Jim Wechsler

Jim Wechsler is our April employee of the month! Jim has been with the company for a number of years and is a true Precoa Craftsman. Jim's tip is short and to the point but I would take it and apply it right away. He knows what he is talking about :)

“Building relationships with clients is very helpful. This is something I’ve done from the beginning. It’s much easier when they like you & trust you.

Listen to what the person says. It’s important. When you know what they want, you can give it to them.

Persistence also makes a big difference. By continuing to stick with it, you can be more successful.

These are a few of the things that have helped me. They can help you, too.”

Planners,

This weeks tip comes from the Heartland's Kelly Malan. Kelly continues to be a top performer and extremely well balanced month in and month out. Currently Kelly is leading the Heartland with a 67% hold rate and a 24% present rate. He was kind enough to offer us a tip that he believes has helped lead to his success on the phones. Here is what he had to say:

"If I could share any tip, it would be to try and spend at least a minute or two asking clients about things they are currently involved in, if they have thought about getting things in writing, etc. They usually tell you about anything ranging from working in the garden, to something more serious like a recent death in their family. I try to share any of my own experiences that relate, and I when it's prudent I use humor as often as possible to help them relax. I want them to know I care about what's happening in their lives and I'm not just some guy trying to get an appt. No matter what I talk about with them, I try to circle back around to why I'm calling as soon as I can, and I tell them how important and helpful this can be. I also try and say that it's cost and obligation free in the beginning and at the end of the conversation. Overall, more time spent talking leads to a higher hold rate; as well as a better quality appointment, and it makes the day more enjoyable too!"

Thank you Kelly for being willing to share your tip. Can't wait to see where your hold rate will be this month!

Sandra Boyd- Kiminski

FPC,

This weeks "Tip from the Top" comes from Sandra. Sandra, in my opinion, is a true craftsman here at the FPC. I have listened to her calls and have observered her expertise. I know I can trust Sandra to book a high number of quality appointments. Her tip this week is a good one! This is what she had to share:


"I would like to share a few methods that have helped make me a successful planner.

Call consistency, mastering the database, and embracing all lead sources are the keys to my success.

I am consistant with my phone call dialing and the way I speak to each person who answers the phone. By not having to look at the keypad, I'm able to make more dials per hour. I am always aware of the client's tone so that I can mirror them. For example, if they are chatty, then I am also chatty. If they are to-the-point, I do the same.

I prioritize each lead so that it does not get lost in the system. That way I can call it two times a day. This is important as your call queue grows.

I embrace every lead source type that Precoa has to offer. I learn them and treat them all the same. To avoid a particular leadsource can limit your growth. Everything in your queue makes your bonus."

I love that she put emphasis on the different lead sources. Don't limit your growth! If you see a weakness... strengthen it and set goals to help make you stronger!

Thank you Sandr for being willing to share! Here's to a FABULOUS APRIL!!

Our February FPC Employee of the Month is Deborah Allison. Deborah is a top performer and her tip this week is VERY pertinant to all of us here at the FPC.

Here is her tip:

"We all bring our own unique strengths to our calls. One of my strengths is the ability to focus. It is vital to our success that we literally leave our worries at the door and focus on dialing and managing our queues.

In order to succeed, it is also important to finish what you start . "Like a farmer plowing in his fields," it is important to "hoe to the end of our row." Doing just that, helps me to focus. Finishing and focusing on what I know works the best for me, and it does affect my set, hold, and present rates.

So my dear associates, focus on your scripts...focus on listening...focus on putting a smile in your voice...focus on your dials...FOCUS on your own personal strengths...Focus...Focus...and Re-focus"

We are lucky to have such incredible talent in our planning center. Thank you Deborah for your tip and for your hard work and FOCUS each day! We appreciate it!

This week, work on getting your queue organized, start off the week strong with solid goals in mind and then focus on the task at hand. Try and beat as many of your dial and appointment records as you can, and constantly strive to set the highest quality of appointment for our field counselors.

Together as we focus we will be one step closer to our mission: to pre-arrange all families.

Have a fantastic week!

Jon

Our first FPC employee of the month, and Tip from the Top! comes from the Mountain Ridge Runners. Cynthia Adams continues to be an leader and an example in the FPC with her superior, and well balanced performance.

When I approached Cynthia and asked her to share a tip with the team she did not hesitate and was anxious to share what she knows. Here is what she shared...

"The tip that I would like to share is really simple. Smile as you speak to the client on the other end! This is probably familiar to you, but I am just amazed at the difference it makes in my appointment setting. Call me crazy, but I believe smiles can actually be heard on the other end of the line. It took me awhile to make this a habit; some callers even use a mirror until they automatically smile on most every call. Beginning a phone call with a smile on your face and in your voice really seems to set the tone for a very successful call.”

Thank you Cynthia for your excellent tip! I think if we all apply this on our dials each day we will see a difference.

Have a GREAT week!

HOTLANTA!!! with Terry Shertzer

Team,

Here is my last travel log for the blog. Hard to believe my travels have come to an end. As of today I have been in 16 states in 3 months. I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. We have such an impressive group of people all over the country that work hard and love what they do.

We are off to a GREAT start to 2012. Congrats to the entire FPC team for your efforts last week. 366 appointments is impressive! I can tell we have a great group of people on our team and we are going to have a fantastic year. Thank you for your efforts.

Monday 1/2

First off... if you notice the day and date you will realize that this was a holiday. Terry and I are just too hardcore to take a day off... so we booked out trip for Monday and got to work! Both of our planes landed at about the same time in HOTlanta (although it was hardly HOT... it was 28 degrees when we landed) and we met by baggage claim. Terry's positive attitude and happiness is very apparent right off the bat. I was excited and knew it was going to be a great week. We headed out to the Peach Tree City area and went by McKoon funeral home.










I mean look at that home! It is beautiful! and even more gorgeous in person. It sits up on top of this hill in the center of town. It has so much character and personality. The staff is sharp and professional. They are good partners to have.

Some quick background on McKoon:

- 44% cremation rate (and climbing)
- 335 calls in 2011 (down 30-40 calls from 2010, but so were all of their competitors)
- McKoon Funeral home has been around for over 100 years
- John and Terry Davidson are the new owners.


Tuesday 1/3

On Tuesday I had the opportunity to meet with our counselor Tracy Baggett. She is brand new and is doing a good job working on her presentation. She has a great personality and is able to connect with her clients right off the bat. They trust her her and will have a great career with Precoa with Terry there to help her.

Our first appointment was a lady in her late 60's. Her husband had passed away a little over a year ago of lung cancer. She really had never even heard of the option of pre-planning her funeral and so this first appointment was mostly informative. The death was still very fresh on her mind. She began to cry when she talked about it. When we left she was more informed and will be writing up her funeral policy VERY soon.

After the morning appointment Tracy and I met Terry for some Pizza down town. We only had 50 minutes to eat and get to our next appointment. Our next appointment was with a darling couple that had lived in the Peach tree area all their life. They met and married while they were in High School and have worked in that community ever since. They have one daughter and three grand children. They have carefully budgeted their money all these years and don't have a lot to pay but realize the importance of preneed and really are big fans of McKoon (they used McKoon for all 4 of their parents). After a lot of creativity on Tracys part we were able to write them up for a $5,000 policy. They gave a $700 check and will be billed annually. Way to go Tracy! and way to persevere and help get the deal done.

Wednesday 1/4

On Wednesday after Terry and I met in the gym for his walk and my run... we headed to LaGrange, GA to meet with the funeral director (Phillip) at Hunter-Allen-Myhand (a carriage owned home). Check out some of these photos:






We had a tour of the home and then Phillip put us straight to work. He needed some help taking a casket to a local chapel for a service. So we hoped in the funeral home vehicle and headed over.

After helping them with the casket we took Phillip to lunch and talked to him about how business was going. His funeral home had 149 calls in 2010. Their preneed counselor (JM Johnson) has been with Precoa for almost a full year now. Previously JM had worked in the final expense side of the business for 7 years. He has had a great year with Precoa and is headed to Hawaii with the team in April!

After JM had an appointment we went for a round 2 for lunch to take out JM. He took us to a great BBQ joint... I just got dessert and while I was so full I was so glad I did... take a look at this warm banana pudding:



Words cannot express how incredible this dessert was. Over the past 3 months I have had a LOT of dessert all over the country and this by far takes the cake. I just savored every moment and have dreamed about it every night since.

Here is a shot of Terry and JM at lunch.



I headed home to help my wife with the packing up of our house (a job I don't want to do again for a LONG time) but was very reflective of my 2 1/2 months in the field. It has been been a blast. I am very committed to seeing that in the FPC we set as many quality appointments as we can this year. I know these counselors, these RC's, and RD's personally now and I want to work hard for them so they can see success. I know you do too and that is what makes the FPC so great.

Precoa is an incredible team to be a part of. Lets make 2012 the best year yet!

Again, congrats on a fabulous start to the New Year!!! I will see each and every one of you this week in Portland!

All the best,

Jon Lefrandt

MICHIGAN and INDIANA with Steve Herendeen

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It is hard to believe that another year has come and gone. It is with great anticipation and excitement that I enter this new year. Right after Christmas my wife and I have started packing boxes, lining up the moving van, signing paperwork for our new home, booking flights and tying up any lose ends. Hard to believe the time has come for us to make our move to Portland! It will be great to be in your midst on a full time basis very very soon. Lets make 2012 the best year yet! More on that later...

In other news, I have yet to share with you my adventures with Steve Herendeen in Michigan and Indiana! While I was there, I believe you were out of the office, and then it was Christmas/New Years so I didn't get this entry out to you. I apologize... Here is the recap:

Monday December 19th

It was another long day of travel to get up to Kalamazoo, MI but I finally made it! Steve Herendeen picked me up at the airport and we immediately headed over to Langelands Funeral Home in Kalamazoo.



Once Steve and I walked into the funeral home we were immediately greeted by Norman Langeland himself.

Here he is looking sharp:



He gave me one of the most "hip" handshakes I have ever received (I have no clue how to describe it in words... I will have to show you it someday). It totally caught me off gaurd and gave me a good laugh. He was incredibly friendly and personable and is a great "face" for Langelands.

Langelands funeral home has been around for decades and has an incredible reputation in the community. They have 6 locations and their "Advanced Pre-Planning" team is top notch. I was able to meet with two of their counselors,

Mr. Rob Baas (top producer)



As well as the lovely Laurie VanderBerg.



We didn't have much time to spend with them and had to get each of them set up with the transition material from Lincoln Heritage to NGL. After we got their paperwork taken care of we had some time to discuss the planning center. They both expressed a lot of appreciation for your hard work and gave some great suggestions that we can possibly implement in 2012 to make the planning center an even better tool for the field. It was a pleasure meeting with them and also see the Langeland funeral home in Kalamazoo.

That night we headed back to Steve's hometown for the night.

Here is some quick background on Steve Herendeen and his area.



- Steve is the RC over Michigan and Indiana
- He oversees 20 different counselors (full time and part time)
- There are 15 funeral homes in his area.
- In Michigan and Indiana it is about cremation is about 35% of their business (and growing!)
- The average funeral cost is approx $5,500
- Currently there is a large focus on CEP presenations and other lead generation methods.
- Michigan is very unique because they have a cap on the amount ($9,466) you can spend on a preplan policy.
- Steve has three 3 million dollar producers in his area.
- He has the top number of qualifiers for the trip in his area.
- His background comes from 22 years experience at Memory Gardens management and he started with Precoa in 2005.

He and his wife Lynn have 3 children (Chelsea, Skylar and Dalton). Steve is no doubt a family man and is very proud of his children (as he should be). Most recently he and his wife went to California to cheer on their son Dalton who is a very competitive swimmer and has his eyes set on the Olympics. Hopefully we see him in London 2012!!!

The next few days were a blurr... I say this because we went to A LOT of funeral homes and met with A LOT of counselors and funeral directors. Steve needed to get all of the paperwork done for the switch from LH to NGL and we needed to drive to all of the areas before the holidays. It was great to get in front of these wonderful people and represent all of you at the planning center. There is no question that the FPC is the lifeblood of this company. The counselors and funeral directors are really so appreciative of all of the hardwork you do on their behalf.

Here is a list of a couple of the funeral homes that we went to. Click on the names of the home to go to their website so you can get more information and see photos etc.



Florin Funeral Home
Alan Flowers is the Precoa counselor that represents Florin. 2011 was his first year with Precoa. He has qualified for the trip and is excited for 2012! In his former professional career he worked for Pepsi Cola and LOVED Mt. Dew... recently he has given up soda and has lost a considerable amount of weight. He has a great zest for life and a wonderful presence.



Mission Hills, Niles, Michigan
Cheryl Pellow is the Precoa counselor with Mission Hills and is AWESOME! She is new with Precoa but has a lot of experience in the preneed side of the business and is excited to finally be working with the "company that does it right".



Gerst Funeral Home, Grand Rapids, MI
Kim Martin is the Precoa Counselor with Gerst.

Gerst is actually a really good example of why it is a good idea to partner with Precoa. Before Precoa Gerst was about a 300 call home (they take care of 300 people a year). This past year they were able to do 400 calls! Much of this is because of what Precoa brings to the table and is a direct result from you hard work.



Lehman Funeral Home
Linda Browning is the Precoa Counselor that represents Lehman. She has a lot of great ideas on how she can help Lehman write up more preneed policies. With the help of Steve Herendeen I know she can make it happen.

In addition to seeing the numerous funeral homes and counselors this trip, we also had a chance to meet with another funeral home that we are looking to partner with.



This is Pat McGanns fourth and newest funeral home that was built in 2005. It is BEAUTIFUL and features everything from a very fun kitchen/bistro for caterings and lunches to a koi fish pond and beyond. He is very interested at partnering with us and it was fun to talk to him about his business and what his future goals and objectives are and to help him understand how Precoa can help him achieve those goals.

All in all it was a very BUSY and fun week. Steve Herendeen is a great guy and is so well respected by his team and by our funeral home partners. They respect him and respond well to his leadership. This is naturally why his area has seen so much success over the years.

This week... Atlanta Georgia with Terry Shertzer. So far so good.... STAY TUNED! And next week... I will be in Portland! Whoo Hoo!

Have a fabulous week!

Best,

Jon