KANSAS CITY/SPRINGFIELD MO

Well it sure was a treat to spend the week with your old pal Evan. He is a great guy and I was thoroughly impressed with the way he handles his team. I have loved picking his brain about the planning center too. He loved his time he spent with you and continues to appreciate all of your hard work and effort.

Monday 11/7

I had to wake up at 4:15 am in order to catch my flight. Luckily I woke up to my alarm and made it there on time :) Flew to Denver and then to Kansas City. Evan picked me up from the airport and off we went.

We made a quick stop in the shopping district of Kansas City for some lunch (beautiful area) and then we were off to Porters Funeral Home just outside of the city.

The Porter family is very well known in the area. They have been around for over a century now. The two current owners are Rick Wiseman and Bill Porter. Bill's family is obviously the one that started the funeral home way back when. Rick's son is also a funeral director and he runs the newer location in Lenexa, KS (more on him later).





I met Lowell Ramsey (a PRECOA counselor) at Porters and we were off to an appointment. It was a post service appointment for a sweet older lady named Margaret Furgeson.

On our way over Lowell and I talked about the planning center. Lowell said, " I have been extremely pleased with the planning center" (I was typing these direct quotes as we drove) "Out here we have so much geography to cover. 50 miles North and South and sometimes it is hard to squeeze in the time for calls. The planning center has been so helpful in helping me keep busy with my appointments." He also spoke highly of Jill and Wendy. THANK YOU TEAM! You are doing a great job!

We arrived at Margarets home. It was very tidy and clean. After some "chit chat" she opened up and told us that her husband passed away in 2010. She and her husband never spoke of his death or funeral prior to his passing. It happened quickly and he was healthy although older. She and her daughter and grand sons made all of the selections. She was pleased with Porters but you could tell from her description that discussion of death and funerals was somewhat taboo. We started in the family room, and then moved to the kitchen table. This is the ideal place for a counselor to meet with prospects because he has a lot to show and a living room scenario sometimes just doesn't cut it.

After Lowell had gone through his presentation with her she was creating some obvious signs that she was not interested right now. To be honest, I think it is hard for her to even think about making these kind of decisions for herself. She just hasn't even approached it mentally and this topic may be somewhat premature for her. She was very kind but after Lowell and tried a few different approaches he realized that now may not be the right time. They did create a good relationship and I think she would be open and responsive to a call again in the future.

That night Evan, Lowell and Neil (more on Neil later) went out for some authentic Kansas City BBQ!!!! (lets be honest... what would a trip to Kansas City be without some good BBQ. It was a great opportunity to get to know both of them better. They are on track, hitting their marks and are incredibly grateful for the work that each of you do. Without you it would be much harder to achieve.

TUESDAY 11/8

Tuesday morning I woke up and Neil (a brand new agent) picked me up at the hotel for his appointment. This appointment came from direct mail and the planning center had scheduled the appointment the day before (GREAT JOB TEAM!). This lady was in her 60's. She had recently had two family deaths (both teenage girls). She is absolutely sold on preplanning. Why? Because she and her family will NOT be able to afford it in one lump sum if she were to die (And we are talking a direct cremation here. Not exactly a high priced policy. Maybe a couple thousand is all). After Neils excellent presentation we talked about monthly installments for 10 or 20 years and it is a number she is comfortable. She is living month to month. Is about to pay off a couple bills and will have the cash free'd up to pay this in January. Neil has plugged into the system a return call and he and I both know she will write up in January. (This is a common issue for the area. A lot of the clientele here is low-middle class and cash is sparse, but many understand the value of what we are providing).

After this appointment Neil and I met up with Evan, grabbed some lunch and then we were off to go and see Porters second (newer) location in Lenexa.

When we went to the Lenexa location I knew it was going to be a treat. Ryan is a big apple (computers not fruit) fan (my kind of guy!). Because of this they truly have all the latest technology at their Lenexa location. Check out this highlight list:
- Web casts of the service for those that can't fly in.
- a 25 body fridge (sorry if that is graphic. I actually saw inside it)
- They have the capability of cremating 10 people a day (pretty high for the industry)
- They have a viewing area where you can view your loved one being cremated (This is an important ritual in the Hindu faith
- They belong to the cremation society
- The crematory is run by an iPod type device. It is pretty cool.
- They have partnered with several universities and research institutions where they can donate bodies to science if the families would like (free of charge).
- Their display room is fantastic (1/8 of a casket is displayed, rather than the full size (less intimidating to families).
- Separate cremation and traditional rooms (depending on the families preference)

All in all I was thoroughly impressed with Porters. There staff is personable, friendly and innovative. This is why they are a leader in the industry and why they have partnered with Precoa.





WEDNESDAY 11/9

After Lenexa we headed out to Sedalia. A small town in rural Missouri (jealous???) We met with Dan Hinkins a brand new counselor with us and is currently working out of Heckart Funeral Home. Dan is a minister for a local baptist church. He has 3 kids and was looking for a part time job that would lead to a full time job as he phases out of his responsibilities with his church. We had 3 CEP appointments lined up for the day and were anxious and excited to get started. Evan, Dan and myself went on all three of these appointments. We met with:
- Tony. He is a member of the 40 and 8 Veterans organization. 40 and 8 comes from the boxcars that would hold 40 men and 8 horses. He is the head of the organization and was currently very busy planning Sedalias big Veterans parade!!! The CEP appointment ended in success and we booked an appointment to meet with his group. There are 283 members. It is invite only and 110 attend monthly meetings. They actually have callers that confirm those that will be attending...sound familiar?? :)
- Our next stop was with the local MOOSE LODGE organization. This meeting was a slam dunk. We got on their calendar for their January meeting and will be in their bulletin etc.
- Our last meeting with with two retired teachers that head up a group of former educators in the area.

All three meetings ended in success and Dan and Evan are going to be busy selling pre-need to all of Sedalia! HUGE SHOUT OUT TO PETE! YOU ARE DOING A GREAT JOB LINING THESE UP!!!!

Here are some photos of Sedalia:


SUE HECKART, Owner and Funeral Director






After our appointments in Sedalia Evan and I hit the road back to the town that he lives in... Springfiled MO. We met up with he and his wife at LAMBERTS. Have you heard of flying rolls???? They literally chuck these delicious rolls from all across the room and you catch them. It was a great joint filled with all the feel good home cocking. I had meatloaf and mashed potatoes, fried ocra... it was GOOD. Check out these photos.




I was able to meet his wife Whitney and his cute 2 year old Jaycee. They have a great little family and are lucky to have a Dad that works so hard for them :)




THURSDAY 11/10

My last day I had only 4-5 hours before I had to catch my flight. We took a quick trip out to Butler funeral home in another small rural town. I am glad we made the trip out. It was brief but it was kind of like icing on the cake. The people were wonderful, the funeral home was beautifully decorated for Christmas. I also saw some awesome "exclusive caskets" made of BARN WOOD (I think I want this for my funeral :) )







Here is a picture of the funeral director, Stephen Butler and his wife Jarolyn. They were charming people and you can tell why their home is so successful. They love people, and the community that they serve. I loved meeting them.



I also was able to meet Tim Walter. He is a counselor with Precoa and has been with us for 2 years. He stopped for a photo shoot and wanted to say hi to everyone at the home office! He is a big fan of all the work you do as well.



All in all... I am a BIG fan of the Midwest. Evan was so helpful showing me the ropes and I was thoroughly impressed with the job he is doing there as an RC. His counselors love him and their team is doing really well.

Next stop... FLORIDA with Trevor Winn!!!! 80 degree temps here I come!

Have a fantastic week and keep working hard. I appreciate all that you do.

Best,

Jon

FOREST LAWN - Southern California

Team,

WOW! Where do I even begin... Forest Lawn was no question overwhelming at first. They have hands down, the most amazing cemetery/memorial parks I have ever seen. Their name and reputation in the area is unmatched and we as Precoa should be proud to have them as partners.

This trip had a different itinerary than the previous two weeks simply because Forest Lawn is so massive and there were plenty of people to meet. I went on after care and direct mail appointments, sat through trainings with new counselors in various offices, met with countless employees and managers and really feel like I have learned a lot and am excited to bring that knowledge back to each of you (through this blog first).

WARNING: This post might be photo/visual OVERLOAD but I think it will all be worth it :) Wish you could all see it first hand, and if you are ever in the LA area for a vacation I strongly recommend you pay the Glendale location in particular a visit. It is fascinating.

Tuesday, November 1

I flew into Orange County and headed directly to the Cypress Hills offices. It is actually located across the street from the "Cypress Hills Memorial Park". This was a very different experience than I have had in the past. Usually I meet the funeral director, and the counselor. That is not the way Forest Lawn is run. Forest Lawns Cypress office has approximately 25 planners (counselors), Marco is the Field Manager, and Amaury Rozario is the Regional Manager. They all office out of the same office and help serve all of the pre planning as well as grave site sales. Can you believe that? A whole different world I tell ya...

They will either do appointments in the home or in the Mortuary/Funeral Home (which is large, spacious and beautiful by the way). After my quick tour of the office I headed out with one of their "Platinum Club" Advanced Planner Reynaldo (Rey) Salazar. Rey has been in the industry for 7 years and is originally from the Philippines. He clearly loves his job.

We met at the Ms. Bollingers home. She lives alone and had a cute little dog named Pepe. She had recently buried her mother (who died at the age of 94) at the Cypress Hills location and she came from a direct mail survey where the appointment was set by the planning center. (GO TEAM!). She graciously let us in and we sat around her kitchen table (all of the counselors prefer this to sitting on the couch by the way. It is more effective with their presentation to have space to fill out paperwork and show pictures of coffins and urns etc).

Ms.Bollinger has two daughters one that lives in state and one that lives out of state. Her mother had prepurchased her burial plot but didn't do any pre planning in regards to the funeral (as all of you know this is a common scenario). It turned into a headache for Ms. Bollinger and was very burdensome. Because of this she has been thinking about preparing her final wishes. She wanted to use this opportunity as more of discovery and so Rey was not able to write up a policy during that appointment but she understands the value and wants to set everything up as soon as she can. He went through her payment options and will be following up with her next week. This can be frustrating for a counselor when he makes it through on his first appointment with someone that seems quite prime for what Precoa has to offer, but she does understand the value, wants to use the service and wants to be buried at Forest Lawn. I believe Rey should be able to close this deal next week.

After that appointment I headed back to the office and met up with Chris Johnson. Chris started out as a counselor for Precoa/Forest Lawn and saw great success doing it. He now acts as a trainer for all of the Forest Lawn accounts and has built a great reputation with Forest Lawn and is a valuable asset to us at Precoa.

Quick background on Chris. Chris is from the beautiful Laguna Hills area in Southern California. He played collegiate baseball and is now married with two kids (Eliza (Ellie) and Cash). He and his family currently reside in Mission Viejo California. In Chris's former life he worked at Nordstroms and he very well may win the award for BEST DRESSED at Precoa :) Those that know him well call him... "Mr. Nordstroms" He will hate that I put that on the blog... but hey. I had to :)



Doesn't he have a beautiful family??!?!

Chris acted as my tour guide and showed me around the beautiful Cypress Hills Location. Take a look at some of these photos... INCREDIBLY beautiful.






Wednesday 11/2

We woke up bright and early to get to Cypress Hills office for a training with a few of the counselors. Chris did some training on the presentation and then we were off to go and see the Glendale and Hollywood Hills location. We only had a couple of hours to go and see these and really... you could get lost in these parks. They are massive and absolutely breath takingly beautiful.







We even found Walt Disneys Grave while we were there!


By way of FYI information... this is the cemetary where SEVERAL celebrities are burried which includes but is not limited to: Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor and of course the founder of Forest Lawn Dr. Eaton.

After the tour of the Glendale location we headed over to Hollywood Hills. A little FYI about the Hollywood Hills location. Walt Disney actually wanted to purchase this property to build Disneyland. He was outbid by Dr. Eaton and so it became a cemetery/memorial garden. It is literally located on the other side of the Hollywood sign. While not as grandeous as Glendale it is certainly beautiful.

We came back to the Cypress location where I had the opportunity to sit in on an aftercare appointment with Julie, a planner with Forest Lawn. We met this mother and her daughter at the funeral home. They were Chinese and the mother spoke no english. The daughter spoke broken english but it made it difficult to communicate with them. It was clear by the look on their faces that the death was very recent. In fact the daughter had lost her husband also in 2007. Additionally the daughter recently had her roof cave in on her home and she and her daughter were living out of a hotel. The mother is living in a senior care center. Julie did an excellent job with extending her deepest sympathies and asked how the family was doing. They did not hold any funeral services of any kind. They also did not preplan the fathers death. He was extremely healthy and it came as a shock that he died so suddenly.

Needless to say it was very brief and because of the language barrier, the cultural differences etc it was difficult for Julie to progress very far in her presentation. She was able to connect with the daughters fiancee over the phone. He spoke fantastic english as well as Chinese and agreed to meet with Julie and his fiancee when he comes back in town from a business trip. This was a huge break through and a big success for Julie that she was able to problem solve in a difficult situation and help get this family one step closer.

Thursday 11/3 -Friday 11/4

I spent the majority of the last day and a half in trainings at various locations. Met with several counselors at the Cypress and Covina location. Precoa recently hired a new counselor named Vaughn Wood who will work with Chris Johnson out of the Covina location. He used to work for Forest Lawn in the Cypress location and has several years experience. He will do an excellent job and is very excited to get to work.

These last photos are of the last training group. We had Megan from the home office and Julian present on the new web portal as well as National Gaurdian Life (NGL). It was a great way to end the week.





And this last one is where Chris and I helped the team prepare for a big event they were hosting at Cypress that night. Literally stuffed thousands of goodie bags. Gotta love the field :)



At the end of the day my takeaway is that Precoa is in great hands with Chris Johnson. He is doing the right things and is a big asset to Forest Lawn organization. I was thoroughly impressed with Forest Lawn and the parks that they have built. It is unlike anything I have ever seen and can see a great future with them.

Have a fantastic week!

NEXT STOP.... KANSAS CITY!

SACRAMENTO CALIFORNIA

Well, this week went completely differently than planned. Isn't that how it is with life? Sometimes you have to make adjustments, and things happen unexpectedly.

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