Trip Report: Junction City, Kansas

I’m writing this on the plane back home. I had a great trip to Junction City, Kansas this week, where I was the Keynote Speaker at a meeting of 300 insurance agents for American Family Insurance Company of Madison, Wisconsin.

I love going to the Midwest (as long as it’s not January or February) because Midwesterners are the nicest people in the U.S., and the people of Kansas did not let me down.

The best part of the trip was that my speech was very well received. I spoke about the necessity of transforming yourself from an agent or pusher of policies to an expert, advisor, resource and single point of contact for your clients.

Another benefit of the trip was I got to patronize three of my favorite companies: Southwest Airlines, Avis and Marriott.

I flew round-trip from Raleigh to Kansas City on Southwest and, of course, left on time and landed on time both ways (actually landed a bit early both times). Going home from Kansas City, the flight before mine was delayed getting out, so by the time my plane pulled into the gate, Southwest only had 15 minutes to get everyone off, get us on and get us going. No problem, they did it.

From Kansas City I rented a car from Avis for the two hour drive to Junction City. And, as almost all of my Avis experiences go, everything went smoothly and easily. Speed and ease, I love it.

In Junction City, I stayed at a Courtyard Marriott. The hotel was clean, the room was nice, the staff great (front desk, restaurant and conference services) and the high speed internet access was free. Now I know there are plenty of other hotels that do this, but not as consistently as Marriott. I’ve stayed at excellent Hyatt’s, Hiltons, Sheratons and
Radissons, but I’ve also stayed at lousy ones. It’s extremely rare when I find a bad Marriott. In fact, I can’t remember the last time that’s happened. Have a great weekend!