SNL's Social Media Contest Winners!

Here are the winners of our latest social media contest:

Sharon Mace - LinkedIn Winner!

Ponda Lee - Facebook Winner!

Ronald Bishop with manager Jerry Rutherford - Twitter Winner!

Congratulations to our winners and thank you all who participated!

Weekly News Flash

"There are no limitations to the mind except those we acknowledge."
                                                              -Napoleon Hill

Are You Sold?

Gary Korisko-Regional Vice President of Sales, Security National Life

 I have always been amazed at the number of salespeople who sell something that they are not 100% sold on. At one point in my career, I was one of them-and I can tell you it is both miserable and unproductive.

You cannot effectively sell without confidence in both yourself and your product. How do you really feel about pre-need? Have you experienced an at-need conference with a family who has to start from scratch with the literally hundreds of personal, financial, and emotional decisions that need to be made? Conversely, have you experienced an at-need conference with a family who preplanned and prefunded where everything is decided and paid for? They are two completely different experiences. If you have not experienced both, do yourself a favor and ask your nearest Funeral Director about it.

Ask yourself what it is that you really sell. Insurance? Or do you sell peace of mind, stress relief, security, and love of family? Get to know what your product really does for the buyer and have full confidence that you are making a difference. Remember: "no customer is sold until the salesperson is sold."

Weekly News Flash

"You are subject to your environment. Therefore, select the environment that will best develop you toward your desired objective."

                                         - W. Clement Stone

The Big 4

Gary Korisko - Director of Sales Operations, Security National Life

When a prospect first meets a salesperson, a wall goes up. Since the prospect doesn't know the salesperson or their intentions, naturally they are a bit untrusting at first. One of the ways you can overcome that initial obstacle of trust is to answer The Big 4 questions that every prospect has on their mind when they first meet you. They are:

1. Why are you here?

2. What's going to happen?

3. What's in it for me?

4. How long will this take?

Before each sales call, take time to put together a few sentences that answer The Big 4 questions. For instance:

Mrs. Jones, I'm Gary from xyz Funeral Home and I came by today to thank you for returning our ________ and to give you our Gift of Love planning guide. I would like to sit down, walk you through the guide, and answer any questions you may have about it. I think you will find that having all of this important information recorded all in one place will make things much easier for you and your family. It normally only takes 10 to 15 minutes - plus time for your questions.

When The Big 4 questions are out of the way, your prospect can relax and pay attention to what you really have to say instead of looking at their watch or worrying about what you want from them.

Weekly News Flash

"Do what you’re afraid to do. Go where you are afraid to go. When you run away because you are afraid to do something big, you pass opportunity by.”

            --W. Clement Stone

Five Time Management Tips.

Gary Korisko – Director of Sales Operations, Security National Life

Tip #1 – Identify your top two priorities each day and don’t stop working until you’ve done them.

Each day identify the two things that you could do that would make the biggest impact on your sales- and make sure you get them done.

Tip #2 – It doesn’t matter how – but record your to-do’s.

Record your to-do items somewhere. It doesn’t matter if you’re a pen and paper person, a spreadsheet fan, or an iPhone notes addict. What is important is that you record the tasks you need to accomplish.

Tip #3 - Start with the most difficult or unappealing task first.

Once the “hard” one is out of the way, everything else seems easy. Most people do the opposite, so they wind up with that big, ugly task looming over their heads all day…and maybe for a few days after that.

Tip #4 – Tackle the rest of the list.

After the big tasks are out of the way, you can start tackling the rest of your list.  Save the little “busy work” items for the end of the day – or non-prime selling times. Get them done, but fill your prime selling time with prime selling activities.

Tip #5 – Each night, rotate the list.

As mentioned before, at the end of your work day take five minutes to review what you accomplished. List the new tasks that have sprung up – and pick your new top two for your new day tomorrow.

 

Weekly News Flash

"I will do today what other people won't so I can have tomorrow what other people can't."

                                                      - Zig Ziglar

Six Ways to Get into a Sales Slump

Gary Korisko – Director of Sales Operations, Security National Life

I read a lot of sales articles and many of them are titled, “10 easy ways to improve your whatever” or “12 tips to a better such and such.” Just to be different this week, we’re going to cover six rules that a salesperson can follow to get into a slump. So if you are tired of the tedium of making sale after sale, follow the six rules below for a little change of pace.

1.        Stop asking exploration questions.

Asking probing questions can be time consuming and most prospects don’t cooperate anyway. Since every prospect chooses to buy or not buy for the same reasons, it’s probably better to just start talking product early on, right?

2.        Assume things.

People who have said no in the past surely will say no today. Those people aren’t worth calling on because they probably can’t afford our product. And those other people…don’t even get me started…they’re too young. (You get the idea.)

3.        It’s all about the price.

Most people buy things solely based on the price. Consumers don’t care about value, so why waste your time demonstrating value?

4.        Listen to surface level information.

When a prospect makes a statement, it is what it is. So instead of reading between the lines or asking for clarification to see if there is any deeper meaning in their comments, assume there is nothing below the surface.

5.        Use the exact same approach for every customer.

We have an endorsed sales presentation, so why not just spit it out verbatim at every appointment? Customizing it for each individual prospect in order to make the buying experience personal for them seems time consuming. Note to self: Just send the prospect the link to our online sales presentation.

6.        Give up on learning and trying new things.

There’s nothing new under the sun. I’ve been doing this for years so there’s not a lot I don’t already know. If you honestly believe that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, then you are totally on board with this rule already.

Clearly, these rules were written with a good deal of sarcasm. However, these are just the type of bad habits that even the most seasoned salesperson can slip into if they are not paying attention. So this week, check yourself. Are you inadvertently following any of these six rules and setting yourself up for a slump? By always paying attention to your activity and habits you can avoid these slumps and sell more consistently over time.

2012 Trip - Where would you go?

I'm asking for input for our next trip - what would be your choice?  Fiji, Brazil or Thailand?  All three choices have so much appeal.  Go to www.Facebook.com/SNLpreneed and "Like" you favorite!  Thanks for your opinion!

Viti Levu – the main island of Fiji

 Jesus the Redeemer over Rio de Janeiro

May Bay, Phi Phi Island, Thailand

Weekly News Flash

"You can commit no greater folly than to sit by the roadside until someone comes along and invites you to ride with him to wealth or influence."
-- John Gough


Mistakes: Life’s Higher Education
Gary Korisko – Director of Sales Operations, Security National Life

Making a mistake here or there might actually be good for you. Granted, not all mistakes are good things. Certain mistakes for say chemists or those who assemble warheads may be disastrous – but for the rest of us they may actually be a good thing in a roundabout way. When you were younger, did you ever have a parent or a friend advise you not to date a certain someone? How did that go? It made you want to date them even more. Later you learned that, as much as you hated to admit it, the person who tried to warn you was right. Apply the same scenario to a financial decision you have made in the past – or a job offer you either did or did not take. Now think about those situations. Did you learn more from the times you received advice or maybe even read up on the subject in question? Or did you learn more from the times you made a bad decision and had to face some sort of consequence? A mistake can be a very, very valuable thing. Making a few honest mistakes is one of the best ways to learn. In our efficiency-minded modern world, we are expected to be on our game all the time. Because of this, many of us who are eager to please can be stressed by the worry of making an honest mistake. Not only is this not healthy, it can smother creativity and our natural desire to try new things. If we let our fear of making mistakes dominate our thoughts, we think only inside the box. What a horrible thing that would be. Thankfully, history is full of wonderful examples of pioneers and risk takers who weren’t paralyzed by a fear of failing. Think Columbus, Lewis & Clark, Edison…you get the idea. In fact, Here’s a short list of people who made honest efforts and failed pretty badly…at first.

1. Bill Gates. Microsoft was not his first attempt. Ever heard of Traf-O-Data? Google it. It didn’t go well. Good thing he learned from his mistakes and tried again.

2. Walt Disney. He was once fired by his boss at a newspaper because he lacked imagination.

3. Albert Einstein. The classic example everyone knows – he was introverted and didn’t speak until he was almost four. People thought he had a mental disability.

4. Abraham Lincoln. You may have heard that he lost many elections at many different levels and that he was unsuccessful at business. What you may not know is that when he was young he went to war a captain and came home a private.

5. Jerry Seinfeld. So he’s no Lincoln or Gates, but he is one of the most successful comedians in history. He never finished his first set. He was heckled and booed off the stage.

6. Thomas Edison. Teachers thought he was stupid in school…and his early employers agreed. He was fired several times before finding his groove.

7. Henry Ford. Before his success with his motor company, his first five attempts at business failed leaving him broke five times.

So by all means – do your best to be efficient. Try not to make mistakes. But when an honest mistake occurs, look for the lesson in it. Beat yourself up for it briefly if you must, but don’t let it stifle your enthusiasm or confidence. Take something of value from it and get better because of it.