Playing Abstract Golf

So Jason, Josh, and I went to Poplar Creek to do some Abstract Golf. It was a team bonding moment. Next week we are going to do some Abstract Racing!

Jason watches his golf ball land 10 feet from the pin!

Jason showcases his picture perfect form.

Josh tells me that was his fourth eagle of the day.

Abstract golf at its finest. Josh shows how you can use your sand wedge to tap in a putt.
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Josh shows me how to play a ball off the tree, through the area of cones, and perfectly rolling on the green...just inches from the pin.

It's easy!

This is seconds before Josh crushes the ball 350 yards!

This is Josh bringing back the flipped up collar look of the 80's.

Jason plays par 5's like they were par 3's. His second shot gets him on the green.

Ok, I might have exaggerated just a bit...but hey, that's what I call Abstract Golf.

What's New

Josh qualified for all the FAME categories!

The State Road Trip was moved from Napa to Sonoma. We are now going to the Hyatt Vineyard Creek. Who's qualified from our office: Regina, Josh, Gil, Guillermo, Jason, and Brent!

I checked ebay to see what was new. The stuffed goat doll is out already and it already made it on ebay! I ordered some and I haven't even gotten mine yet in the mail.

Here's an unique item. This is a 2006 Hawaii convention tie. It's going for $11 right now.

David completed his first week of sales school. I challenged him to have the ER script memorized by Wednesday. Since I couldn't get together with him yesterday or today, I'm hoping to test him tomorrow.

Day of mass transit

So my car is in the shop because the door lock broke. That happened at least a month ago and I just got around to getting it fixed. That means no car to drive around except my classic car. I don't like to take my Impala into the City because it is hard to park and it's a beast. So my plan was to rely on mass transit to get me around. It took some studying last night but I had a great game plan.

I drove to the train station and took the train to Millbrae to catch BART. Perfect timing. I hopped off the train and right onto BART. I get off of BART at 16th St./Mission and wait for the 22 Fillmore bus. No problem. I waited about 5 minutes and I was on the bus. Well, we were driving down the road and didn't recognize the cross-streets that we were passing. I was thinking in my head that I got on the right bus but why do I feel I messed up? Well, after a few more minutes I realize that I got on the right bus but in the WRONG direction! Man!

So I take the bus ALL THE WAY to the end of the line. We were somewhere near Cesar Chavez. Everyone got off the bus...except me. Even the bus driver got off the bus to take his smoke break.
(crickets chirping)

Ummm...I feel like a grade-A nimrod.

No bus driver! I wonder if I could have driven the bus?

I finally get to my destination after about a 30 minute bus ride. At least I wrote some premium there to make it worth my while.

I'm so glad I got my car back. I have to travel to Sacramento, Martinez, and Pleasant Hill tomorrow.

Rewards for Referrals

Today I got a chance to reward one of my policyholders with a $25 gift card for giving me a referral. She works in Cupertino. She was very excited to get a gift card and was interested in giving me more referrals to sign up! This definitely made me feel good.

Jason and I walked over to get lunch and we stopped by a Hallmark store because he needed to get a card. We found a singing/talking card section and we bought a few cards. I bought a Brady Bunch card for the office. If you ever need a kind word, let Greg Brady talk to you. Just open it up and be inspired.

Week 13 Results:

#1 RSC, Regina with 181.34% of MPI

#2 DSC, Ted with 179.78% of MPI

#3 DSC, Josh with 166.34% of MPI

#7 DSC, Guillermo with 121.36% of MPI

#10 DSC, Marie with 86.96% of MPI

#2 Associate, Brent $8,436.00

#3 Associate, Michael $7,997.34

#4 Associate, Jason $5,952.84

#8 Associate, Janice $3,677.52

1st Quarter Results:

#3 RSC, Regina 101.66% of MPI! FAME!

#5 DSC, Josh 109.27% of MPI! FAME!

#8 DSC, Ted 82.48% of MPI!

#11 DSC, Guillermo 58.63% of MPI!

#13 DSC, Marie 50.72% of MPI!

#3 Associate, Janice $47,343.96

#4 Associate, Brent $33,848.76

#6 Associate, Jason $33, 183.24

#14 Associate, Gil $17.531.40

#22 Associate, Richard $9,046.68

#24 Associate, Francine $8.268.36

#26 Associate, Michael $7,997.64

#32 Associate, Irene $4,839.12

#42 Associate, Ben $1,410.48

#46 Associate, Aubrey $952.80

Abstract Cup

I'm already preparing for victory!

Week 13

Week 13 was off the heezy fo sheezy! What a week. Josh qualifies for FAME! Regina qualifies for FAME! Michael qualifies for his fast-start! Woo-hoo! The numbers are not posted yet, but there are some big numbers for the Giants. We need more weeks like this.

So my first big group started last week and I was very happy that we wrote some big premium. It was a team effort with Janice, Faye, David, Michael, Josh, and me. It was a great experience and the conditions were excellent. Everyday they fed us lunch and dinner and even ice cream! The employees were friendly and we had a great time writing and working together.

This is Janice in action! We must have given away at least 50 ducks at this location.

The big duck was a big hit! I can't count how many employees wanted to take the big duck home. This is a practical joke on the executive director. Two of the employees put the big duck in his office and put his banjo around the duck's neck. I had to get a picture of this. I honestly didn't know the duck had any musical talent!

This is me on Thursday. I look tired. I was tired. It's all good though. We had fun, we wrote business, and we are headed to the other locations!

Team Abstract will be going to the races to celebrate the team hitting FAME!

This is a picture of the go-carts we will be driving. Josh got a trophy to give to the winner of the 1st Abstract Cup.

Several members of the team are hoping and praying to qualify for the State Road Trip. The latest rumors about the actual location are now Napa and Palm Springs. So who's in the running? Regina, Josh, Marie, Guillermo, Jason, Gil, and me. Jason and I were submitting our last minute bonus points today in the office.

Michael, one of our newest agents, qualified for his fast-start with close to $8K in premium! Wow! That was his first week! He has plenty of time to hit his super-fast start. I have a friendly gentleman's bet with him. If he can qualify for the fireball in his first 5 weeks, I'll take him out to dinner.

I made another friendly gentleman's wager with Eric. He was leading our morning meeting since Regina is in meetings this week. So, if I write $216K this year, Eric will make us waffles and bacon for our region. If I write $227K this year, Eric will also throw in coffee. I hope to redeem this bet on January 4, 2008! I had to put this down in writing because I will naturally forget.

What's New on ebay

This is a duck I've never seen before. Here's the description:

"THIS IS THE CUTEST AFLAC DUCK. HE ACTUALLY WALKS, FLAPS HIS WINGS AND MOVES HIS MOUTH WHEN HE SAID, AFLAC, AFLAC AFFFLLLLLAAAACCCCC.
HE IS 9 INCHES TALK AND WEARS A BLUE AND WHITE BANDANA.
HE TAKES 3 "C" BATTERIES."

March Madness

These last two weeks in March have been crazy! A good kind of crazy! This past week was the week that probably was the best week for my district since I've been here. Josh hit his FAME this week after an amazing week of writing. I want to say that we had about $33K week. For some odd reason I can't go to the report card to get the actual stats but I want to say that Regina was the top producing RSC this week, Josh was the top producing DSC this week, and Jason was the top producing associate this week! Cool huh?

This is a picture of me two weeks ago. I had to wait 40 minutes to see someone so this is how I spent my time.

Another appointment two weeks ago stood me up and I then used the next few hours to train an associate. After that I got a call from the guy who stiffed me and actually enrolled him that night. This is a shot of the Financial District at night.

Since I know that Regina is a big Niners fan, I got her a very cool poster signed by the best quarterback of all-time, Joe Montana. This is a legit autograph. I had it personalized too.

This is my proof! I met Joe Montana and took a picture with him! (Note, you can't really see it but I'm wearing my red Aflac shirt I got on ebay!)

The latest news...

We got four new associates to welcome to our team! Welcome Dolores, Grif, Michael, and David!

Pick a card...any card! This is Michael and David after a successful day corporate dropping in Chinatown.

Congrats to Guillermo for promoting to DSC!

I've been slacking

It's been over a month since I posted something on this blog. That's a shame. I totally forgot about it. I guess I've been preoccupied with other things. In any case, I want to start back off with the lastest video for Aflac.


The duck comes to the rescue again!

Here's my hero duck flying in our office.

Congrats Jason!

Hey hey hey!
Jason successfully hit his triple crown award this week! He can vouch for him that he was making it happen this week with activity. Great effort and you will be rewarded.

I am not sure when the triple crown trip is but Jason is going to Jaw-jah! You rock!


In other news...

This is something unique I saw for sale on ebay. It's a bag for your shoes. I am guessing this is for the golfer. Looks cool! Only $10 right now.

From the book, "How To Master the Art of Selling" by Tom Hopkins...

"Selling is the art of asking the right questions to get the minor yeses that allow you to lead your prospect to the major decision. It's a simple function, and the final sale is nothing more than the sum total of all your yeses." (p. 36.)

I have never really heard a definition of selling before. The first thing that surprised me with this definition is the word "art." That would not be the first nor second nor third word I would have used to describe selling. But it makes sense to me. An art is something that is perfected by practice and repetition. It's not something you can just pick up and master the first time you do it. The next thing that surprised me in the definition is the phrase "asking the right questions." Hopkins calls master salespeople as "champions." So champions use questioning to gain control of the conversation, identify needs, to establish points of agreement, arouse emotion, isolate objections, answer objections, determine the benefits, acknowledge facts, confirm the process of going ahead, invite ownership, rationalize their decisions, and close the purchase.

Another thing I learned tonight was a "tie-down." "A tie-down is a question at the end of a sentence that demands a yes." This tie-down is used to establish the yeses you need to lead for a sale. Examples: "Keeping the cost down is important, don't you agree?" "It's a beautiful day, isn't it?" "Your major medical insurance pays for your hospital and doctor bills, right?"

I'm learning a lot from this book.

Aflac Commercial

Here's a commercial from the past.

Who Moved My Cheese?

I have made a pact with myself to expand my leadership knowledge and capabilities by studying leadership, management, and sales. I've read two books so far this year. The first one is called, "How I Raised Myself From Failure To Sucess In Selling" by Frank Bettger. I highly recommend this book. Bettger brought up some very good points that I needed to hear. For someone who is new to sales, like myself, it really addressed some great principles that I never incorporated into my presentations and business.

The second book that I just finished today is "Who Moved My Cheese?" by Spencer Johnson, M.D.. It was another great book. It talked about change and how people react to change. There are 4 characters in the book...Sniff, Scurry, Hem, and Haw. (It's a thin book with big printing for those of you who don't like to read or don't have a lot of time to read) One of the key points that I thought was very appropriate for us was that we need to laugh off our fears. Don't let fear prevent you from finding success.

I bought my third book today. It is called "How To Master The Art Of Selling," by Tom Hopkins. I'll post my thoughts and findings when I finish it.

Week 5

Regina, 75.80% of MPI!

Ted, 93% of MPI!
Marie, 61.56% of MPI!
Josh 59.58% of MPI!

Gil, $2,556!
Janice, $1,840.80!
Jason, 1,524.60!
Edwin, $1,170.00!
Guillermo, $1,058.16!
Richard, $168!

Some pictures

I thought this was a great picture that I needed to post up here. Jason was calling HQ and he was put on hold on his phone. Well, he went to Ben's desk and called another number for HQ and got through quicker. This is Ben's phone being s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d to the limit!

Here's another shot of Jason. I like the angle because you can see the other cubicles.

I picked up one of these cards today in the City. I did some research online and found out that they were sold in many places. So when I have to park somewhere in the City and do not have any change, I can use this card and put it in the meter and it will help me with my parking charges. I'm going to start with the $20 card. There is a $50 card too. Today I didn't need the card because I took BART to the Civic Center. I then walked to the Financial District and then to Bush/Van Ness. I had 3 appointments. After that, I walked back to the Civic Center to take BART back to Millbrae.

This is me at Lafayette Park during my lunch break. I had to rest my feet.

Tanamachismo

In the business world, there's guts, and then there's tanamachismo. Brent has figured out the Aflac business model, and has been nominating like a true wild-man. It is for this reason that Brent's Tanamachismo stands out these last few weeks. Keep up the great work. Your team will inevitably grow with your continued recruiting efforts. You rock!

Appointment Blitz Monday

Jason set 6 appointments today! That was the most in our office today. You rock dude!

Guillermo is promoting to a DSC position! He made that announcement today in the office. He hasn't set the timetable as to when he will exactly promote, but he is promoting! You rock G!

On ebay

I found several cool things on ebay...

6 rare Aflac neckties! 2 of them were prototypes! These were ties given to a retired Aflac executive. The money that is made on these ties will go to a charity.

Wow! These ducks aren't even out yet and they are on ebay! This one is from Alabama.

This is a John Beverly Amos commemorative coin paperweight. It's going for $24.99 right now.

"There were 24 of these rare Wyoming Cowboy ducks made, period. The only way to get one was to be at the 2007 Aflac Kick-off Meeting, and even then your chances were very limited. The cowboy hat is a real mini hat and the vest is made of genuine Wyoming Cowhide leather."

Week 3 & 4 Results

Week 3

#1 RSC, Regina 192.31% of MPI

#3 DSC, Ted 207% of MPI
#4 DSC, Marie 176.33% of MPI
#6 DSC, Josh 120.08% of MPI

#1 Associate, Janice $16,531.20
#2 Associate, Edwin $7,084.80
#5 Associate, Francine $3,933.60
#6 Associate, Guillermo $3,929.04
#10 Associate, Gil $1,393.20
#12 Associate, Jason $1,156.32
#13 Associate, Richard $960.48
#18 Associate, Aubrey $608.40
#26 Associate, Brent $104.04

Week 4

#3 RSC, Regina 152.48% of MPI

#3 DSC, Ted 300.77% of MPI
#5 DSC, Marie 114.30% of MPI
#8 DSC, Josh 71.32% of MPI

#1 Associate, Janice $17,888.04
#4 Associate, Edwin $7,693.68
#10 Associate, Jason $2,631.84
#11 Associate, Guillermo $2,457.60
#17 Associate, Richard $1,479.24
#19 Associate, Gil $780.00
#26 Associate, Aubrey $344.40

Congratulations to everyone for great weeks!

Congratulations to Francine for hitting her fast start award.

Congratulations to Edwin for landing a big group that you can Janice can write in! I want to say that Edwin hit his fast start and super fast start awards...but that is not official yet. I am not sure when his "clock" started.

I'll update this blog with more information later tonight.

Week 2 Results

Associates:

#5 Richard $2,277.48

#8 Gil $1,954.80

#10 Jason $1,420.16

#18 Brent $1,271.04

#19 Irene $1,210.80

#20 Guillermo $936.00

#28 Ben $317.76

DSC:

#10 Marie 7.38% of MPI

Aflac messed up on Ted's and Josh's totals.

RSC:

#2 Regina 80.66% of MPI

There is a new feature for us on myaflac.com. It's the field force toolkit. I have tried it out already and it answers questions that you might have.

New Incentive Items

I've been on the lookout for the new "hero duck" in the incentive items online store. I haven't seen it posted yet. However, there is a new duck that was released just the other day. It's called the "Birthday Duck." They didn't have a picture of it until now. It's kind of like the duck in the mailbox. I also saw an Aflac doormat. This is found in the accessories category.

I wanted to post that I got a new Samsonite computer bag after breaking my first one. I broke the telescopic handle. Well, I sent it back to Samsonite after about 3 months of use and today they gave me a brand new one! I am so happy because I've been using 3-4 bags to hold all of my stuff. Crazy huh? I first want to endorse www.ebags.com as a great place to buy a luggage/bags. Secondly, I want to endorse Samsonite for giving me a brand new bag after I destroyed the first one.

The last thing I want to mention is that there are ringtones, screensavers, and commercials on the Aflac webpage. They are funny. If you haven't checked them out yet, you should do it now.

Now I said!

Oh yea...I forgot to at least mention that I went to our PACE party at Dave & Busters in Milpitas. It was pretty cool to see everyone come together and celebrate our victories. I do not remember our totals but some of our numbers were bigger than a more established Aflac region like LA. That was pretty cool!

2007 Kick Off Event

I took some pictures from the Kick Off Event last Tuesday. Here they are:


Here's Ben!

Here's Ron!

Here's Paul!

Here's Tracey!

Here's Eric!

Gearing Up For A Great 2007!

Keeping this blog updated has been a bit trying the last few months. I'm going to try to be better at it but I'm not making any promises. Honestly, writing business is more important than writing on this blog. But hopefully this blog is interesting, helpful, inspiring, and fun.

So I just checked the incentive items and there is a new computer backpack for sale. I think it looks pretty cool. Talking about backpacks/bags...I destroyed my rolling computer bag. I was getting on BART and the handle just broke. I knew that if my bag was going to break, I would break the handle. I knew it from the start because for some reason I am really rough on my bag. I sent the bag back to the company to get it repaired. I am hoping that it is covered by the warranty!




In the world of ebay...I saw this cool hat up for bid. It reminds me of a NASCAR hat for Jeff Gordon. The seller of this hat noted that the duck is not included in the sale of the hat. I like the style of the hat but I do not like the old logo on it. If I get a hat, I want the new logo on it.

Did you know that there are many correct terms for a group of ducks? Paddling, skiff, raft, team, and dopping are just a few examples. When ducks are in flight, they are called a flock.

The duck on the left represent your life with Aflac. The on the right represent your life without Aflac. Any questions?

(Explanation: Josh had a duck that a policyholder sent back to him. Evidently, the dog got to it and chewed it up. Josh was going to throw it away (it smelled!) and I thought it would be a great idea to take a picture of it before it was put in the trash.)

I took some pictures from the Kick Off Event yesterday but for some reason I can't transfer the pictures from my cell phone to my computer. I'm working on putting them up on the blog. I have pictures of Tracey, Ron, Paul and some people from our team.

Week 52 and YTD totals!

Associates week 52 production results:

#1 Gil $9,668.88!
#2 Guillermo $6,151.20!
#6 Richard $3,949.80!
#8 Brent $2,628.84!
#17 Jason $747.84!
#22 Ben $545.16!
Ellyne $519.60!

YTD production results:

#4 Gil $106,580.28!
#10 Aubrey $73,915.20!
#14 Jason $56,639.40!
#16 Brent $54,746.16!
#19 Guillermo $53,296.44!
#21 Richard $51,554.88!
#27 Irene $35,771.88!
Ellyne $26, 982.24!
#34 Ben $26,854.08!
#65 Sean $6,547.20!
#74 Alan $5,017.68!
#91 Matt $2,414.40!
#101 Francine $1,474.80!
#126 Yoko $699.60!

DSC:

#3 Josh 212.50% of MPI for week 52!
#6 Marie 94.92% of MPI for week 52!
#11 Ted 45.26% of MPI for week 52!

#6 Josh 103.87% of MPI YTD! Congrats on the FAME qualification!
#7 Ted 71.48% of MPI YTD!
#12 Marie 39.95% of MPI YTD!

RSC:

#2 Regina 143.15% of MPI for week 52!
#3 Regina 88.05% of MPI YTD! $1,457,079.88! Wow! That's a big number!

Congrats to Georgianna for her promotion to RSC!

Week 1...who's ready for an awesome year? I hope all of you are!

Happy New Year

Oh there is so much stuff to post but I just don't have the time right now to post it all. I have to recognize our YTD premium and MPI totals, I have to post the latest Aflac stuff on ebay, I have to put up pictures from our Kick-off meeting today, and I have to post some new videos I found on youtube. But I just don't have time right now to do it.

I'm going to do just a few to at least give all of you loyal followers something new to read about:

This so called one-of-a-kind Aflac hot wheel is up for bid on ebay. There's only 18 hours left to bid on the car. It's $9 + shipping.

Here's an older version of an Aflac commercial.

Finally, I wanted to post up a picture of my trip to Las Vegas for New Year's.

I went to Vegas to see the Chuck "Iceman" Liddell fight Tito "Huntington Beach Bad Boy" Ortiz for the UFC light heavyweight title! It was awesome. Iceman hurt Tito in the first round and finished him in the 3rd round with a barrage of punches to the head.

I was walking around the MGM and I saw Chuck. He was stopping to sign autographs and take pictures. I had to take a picture with him because he is a great fighter. I posted this because I was wearing my Aflac hat and it will probably be the only time the UFC and Aflac are mentioned in the same breath. I told Regina that I met Chuck and she told me that they went to the same college! I honestly don't know what I was thinking when I was making a fist. Chuck would obviously destroy me if I ever punched him.