If only you had these seven things, you’d be able to make many more and better pre-need sales:
Better funeral home. “Nobody likes my funeral home. “They all go to the other funeral home in town.” Can you imagine how much easier it would be to sell if only you worked at the “other funeral home”? Think how easy it would be to sell if people were lining up to buy.
Lower pricing. “Our prices are too high.” “It’s tough to sell something at a higher price than your competitors sell it for.” Imagine how easy it would be to sell if you had the very lowest prices in town.
Better town to work in. “The people in my town have all been contacted about pre-need.” “Nobody is interested.” It would be great to work in a town where nobody has heard about pre-need. It would be a breeze to sell in their town.
Easier prospecting. “No one will return my calls!” “No one is home when I stop by.” “No one is responding to my mailing.” “No one is calling in or walking into my funeral home.” “Calling prospects is awful. No one wants to be called and bothered by me.” Prospecting should be a lot easier. That would make selling awesome, wouldn’t it?
Better prospects. “Our prospects only care about price.” “They all want cremation, cremation, cremation.” “Just give me the lowest priced funeral you can, is all anyone says.” “All of the best prospects have already been sold.” Selling would be much easier, if only I had better prospects.
Better management. “My manager and/or funeral home owner just doesn’t get it.” “They think I should have more activity. They keep asking me about my ‘sales pipeline.’” “How many people have I reached out to today? How many telephone calls did I make? How many go-by visits did I make? Their questions are endless.” Selling would be easy if I weren’t so micromanaged. My pre-need sales would be easy with better management or leadership; that’s for sure!
Better compensation. “My compensation plan stinks. Do they really think I can make a living on what they pay me? If I had a half-way decent compensation plan, I’d be motivated to sell more. I’d be a top-20-percent salesperson with the right compensation plan.” Why don’t they pay me more, for the contracts I sell? Their compensation plan really makes my selling difficult.
Listed above are seven lies. Here is one simple truth: None of these is the real reason selling is difficult. Selling isn’t easy, of course. It has never been easy, and it won’t become easy in the future. However, your attitude toward the profession of pre-need selling can make it seem a whole lot harder than it really needs to be or even really is.
The fact is, no one has the ideal selling situation. Every sales professional has things they wish they could change. Regardless of the selling situation you find yourself in, how you allow yourself to be affected by it, is your choice. If you think things are bad, they will be bad. If you think things are good, they will be good. You possess the power within you to make your situation anything you want it to be.
Here are a few indisputable sales laws from which you can glean valuable insight into ways to make your selling situation all you want it to be.
Law of Constant Change: Nothing in selling is permanent: you never lose a customer and you never win a customer. You either make a sale or you don’t.
Law of Closing: There’s no such thing as a “No Close” sale. Either you sell your prospect on why they need to prearrange and pre-pay for their funeral plan of choice or they sell you on why they can’t or won’t do business with you. Either way a sale is made on each and every call. The question is: Who closed who?
Law of Caring: No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care. Care a lot!
Law of the Right Question: There is no need to know all the right answers – only the right questions.
Law of the Quick Start: Get out of the blocks early at the beginning of the day, week, month and quarter. The momentum will energize you for the rest of the period.
Law of Preparation: Given three minutes to present, invest two in preparing and one in sharing.
Law of the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Whatever you vividly imagine, fervently believe, and enthusiastically act upon, will inevitably come to pass. It happens each and every time!
Law of Competence: Good selling is not holding all the cards, but making the most of the cards you have been dealt.
Law of Personal Resources: A pre-need sales professional's two greatest resources are Attitude and Time. Have a caring and positive attitude and don’t waste your time.