A look at where aggregators send their top performers
Exotic architecture, wineries swathed in rich sunlight, lions prowling near a four wheel drive...These sorts of images are generally restricted to the pages of a calendar which hangs above mountains of paperwork. However once a year, to reward and incentivise brokers, aggregators whisk their top performers away to exciting destinations. AB's Agnes Gajewska finds out where they're going (or have been) this year and what's in it for both brokers and aggregators
AFG
Itinerary: South Africa
Date: 28 March, 2008
Passenger name: Top achievers - the pride of '07
Conditions: Fifty-two top achievers have been rewarded for excelling within several areas and will join 264 other delegates for a four day conference in Cape Town after which they will go on a private four day safari.
To qualify for the tickets, brokers had to earn points by growing their business. This was benchmarked on their previous year's achievements. "Part of the process was to implement customer newsletter services, customer contact and service programs, increase their use of electronic lodgement and offering additional services like personal loans, commercial finance, general insurance and life insurance referral points to their business practice," explains AFG executive director, Malcolm Watkins. "By embracing these additional services they again earned points and developed their business, increased their turnover, improved their business efficiency and improved customer retention and repeat business."
Destination: Cape Town and Pilanesberg national park, South Africa *
* South Africa was chosen for three key reasons
(1) It was relatively easy to get to, with direct flights which took less than ten hours
(2) It was a safe destination
(3) The "must see" destination with an abundant selection of wildlife and cultural treasures was very desirable.
Activities:
- Greeting by 15-piece African choir
- Trip to the summit of Table Mountain
- Trip to Winelands including Spier Winery and Cheetah Outreach Program
- Visit to town of Stellenbosch
- Cape Town city tour
- Robben Island tour
- Cape Peninsula tour
- Game drives at Pilanesberg National Park
Comments:
The trip has had incredible pull both as an incentive as well as a reward. In the lead up to the event AFG experienced an increase in efficiency, with electronic lodgement growing from 45% to over 60% and 100 new broker groups becoming engaged with the customer newsletter service.
Speaking about benefits that both brokers and AFG would likely experience as a result, Watkins says the event will build team culture, loyalty, offer a forum in which brokers could share ideas and spend time with senior management of AFG and will renew energy (and vigour to attend the next planned event).
Mortgage Choice
Itinerary: Brazil
Date: May 2008
Passenger name: National winners of the Mortgage Choice Business Excellence Award (BEA) and High Flyers
Conditions: The selection criteria for Mortgage Choice brokers who would like to qualify for the travel incentive is broken down into two areas - High Flyers who have to meet set targets, and national BEA winners. The lucky globetrotters are announced at the January Mortgage Choice national conference every year.
In order to quailify as a High Flyer a broker must land in one of the following four categories:
- Top ten settlements in terms of dollars
- Top ten settlements in numbers of loans
- Top ten settlement dollars per franchise
- Top ten settlements in terms of loans per franchise
"We send out a High Flyers bulletin monthly and that keeps everyone in tune with where they sit overall and whether they're a chance or not. Individuals can make up their mind as to what they need to do to either stay where they are or work a bit harder," says national corporate affairs manager Warren O'Rourke.
Four winners of the Business Excellence Award are also included in the trip, these include:
- National rookie winner
- National single operator winner
- National multi operator winner (a franchise that works as a broker but also employs one other broker)
- National multi-franchise owner winner
Destination: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil*
* The destination was selected to entice and excite.
"We wanted a destination that would have high appeal," O'Rourke explains, "and I think that's certainly worked. We also wanted to make sure that it was a continent that we hadn't been to in the past and South America seemed like a good place to go."
Comment:
According to O'Rourke trips such as this one offer a unique networking environment as well as benefits at all levels. "The bottom line is that it is a sales incentive," he says, "If you've got your network aspiring to get to the high flyers' destination, then they're all looking at their businesses in terms of how they can increase the volumes and therefore it's helping everyone to achieve a better result than the previous year and is good not only for the individual franchise owner, but also for the company as a whole."
By nature of including the most efficient workers, such trips are also powerful on the networking front. Although O'Rourke states that principally the trips are designed to provide an enjoyable time for brokers, he adds that the company and environment lend themselves to strong networking.
"I don't believe any broker misses the opportunity to talk to their fellow brokers about what they're doing, how they're doing it, future plans etc," he says adding that since they are not in direct competition, these talks are usually helpful.
"From that point of view it's a good opportunity for them to get together in a smaller group and exchange ideas," he says.
PLAN
Departure: February 28th 2008
Destination: Fiji
Thirty brokers plus their partners enjoyed a tantalizing combination of tradition, sightseeing and networking at PLAN's annual High Performance Conference.
The trip saw the top 200 PLAN members (and their supportive partners) who qualified as Diamond Sales Masters, Business Masters and Sales Masters based on a measurement of either dollars settled, numbers of loans settled or overall productivity over a one year period, indulge in all that Fiji had to offer.
The four day itinerary was filled with a mixture of activities and experiences which were as diverse as appreciating local traditions at a Fijian Lovo, exploring and basking in the beauty of a sun-drenched island and talking business over group dinners.
Additionally PLAN chose to acknowledge an element that is often missed when recognising broker success - the support and encouragement given by brokers' partners.
"We wanted to recognise the contribution that the partners make to the success," says PLAN CEO, Ray Hair, "[The entire trip] was very much about motivation, reward and recognition and about both the broker and the broker's partner - with a strong impetus on networking with like-minded successful brokers."
One globetrotting broker, James Barrell, whose performance landed him in Fiji describes his conference experience as being enjoyable as well as professionally rewarding. Apart from welcoming the trip as a reward and recognition for a good year, Barrel says that speaking to other people who were excelling within the industry provided inspiration.
"The input you get from those guys is always eye opening," he explains adding that the priceless feedback has given him a way to correct and improve his business.
Spoilt for choice:
RedBalloon Days chief experiences officer, Naomi Simson urges aggregators to think about a different approach to their trip incentives by allowing their top brokers more choice.
"What really drives the success of an incentive is when someone really, really, really wants to get whatever the prize is. If they have the power of choice, when they get to choose whatever it is inspires them, it can fundamentally change their actions," she explains.
Further, according to Simson, experiences which are driven through choice add a motivational "brag factor" - or sense of achievement, as they are often activities that a particular person has wanted to do but "never got around to."
"We know that 'brag factor' really works with the success of a program," she says
.
There's no place like home
Offering a different perspective on travel rewards, mortgage franchise Smartline takes a unique approach to its 'Leaders' Forum'. The top 20 franchise owners who qualify for this annual event are treated to a two day trip filled with inspirational speeches, innovative discussions about Smartline business - and a bit of fun.
"It's half work, half play," reveals Smartline managing director Chris Acret, "they get a bit of work done, they get a chance to talk to the other top operators, there's some sessions to get them to think about their business, but we also try to do something fun."
Last year's forum saw brokers trying their skills at clay pigeon shooting. "It was raining and we thought it was going to be a nightmare but it was actually pretty fun, so we try to do something memorable like that," Acret says.
According to Acret, this type of 50/50 approach drives competition and instils a sense of community between brokers who often feel isolated and de-motivated.
"The biggest challenge for most small business people and most mortgage brokers is for them to keep up their motivation levels," he says, "and the best way to do that is by getting together with other brokers and having some fun. So if it does foster some competition, the top guys want to go along."
Acret also adds that the forums also offer an opportunity for the aggregator to receive some feedback from "the top guys."
"It's good for us to talk to our top people about what we're doing with the business, about some new initiatives and so forth," he says.
This year the Leaders' Forum is being held in the Yarra Valley, however activities and speakers who are lined up for the event are being kept a secret...
