What is shove-it money?

A good friend of mine who’s still in the business (probably been selling pre-arrangements for close to twenty years..and very successful at it) shared a story with me early in his career.

Each month he’d lead the office in sales.  He did it through door-knocking.  He would work his back-side off until he made several thousand dollars and would quit for the rest of the month.

The following month he’d do it all again.  Occasionally he’d have a slow month and work through the mid-point of the month, but once he had accumulated what he wanted in commissions he’d quit for the rest of the month.

I remember asking him one time why he wouldn’t just work one complete month and put away an extra month’s worth of commission dollars just in case.

I’ll never forget what he told me, “Dave, if I did that and worked one entire month and save an extra month’s worth of commissions I would take the next month off.”

One thing I can definitely say about the guy he “knew himself well”.

BUT, for you, what is shove-it money and why am I suggesting you have some?

On page 22 of my book; 50 Ways to Get Rich & Stay Rich Selling, I talk about “shove-it” money.

Shove-it money is one year’s worth of expenses in the bank.  This means you take and add all your expenses; car payments, house payments, credit card payments, student loans, allowances, and whatever else you can think of for one month. 

The amount of dollars it equals is your shove-it money.

The point is you will eliminate stress, the need for that next sale, desperation, and family money problems immediately.

Other benefits include the ability to walk into the boss’s office and tell him to “shove-it”.

I actually got the idea from an old Johnny Paycheck song.  “Take this job and shove-it, I ain’t working here no more.”

Well, most of us cannot afford to tell the boss to shove-it but guess what?  With shove-it money you can do it.

Let me tell you how valuable you are to your organization.  You bring in the money.  You bring home the bacon for the company.  The operations people don’t.  The grounds guys don’t, the staff (except for at-need funeral directors) don’t.

You bring in the revenue that makes the company viable.   And, in the cemetery/funeral business future business is critical to success.  This is why you get paid the big bucks!

Unfortunately, many sales people don’t get much respect in the organization.  I’m not entirely sure why that is but I can tell you that when you sell lots of pre-need there will be many jealous people because sales pays way better and not many people will do what you do for a variety of reasons.

But, you my friend, are in a class of your own because without you the organization is up the creek without a paddle.

You really are in the driver’s seat.  But, if you are desperate you cannot do it.  If you’ve got to have that next sale you cannot tell the boss to “shove-it”.

I’m not suggesting you tell the boss to shove-it.  What I’m suggesting is your entire attitude will change when you can relax because you do not need that next sale to survive.

Now, I’m not talking about paying off every debt you have.  I’m not talking about a GIANT ELEPHANT!  It may seem massive to you to get one year’s worth of expenses in the bank.  But, this is very doable even though you might not see it that way.

What I am suggesting you do is add up all your monthly payments.  Multiply that number by 12.  This is your shove-it money goal.

Next time we’ll talk about how to accumulate your “shove-it” money quickly, naturally, and easily.

Happy Selling!

David