EF Fall 07.indd - National Association of Professional Allstate ...

a restaurant that has private rooms. Youcan also hold your meetings at a hotelthat has private rooms and is willing toserve you off of the hotel’s regular restaurantmenu. With larger groups, to keepit simple, we divide the total bill by thenumber of attendees and add a respectabletip so that the restaurant, countryclub or other facility will remember usand go out of their way to set up privateareas for us for future meetings.Our group has progressed to thepoint where we now have guest speakersor sponsors at many of our meetings.There are times when the guest speakeris also a sponsor. Meeting sponsors canhelp defray costs by providing the meetingroom, if there is a charge, or by payingfor lunch. When we do not have aguest speaker or a sponsor, we usuallyallow the attendees an opportunity tointroduce themselves. They tell thegroup where their office is located, andhow long they have been with Allstate.Then they have a chance to discuss whatthey are currently doing, trying to door getting ready to do in order to growtheir agencies. They can also bring upquestions that they want the group todiscuss, such as “How do you go abouthiring new staff?” or “What is the bestway to pay your staff?” or “How muchare the rest of you paying your staff?” or“What media gets the best results foradvertising?” or “Do the sample quotemailers work well?” This has become agreat forum for discussing everythingAllstate.In order to get everyone to open up, wedo not encourage managers to attend themeetings. However, since we have nothingto hide, any manager who would like toattend is welcome and is treated the sameas everyone else in the room. Sometimes,this can be an asset to the group because amanager can relay ideas that have workedfor agents in their markets. In addition,they often have more insight into otherthings that may be going on with Allstateor they may know some tricks that canmake our jobs easier. This added input, ofcourse, benefits everyone.Because our group has now grown to85 members, we send out an email meetingannouncement three to four weeksahead of time. The email asks membersif they plan to attend the meeting. Then,three to four days before the meeting, Ihave two of my staff members call everymember who has not responded and findout if they plan to attend. This is importantbecause the meeting facility needsan accurate head count so it can set upenough tables and chairs for the meeting.Guest speakers and sponsors can addan important element to your meetings.Our group has utilized a variety of themsince we started out. Following are someof the kinds of speakers or sponsors, ora combination thereof, who are generallyopen to participating:• Fund Representatives: We havehad as guest speakers/sponsors, representativesfrom the various different fundsthat we represent through our variableproducts. They can give you a great insightinto their products and give you salestools that will help entice your clients intotalking with your life specialist. We haveall found that the more you know about aproduct, and the competing products, theeasier it is to make sales.• Representatives from ApprovedCompanies: We have had as guest speakers/sponsors,representatives from HealthPlan Services, an Allstate approved companylocated in our area. We are licensedwith them to sell individual and grouphealth products. This is an importantproduct if you intend to sell the AllstateWorkplace Division (AWD) SHOPpolicies. We have also had representativesfrom AWD as guest speakers/sponsors todiscuss the SHOP policies, the accidentpolicies and the cancer policies.• Politicians: Our guest speakershave also included state senators andstate representatives. We have also hadour state legal counsel / lobbyist speak toour group. In short, once the group getslarger, it is easy to have quality speakerscome and talk to the group.• Others: In addition to the listabove, there are plenty of other vendorsor sponsors who would like to get infront of a group of Allstate agents. Allstateapproved vendors, for example, canhelp your group understand some of theirprocesses and the reasons for them. Wehave had glass companies, body shops,water mitigation companies, windstormmitigation inspection companies, medicalinspection companies and many,many more.I have found that the main key tolaunching, maintaining and growingyour group is based on how interestingyou make your meetings. It is also importantto make one person responsible fortaking meeting notes. The notes shouldthen be typed up and distributed to allof the members in your group, whetherthey attended the meeting or not. Thisbrings added value to your meetings. It isalso especially helpful when group membersdiscuss things they are doing in theiragencies. There are many instances whenthese notes and any supporting documentsneed to be seen in order for thewhole group to understand the conceptsbeing discussed. In addition, it is veryimportant that you send out those documentsin a timely fashion to everyone inthe group.Lastly, to make your group work,you’ll need some responsible group leaders.You should have a primary leaderand, depending on the size of your group,one or more back up leaders to assist incoordinating your meetings and to act asa stand-in should the primary leader beunavailable. The responsibilities of thisgroup include securing meeting locations,moving the meeting location fromtime to time in order to make travel tothe meetings fair for everyone, emailingor sending out meeting notices, andmaking follow up calls to members whodon’t respond. Most importantly, theseindividuals must be able to MC themeetings, keep them flowing smoothlyand prevent them from turning into abitch sessions.There is obviously more I could tellyou about our group, but if you take theinformation I have presented in this article,you should be able to start a group ofyour own. I can tell you this, once you getstarted, you’ll be amazed at the results. Believeit or not, agents are hungry for newideas and fellowship. Give it a try… you’llwonder why you didn’t do it sooner.If you are interested in starting a lunch orbreakfast group and would like to speak tome for assistance, you can reach me at (954)755-1177, at StevenMarcus@Allstate.com,or at StevenMarcus@StevenMMarcus.com.Fall 2007 Exclusivefocus — 25