I had planned to spend the week with Eric Battles in Southern Oregon. I flew in on Sunday night so we could leave bright and early Monday morning and instead upon landing I received a call with the news that Eric had the flu. I met with Ben and Bret Monday morning and after spending the day in the planning center meeting with many of you, I was off to Sacramento to spend time with Chad Moss! What a great couple days it has been.
Chad, for those of you that have not met him, has been with the company for 2 years. He started as a counselor in Medford, Oregon and has since moved to the Sacramento area where he is building up the area and continues to sell for several funeral homes. He is married and has two adorable kids. A 4 year old boy, Parker, and a 18 month year old daughter named Anna Kate. He loves to golf, bike, and spend time with his family.
TUESDAY 10/25
We started off our Tuesday with a long drive out to Colusa, California. Population 5,971 (according to the 2010 census). It is a small farming community where they farm mostly rice (all different kinds). We finally arrived at McNary-Moore, a Carriage Services funeral home. We do preneed for 1/3 of the Carriage funeral homes in the country that produces 60% of their volume with our model. Chad is working hard at getting the remaining 2/3rds to use our services and from what I see, the folks that he is currently working with really like him and Precoa.
McNary-Moore for years and years has been the only funeral home in town, until recently a new shop (it literally is a store front shop in town) has opened up. Verdo Werre, the manager and funeral director at McNary-Moore, says it hasn't affected their business much but they are actively trying to market to the community which is where Precoa has really helped their business.
VERDO WERRE, MCNARY-MOORE FUNERAL DIRECTOR
Chad and Verdo gave me a tour of their facility. It is older but has a lot of personality to it. It is literally right out of a wild wild west movie. The chapel has old wood beams in the ceiling, the caskets have saddles on top for displays... I loved it! It was a fun home to see and the people were fantastic. Verdo is more soft spoken, but solid. He has had 30+ years of experience in the industry and is great at what he does.
That afternoon Chad and I went out to find a home (that didn't' show up on any maps or GPS)for an appointment. The Milagros family had recently done funeral services at McNary-Moore and was a post service lead that came through planning center. (Go FPC Team!). Ms. Milagros was a single mom to 4 kids. She has 7 brothers and sisters, but is the only one living in Coluso. She works for California farms (7 days a week, and sometimes works 10 hours a day!) and had a lovely home. She had used McNary-Moore for her two previous funerals for her mother and father and was pleased with the service the provided. Chad did an excellent job with his after-care follow-up/final wishes organizer presentation. He outlined several options, explained the cost, the benefit of locking in prices today while she is still young and talked about payment options. She was very interested but wanted a day or two to think about it. She hasn't thought about her own funeral before and I believe that since she is a single parent that this is even more beneficial for her to think about early on so that it is not a burden on her children or her extended family should something happen to her. She requested that Chad come back the first part of next week which was great. Chad scheduled an another appointment with her and is hopeful to set up a 10 or 20 year payment plan with her. I think he is going to do it! Great work Precoa team!
After that appointment we headed out to Concord, California (a good 1.5 hour drive) to meet up with one of Chad's counselors, Becky Ringler, at the Ouimet Brothers Concord Funeral Chapel. Becky is a newer counselor in the field but is a go getter! This month she hit a great milestone where she was about to do $100,000 in one month. She is very excited about hitting her marks and continuing to improve her numbers. The Ouimet Brothers funeral chapel is a beautiful newer facility.
John and his business partner Roy Lough started Concord Funeral Chapel in 1958. Later John's brother Don, joined him in the business where the name was changed to Ouimet Bro. Concord Funeral Chapel. In December of 1997, the family then sold the business to the Carriage Group (same group as McNary-Moore).
John and Don are both still active in the day to day workings of the business and you will find them working services, or greeting people at the front doors of the Mortuary.
After a quick tour of the facility we grabbed a bite to eat and headed over to a local church where Chad and Becky had a CEP (Community Education Program)Presentation. We were one of 3 speakers. The one speaker spoke on Family Trusts and the other talked about family finance. Not knowing how many people would be in attendance we were somewhat worried when there was no one there at 5 minutes to 7, BUT within 5 minutes 40 people filled the room and were anxious and ready to learn! They asked great questions and several requested to receive a complimentary final wishes organizer from Becky. It was a success! And great for me to see a CEP presentation in action. Chris Giovarelli and Tyler Hornibrook have both done an excellent job on these presentations and you can tell that the field counselors and RC's love the tools that they have been given.
Wednesday 10/26
Wednesday we woke up and drove out to San Ramon for a lunch that Chad put on for several of the Carriage Funeral Directors in the area. We actually met up with Verdo Werre of McNary Moore and carpooled the rest of the way in (he traveled 2 hours for the lunch). We had lunch at a beautiful golf club house and it was a great opportunity to meet these funeral directors, continue strengthening our relationships with them and talking about the challenges and triumphs of the industry. It was very informative to hear their feedback about the planning center and what great services you all provide for their funeral homes. They gave some suggestions that we will carefully look at implementing so we can make the planning center better than ever!
Not a bad view for lunch :) What do you think?
Thursday 10/27
For my last day in the Sacramento area we had limited time but had two appointments scheduled in Davis, California at the Wiscombe Funeral Home. I loved this funeral home because it literally looks like a home on a beautiful neighborhood street. This Funeral Home does about 80% of the business in Davis.
Our first appointment was with a couple that is in their upper 80's. It was a VISA Preneed appointment. Wilson (Bill) served in the Army and attended Princeton University where he met his wife Kathryn. Together they have 2 children (one who is deceased)and have lived in the Davis area for 40+ years where Bill is a History professor at UC Davis. Kathryn has spent her life in community volunteer work. Their daughter lives in Massachusetts. Chad knew that this appointment would be a slam dunk. They already knew what they wanted to accomplish and had come in with the sole purposes of setting up their plans. The problem was helping educate them on all of the options that are out there.
Bill and Kathryn wanted as simple of a plan as possible. They wanted to be cremated. In a box. Wearing whatever was necessary. They did not want any special services or recognition for Bills services in the army. (It doesn't get much simpler than that). Chad did an excellent job talking about what will happen when they pass away, and to think of their daughter Deborah, and their grand children. Try as he might, they were not interested in adding even one more thing to their plan. They did have a plot already paid for (although they were unsure as to whether they had pre-paid for the opening and closing, and a marker). Bill was going to call on that and get back to us. It was simple, but they knew what they wanted. They paid in full up front and off they went. They are headed to Hawaii in January to celebrate Bills 90th birthday.
All in all it was a great whirlwind trip. It was a lot of fun to see the 3 different funeral homes, to meet with the directors and counselors and to learn from one of the best, Chad Moss. He was a lot of fun and clearly has a passion for what he does each day. I was very impressed with his professionalism. The presentations he gave people peace of mind and were ultimately grateful for what they were doing. Chad expressed his appreciation several times for the planning center and all that you do each day to help him succeed and do what he does best. This was echoed several times from the other counselors and funeral directors throughout my stay as well.
It is fascinating to see the differences between the funeral homes and the people of Oregon and California. You all know and understand this in the FPC but, I really am coming to understand just how important it is to respect the cultures, religious beliefs etc of all those you come in contact with on the phones. From the calls that I have listened to so far I have been impressed with how courteous each of you are. Keep up the great work this week. Your efforts are helping MANY people.
Talk to all of you soon!
- Jon
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