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