Move the Middle

Move the Middle to the Finish Line

Two years ago, we ran a contest that coincided with Lance Armstrong’s push to win his sixth consecutive Tour de France. Because he had already won five consecutive races, we focused on the number six—the first six reps to reach $66,000 of rated recognition credit would get to travel to the Tour de France with their spouses.

The race started in January and had to complete by the end of June. If I didn’t have six reps reaching the $66,000 goal, I would take fewer people. At that time we had 55 reps. Before the end of our March closing date, our first six reps reached the $66,000 mark.

We spent a week chasing the Tour around France. The highlight of the trip was the chartered helicopter flights taking all 14 of us—the six agents and their spouses, plus my wife and me—to the top of L’Alpe d’Huez. This time-trial climb would be the most difficult for the riders in the Tour de France that year. More than a million people stood on the mountain cheering the cyclists who were churning up the mountain. We saw the action up close from the finish line.

What an incredible, unforgettable experience it was, seeing the top athlete in the world perform at his best and break another record. It was a great experience for our top producers. The contest was conducted during my second full year of being the General Agent and helped me solidify relationships with them and their spouses.

I believe the real key, when you do any type of competition or incentive is to “move the middle.” You’ll have the top agents who’ll get there, but I think it’s important to move your middle performers toward goals that they normally may not have achieved without giving an “extra mile” type of effort. The first year I ran this contest, the agents who won were all veterans. The lesson learned was to provide an opportunity for our new agents to compete as well. I set a different benchmark for reps in their first four years in the business so that they could compete for a golf trip to Scotland that we are running this year.

Six reps at $66,000 isn’t going to pay for a trip like this, but it got the agency off and running and resulted in a fast start to our production year. We finished last year with almost a 35 percent increase of production over the previous year. This year, we will finish 40 percent over the prior year. I believe some of our success can be attributed to conducting these types of contests and recognizing top achievers.

Todd A. Reid, J.D., CLF
General Agent
MassMutual Financial Group
Salt Lake City, UT