Morgan Stanley Dean Witter is requiring rookie reps to do five financial plans a year in order to meet career targets.
Brokers say there is no actual quota, but that selling the firm's Financial Outlook plan is one goal new reps are supposed to meet.
"We are definitely being encouraged to sell the plan," says a West Coast broker who started at MSDW in November. "If you want to win a National Sales Director (NSD) award, you will sell five plans in your first 12 months," the rep says.
A veteran rep in the Northeast says five plans are part of a package of career targets for business development by new brokers.
"If you don't sell them, you won't lose your job, but you won't be winning any NSD awards either," he says.
Unlike the mandate to sell plans at Merrill Lynch, MSDW's planning push is limited to rookies. And some MSDW reps say even for new reps, financial plans are not an absolute requirement.
But the policy varies by branch. Another established producer in the East says newer brokers in the office have been ordered to produce five plans.
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter did not respond to calls for comment.
