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
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