WHY DO WE HOLD THEM?

What is it?

An ardmore is a week when a group of agents (usually 6, 8 or 10 agents) stay and work away
from home together. The agents could all be members of the same team but more often are
drawn from 2 or 3 different teams.

The name “ardmore” was coined when the first such program was run in the late 1950’s in
Ardmore, Oklahoma.


Why Hold Them?

After all why should agents have to travel and stay away from home and their family? Senior Life
Services helps with the motel bill but the agents will have some extra travel and incidental
expenses. These are disadvantages of participating in an ardmore.

We hold them, however, because the many advantages far outweigh any disadvantages.

(1) Production and income of the agents usually soars to 50%-100%-200% above their norm.

(2) Newer or struggling agents get the chance to ride and rub shoulders with more successful
     producers.

(3) These newer or struggling agents don’t only do better for one week but often raise their
     performance permanently as a result of attending an ardmore.

(4) Something almost magical happens when a group of agents work, eat and sleep (i.e. in the
     same hotel) together for 5 or 6 days. It could be called “bonding”, sometimes career long or
even lifelong friendships develop on ardmores. A tremendous amount of “camaraderie”
     develops which is so powerful in terms of building “esprit de corps” throughout the region
     concerned.

(5) Ardmores can be timed so that brand new agents can get their initial field training from
     2 or 3 different top producers in the exciting atmosphere prevalent on most ardmores.
     This greatly increases their chance to succeed.

(6) Ardmores can also be exceptional recruiting opportunities. Ads should be placed so that
     the manager(s) can interview early morning or evening at the ardmore motel.

In summary, a successful ardmore is a win/win situation for agents, sales managers and the agency. Great things happen on ardmores!