![]() Ted Jones stepped down from managing the firm in 1980, and he was succeeded by John W. The company therefore switched to using Merrill Lynch's toll-free number for stock quotes for a time, and eventually upgraded to a sophisticated computer and satellite network. However, the network had grown too big for the teletype technology, and brokers had trouble getting their quotes because of tied-up lines. At that time, the offices were linked by a teletype system, which let them communicate with each other and also keep up with moving stock quotes. ![]() By 1978, Jones operated just over 200 brokerage offices. This did not work, and Jones bowed out of the state. The firm made a big push there in the mid-1970s, attempting to recruit brokers from other firms. One area Jones tried and failed to penetrate was Florida. In town after town, from Spearfish, South Dakota, to Paris, Illinois. The number of Jones brokerages expanded gradually through the 1970s, filling the Midwest. Jones offices prospered, and the company grew. Ted Jones commented on his brokers' training in a Jarticle in the Wall Street Journal, "If it's beneath your dignity, then go work somewhere else." But for the brokers who could stand the isolation from co-workers, the small town atmosphere, and the exhausting cold calls, there was money to be made. ![]() But the scheme apparently built intense company loyalty among Edward D. It took a particular kind of person, and not your typical broker, to go for the Jones approach. Only after this grueling initiation was completed was the new broker allowed to open an office. To reach the quota often took many months of eight-to ten-hour days pounding the pavement. The new broker was required to make 1,000 cold calls, knocking on doors like the storied Fuller brush man or encyclopedia salesman. Then they were sent to a town where they knew no one. While learning the ins and outs of the financial markets, Jones trainees also polished their people skills and learned to hone in on potential investors. Jones trained college graduates who had no specific background in the securities industry. Most offices were in the Midwest, and from the start they followed the Jones pattern still used today: a one-man office, pushing conservative investments.Įven before Ted Jones took over as managing partner, he instituted a broker training program unique in the industry. When Ted Jones took over as managing partner of the brokerage in 1968, he pressed ahead with his plans to infiltrate rural America. Jones, Sr., disagreed with his son, but Ted went ahead anyway, and opened the first Jones branch in 1955 in the tiny town of Mexico, Missouri. Ted Jones decided that the brokerage would do well to branch into small towns directly, to offer investment services to people that big city firms usually overlooked. Up to that point, Jones brokers worked rural territories only as so-called TNT brokers, looking for clients from Tuesday til Thursday, before heading back to the St. He had always liked small towns, and was comfortable with farmers and rural people. Jones, Jr., known as Ted, studied agriculture at the University of Missouri, then worked for a while on Wall Street. ![]() Jones's son Edward Jones, Jr., joined the company in 1948. The brokerage was nothing out of the ordinary until Edward D. In 1943 Jones's firm merged with an older investment firm, Whitaker & Co., founded in 1871. Louis, Missouri, who opened his own firm in 1922. Jones remembered on Wall Street as the Jones of Dow Jones. On several lists maintained by Forbes and other business publications, Edward Jones consistently ranks among the top companies to work for in the United States and Canada. While the average mutual fund customer buys and sells a fund every three years, Jones customers on average hold on for 20 years. Jones brokers specialize in low-risk investments, and its customers are usually in the market for the long haul. ![]() Until the 1980s, Edward Jones offices were found exclusively in rural areas, but the firm expanded into suburbs as well as into big cities, including Chicago and Detroit. Almost all Jones offices are one-person affairs, and the firm aims primarily at individual investors who have relatively small accounts. is one of the world's largest brokerage networks, with more than 8,000 offices across the United States, Canada, and England. NAIC: 523120 Securities Brokerage 523920 Portfolio Management 524210 Insurance Agencies and BrokeragesĮdward D. Wholly Owned Subsidiary of The Jones Financial Companies ![]()
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