Back from Detroit and now I'm a Managing Director. It is more of a title change than anything, but I have been asked to help out more with some of our other offices. The Manager in Fresno is retiring and the plan is that Fresno will fold into Sacramento as a Service Office. Our local Manager has been asked to stay on for the next year as we transition the office. The concern is that we will lose some of the staff because she has been the Manager there for over 25 years.
It was a really good meeting for my office as we won 8 awards at the meeting, including a Distinguished Service Award for one of our Assistants, New business awards for both Peter and Matt and awards for Top Producer for both Pete and Matt. Peter also won a Leadership award and our office won an Office of the Year Award. I was still recuperating and the hours were not my friend. We generally start at 8 AM and GO GO GO until 11 at night. Darla asked me to try to make sure I got plenty of rest and didn't push myself too hard. I did NOT go to the Hospitality suite at all this trip, which is rare for me, but we got in so late each night and I was so exhausted, that I just went to bed.
I called Darla on Friday night and couldn't get hold of her. It turns out that she took advantage of me being gone and took a road trip to Pasadena to see Daniel. She had a voucher for a free night at a Marriott facility and took advantage of that. Both Daniel and Becky joined her and they had dinner Friday night and breakfast on Saturday. Darla was on the road by two in the afternoon and made it home in time to pick me up.
My office also won a bunch of trophies in the Pinewood Derby. Our car wasn't fast and we took second in all four heats that we ran. The trophies we won were all aesthetically based as we took two 3rd fro Carrier's Choice and Executives Choice and a Second Place for Most Original. There were 74 entries, so it was significant and Connie's husband did a great job of building and designing the car.
I also came back to the annual fall deluge of leaves as the wind started in on Saturday and blew all day today. I took about 45 minutes to rake up some leaves, but as soon as I picked them up, others blew right in behind them.
I got in about ten o'clock last night and Darla and I went in the spa and then I went to bed as it was already 2 AM my time by the time we got home and got out of the spa. I was up about 7:30 this morning and Darla fixed a nice home cooked breakfast of eggs and sausage in a burrito. I then taped the Dallas game and headed to the course. Today was the Past President's tournament for 2013. All of the former President's tee off first and I was in the first group with Neil, Rick and Tim. I played okay, but lost a ball on the 9th hole and took a 7 for a 44 on the front. I had birdied number two but followed that up with a ball in the water and a double bogey on the next hole. I did get it going on the back nine and birdied number 10 and 16 for a 41 on the back and an 85 It won't be good enough to be in the money, but I should get some skin money for the three birdies and I did improve my Eclectic score on two of the holes. The Eclectic is the year long best score on each individual hole at Diamond during selected tournaments. I now have a 63 on the year.
It has been over two weeks since this illness took hold and I still tire easily and have a cough deep in my chest. I don't think the trip to Detroit helped and I plan to relax and take it easy the rest of this week. I'll be at work, but will rest when I need to, drink plenty of water and put this behind me for good.
Darla has an event in Monterey next weekend and she wants me to go with her on Saturday. I think I just need to take it easy at home. We talked about going up to Tahoe on Sunday and staying over at the Lakeside Inn. They have a deal for $89 that includes a night's stay, breakfast for two and a Steak and Lobster dinner for two. Not a bad deal. We'll see if we make it next week.
Our office has once again beat our budget goal for the month and we are carrying over September and October for our holiday lunch. Hopefully we will hit our number in November as well and we can have a great celebration in December.
I will be changing things up in my office starting this month as I will completely give up all of my agencies. I discussed this with many of the managers that handle offices of my size and they have given up production and concentrated on working with the younger producers and making sure that the younger staff members get the proper training. I have 26 people who all report to me now and I don't feel that I'm giving the few agents that I have left the proper level of service. I will get more involved with marketing and training and making sure that my office remains one of the best in the company. I don't get paid on my own production anymore and I don't like to compete with my guys who do get paid based on their numbers.
Well, dinner is served, so I will bid you all adieu and I'll be back at the keyboard next weekend. Ciao.
No comments:
Post a Comment