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Promoting Prearrangement
The ICFA is the industry's premier association for preneed sales and marketing education and advocacy. We promote the value of prearrangement in the legislatures, in the eyes of the consumer and within the industry itself. Following are just a few examples of the ICFA's dedication to the value of preneed.
The ICFA educates legislators and industry regulators and promotes responsible legislation on prearrangement issues:
- The ICFA has published a series of 10 model guidelines on preneed consumer protection issues. These comprehensive, business-friendly, pro-consumer guidelines are backed by documentation and economic studies. Developed by the ICFA's Legal Task Force, the guidelines are intended to help raise the level of debate concerning proposed state legislation from a largely anecdotal basis to one in which statistical and actuarial data add substance to the discussion.
- The ICFA has worked with the Multistate Tax Commission to address fair state taxation of preneed funeral trust income. In 1997, Congress passed Section 685 of the Internal Revenue Code, permitting funeral trusts to elect to pay the tax instead of the preneed purchasers. This was a major victory for the industry and consumers alike.
- The ICFA has testified against various anti-preneed state regulations, including 100 percent trusting and unlimited cancellation and refund requirements.
- The ICFA continues to support the exemption for preneed marketing calls in the FTC Telemarketing Sales Rule, an exemption which the ICFA advocated prior to the rule's enactment in 1995.
- The ICFA distributes Guardians newsletter semiannually to federal officials, members of Congress, regional and state cemetery and funeral trade associations and selected media. Guardians highlights recent ICFA activities on a variety of preneed advocacy projects, including government relations, public service and consumer education.
The ICFA presents a positive image of prearrangement to the public:
- As part of an ongoing consumer education campaign, the ICFA has placed newspaper articles and radio announcements concerning the financial benefits of prearrangement at hundreds of media outlets throughout the United States.
- The ICFA responds to negative stories in the press concerning preneed by providing persuasive commentary backed by facts. In the past year alone, we've responded to misleading stories on "ABC News," in Consumer Reports and in a study published by the Consumers Union.
- The ICFA Web site, www.icfa.org, features a Q & A section where consumers can turn for straight answers to real questions about prearrangement, funerals, cemeteries, cremation, grief and other industry-related issues. The ICFA believes that no family should have to face the loss of a loved one uninformed and unprepared.
- For more than 20 years, the ICFA has administered the Cemetery Consumer Service Council, which works to informally mediate, and largely resolve, consumer complaints, including those involving preneed matters.
The ICFA offers the tools you need to develop and maintain a successful preneed sales and marketing operation:
- The ICFA Smart Presentation preneed sales tool uses a compact, modern format to explain the value of prearrangement and encourage a two-way dialogue between funeral directors or preneed sales counselors and the families they serve.
- The ICFA offers the high-quality prospecting and presentation aids: Emergency Record Guide, Family Memorial Guide and Family Portfolio Record File, as well as hundreds of preneed presentation kit pages. In addition, the ICFA Products & Services Catalog includes a full complement of materials to help cemeteries and funeral homes through every stage of preneed sales and marketing, from lead development through family service follow-up.
- The annual ICFA "Naked Sales" Conference offers practical training in every area of sales, marketing and management. Subjects covered range from basic to advanced and include topics such as lead development, family service, hiring and training, sales meetings and motivation. Funeral directors can earn up to 12 hours of Continuing Education credit during this two-day conference.
- The ICFA also offers videotapes from previous "Naked Sales" conferences. These tapes are an indispensable training resource for industry sales managers.
- The J. Asher Neel College of Sales and Marketing at ICFA University, conducted each year at the University of Memphis in Memphis, Tennessee, provides five days of intensive education in a classroom setting. Topics range from recruiting and hiring staff, to niche marketing, to motivational leadership and more. Funeral directors can earn up to 25 Continuing Education credits at the ICFAU.
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