There's an interesting thing about sales people. Statistics show that 25% of a sales force write 75% of the business. The other 75% never really succeed and there is a constant turnover. I have always been in that 25%, able to make a comfortable living at whatever type of sales I was engaged in.

There are "hard" sell people and there are "soft" sell people. I always considered myself in the latter category, once mentioning that to my sales manager when we were visiting.

"You may be a "soft" seller," he replied, "but you're a closer." And that truly was my strongest asset. I had that ability to recognize closing signals from my prospect. Once a prospective client gives me the first hint that he is coming around to my way of thinking, I start my close.

I have trained sales people who talked themselves right by closing signs people were giving them until they ultimately lost the sale.

When I interviewed for this position, the sales manager asked me if I thought I could do it.

"I know I can."

"What makes you so sure of that," he asked.

"Because its nothing but what I have been doing but with a product attached," I answered. "If I can sell a concept with no product, I can certainly sell a concept with a product."

Realistically, though a good sales person can sell anything, and I was good and I knew it.

As I mentioned in a post I did a few days ago, the Oklahoma City bombing occurred on the day that I reported for training as a pre-need funeral counselor.
What pre-need counselors do is encourage people to pre-arrange and pay out their funeral costs in advance of need (or time of death).  I had told Bill K, the sales director for Service Corporation International (SCI), which owned about ten of the funeral homes at that time in the Oklahoma City Metro area, that I already had a trip planned for early May to California.
We agreed that I would train the two weeks before I left and begin the job when I returned.  That actually worked out well because the bombing made it inappropriate to contact families about funeral plans.  It would have been insensitive and would have done us more harm than good. 
It eventually proved a great sales tool for us when used with taste and tact.  I was especially good at both with my previous nine years in insurance sales.
In addition, the funeral directors had their hands full at the bombing site helping coroners to identify bodies.  Many were mutiliated beyond recognition or body parts were missing.
Once a positive identification was made and the families who were all at the scene notified, the coroners then would ask them what funeral home they wished to use and the directors would meet with them first there at the site.
So, we preceded with my training.  I really needed no sales training--I knew how to sell--so we concentrated on product recognition.  I needed to absorb all that I could in those two weeks about costs, rationale for variation in costs from location to location, and product knowledge.  
I also had to become familiar with the funding tool that SCI used, which was through Forethought.  Forethought is a subsidiary of Batesville, Inc., one of the biggest and most prestigious names in casket manufacturing.
We had a variety of plans through Forethought that people could buy to cover the cost of their funeral.  They could pay them in full or pay them out over a period of three, five, or ten years.  They did pay some additional fees if they chose to pay out the plan; however, if they died before the plan was paid in full, their funeral was still paid off. Forethought was basically a life insurance product.
The underwriting was fairly simple.  We could insure anyone if he paid in full.  If he had a pre-existing condition and chose a payment plan we could still give him a 50 per cent payout the first year with 100% payout thereafter. 
Underwriting was extremely liberal on pre-existing plans.  If a person just absolutely could not qualify, we could still write a trust for them that was funded through the funeral home.  We really tried to avoid those, preferring to shift the liability to the insurance product of Forethought as much as possible.
Bill K. had a well-oiled machine in place and good rapport with all the funeral directors at the SCI location.  He had a phone room, and regularly placed inserts in the paper offering special discounts on pre-arranged funeral plans.  Since funeral costs traditionally increase faster than inflation, paying for one's funeral in advance makes good economic sense.  It also makes sense in terms of removing that burden for the family when it is all taken care of in advance.
All the SCI locations carried the same caskets and outer containers (vaults) , but their prices varied significantly based on their location and reputation.
The pre-need funeral sales people had a funeral home as their base--usually two people worked at a location as a team--but we actually could write for any SCI location.  
In our pitch book, we carried the general price list for every SCI location, the price list for caskets in every price range, and the price lists for the outer containers (vaults) for all the locations.
The funeral industry is closely monitored by the Federal Trade Commission, and it is a strict violation of FTC regulations for a pre-need or at-need (at the time of a death) funeral counselor to fail to present all three price lists to a prospective client.  We were drilled repeatedly on the importance of this.
If you are wondering how much a funeral might cost at any given location, be aware that prices do vary.  A simple phone call requesting their general, casket, and outer container price lists is an easy way to compare prices at various locations.   The funeral director will be happy to mail them to you and must do so if you request them by mail.


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