Tell the truth… you’d sorta like to see your boss have to wear a banana suit to the office one day, right?

Think that might motivate you? 

CEO of Howard Hanna Rand Realty, Matt Rand, certainly thought so.

So he issued a challenge.

Right when his agents – and his entire company – needed it most.

 

The Worst Hit Early on from Covid

You see, Matt’s company is in the suburbs of New York City, covering Westchester County, the Hudson Valley and Northern New Jersey – areas particularly hard hit in the early stages of the pandemic.

“When we shut down, we really shut down,” Matt recalls.

So when his agents were finally able to return to the office, he knew he had to do something to generate some buzz and energy.

At the time, he’d recently attended Tom Ferry’s Elite Retreat. For this virtual event, the Tom Ferry events team created a “That’s Bananas” theme and sent paddles that said “That’s Bananas” to attendees in an effort to drum up excitement and engagement. It worked!

 

A Perfect “R&D”: Rip-Off & Duplicate

Matt liked Elite Retreat’s theme so much, he adapted it to create a “Go Bananas” appointment setting contest for his company’s offices, all at the encouragement of his longtime personal coach, Tom Ferry.

Bright yellow banana décor injected a lively energy to the offices, and the entire contest was themed with bananas, right down to tracking how many appointments each agent booked. Each appointment booked was a “banana” with additional bonus opportunities to earn even more bananas throughout the seven-week contest.

And then there was the kicker…

 

Matt, Meet Banana Suit

The competition was set up pitting different regions of Rand Realty against each other. Office managers for the winning offices would have to wear banana costumes for a day. And then Matt and his brother Joe, the company’s CCO, further incentivized agents by agreeing to wear banana costumes, too – but only if the entire company exceeded 13,000 booked appointments.

Spoiler alert: Matt & Joe had to wear the banana suits!

All told, 625 agents booked a whopping 15,639 appointments during the contest.

“We hold an appointment setting contest every year, and this was our most successful one ever,” Matt says.

>KEEP READING BELOW TO FIND OUT WHY TOM SAID HE WANTED TO PUNCH MATT IN THE FACE<<