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JULY 2014
FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS
S ec t i on A
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C
REATIVE-
P
REMIER
D
ESIGNS
By Christopher Kuhnen
There’s More
To It...
Advance
Funeral
Planning
Curse Those Debit Balances
If you are licensed pre-need insurance agent, you are no
doubt familiar with the phrases: Debit Balance, Advanced
Commissions and Commission Reserve Funds. Depend-
ing on the quality and quantity of insurance you write,
you either applaud or curse these phrases.
I am always amazed at the number of carefree pre-need
insurance agents that have no idea how their commission
structure operates. I’ve heard them make such comments
as, “Why did I not receive all the commission I should have
received on this contract?” “Why am I getting these notic-
es that I owe my insurance company money, because I am
in a debit situation?” “I stopped writing for that company
months ago, yet they are still holding onto my commis-
sions; why can’t I get them paid to me right now?” These
are all good questions and they all have a good answer.
When it comes to receiving a commission payment on a
contract issued by your insurance company, you have sev-
eral options. You can either have your commission paid
to you “AS EARNED” or “ADVANCED”. Both have
their advantages and drawbacks. Most pre-need insurance
agents choose to have their commissions ADVANCED.
Although this can afford you a much larger payment at one
time, it is not without its prerequisites. No insurance com-
pany is going to stay in business, if they pay you a commis-
sion and not have a reasonable amount of time to recoup
you will have many of your questions answered.
A Reserve Fund is a smart thing for you to set-up with
your insurance company. Typical Reserve Fund accounts
have a cap of $5,000 and are infused with cash by hav-
ing 25%, 30% or 35% of all gross commissions earned,
placed into the fund as they are earned. This fund is there
for your protection. If you do not have such a fund, and
your issued business does not stay on the books for twelve
months or more, you will find yourself having to repay
the insurance company hundreds and/or thousands of
dollars. As long as all the insurance business you write
meets the insurance company commission requirements,
you have nothing to worry about. It’s your money and
your pre-need insurance company will pay it to you.
Have more questions? Feel free to contact me anytime
at cpkuhnen@gmail.com.
Christopher Kuhnen of Edgewood, Kentucky is a 26 year veteran of
funeral service. He is perhaps best known as a charismatic, progressive
and highly innovative funeral industry specialist. As an insider into ex-
cellence, Chris is a trusted advisor to many in the death care industry.
Mr. Kuhnen is the Founder, Chief Executive Officer and President
of Funeral Profit Protectors, LLC. Funeral Profit Protectors is a fu-
neral business profit counseling business serving independently
owned and operated funeral homes. The company specializes in
teaching, providing and engaging our clients in successful strate-
gies, products and services to secure and/or increase their business
profits. Chris has considerable first-hand experience in this area,
as well as funeral home marketing and public relations; Individual
funeral home employee training, coaching and mentoring; pre-
need sales training, lead generation and marketing support; con-
sumer and business to business direct sales and management.
Over the course of his distinguished career, Chris has provided
comprehensive consultation, education and positive, meaningful
support to funeral directors nationwide to help them coordinate,
develop and implement their distinctive business strategies.
Christopher is a Kentucky Licensed Funeral Director, Life
Insurance Agent, Certified Preplanning Consultant (CPC),
Insight Institute Certified Celebrant and Certified Marketing
Specialist. He can be reached most anytime at (859) 307-7223
or funeralprofitprotectors@gmail.com. Visit his company web-
site anytime a
that commission payment by having the policy remain “ac-
tive and earning” for a certain period of time. That time pe-
riod is customarily twelve months from the date of policy is-
sue. There are exceptions to this, but we will not delve into
those in this column. Therefore, your ADVANCED full
commission payment comes with the understanding that
you are receiving your payment, provided the insured lives
for twelve months from the date of issue. It’s not truly “your
money”, until that one year mark is attained.
Any ADVANCED commission payment comes with stip-
ulations that are clearly outlined in the insurance company’s
Agent Appointment, Commission Schedule and Charge-
back Policy. Those policies may have clauses similar to:
• Commissions are not earned on policies which are re-
turned to the Company and voided.
• The Company will recover an amount equal to the com-
missions paid or advanced on any policy which, during
its first policy year, was 1) surrendered for the policy cash
value or 2) for multipay plans, lapsed for nonpayment of
premiums due.
• If the insured dies prior to the first policy anniversary
from other than accidental death, the commission will
be charged back 100%.
• If we void or rescind a policy due to contesting a claim
on a death the commissions will be charged back 100%.
• All commission advances constitute indebtedness to the
insurance company until all the provisions of the com-
mission advance are met.
• A Reserve Fund will be created, wherein a percentage of
your advanced commissions will be held at the company
until a cap has been reached. Commission charge-backs
will be withdrawn from the Reserve Fund first. If the Re-
serve Fund is not available, charge-backs will be taken
frommy next commission check. I understand and agree
that the Reserve Fund percentage and/or cap amount
may be changed at any time by the Company.
• No commission sums will be advanced on applications
submitted but not yet issued.
I strongly recommend you contact your insurance compa-
ny and learn all the ins and outs of their commission sched-
ule and chargeback policy. Once you clearly understand it,
LOUISVILLE,KY—
Pictured
while spending time togeth-
er during the 2014 Ken-
tucky Derby are (L to R)
Susan Muster
,
Elleanor
Starks
, Executive Director
of the
100 Black Women of
Funeral Service
, her daughter
Inez Tootie Adkins
, funer-
al director from Los Ange-
les, CA, and
John Muster
.
The Muster family operates
Muster Funeral Homes
and
Muster Coach
, Cal-
houn and Livermore, KY.
Robert Grimsley Receives New 2014
Platinum Phoenix
Hanging out at the Kentucky Derby
CROSSVILLE,TN—
Robert Grimsley
,
owner of
Crossville Memorial Funer-
al Home
in Crossville, TN, along with
employee
Lydia Silcox
, take delivery of
his new 2014 Platinum Phoenix Funer-
al Coach. Robert founded Crossville Me-
morial Funeral Home in 1986. Since 2006
he has added two crematories and a pet
crematory to better provide and serve his
community. With the support of family,
friends, and staff Robert continues to offer
excellent services.
Tommy Jones
of
Jones
Coach Sales
congratulates Robert on the
purchase of his new 2014 Platinum Coach.
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