience is different.



And yes, I have some issues. Most of mine are because I think I was sold a bill of goods based on a lie. I felt betrayed. So forgive me if I’m a little upset.



But, I’ve already calmed down quite a bit - and now back to work - building a company that does what it says.