How interesting! As I step out to encourage this profession to not give in but take a stand and fight for itself I find more than I expected joining the cause. Apropos of everything my friend, Bruce Buchanan, brought an article to my attention published via The Wall Street Journal that succinctly expresses many of [...]
...The problem is cowardice!! There, it's been said. Plain and simple: We have been unwilling to stand up for what we believe and now we are not sure we believe it any more. After all how long can you get beat up and still try to stand? So, instead of taking a stand we assume [...]
I serve on the Board of Directors of a community bank based in Orlando, Florida. In that capacity I receive frequent educational correspondence and one I received this week highlighted the striking similarities between what we do and banking. The author says: "Bankers often forget that they are in a retail business where [...]
When asked what it was that made him so exceptional a hockey player, Wayne Gretzky is said to have responded, "I see my job a little different from most other hockey players.” Pressed for details, he said, "my job is to skate to where the puck is going to be.” The question that all of [...]
Last week in part 2 of this series we learned that "Challengers" don't educate, they teach. They are not afraid of pushing their customers to think in new ways. We also learned that while people may like those who are nice to them, they like those who help them gain new insights even more. But [...]
Last week, in Part 1 of this series, we explored the idea that funeral Directors, as consummate relationship builders, may be wired to lose in an environment that has changed radically over the past 30 years. Based on non-industry research we posited that the "Challenger" style was 13 times more likely to succeed in the [...]
DeathCare has been losing ground relative to consumers for almost 30 years. Now comes research that may explain why and what to do about it. To many observers (myself among them) what we sell seems well on the road to becoming a commodity. As a means of moving market share, differentiation based on price seems [...]
A week ago I published a post that suggested humor would work in funeral service but expressed doubt anyone would do it. Well, I am grateful to say I was wrong. Congratulations to Schmidt and Bartelt. These ads will work but I do have one suggestion. The "call-to-action" should be stronger. A close something like: [...]
I do my best to keep these posts short. I know your time is important. But, on your behalf, I am a little shook up. One of the benefits of age is wisdom. I have seen so many things come and go that i don't shake up easily. Yesterday, I was introduced to one [...]
The theory of commissions is that it motivates producers to produce more. This is not necessarily true. What is true is that if you overpay two things happen: Your program becomes economically unsustainable and your producer becomes demotivated. Here is why: First, It is my absolute belief that preneed selling should never...repeat...never... be a burden [...]
This category contains articles about how to get and keep customers