February 4, 2009. Double D Ranch, Texas. All Office Seminar

We have it every year at the office. We have held it since I first became a Manager in 1987. It is the only time of the year when all the agents come together for three purposes: to get to know the other agents , to learn something , and to have fun. Breakfast is always served followed by various and sundry different activities and/or speakers. Now our program ends at one o'clock. I really do not know if these seminars have been helpful to the agents with their productivity, but I suspect that it is one of many items helpful to the agents. Jack, my boss, once mentioned that of the fifty or more programs we have running in the office to help the agents do their job, probably ninety percent could be scrapped without loss of productivity. The only difficulty would be to find the ten percent that were essential. Perhaps he was right, but I am not prepared to risk it. It is very difficult to try to teach all the agents at the same time, as their experience is so diverse. Our All Office Seminar is the only time of the year when all agents are expected to attend these sessions. Our system must work because our agents out sell any other office in the country, so perhaps the seminar is helpful to them.

The first few years we held the Seminar in December, and used it a a planning session for the next year. Our very first All Office Seminar was very important to me because the agents developed the criteria for affiliation for future agents to join us, and from that day to now, that same criteria has been used and implemented in our hiring and firing standards. My life has been made much easier because of those four criteria developed by the agents. At some point, our training team suggested we move the Seminar to January, as a way to kick start our year. It was a good idea. My now the agents are skilled at their business plans so January works well. The idea was to hold it the first week in January, but it has evolved into later in the month, due to schedules of speakers and country clubs. I must say that in the years that I was fully responsible for the Seminars, some years were not too well received. For instance, one year I had a Psychologist with us for the whole day, dealing with the issue of breaking through to the next level. Most of us are not very touchy-feeley, and many agents hated the day. The next year we put together a committee to organize the event. I was happy not to be the one in charge. In those days we expected the agents to stay together all day, finishing at four. Now we are smarter. This year Dave Stevens, our new President spoke to the group, also Mark Fleisher, the top L.&F. agent. In the middle was a Bethesda Gateway Trivia Contest, complete with prizes. For the past two years, Ned has organized the Seminar and has done a great job. Bless him for his energy and expertise.

Now once again we will try to break the Billion Dollar mark in 2009. We were so close in 2008. Perhaps the words of wisdom from Dave and Mark will spur us on.