MDRT Spreads The Word

But documenting excellence is only one benefit MDRT offers to its members. Once a member gets involved with MDRT there are a number of tools available to help boost productivity, he said.

Real working sales ideas are collected from successful producers and distributed to members at the annual meeting. Several successful MDRT members presented their own sales ideas from the main platform and in breakout sessions throughout this years meeting.

"That has always been MDRTs defining element– sharing of sales ideas and increasing productivity," Pickett said.

Another benefit available to members attending the annual meeting is the opportunity to network with their peers. Pickett added that hes made several working relationships with members he otherwise would never have met. Many times, when working on a case that requires a specialist in a certain area of planning, he calls on his fellow MDRT members who specialize in that area. "I bring them in and well work jointly on a case," he said.

Working together with other members of MDRT is also seen through the MDRT mentoring program, which is done in association with GAMA International. "I think thats been the greatest gift MDRT has given to the industry," said Sullenger.

"The idea is you get an MDRT member and someone whos an aspiring member; they work together to grow their businesses," Pickett said.

If the aspiring member reaches 80% of the MDRT production requirement, they are allowed to attend the annual meeting, he said.

"Of all the people who have gone through the program, 48% have qualified to come to our annual meeting either by qualifying or hitting the 80% requirement," Pickett said.

But some members may not be able to commit to a formalized mentoring program, and Sullenger recognized that. In his travels, he encouraged producers who may not have been able to participate in the formal program to lend a hand informally to junior producers.

"If you reach out to someone who is not a member but is striving to become one, and you spend just a few hours a month with that individual, youll help him or her become a member," Sullenger said.

In addition to helping newer producers qualify for MDRT, Sullenger added that the mentors also are seeing benefits from their efforts. Many mentors have said their production level has increased–some have even doubled their business. "The reason for that is they give their time once a month to help someone grow, and all of a sudden theyre doing the things that theyre telling [the prot?g?] to do. Things theyve gotten away from over the years," he said.

Another part of MDRTs value proposition to members is the association with the MDRT brand. Over the past year, Sullenger made branding of the association a priority and has seen some success. "We have been featured around the world now on television, radio and in print–nationally, regionally and locally," he said.

The branding campaign will continue over the next year, with a slightly different twist. MDRT recently adopted a tag line that will be associated with the MDRT name"The premier association of financial professionals."

In the past, many members did not use the MDRT name on their business cards, simply because the public didnt understand what it meant to belong to MDRT. Pickett described a common situation hes encountered: When checking into a hotel as part of the MDRT group, some people ask him if they are all millionaires.

"Theres an ambiguity about Million Dollar Round Table outside of our business in terms of what it means," he said.

Now, under this new initiative, the MDRT name will be defined by its description. "I think this particular branding phrase is going to enhance the branding activity that we do and take it to a level that each member can identify with," he said.

Identifying the significance of MDRT membership in a positive way and communicating that to other professionals, consumers, and the media is a huge member benefit, Pickett said.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Life & Health/Financial Services Edition, June 30, 2003. Copyright 2003 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.