“What concerns me is not the way things are but, rather, the way people think things are.”          –Epictetus, 55-155AD

  Want to close more pre-need sales, but don’t know how? Here are some time tested tips that will help you today and in the years to come.

  Stop making excuses for lack of performance…even if they have a basis in truth. It’s always easier for us to blame the economy, the competition, the lack of sales prospects, and the funeral home we work for than it is to accept responsibility. The fact is that successful pre-need professionals find a way to succeed regardless of their circumstances. Hardly anyone actually likes to prospect, but hungry, successful pre-need professionals who need to generate revenue will become prospecting animals.  Are you making enough contacts to generate the sales you need?  Are you doing everything possible to succeed?

  Maintain a positive attitude. Control your mind and the negative thoughts that seem to constantly try to creep in. Tune out all the crash and burn naysayers from your life. Stay away from newspapers, magazines, radio and television news broadcasts. Don’t read the headlines – be the headline! Believe in yourself and your abilities. Expect every call to be better than your last one. Expect to exceed your sales goal. Remove all the negative influences from your life that keep bringing you down.

  Listen to your prospects more! The need for them to know that their wants and needs are clearly understood by you is critical. Understand their wants and needs and make it your personal objective to help your prospects achieve what it is they desire. They want practical solutions to their problems that fit within their budget. Regardless of what they say, they do have a budget. Listen to uncover it and work to make your offerings fit within their budget.

  Stand out with your prospects. Your prospects must feel your confidence and optimism, in helping them meet their objective of saving their family peace of mind through planning ahead. In tough times, pre-need is much more an emotional sale than a financial one.  If you want to start selling more, start selling the intangibles. When buyers are nervous and stressed out, their default reaction is to talk about price and how they can’t afford it (no matter how low the price is). It shouldn’t be your reaction – ever. Intangibles don’t have price tags. The intangibles are what make you, your funeral home and your goods and services unique.

  Re-train yourself not only in presenting, but in your funeral homes services and merchandise. How well do you know your firm’s history, services, staff and merchandise? Brush up on your appointment setting, presentation and closing skills by attending a specialized training course.

  Be authentic. Don’t try to be what you are not. If you are naturally funny, a little humor in your presentation can be a great way to break the ice. But, if you are normally a serious person, contrived humor can fall like a brick and disengage your prospects. Be yourself and let your prospects get to know you as you get to know them. Always be smiling! It’s been said that being happy doesn’t make people smile, but smiling makes people happy.

  Drop the industry lingo. Could you possibly be confusing your prospects with funeral business jargon? I’m sure you wouldn’t do it intentionally, but if you don’t pay close attention to the words you’re using, you might be doing exactly that. In doing this, we risk creating a rift between ourselves and our prospects. They get stuck trying to figure out what we mean and may be too embarrassed to ask, and as a result, they can’t pay attention to what we’re saying.  Maybe you deliberately use impressive-sounding terminology to make your prospects think you’re smart. But, instead, they conclude you’re a pompous you-know-what.  Our goal should always be to ensure clear communication. After all, how can we sell if we don’t communicate?

  Make it easy for prospects to buy from you. Create a positive and easy environment for closing by always using words in your presentation that are familiar to your prospect. Reinforce throughout your presentation how planning ahead benefits the prospect and their family. Interpret your benefits, not your features. Let them feel your energy and positive attitude.  If you ask enough open ended questions and can get the prospect agreeing with you and saying “YES” at least eight (8) times during your presentation they are primed to buy. When the “feeling in the room” is right (and you can and will feel it) go for the close. Always close on a high note! One easy and simple way to ask for the close is to simply say “How would you like to take care of this?” Then be quiet and let them talk. Offer a variety of payment methods and once the deal is signed, be sure to seek referrals and send a thank you note to the client. 

  First impressions count. What type of first impression do you make when meeting your customers for the first time? Research shows that people typically decide in the first few moments whether or not they like and trust a stranger. (Yes, we also judge a book by its cover, too.) There’s absolutely no substitute for making a positive first impression. You can actually create a favorable first impression and build rapport quickly by using open body language gestures, smiling and making direct eye contact.

  Write down your daily/weekly/monthly goals and review them regularly. Make adjustments to those goals as necessary and don’t allow yourself to get sidetracked. Written goals are your dreams. Don’t let your dreams fade away. Pay attention to them and they will come true for you!

  Always have an attitude of gratitude and thank everyone who helps you in any way.

  Lastly, All You Have To Do Is Ask.  Asking for referrals is, hands down, the most effective and least expensive way to gain the trusted information you need to make the right decision. If you are a pre-need sales professional, asking your prospects and clients for their referrals is the best way to attract and retain new clients. In fact, it’s the only strategy that converts prospects into clients more than 50 percent of the time.

  Consider this. Would you prefer to do business with…?

•     Someone who reached out to you via a cold telephone call, or

•     Someone you met through a friend/colleague with whom you have a reputable relationship?

  While your competition relies on direct mail, community seminars, Facebook, Linked-In, Twitter and who knows what else is out there, you are already sitting down with pre-qualified prospects in their home sharing with them the features and benefits of planning ahead. It’s a real thing of beauty!

  No other sales or marketing strategy delivers such powerful, predictable results. Yet, more than 90% of pre-need sales representatives do not have a referral strategy, weekly referral goals, a plan to develop referral-selling skills or a system to track and measure referrals. How very sad…