If you’re new to Pre-Need selling, let me tell you what you’ll learn almost immediately. You will be taught to cold call or knock on the door with the idea of getting a date or getting into the house on the first try. This is called one-step prospecting.
Essentially, you are interrupting your Prospect and hoping to make a date. If you are knocking on the door, the goal is to enter the house immediately or schedule an appointment. Most cemetery/funeral home training will include this one-step approach. In fact, they will tell you that if you put in 2 hours a day, you will meet more prospects than you can keep up with.
First, I will address this form of prospecting that I refer to as the “last century” method. It is very similar to the latrine. Do you remember the house outside? Most of us prefer internal plumbing and like our privacy in the bathroom. Not the latrine that was normally located 30 yards from the house. Although an outhouse will still do the job, today it is not functional.
In the field of pre-needs, one-step prospecting is so commonplace that it’s unlikely anyone has ever heard of a different form. For the renegade salesperson out of prior necessity, a better approach is to have all of your prospecting and advertising done in two steps.
A renegade pre-need salesperson is someone who works outside the box and goes against industry norms. For example, one-step prospecting and cold calling/knocking on the door is an industry norm. The Renegade Seller of Pre-Arrangements does just the opposite; a two-step prospecting approach that has the prospect call for additional information and an appointment.
Is that how it works. Every time you advertise, you’re looking for your Prospect to raise their hand in interest. So you can advertise a special report using a classified style ad with the call to action for your Prospect to contact you for the FREE report on how to avoid the most common mistakes in pre-planning.
Classified ads are nothing more than a headline with a phone number to call for more information from the report with the same headline. Classified ads are like personal ads. A personal ad will usually say who they are not looking for or who they are looking for. Either way, the brief headline says it all; ATTENTION Dallas/Fort Worth Retirees, the FREE report explains how to pre-plan for hassle-free and affordable final repairs NOW.
When you need to pre-prospect through an ad, use a special report as an offer. A headline with contact information is the first step. Your headline is similar to a personal ad. Eliminate people who are not interested in your products/services while attracting people who are.
The second step is for your prospect to respond to your ad for more information… the special report. A few weeks after sending the special report, follow up with additional information through a sequence of sales letters. Sort your information, link letters/postcards and send multiple mailings using testimonials and articles.
You are effectively developing a relationship with your Prospect. When your Prospect responds, you submit the appropriate information and then follow up with additional information. If a prospect raises their hand in interest, it’s for a reason. I’d rather have a hundred warm leads than a thousand people I’m cold calling based on some criteria like age, homeowner, length of time in town.
Of course, you can do other things besides advertising. You are undermining your natural market, your spheres of influence, your backyard of referrals (see my book on the same subject). You can also compile a mailing list based on potential pre-need buyers’ criteria. You can purchase a Champion Endorser and multiply your referrals by the truck load. No matter what you do, be sure to use a two-step prospecting method.
Ditch the tired one-step approach. Start funneling all of your prospecting into a 2-step today. You can if you change the way you think about how you approach prospecting. One final thought. If all else fails, study how a doctor’s office works. Doctors do not call or harass you to make an appointment to see them. NO, call a doctor’s office to make an appointment. And I bet you adjust your schedule to meet the Doctor’s schedule. Two-step pre-need prospecting is much the same.