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NAKED SALES V:
The Five Commandments of Sales
ICFA's 2003 Sales Management & Marketing Conference
January 16-17, 2003
Royal Sonesta Hotel
New Orleans, Louisiana
Program Chairs: Gwen Mooney and Mike Hays
Download registration form
Delivering The Five Commandments
On the 19th day of July in the year 2002, the ICFA Sales & Marketing Committee gathered in the city of Memphis, in the state known as Tennessee. Committee Chairman Gregg Williamson, CCE, said unto them, "We shall create a conference like none other in our industry. And to lead this conference, I shall appoint two chairpersons."
And he appointed Mike Hays, vice president of advance planning, Keystone Group Holdings, Tampa, Florida, and Gwen Mooney, director of preneed services, Jon Deitloff Funeral Centre and Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, Ohio. And there was great rejoicing.
Mike and Gwen arose and held up surveys from past conferences for all to see, and said unto the committee, "We have heard the cries of our people. And lo, they hunger for more knowledge about sales and ways to improve the techniques of their counselors. They thirst for concrete skills to help them put this knowledge to work."
The committee saw the wisdom in this and said, "At Naked Sales IV, we taught them well about marketing and management. But lo, we cannot cover everything in two days. Let it therefore be written: At Naked Sales V, we shall deliver the nuts and the bolts of preneed selling, that they may boost their bottom line." And there was great rejoicing.
And so the committee developed The Five Commandments of Sales. And within each of these Commandments, they named topics of great importance to sales operations everywhere. And after they had culled the wheat from the chaff among these topics, they searched throughout the land for the most qualified speakers to present them.
Then Gregg, Mike and Gwen looked at what they and the committee had done and said, "It is good." And there was great rejoicing.
And so on January 16-17, 2003, in the heart of Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Louisiana, sales managers, top counselors and suppliers from throughout the cemetery and funeral industry will gather to learn new ways of marketing and selling their products and new ideas for developing and managing their sales teams. And, of course, there will be great rejoicing.
Program Schedule
Prices
Continuing Education Credits
Cancellation Policy
Speakers
Download the Registration Form
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Program Schedule
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15
4:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Registration
6:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Welcome Reception
THURSDAY, JANUARY 16
8:00 a.m.
Registration and Coffee
8:30 - 8:45 a.m.
Welcome and Introduction
ICFA President Bill Wright, CCE, ICFA Sales & Marketing Committee Chairman Gregg Williamson, CCE, and Naked Sales V Program Chairs Gwen Mooney and Mike Hays
8:45 - 9:15 a.m.
Leading Your Staff Through the Desert
Mike Hays
Does your team fall victim to seasonal slumps? Is this economy killing you? Have your people ever complained, "You've led us into this desert wilderness to die?" This session discusses the importance of effective sales management and the need to focus on fundamental sales behaviors when the going gets tough. It also introduces the entire two-day conference as a type of back-to-basics sales meeting.
Commandment I: Thou Shalt Prospect
9:15 - 10:15 a.m.
Obtaining & Using Referrals, Part I
Bill Cates
Bill Cates is president of Referral Coach International and author of the widely acclaimed training book, "Unlimited Referrals." He has worked with our industry with great results. According to Cates, some of the keys to effectively obtaining and using referrals are becoming "referrable," or worthy of the client's referral, and properly asking for and following up on the referral. Attendees will find out how to achieve these objectives and more during this two-hour session. Come, find out how to boost your sales program from the man who literally wrote the book on referrals!
10:15 - 10:30 a.m.
Break
10:30 - 11:30 a.m.
Obtaining & Using Referrals, Part II
Bill Cates
11:30 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.
Lunch (on your own)
12:45 - 1:05 p.m.
Permission Marketing
Don Potter
The advent of a national "Do Not Call" list could mean the end of "pre-emptive" telemarketing and the need for "permission" telemarketing. Don Potter's marketing firm has been developing and monitoring such programs for several years. He will share targeting tactics, cost-per-lead information and other results obtained from ongoing research, and he will explain how to integrate an effective permission model into your current sales and marketing activities.
1:05 - 1:25 p.m.
How to Set Up Your Own Affinity Marketing Program
Gwen Mooney
Last year Gwen Mooney shared Jon Deitloff Funeral Centre's successful new affinity marketing efforts. Now come learn everything you need to know to get started on structuring an affinity marketing program in your own community.
1:25 - 1:45 p.m.
Booths and Fairs
Doug Oliver
Booths and fairs have proved extremely successful ways of gaining access to potential cemetery and funeral customers. Learn the elements needed to launch your own successful booth and fair program.
1:45 - 2:00 p.m.
Q&A with Don Potter, Gwen Mooney and Doug Oliver
Commandment II: Thou Shalt Set Appointments
2:00 - 2:20 p.m.
Key Appointment Setting Skills: Dos and Don'ts
Christine Jacob
Learn the dos and don't for crucial appointment-setting skills, including:
- Phone activity.
- Creating a memorable first impression.
- Getting your prospective client involved.
- Giving choices.
2:20 - 2:40 p.m.
Beyond the Phone: Face-to-Face Appointment-Setting Techniques
Patrick Downey, CCE
Networking and making strategic contacts are your most promising avenues for appointment setting. Patrick Downey will offer ideas for establishing business-to-business affiliations, seminars and other face-to-face opportunities.
2:40 - 2:50 p.m.
Break
2:50 - 3:30 p.m.
Family Service Follow Up: Securing Future Appointments and Sales
Christian Chambers
Could your family service follow-up program use a tune-up? Knowing how to introduce preneed arrangements in this setting in a tactful, meaningful way can be one of your counselors' most powerful appointment-setting skills. Learn proven methods for:
- immediately recognizing consumers' need and desire for exposure to preneed in the at-need environment
- properly and ethically promoting preneed in at-need situations
- following through effectively with survivors to assure completion, appointments and sales
3:30 - 3:45 p.m.
Q&A with Christine Jacobs, Patrick Downey and Christian Chambers
Commandment III: Thou Shalt Make Presentations
3:45 - 4:05 p.m.
Organizing Effective Group Presentations
Greg Simard
Learn specific strategies for developing the contacts and relationships needed to set up group presentations in your community. Discover the key elements of effective group presentations.
4:05 - 4:25 p.m.
Packaging and Presenting with Flair
Elizabeth Baty
By equipping your counselors with more animated merchandising techniques and presentation styles, you can help them improve the number and quality of their sales. Elizabeth Baty will challenge the current dynamics of traditional funeral homes and cemeteries and offer successful strategies for selling with flair while creating meaning and value to the memorialization process.
4:25 - 4:45 p.m.
Marketing to Various Cultural Communities
Barry Bamford, CCE
Our marketplaces are constantly evolving. Your cemetery or funeral home must make itself relevant to the community before it can grow within the community. In this session, learn to discover the diversity of your community and to decipher the keys to connecting with it. Explore a constantly evolving business strategy that is inclusive - not exclusive - in its approach to sales, marketing and operations.
4:45 - 5:00 p.m.
Q&A with Greg Simard, Elizabeth Baty and Barry Bamford
FRIDAY, JANUARY 17
8:00 a.m.
Registration and Coffee
8:30 - 9:00 a.m.
Cremation Presentations
Mary Ziegler
Memorialization begins with the development of a meaningful service. During this discussion, Mary Ziegler will share ideas for educating and encouraging families to create a personalized cremation commemoration with permanent memorialization.
9:00 - 9:30 a.m.
Ethics and Integrity
Gary O'Sullivan, CCE
Top-rated speaker Gary O'Sullivan will offer insights into "The Three P's of Integrity":
- Integrity in our Presentation.
- Integrity in our Position.
- Integrity in our Profession.
In this session you will discover the positive effect integrity has on leadership, what leaders do to develop and maintain this critical leadership attribute, and the seven laws of a person of integrity. Perhaps most important, you will discover how to have a sales organization based on integrity.
9:30 - 9:55 a.m.
Effective Merchandising and Packaging
Tom McDowell
Tom McDowell has been visiting properties throughout North America to share his expertise in memorialization trends and merchandising techniques. Now he is bringing his insight to the ICFA with a discussion of merchandising and packaging for traditional ground burial, mausoleums and cremation that meets the expectations of today's consumers while generating new revenue for your operation.
9:55 - 10:20 a.m.
Selling Premium Properties
Gregg Williamson, CCE
Are you offering high-end gardens? Private and semi-private estates? Specialty mausoleums? Private mausoleums? From the smallest to the largest cemeteries, everyone can sell these products. Gregg Williamson will offer proven ways to identify prospects in your market as well as some sales and marketing insights. If you're already marketing these products, let's compare notes. If you're not, come find out whether this high-end merchandise is worth your company's attention.
10:20 - 10:35 a.m.
Q&A with Mary Ziegler, Gary O'Sullivan, Tom McDowell and Gregg Williamson
10:35 - 10:45 a.m.
Break
Commandment IV: Thou Shalt Close the Sale
10:45 - 11:05 a.m.
Closing With Objections
Neil Carlson
It's closing time. Does your sales staff know how to handle the objections their customers may have to the preneed commitment? Come prepared to learn techniques that work from a trainer who understands the art of psychological selling:
- negative words to avoid
- how to anticipate and respond to specific objections
- how to overcome common difficulties in closing the sale
11:05 a.m. - 12:00 noon
A Closing System for Trainers
Neily Bissette
Learn effective techniques for the assumptive close, handling objections, narrative closes, post-close communications and more.
12:00 noon - 1:15 p.m.
Lunch (on your own)
1:15 - 1:35 p.m.
Show Me the Money
Dave Wharmby, CCE
For many sales counselors, the most difficult part of the selling process is making that final leap to ask for the payment. Training veteran Dave Wharmby will show you how to teach your counselors to properly secure a commitment and time their request, giving them a strong safety net and allowing them to make that leap with confidence and success.
1:35 - 1:50 p.m.
Q&A with Neil Carlson, Neily Bissette and Dave Wharmby
Commandment V: Thou Shalt Not Quit
1:50 - 2:15 p.m.
Customer Relationship Management
Rick Wesner
Sales is an endless cycle. "Thou shalt not quit" reminds us to keep that cycle moving. In this session on CRM, we'll explore five specific examples on how to manage your customer/prospect list to achieve maximum productivity, accountability and profitability using today's latest technology.
2:15 - 2:35 p.m.
How You Can Best Use Your Web Site
Todd Dashley
Join Todd Dashley to explore maximizing your Web site's impact in three areas:
- Education - Learn how your site can be an important tool in educating your community about the advantages of prearranging and pre-funding burial and funeral services as well as about your firm's philosophy and staff.
- Commerce - Explore ways to develop your Web site as an additional revenue producer. Should you or should you not put prices on-line? Can your site be used to serve out-of-state arrangers?
- Customer Service - Identify the benefits of on-line service schedules, obituaries, memorials, burial locators, and the use of an on-line arranger.
2:35 - 3:10 p.m.
Recruiting Sellers Who Just Won't Quit
Dick Perl
Sales counselors who just won't quit have certain characteristics, personality traits and backgrounds that lead them to refuse to quit. You'll leave this session knowing where to look for these types of sellers and questions to ask when interviewing and hiring them.
3:10 - 3:40 p.m.
Goals and Motivation
Matt Kreidenweis
Learn proven tactics for motivating your counselors to ever greater levels of achievement.
3:40 - 4:15 p.m.
Q&A with Rick Wesner, Todd Dashley, Dick Perl and Matt Kreidenweis, and Wrap-Up with Mike Hays and Gwen Mooney
Prices
Registration fees are as follows:
- ICFA Member: $350 before December 8
- ICFA Member: $395 after December 8
- $315 each for 2-4 attendees
- $295 each for 5 or more attendees
- Non-Member: $450
Continuing Education Credits
Funeral directors may earn continuing education credits at the conference, pending state credit awards. CE Attendance Certificates will be available at the ICFA on-site registration desk.
Cancellation Policy
Registrants who cancel their registration by December 8, 2002, will receive refunds. All cancellations must be in writing and will be subject to a $50 per peson processing fee. Cancellations made after December 8, 2002, will not be refunded.
For more information, call the ICFA Meetings Department at 1-800-645-7700
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