As Maine goes, so may you 

I recently received an e- note from Mark Trombly, vice president of marketing for Providence Mutual.  He explained how a Bangor, Maine agency and its personal lines manager had come up with a novel way to make the point about the value of on-going cross-selling activities. 

She asked her CSRs to collect competitor ads they saw in newspapers, magazines and direct mail, and make notes on television commercials they saw or radio commercials they heard on radio for one month.  She told the CSRs to bring their notes, sample ads, etc. into the office and put them in a giant fishbowl. 

She told them that their notes were entries for an opportunity to win a prize.  At the end of the month, all of the entries were laid out in front of staff members.  It was an impressive display and demonstration that made the point:  our competitors are out there going after our customers big-time! 

Oh, every one who entered received a prize with a grand prize for a lucky entrant whose name was drawn from the fishbowl!