June 2020

Page A6 JUNE 2020 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS S ec t i on A Market Research by MKJ Marketing Too Many Brand Names? Consider an Umbrella Brand. © 2020 MKJ Marketing 1-888-MKJ-1566 www.mkjmarketing.com Glenn Gould CEO, MKJ Marketing By Christopher Kuhnen There’s More To It... Advance Funeral Planning Pre-Need Sales Working Remotely: Tips and techniques to make you more productive The first week of March 2020 the funeral service profession quickly began to change. Pre-need and funeral trust sales agents were especially hard hit. Not only is the COVID-19 pandemic sickening and killing people, it is also changing the way we do business. For those of us who rely on face-to-face contact with our fam- ilies, that mode of interface has significantly slowed down or disappeared altogether. The new reality of video conferencing, additional telephone calling, and remote communication has be- come the “new normal”. The sad truth is things might never re- turn to the way they used to be. Take heart. Crises have a way of fueling urgency and a newway of looking and doing things. Your funeral preplanning program is no different. Ready or not, it is time for it to evolve to the next level: Remote Sales Presentations. Consider these timeless and unchanging facts. People want and need to plan their final wishes ahead of time for all the usual reasons. COVID-19 does not change that innate desire. People want to make the funeral service experience as easy and pain- less for their loved ones as possible. People do not want to have to pay more for their final wishes than they must. Value for the money they spend is the name of the game. These facts make it that much more critical to keep reaching out to assist families with making their funeral prearrangement plans. Even though half of all working Americans report some kind of income loss affecting themselves or a member of their household because of the coronavirus pandemic, people still desire to learn and under- stand all their funeral, cremation and burial choices and options. The best way to prepare yourself for what lies ahead is to create a plan. Embrace the remote working environment. Discipline yourself to use the tools you have available to reach and serve families. Do not sit around and wallow in self-pity because fami- lies are not walking in or calling in to see you like they used to. Control what you can control, and that means tackling pre-need with a fresh, positive, can-do attitude. Families are still out there. They still want and need to talk with you! You must learn a whole new skillset. The skill is how to have rapport over a computer screen and how to close a pre-need sale in two visits instead of the usual one. A single face-to-face pre- need presentation customarily takes at least an hour and a half to two hours. I know some pre-need agents that go two and a half hours. It is unrealistic to believe clients will stay remotely engaged with you for this length of time. Therefore, a two-step preplanning process needs to occur. First step is to present the features and benefits of planning ahead and ascertain the cli- ent’s funeral/cremation wishes and merchandise choices. Second step is to collect statistical information, share total cost estimate, present pre-funding options, and consummate the pre-funding agreement. First things first. To be successful in working remotely, make sure the stage is properly set. It starts with first rate equipment, software, lighting, backdrop, presentation, and privacy. Get a very good, high resolution remote camera and hook it up to your computer or laptop. Make sure the room you remote from is quiet, noise and echo free. Remove yourself from all other people so you have no distractions or interruptions as you are meeting with your clients. Make sure you have ample lighting in the room. Light yourself up like you are in a broadcast studio, so those you are speaking with can clearly see you. Your facial expressions will be seen by your cli- ents through your remote camera and can help close the sale. They will be intently watching you. Needless to say, look your very best. Grooming and professional dress go a long way whether face-to- face or working remotely. Dress in the same professional attire you would normally wear on any appointment so you will be taken seri- ously. Reading body language has become more critical to your skill set than ever before. Especially picking up on voice cues as well as fa- cial cues. Although your remote clients will be able to see you. You might not be able to see them if they do not have a remote camera or will not switch it on during your remote conference, you need to ask plenty of “open ended” questions and thoroughly listen to what is being said. Not just their words, but voice tone and inflection. With practice you will learn, in short order, if you are effectively communicating with them or not. Learn and understand every facet and feature of all your available remote tools. Zoom and Microsoft Teams video conferencing sys- tems seem to be the easiest to utilize. Both make available easy to follow and understand tutorials on how to use their systems. Make sure you understand how to use all the features and programs on your telephone, desktop computer, laptop, I-Pad, video conferenc- ing software, remote camera, etc. Learn them so you can effortlessly glide through the many capabilities they offer. It will take practice. But you can do it. Nothing is more distracting to a video conference participant than someone who fiddles around with the controls and does not know how to inherently use the equipment and software in a smooth easy manner. Once you engage your client on a video teleconference, what do you intend to share? What do you intend to say? How do you in- tend to act? How will you look on your remote camera? All are criti- cal to your success. Your entire remote presentation should be prac- ticed several times before you “go live” with a client. Once you “go live” with your clients, the first step is establishing some quick rapport. Thank them for meeting with you under these trying circumstances and applaud them for their desire to become better informed about your pre-planning program. Ask them what initiated them to want to discuss this topic with you today. Their answer(s) will lay out the roadmap of your questions during discus- sion time. Tell them you will first briefly share some basic informa- tion about why preplanning is important, and the steps involved. Afterwards an open discussion will follow where you will be taking notes as you ask them their thoughts, wishes and desires for their fi- nal arrangements. Let them know that following your time togeth- er today, they will get all their questions answered and have a much better understanding of the pre-planning process. This understand- ing will make the creation of their prearrangement plan that much easier. Do you have a short video presentation (4 minutes or less) ready to show? How about a white board or power point presentation? Your clients need visuals to follow as you share and discuss the fea- tures and benefits of pre-planning. Keep it simple and short. Get them talking and follow their responses onto the next questions you should be asking. Start taking notes immediately and make sure they can see you are writing things down. Remember, your remote video camera is broadcasting your every move. Your client is watch- ing. Casket, Outer Burial Container/Burial Vault, Cremation Urn, Flower, Memorial Card/Mass Card, etc. photographs can all be up- loaded on your video conferencing platform with pricing clearly marked on each one. Ask your vendor to provide you the mate- rials they offer for working remotely with clients. When it comes to remote conferencing, and a discussion of pricing, it is better to be safe than sorry. Make sure your remote clients (just like your face-to-face clients) receive a copy of your General Price List (GPL) prior to any discussion of pricing. E- mail them a copy of your GPL just before your video confer- ence starts. One of the first things you should ask your remote client, as you start the conference is, “Did you receive our firm’s General Price List I e-mailed you”? They need to answer “YES” before you start into a discussion of any pricing. If they respond “NO”, then double check their e-mail address and resend im- mediately. As you enter the segment of your presentation that requires the gathering of statistical information, this is where you need to make an adjustment. Instead of asking dozens of questions and writing down the answers remotely (which will bore your client to death!). Try this approach. Tell your client you will be e-mailing them a password protected fillable pdf Statistical Guide or Memorial Planning Guide. Such guides have been an industry staple for years and can easily be converted into a pass- word protected fillable pdf format. E-mail the Guide to them for them to complete over the next 24 hours and e-mail back to you. You will need to create a password for the pdf and provide it to them during your telephone conversation so they can open and complete the Guide. At that point, a second teleconference will need to be sched- uled and take place. When you receive the Guide back, do the following. Call them on the telephone and review the informa- tion they filled in on your Guide. Obtain any information they may have left off or did not know how to fill out. Review with them their funeral cost estimate, based on the wishes they gave you 24 hours earlier, and outline all their pre-payment options. Ask them which option works best for their budget. When they tell you, complete the prefunding paperwork. Remote Tip: Already have your pre-funding contract paperwork partially completed (name, address, itemized pricing, etc.). All that is re- quired is some final information such as SS#, DOB, funding option choice (SP, Multi-Pay, D4D), ACH Payment informa- tion and the paperwork will be complete. Once you have completed paperwork, follow your funding company’s guidelines for how to securely transmit this informa- tion to the funding company and client. You DO NOT want to risk transmitting any sensitive and private information (client name, SS#, Date of Birth, ACH Bank Accounts, etc.) through unsecure e-mail channels. It is easy for identity thieves to hi- jack this crucial information in electronic transit. You would not want to be the one held responsible for this information be- ing stolen. If you are apprehensive about transmitting your paperwork electronically, there is always the traditional fax or U.S. mail method. Pick up the customer’s completed paperwork at their residence (following social distancing guidelines) and then fax or mail into your funding company for processing. This might be a little slower but provide you Peace of Mind that no vital cli- ent information is likely to get hijacked along the way. Christopher Kuhnen of Edgewood, Kentucky has been actively en- gaged in funeral service for over 34 years. As an insider into excel- lence, he is a trustworthy advisor to many funeral home and industry professionals. Kuhnen provides regular comprehensive consultation and support and additionally trains and bolsters leading death care professionals concerning profitability, management, pre-need sales and marketing, family service follow-up, and much more. Over the course of his professional career, he has presented nu- merous continuing educational seminars and workshops (on sales, marketing, pre-need, public relations, etc.) to a variety of national, state, and regional funeral associations. He is on the forefront of the industry and enjoys sharing his knowledge with others. Kuhnen is a Kentucky Licensed Funeral Director, Life Insurance Agent, and member in good standing with the Funeral Directors Association of Kentucky. Additionally, he is a Certified Marketing Specialist, as be- stowed by the National Marketing Academy and a Certified Funeral Celebrant as bestowed by the distinguished Insight Institute. He can be reached at cpkuhnen@gmail.com . FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS www.nomispublications.com Monthly Columns online at Continued from Page A2 FSF COVID-19 Crisis Relief Grant butions include a $50,000 lead gift from the National Funeral Directors Association, and a $100,000 matching gift from Homesteaders Life Company, which allows donors to double their impact. One-time or monthly gifts at every level can be made online at https://www.funeralservicefoundation.org/ covid19fund/. Those interested in supporting may also send checks, made payable to the Funeral Service Foundation to the FSF COVID-19 Crisis Response Fund, 13625 Bishop’s Drive, Brookfield, WI 53005, or call 262-814-1549 to make a gift by phone. Since 1945, the Funeral Service Foundation has served as the profession’s philanthropic voice. As the charita- ble arm of the National Funeral Directors Association since 1997, the Foundation receives operational support from NFDA and donors across the profession to help ad- vance its mission to support funeral service in building meaningful relationships with the families and the com- munities it serves. Visit FuneralServiceFoundation.org to learn more. The Foundation’s Fund Advisory Committee reviews the grant proposals weekly allowing for swift deployment of urgently needed funding and resources. Support the COVID-19 Crisis Response Fund Gifts to the Funeral Service Foundation COVID-19 Crisis Response Fund directly support funeral service and grieving families in this time of loss and un- certainty. Since its launch last month, which be- gan with a $200,000 al- location from the Funeral Service Foundation, in- dividuals, funeral homes, organizations and busi- nesses across the United States and Canada have already answered the call to give. 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