–John Gruden, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

I couldn’t have said it any better.

You and only you must invest in yourself because if you don’t do it no one will do it for you.

When you combine education and experience you’ve got a pretty powerful combination.

You call the shots and you become very marketable (desirable) to owners of cemetery/funeral homes.

Spend 5/60
5 minutes on your goals
60 on improving yourself
each and every day

Head to the catalog page for the latest materials for the pre-need seller developed by a seller of pre-arrangements that actually sells.

For the very best deal I have become a subscriber and I’ll send you a special link to the Whole Enchilada of everything I’ve got including the kitchen sink.

Go to the top right side of the page and subscribe NOW.

Once again thanks to “Buzzy” for sending me the book:

Winning the NFL Way
Leadership Lessons from Football’s top Head Coaches
by Bob LaMonte

Happy Selling!

David…

P.P.S.  To get the Whole Enchilada at a very special Subscriber deal become a subscriber or go to your email and click on the special link I send you.

Random Thoughts On Increasing Pre-Need Sales

These are little things that may not seem like much but add up quickly to huge results.

Here’s an interesting ditty on time I haven’t spoken about much and I’m just as guilty as you are by not using this strategy.

A study done years ago looked at how much “productive” time CEO(s) accomplished per day working.

I’m going by memory but I believe it was less than 30 minutes a day of productive time.

One thing I know for certain, for the Pre-Need Seller, there are numerous time wasting things occurring every single day.  Before long YOU begin to wonder why your sales suck!

My Number One Strategy is:

LIMIT ACCESS TO YOU

To really appreciate this strategy you’ve got to take a long hard look at how much of your time (by the minute) is being stolen through little things. 

For example: 

1. If you are going to go to lunch make your lunch partner come to you.  You’ll be able to continue working and won’t waste 10 – 30 minutes in the restaurant waiting on your lunch partner.
2. Quit checking your email every 5-minutes.  Check it once, twice, three times a day at predetermined times.
3. Forget the impromptu meetings.  Meetings are out.  Meetings are the most unproductive time wasters on the planet.
4. Don’t wast lots of time with Prospects who are less than a 6 on a scale of 1 – 10.  Spend time with the 7 – 10’s on the scale.  Use your assistant (if you have one) or marketing to warm them up before you spend lots of wasted time on the phone or in-person meetings.
5. People need to complain about how hard it is to get to you.  Make it tough.  Quit wasting time by focusing on the little things that steal your time away.  Eliminating just a couple of these time wasters will add to your productive time and SALES.  By the way, sales is where it’s at.  These time wasting things take away from your presentation/close, follow-up, stay-in-touch, and other productive endeavors that ultimately make you money.  Stay focused! 

Finally, I’d say to use TIME BLOCKING to help you create a schedule you can keep.  Also, use your TO DO LIST and make sure you’re crossing off things you’ve got to do daily.  I like to use a simple yellow legal sized pad.  Without organization there is chaos (as my former teacher used to say).  I’ve added: 

Without organization there is chaos

and TIME WASTED

and NO SALES!

Top Producers are way more productive with time.  Just adding 30 minutes to an hour of productive time will increase your sales dramatically.

My Number Two Strategy to Increase sales:

The COPY STRATEGY

We’ll talk more about this one next time.

Happy Selling!

David

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Instead I’ve discovered a way to eliminate bad habits while improving in all areas of life…especially pre-need sales.

Lets face it.  In this business if you’re not selling you aren’t making money.

The real trick to eliminating bad habits is forming good habits.  I’ve found that replacing bad habits with good habits seems to work better than focusing on the bad habits.

I’d much rather focus on a good habit.  It’s way more positive.

So, the secret?

Develop a positive habit and stick with it.  Before you know it you’ll be eliminating a bad habit with out really trying.

I’ll give you an example.  I hate paperwork.  I’ve never liked it.  I try to avoid paperwork at all costs. 

When I made a change earlier I lost an assistant.  And with my assistant gone I had to do paperwork again.

Did I mention I hate paperwork?

To solve my bad habit of not doing paperwork I decided to form a new habit.

The habit was to block out time in my schedule to do paperwork.  Every morning for thirty minutes I do paperwork.  In fact, before I begin my day at the office I set aside 30 minutes used for doing paperwork only (See my posts on time blocking).  When my thirty minutes are up I move on whether I’ve finished the paperwork or not.

Oh, and by the way, one good habit I do have is self-discipline.  Through time-blocking my schedule and sticking to it (a good habit to have).  I’ve been able to overcome a bad habit.  The reality is I still hate paperwork.  But, now I’m at least close to caught up with paper instead of totally behind.

Develop a good habit and before you know it you’ll neutralize the bad habit or it just won’t matter anymore.

Happy Selling!

David…

P.S.  Cruise over to the “Time Management” category for more on time; how to save it and how to make more money with it.

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