Overview    |    Program    |    Registration    |    Hotel

THANK YOU TO OUR CORPORATE PARTNERS:  Ad Direct, Inc. • Homesteaders Life Co. • Service Corporation International• Forethought Financial Services • Assurant Solutions • NorthStar Memorial Group, LLC • Stewart Enterprises • Matthews International Corporation • NGL Insurance Group • Arbor Memorial Services, Inc. • Cold Spring Granite • Foundation Partners Group • Funeral Directors Life Insurance Co. • Funeral Services, Inc. (FSI) • Biondan North America • iMortuary

Bally’s Las Vegas is offering attendees the discounted room rate of just $69 per night for single/double occupancy. Call 877.603.4389 or click here to make your reservation now. Discount code: SBCCF2. Discount rate will be available through December 19 only.

Bally’s Las Vegas has been a fixture at the center of the world-famous Las Vegas Strip for more than 30 years. The property boasts numerous amenities and plenty of activities to do in your leisure time, including:

• Jubilee!, the only-remaining classic showgirl revue in Las Vegas
• The Spa at Bally’s, featuring a world-class fitness center and offering deep tissue massage, hydrotherapy treatments and mineral wraps
• The Price Is Right: Live, the live-audience version of the popular television show
• Bally’s Avenue Shoppes, a collection of 20+ unique stores and boutiques
• Newly remodeled 67,000-square-foot casino
• Preferred access to two of the nation’s most beautiful golf courses, Cascata® and Rio Secco, as well as premier instruction at the Butch Harmon School of Golf.
• Sterling Brunch, one of the most impressive meals you will ever eat
• Sully’s Bar, Indigo Lounge and the Tequila Bar & Grille
• The largest tennis complex on the Strip, perfect for day or night games

Paris Las Vegas has become a major attraction on the Sunset Strip, paying magnificent homage to the French “City of Light” with its soaring half-scale replica of the Eiffel Tower, L’Arc de Triomphe porte-cochère, sophisticated shopping along Le Boulevard, and acclaimed cuisine. Paris and Bally’s are sister properties connected via a convenient indoor walkway.

 Overview    |    Program    |    Registration    |    Hotel

THANK YOU TO OUR CORPORATE PARTNERS:  Ad Direct, Inc. • Homesteaders Life Co. • Service Corporation International• Forethought Financial Services • Assurant Solutions • NorthStar Memorial Group, LLC • Stewart Enterprises • Matthews International Corporation • NGL Insurance Group • Arbor Memorial Services, Inc. • Cold Spring Granite • Foundation Partners Group • Funeral Directors Life Insurance Co. • Funeral Services, Inc. (FSI) • Biondan North America • iMortuary

• Click here to register online now
• Click here to download a PDF of the registration form
  

 Overview    |    Program    |    Registration    |    Hotel

THANK YOU TO OUR CORPORATE PARTNERS:  Ad Direct, Inc. • Homesteaders Life Co. • Service Corporation International• Forethought Financial Services • Assurant Solutions • NorthStar Memorial Group, LLC • Stewart Enterprises • Matthews International Corporation • NGL Insurance Group • Arbor Memorial Services, Inc. • Cold Spring Granite • Foundation Partners Group • Funeral Directors Life Insurance Co. • Funeral Services, Inc. (FSI) • Biondan North America • iMortuary

January 18

6-7 p.m.
Welcome Reception

January 19

7:45 a.m.
Coffee

8-8:20 a.m.
First Timers’ Orientation
Ken Coffey
Is this your first ICCFA Wide World of Sales Conference? Don’t miss this valuable intro to the event. Find out what you can expect to see, hear and do and get some great advice on how to make the most of your time so that you can put what you’ve learned to use on Monday.

Ken Coffey is vice president-sales for Forethought Financial Group in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is a member of the ICCFA Sales & Marketing Committee and served as program co-chair of the Wide World of Sales in 2011. A former Washington Redskin with a Super Bowl championship to his name, he understands the importance of training and preparation as part of a winning game plan.

8:30 a.m.
Welcome and Announcements
ICCFA President Ken Varner, CCFE; ICCFA Sales & Marketing Committee Chair John Bolton, CCE; Program Co-Chairs Ty Lohman and Kim Medici Shelquist

8:40 - 10 a.m.
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
How to Win an Unfair Fight: What the Top 1 Percent Do Differently
Garrison Wynn
This entertaining keynote, based on more than 10 years of research in a variety of industries (including funeral service), will show you how top performers harness the power of their advantages even when the odds are not in their favor.

Business relationship expert and bestselling author Garrison Wynn delivers a high-impact program that answers two monumental questions:  How do you get people to do what you want them to do, and how can you get better results from the difficult people you encounter along the way? 

Among the things you’ll learn:

• the most important factors separating the top 1 percent from everyone else

• how to build trust in 5-10 seconds

• how to break through rigid belief systems and get people to see things differently

• how to reduce resistance to change

• the most important question you need to ask your prospect

• how to get & stay motivated

• how to work with difficult people (even if one is your boss)

You’ll walk out of this session with real-world techniques you can use to increase your sales immediately.

10-10:15 a.m.
Break

10:15-10:45 a.m.
It Takes Two to Tango: Why Funeral Homes and Cemeteries Have to Help Each Other
Paul Seyler
Funeral directors and cemeterians are like dog people and cat people—you almost never catch them hanging out together of their own free will. If we want to make the most of our limited opportunities to serve our communities, that has to change. This presentation will take a look at how funeral homes can add dollars to the cemetery’s total contract and vice versa. We’ll target current approaches to products, presentation tools and compensation and show how real change can add up to real sales.

Paul Seyler is president of Competitive Resources Inc., a marketing firm with core strengths in research, strategy development, brand management and creative services. Prior to forming Competitive Resources in 1993, Paul spent 10 years in marketing and strategic planning with firms in real estate and financial services. He has spoken to industry groups nationwide on a broad range of marketing and strategic planning issues.

O'Sullivan	Shipper

10:45-11:15 a.m.
Sales Success: Secrets Revealed
Gary O’Sullivan, CCFE, and David Shipper
From the creators and authors of The System, the profession’s only complete preneed selling method, Gary O’Sullivan and David Shipper share some startling discoveries. After three years of development and four years of implementation and after tracking hundreds of counselors for thousands of hours, the secrets to predictable, manageable and repeatable sales success has been discovered.

In this session you will learn:

• What most managers focus on and why it’s wrong 

• The secret number that drives sales success 

• The five variables that will determine sales volume

• How to make your sales predictable and repeatable  

• The game changer—the one thing that drives everything

Gary O’Sullivan, CCFE, is president of Gary O’Sullivan Company, a consulting firm specializing in strategic planning, development, management and leadership in sales and marketing and based in Winter Garden, Florida. He previously was a sales executive with Carriage Services. He is author of “PrinciplePower For Sales Success” and has produced many sales training DVDs and CDs.

David Shipper is president and CEO of companies that own and operate 42 cemetery and funeral home locations serving more than 12,000 families per year. Previously he served as a vice president and director of corporate development with Loewen Group International. He is an ICCFA past president.

11:15 a.m.-Noon
Filling Up Your Dance Card: It’s Called NetWORKing (Not Net-Socializing)
Michael Bohner
There is a lot more to networking than simply socializing, but many folks stop there.  This can be a very costly mistake.  In this presentation, Michael Bohner will show you how to go deeper into networking to develop meaningful collegial relationships, partner with like-minded professionals and generate business. You’ll also learn what (and who) to avoid when networking.

Michael Bohner is a district manager at Lohman Funeral Home Deland in Deland, Florida. Previously he served as general manager at Serenity Meadows Memorial Park, Funeral Home and Crematory in Riverview, Florida. Before becoming involved in the cemetery and funeral service profession, Michael was vice president/general manager for one of the largest independent jewelers in the United States. He is a member of the ICCFA Sales & Marketing Committee.

Noon-1:45 p.m.
Lunch & Learn Brainstorm Session
Facilitator: John Bolton, CCE
We’ll break into small groups of 10 for a networking luncheon and then a facilitated session where you and your colleagues will share sales and marketing best practices. Together you will brainstorm for solutions to some of the toughest problems we face in today’s market and you will select one great idea that your group will share onstage during Friday’s rapid-fire “40 Ideas in 40 Minutes Session.”

2-2:30 p.m.
Seminars: A Sizzling Source for Preneed Success
Nancy Lohman, CCFE
Seminars are one of the most effective lead-generation sources available to cemeteries and funeral homes … when they are structured and delivered well. In this session, lead-magnet Nancy Lohman will share her company’s secrets to successful seminars.

You’ll learn key pointers for improving your public speaking skills and discover how to avoid common pitfalls that can undermine your seminars’ success. In addition, you’ll receive three turnkey PowerPoint presentations that are designed to not only inform your audience but to inspire them to take action and preplan. These include:

• Honoring Our Veterans: Funeral & Burial Benefits – a presentation for members of VFWs, American Legions and other veteran organizations.

• An Evening of Thought: Creating Your Celebration of Life – designed for civic organizations and/or church communities.

• Are Your Affairs in Order? – a free program to encourage seniors to preplan.

In addition, Nancy will share several YouTube video links that will bring your audiences to heights of new emotion and stimulate them to action.

Along with her family, Nancy Lohman is owner of Lohman Funeral Homes, Cemeteries and Cremation, the largest private, family-owned operator of cemeteries and funeral homes in Florida. 

2:30-3 p.m.
Prospecting in Tough Times: A Drop-By Method That Works
Michael Crahan
When unemployment in the Phoenix, Arizona, area more than tripled from 3 percent to 10 percent, counselors at the Diocese of Phoenix Catholic Cemeteries and Mortuaries saw a corresponding drop in appointments, from an average of 10-15 per week down to three or four.

The diocese reevaluated its prospecting approach and developed the “CAKE EATERS” system—a method that takes the counselor from the Curb through a series of steps to the Start of the presentation.

In this session, Michael Crahan will share how this system brought his counselors’ appointments back up to previous levels. Discover how to turn hard-to-reach contacts into viable prospects. You’ll receive scripts to use both on the phone and at the front door as well as sample transitional statements. In addition, you’ll find out how the diocese relaxes the prospect at the start of the presentation using a simple $5.99 ice breaker.

Michael Crahan is director of sales and marketing for the Diocese of Phoenix Catholic Cemeteries and Mortuaries. Previously, he worked in a variety of positions with Service Corporation International and was a regional vice president of cemetery/funeral operations with Carriage Services. He is a member of the National Catholic Cemeteries Association Marketing Committee. 

3-3:15 p.m.
Break

3:15-3:45 p.m.
The DRIP System of Preneed Sales
Heather Kiteley
Diversity, Repetition, Integrity and Persistence: These are the four foundations of preneed success your company needs for long-term, predictable growth.

In this session, Heather Kiteley will provide a proven, easy-to-follow system that will increase your preneed to at-need ratio, grow your portfolio at a manageable rate and establish your business as the expert in preneed in your community. You’ll learn:

• the four foundations of preneed success and how to make them work for you

• to diversify your lead sources

• how to build momentum in your preneed program

• how to prevent a disconnect between your at-need business and preneed program

• how to ensure constant and manageable growth now and through the boomer years. 

Heather Kiteley is a preneed manager for Guaranteed Funeral Deposits of Canada in Toronto, Ontario. Licensed as a funeral director for more than 18 years, she has diverse preneed experience working with both corporate and family-owned funeral homes, large and small, with varying portfolios up to and in excess of $10 million. She is a frequent contributor to the Canadian Funeral News Trade Magazine and has conducted workshops for the Funeral Service Association of Canada.

3:45 - 4:15 p.m.
Three Essential Steps to Communicating Your Value Proposition
Garrison Wynn
In this half-hour session, keynoter Garrison Wynn will return to the stage to dig deeper into the sales presentation, sharing his three-step process for effectively communicating your value proposition:

• Issue (the problem)

• Action (the solution)

• Impact (why the solution is valuable to the prospect)

The last of these steps is the most important, yet it is also the one most counselors fail to accomplish. You’ll discover how to make this system work for you, and you’ll collaborate with your fellow attendees to develop an actual example to use as a model.

January 20

8 a.m.
Coffee

8:30-8:45 a.m.
Welcome and Announcements

8:45-10:15 a.m.
KEYNOTE ADDRESS 
Getting Back into Rhythm: What to Do When You Start to Lose Control of the Sale
Paul Lushin
We’ve all been there. Your presentation to the family is going well, until somehow things take a turn and you feel yourself losing control of the sale. What do you do? How do you recover and steer the discussion back in the right direction?

In this session, Paul Lushin will share his expertise on how to gain and maintain control of the sale, from the beginning of the process through the end, without appearing to be a “pushy” salesperson. Do you:

• discount to win business even though it affects your bottom line?

• have low close ratios and long sales cycles that impact your cash flow?

• do too much “unpaid consulting,” wasting your valuable resources?

• tend to be more of a professional visitor than a salesperson?

• chase poor prospects too long instead of looking for new business?

It’s time to regain control of your sales process and your presentation.

Paul Lushin is owner of Lushin and Associates Inc., the largest sales training firm in the state of Indiana, serving a wide variety of clients, including Flanner & Buchanan funeral homes, cemeteries and cremation centers in Indianapolis. He previously served as a territory manager and a district manager with ECOLAB, a Fortune 500 company based in St. Paul, Minnesota.

10:15-10:30 a.m.
Break

10:30-11 a.m.
Go Viral! Reaching Your Community Through Facebook
Zachary Garbow
Succeeding on Facebook requires more than just being there. A simple Facebook page for your company, when left alone, will collect more dust than followers. In order to “go viral,” your page must be interactive, engaging and exciting—adjectives most people don’t associate with funeral service!

Zack Garbow’s 2011 Wide World of Sales breakout session on social media left attendees excited and clamoring for more. In this session, he’ll dig deeper into today’s “sweet spot” of social media—Facebook—with an interactive how-to tutorial on how you can create and manage a Facebook page that delivers viral distribution, differentiates your brand and converts your followers into customers.

You’ll learn:

• why Facebook pages are critical to businesses today

• how to set up an effective Facebook page using microsites

• how to reach your followers where they spend the most time: in the news feed

• how to use the powerful “reveal tab” technique

• how to apply viral hooks to gain distribution

• how to use Facebook ads for inexpensive, hyper-targeted promotion

• what’s next with Facebook and social media

• how to use the Social Director, a custom Facebook application that automatically keeps your page’s followers engaged and informed.

Zach Garbow is co-founder of Funeral Innovations, a technology firm specializing in web-based solutions for the funeral service industry. He previously was a software engineer within IBM Research, where he gained more than 100 patents pending and earned the title of Master Inventor, becoming the youngest Master Inventor in the history of the company. He was accepted into the prestigious Y Combinator startup program, where he developed social media products in Silicon Valley while networking with the giants of the startup world, including the founders of Twitter, Ning and Gmail.

11-11:45 a.m.
40 Ideas in 40 Minutes
It’s time for you to take the stage! Each of the groups from Thursday afternoon’s brainstorming session will send up one member to present their one-minute idea or best practice. Our judges will select the top three ideas, and then the audience will vote for the winner.

11:45 a.m. -1:15 p.m.
Lunch on your own

1:15-2 p.m.
Preneed Cremations: Embrace the Opportunity
Nicki Wiedeman
Are you caught in a negative cremation mindset? It’s time to change your thinking!

This session will reveal the many opportunities cremation can bring to your preneed sales. You will:

• understand cremation research and statistics … and what they mean to us as salespeople

• learn how your approach toward cremation customers can affect your cremation preneed sales

• obtain the tools you need to build effective preneed cremation talking points and presentation pieces

• discover how to become the “cremation specialist” in your market

• understand the importance of tracking your cremation success

Adjust your attitude, and build your average cremation preneed sale.

Nicole Wiedeman is a sales and marketing consultant with Forethought University and Forethought Life Insurance Co., Indianapolis, Indiana. She has been with Forethougt for 21 years and has partnered with many funeral firms to help them build an active preneed program.  Her current assignment is providing consulting and training to customers through the Forethought University. She is a member of the ICCFA Sales and Marketing Committee and was co-chair of the 2004 ICCFA Sales and Marketing Conference.

2-2:30 p.m.
Cremation Is Our Future, Not Our Nemesis
Jim March
With cremation becoming more and more in demand each year, it is foolish for us as an industry to continue to try to talk the public out of it or persuade them to purchase the options we want to sell rather than what they are asking for. In this presentation, Jim March will show how you can make money marketing cremation cemetery property while truly serving your clients as a professional.

He’ll provide comparisons of old and new cutting-edge marketing programs and will share samples of marketing pieces and letters that can be tailored to your company’s needs. Transform your company into a cremation leader.

Jim March is eastern region director of sales support for Carriage Services. He is a third-generation cemeterian and has been selling cemetery property for 38 years. Recently, he worked on the development of numerous cremation gardens at a new cemetery in San Diego, helping the company achieve more than $1.5 million in sales each year with fewer than 200 annual burials.

Burn	Gober	Ramirez

2:30-3:15
Cremation Crash Course: Don’t Leave Vegas Without It!
Julie Burn, CCrE, CSE,  Doug Gober and Nectar Ramirez
No one wants to leave money on the table. Join cremation specialists Julie A. Burn, Doug Gober and Nectar Ramirez as they propose the minimum daily requirements you must achieve for cremation success.  

This fast-paced program will show you how to attract today’s cremation customers, connect with them during the arrangement conference and help them develop a lasting tribute for their loved one.

3:15-3:30 p.m.
Closing and Prizes

 Overview    |    Program    |    Registration    |    Hotel

THANK YOU TO OUR CORPORATE PARTNERS:  Ad Direct, Inc. • Homesteaders Life Co. • Service Corporation International • Forethought Financial Services • Assurant Solutions • NorthStar Memorial Group, LLC • Stewart Enterprises • Matthews International Corporation • NGL Insurance Group • Arbor Memorial Services, Inc. • Cold Spring Granite • Foundation Partners Group • Funeral Directors Life Insurance Co. • Funeral Services, Inc. (FSI) • Biondan North America • iMortuary

• Download Nancy Lohman's three PowerPoint presentations by clicking here
• Notes from One-Minute Ideas session

PROGRAM

Coming soon! Check back in late August.

January 18-20, 2012
Bally's/Paris Resort & Casino
Las Vegas, Nevada
 

SPONSORSHIP

Put your company in the spotlight by participating as a sponsor of ICCFA's conferences and conventions, including:

Wide World of Sales Conference
A perfect way to target 350+ preneed sales professionals. Download a PDF of sponsorship opportunities by clicking here.

For more information about sponsoring the 2011 Fall Management Conference, please contact:

• Michael Nercesian, Meetings Coordinator, at michaeln@iccfa.com, 800.645.7700;
• Ty Lohman, Program Co-Chair, at tlohman@lohmaninc.com, 386.267.1100; or
• Kim Medici Shelquist, Program Co-Chair, at kshelquist@homesteaderslife.com, 515.4400.7777.

DEADLINE FOR SPONSORSHIP: AUGUST 18, 2011

	Overview	Hotel	Program

X

Bally’s Las Vegas is offering attendees the discounted room rates as follows for single/double occupancy:

• Monday, January 10: $75
• Tuesday, January 11: $75
• Wednesday, January 12: $75
• Thursday, January 13: $75
• Friday, January 14: $149.99
• Saturday, January 15: $149.99
  
  

North Celebrity Suites are available for $850 per night.

To make your reservation, visit the Bally's Web site or please call 1.800.358.8777 and use the code SBIWW1.

Bally’s Las Vegas has been a fixture on the world-famous Las Vegas Strip for more than 30 years. The property boasts numerous amenities and plenty of activities to do in your leisure time, including:

• Jubilee!, the last classic showgirl revue left in Las Vegas
• Sterling Brunch, one of the most impressive meals you will ever eat
• The largest tennis complex on the Strip, perfect for a game day or night
• Newly remodeled 67,000-square-foot casino
• The Price Is Right: Live, the live-audience version of the popular TV show
• The Spa at Bally’s, featuring a world-class fitness center and offering deep tissue massage, hydrotherapy treatments, and mineral body wraps
• Bally’s Avenue Shoppes, a collection of 20+ unique
  
• stores and boutiques
• Preferred access to two of the nation's most beautiful golf courses, Cascata® and Rio Secco, as well as premier instruction at the Butch Harmon School of Golf.
• Sully’s Bar, Indigo Lounge and the Tequila Bar & Grille, as well as easy access to the Strip
• The Blu Pool, an oversized, heated outdoor swimming pool area dotted with tropical palms and private cabanas

Many thanks to the committee members for their hard work. Those who were able to make it to our meeting (and were kind enough to venture into the 105-degree Vegas heat for a photo) were: (top row, from left) Ty Lohman, Kevin Gaffney, Stu Irwin and Andres Aguilar; (bottom row, from left) Doug Gober, Lisa Marshall, Paul Goldstein, Kathleen Berry, Program Co-Chair Ken Coffey, Kim Medici-Shelquist, Detlef Taylor, Linda Jankowski, Mark Young and Program Co-Chair Rick Miller. (Not shown: Tim Lancaster, who had to catch an early flight.)

	Overview	Hotel	Program

Wednesday, January 12

6 to 8 p.m.
Welcome Reception
Get your conference experience started off with a bang! Come meet other attendees and instructors in a casual and fun setting. Open bar and hors d'oeuvres.

Coffey	Miller

Thursday, January 13

8:30 a.m.
Welcome
Program Chairs Ken Coffey and Rick Miller, CCFE

REfining Nuggets into Gold
T.R. Routsong
You're here because you want to make more sales in 2011. Sure, you want to have a good time. You want to get motivated. You want to network. But mostly, you want to make more sales! This conference will help you do that, if you make the most of it.

Tommy Routsong has a system for refining the nuggets he mines at conferences into valuable gold. To kick off the 2011 Wide World of Sales, he'll share his system and show you to pan for pay dirt and make it work for you. Throughout the conference, Tommy will take the mic and check in to make sure everyone is staying on track and putting his system to use.

T.R. Routsong, CFSP, is owner of Routsong Funeral Home and Cremation Services in Kettering, Ohio. He is a member of ICCFA's Board of Directors and Sales & Marketing Committee and is a past president of the National Association of Accepted Morticians.

9:00 a.m.
REthinking Your Sales Strategy
Mark Russell
After speaking to cemetery and funeral service sales managers all across the United States, Mark Russell has found the profession is running low on new ideas to improve sales. He often hears, "I wish I had the time to research other business segments' sales ideas and strategies to see if I could apply them to family service." Well, he has done that, researching companies such as Pitney-Bowes, Sara Lee, New York Life Insurance Company and others.

In this presentation, Mark will share his analysis of some of the top B2C sales companies in the world and how you can immediately put their sales strategies to work to improve your existing family service/sales team. Discover how you can apply the sales, marketing, merchandising and relationship-selling strategies the top companies use to your sales program to both increase sales volume and solidify client relationships.

Mark Russell is managing director of funeral and cemetery sales and operations at Resthaven Gardens of Memory & Funeral Home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana (Legacy Funeral Group). He is the former director of strategic marketing for Stewart Enterprises' Corporate Division and previously held several regional sales and marketing management positions with SCI, the Alderwoods Group and Funeral Directors Life Insurance Company.

10 a.m.
Break

10:20 a.m.
***KEYNOTE ADDRESS***

RElationships: The Building Blocks of Sales
Noah Rickun
Having seen firsthand the success of Jeffrey Gitomer’s training principles in his own companies, Noah Rickun has partnered with Jeffrey to become one of only eight people in the world to be Gitomer-certified.

Noah has started, operated and sold three successful small businesses. He built a $20 million division within a major automotive remanufacturer while earning his law degree from Marquette University, and he is currently the CEO of Jeffrey Gitomer’s TrainOne—the world leader in online, interactive sales training and personal development.

Noah is prepared to talk to your business on your level. He presents seminars to sales teams, customer service departments, managers and business owners of companies big and small. He will provide real-world information and ideas that you can will immediately use for greater success. Noah will let you connect the dots between knowledge and action... between knowing everything and actually doing it.

Find out more about Noah at www.rickun.com.

Noon
Lunch
Networking Luncheon with Gary O'Sullivan:

"The Two Most Important Questions To Ask Yourself Every Day"
Included with your registration, this networking luncheon includes an address by Gary O'Sullivan, CCE, recognized throughout the cemetery and funeral sales profession as one of the top speakers in our industry. Gary's mix of humor, personal experience and straight talk will inspire you.

Counselors and top producers at the conference will receive special recognition during the luncheon.

1:30 - 3 p.m.
BREAKOUTS

Counselors: Speed Sales REdux (90 minutes)
Back by popular demand, this fast-paced session will leave you with 10 eight-minute ideas you can take back to your location and put to use immediately. Join today's top sales and marketing experts to learn a wide array of selling tools and techniques relating to topics such as:

• Prospecting
• Relationship building
• Listening skills
• Answering objections
• Group presentations

Sales & Marketing Committee members will facilitate this rapid-fire idea exchange.

Managers: REdefining 'Brand': The Tao of Brand Marketing (30 minutes)
Dan Katz
The word "branding" is one of the most misused and misunderstood concepts in marketing and in particular, funeral marketing. Having a logo is not a brand. Having a slogan is not a brand. So then, what is a brand? What is "being" the brand? How does one create and build a brand? And why worry about a brand in the first place?

Tao is a Buddhist term meaning pathway or principle. Dan Katz will discuss the Tao of branding, with illustrations from many industries, including the cemetery and funeral service industry. He'll define branding in a practical sense and show how a well-defined branding program has long-term value that exceeds the price spent to create and present it.

Dan Katz is the president of LA ads—a marketing agency. He was one of the founders of PKPF (formerly Potter/Katz) and the originator of that agency's "Dare to be Different" approach to advertising. An award-winning copywriter and creative director for more than 30 years, he has worked with such prominent companies as Mount Sinai Memorial Parks and Mortuaries, Green Hills Memorial Park, Huber-Moore Funeral Homes, The Neptune Society and Stewart Enterprises, among others. His is author of the blog, "Funeral Advertising for the Perplexed."

Managers: Time to REassess: Is the Strategy Missing from Your Strategic Marketing Plan? (30 minutes)
Traci Tucker
Is your strategic marketing plan focused on your unique selling proposition? Do you even have a strategic marketing plan? In this session, Traci Tucker will show you how to make sure your advertising, Web site and print materials communicate your unique selling proposition.

Strategic marketing plans identify your unique position through the discovery and analysis of your geographic market areas, key target customer or member segments, your primary competitors and your own strengths and weaknesses. The planning process generally consists of an external analysis, including a SWOT assessment, to help ensure your unique brand proposition is at the forefront of all advertising and communications.

By breaking down the process into a few simple steps, Traci will show you how to conduct your own analyses and assessments and home in on what matters most – those things that make a difference to your business, to the families you serve and to your prospective clients.

You'll receive numerous handouts, including an environmental scan, a SWOT Assessment Worksheet and outlines and checklists for market analyses, competitive analyses and internal analyses.

Traci Tucker is a marketing strategist with more than 20 years of experience in retail, call center, sales, financial services and small business marketing. She is president and founder of Fuchsia Focus LLC, offering strategy-infused marketing services, and since March 2009 has served as brand manager for Adfinity, a full-service marketing and advertising agency specializing in funeral service.

Managers: Is It Time to REvamp Your Compensation Plans? (30 minutes)
Nevin W. Mann, CCFE
Extraordinary change has affected cemetery and funeral revenue in the last five years. Consumers know more and expect more for less, but many sales compensation plans have not kept pace in recognizing this new reality. Out-of-touch pay plans that drive behavior in opposition to these consumer demands will result in failure. Learn how to avoid five not-so-obvious pay plan pitfalls:

• Having too many choices—how to focus on what's important
• Confusing high sales with high success—how to measure and pay for "success"
• Not properly rewarding relationship selling—overcoming short-term thinking
• Relying on the pay plan to manage—how and when managers must take action
• Failing to promote teamwork—how to gain cooperation and reward results

Handouts will include "Paying More to Achieve Sales Objectives—Eight Reasons to Violate Traditional Pay Plan Tradition" and "Seven Often Overlooked Devices to Fine-Tune Your Pay Plan."

Nevin Mann is founder and chairman of Johnson-Woodford Company, a management consulting firm based in Glenside, Pennsylvania. He has more than 35 years of front line and staff business management experience. He was president and chief executive officer of West Laurel Hill Cemetery Companies in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, where he managed a turnaround and developed extraordinary growth and expansion for eight years. Previously, he had Fortune 100 company experience as director of sales and marketing services for S.B. Thomas Inc. (Thomas' English Muffins), and at Best Foods Company, where he served as division sales manager, division director of personnel and corporate director of manpower resources.

3:00 p.m.
Break

3:20 p.m.
REinventing Your Sales Organization
Robert Quist
In 2008, Memorial Cemeteries and Mortuaries, which operates six cemeteries and 11 mortuaries in Utah, California and Arizona, had a total sales volume of $14 million and a 25 percent market share. In the first half of 2009, with sales dropping and profitability falling off as the national economy slumped, the company charted a new sales strategy. After months of study, Memorial split its successful family service sales force of 25+ agents into two groups, one group charged with servicing the at-need and "soon to need" segment of the business and the other charged with expanding sales into their existing heritage through aftercare visits as well as generating new heritage by expanding market share.

Over the past year, the company's at-need sales volume has grown on a per-case basis by 27 percent on average, with some locations seeing a 41 percent increase. This has been done with the same case count and no price increases. In addition, the preneed sales group has increased preneed insurance and trust sales by 75 percent and total property sales volume by 20 percent.

In this session, Robert Quist will share the successful strategies being used to increase the number and quality of sales on both the at-need and preneed sides of the business.

Through both his presentation and an extensive set of handouts, he'll share what they've done right and what they should have done differently, covering topics such as:

• lead generation
• hiring practices
• presentation materials
• measuring metrics
• staff buy-in
• and more

Robert Quist is president of Memorial Cemeteries and Mortuaries, based in Salt Lake City, Utah. He joined the company in 1980 and has held a range of positions, including grounds laborer, sales counselor and sales manager.

Friday, January 14

8:45 a.m.
Welcome and Announcements
Program Chairs Ken Coffey and Rick Miller, CCFE

9:00 a.m.
***KEYNOTE ADDRESS***

REhabilitate Your Sales Program
Wes Schaeffer (The Sales Whisperer)
As fans of the Dog Whisperer know, in most problem cases, the dog isn't the one that needs to be trained; it's the owner. Similarly, in sales, counselor problems often can be traced back to faulty management.

In this session, "Sales Whisperer" Wes Schaeffer will help you rehabilitate your sales program with his insights on how to ensure proper training, establish expectations, set boundaries, reward positive behaviors and more. He'll share some of the most common sales "sins" and how to conquer them.

According to Wes, "Life is good; it's gooder when you're selling." Find out how to make your life and the lives of everyone on your sales team gooder!

Wes Schaeffer launched The Sales Whisperer® in September 2006, a sales training and consulting company based in southern California. He is a seasoned copy writer, and his 16+ years of selling experience spans the worlds of financial services, retail and high tech. He served in the U.S. Air Force after graduating from the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he was recruited to play inside linebacker. (Hecklers, be warned!) For more information and to subscribe to his free weekly e-mail newsletter, "The Weekly Whisper," visit www.thesaleswhisperer.com.

10:00 a.m.
Break

10:15 a.m.
BREAKOUTS (30 minutes)

Expanding Your REach Through Social Media
Zachary Garbow
In a 2009 American Marketing Association study, companies that became active in social media reported experiencing an 18 percent increase in revenue.

But there are right ways and wrong ways to do that. Effective use of social media in sales means more than tweeting about what you ate for breakfast. It means crafting an identity, finding and participating in industry discussions, sharing your message, obtaining fans and followers, monitoring references, engaging customers and critics and more.

Then, once you reach a visitor through social media, you need a way to sell your product or service to seal the deal.

In this session, Zack Garbow will provide an interactive, practical tutorial on how cemetery and funeral service professionals can use social media to both promote their online brand and to generate Web-based sales. Topics will include:

• Setting up Twitter and Facebook pages and a company blog
• Improving Web site search rankings through inexpensive search engine optimization (SEO) tricks
• Using social media to distribute news and obituaries to a targeted demographic
• Driving high-value traffic to your site via targeted Web advertising
• Creating new sales channels and revenue streams online
• Turning your online obituaries into high-traffic, revenue generating properties
• Using third-party tools to gain and manage followers/friends, participate in industry discussions and position oneself as a thought leader

You'll receive several handouts, including a Twitter "cheat sheet" for our industry; a guide to search engine optimization (SEO) and a tutorial on how to start blogging.

Zachary Garbow is the co-founder of Funeral Innovations, a technology firm specializing in Web-based solutions for the funeral service industry. He formerly was a software engineer within IBM Research, where he gained over 100 patents pending and earned the title of Master Inventor, becoming the youngest Master Inventor in the history of IBM. He was accepted into the prestigious Y Combinator startup program, where he developed social media products in Silicon Valley while networking with the giants of the startup world, including the founders of Twitter, Ning and Gmail.

Getting REsults with Online Leads
Minda Brusse
How do you attract leads through the Web, and how do you handle those leads? Join Minda Brusse for a look at online lead generation and fulfillment including topics such as:

• dos and don'ts for your online planning forms
• how online leads differ from referrals and direct mail responses
• developing a tailored approach for responding to online leads, including best practices from other industries
• measuring your ROI
• pros and cons of in-house vs. third-party lead sources

Minda Brusse is a partner at iMortuary.com in Seattle, Washington. She has more than 15 years of experience in CRM consulting and management with Accenture, an Internet software company, and independent project-based consulting. She has experience in marketing, software development, change management and Internet solutions.

10:45 a.m.
BREAKOUTS (30 minutes)

Thou Shalt REap REwards: The Ten Commandments of Goal Setting
Tom Holland
Using the principles of goals guru Gary Ryan Blair, Tom Holland will share with you the 10 Commandments of goal setting and how to apply those goals to your sales:

• Thou shalt be decisive
• Thou shalt stay focused
• Thou shalt write down thy goals
• Thou shalt plan thoroughly
• Thou shalt involve others
• Thou shalt welcome failure
• Thou shalt take purposeful action
• Thou shalt inspect what thou expect
• Thou shalt reward thyself
• Thou shalt maintain personal integrity

Tom Holland is vice president of sales for Assurant Life of Canada/FamilySide, responsible for sales development and implementation of marketing and training programs throughout Canada for Assurant Life of Canada. He is in his 29th year in the insurance industry and has been with Assurant for 20 years. During his career he has held positions of director of training and national accounts development, agent, account executive, sales manager and many others.

Setting REalistic Goals with REalistic Outcomes
Michael Bohner
Too often, goals are assigned to sales counselors without any rhyme or reason. The truth is, many counselors don't see goals as realistic or achievable. Further, they don't buy into the goal because they don't understand how it came to be. In this session, Michael Bohner of Serenity Meadows Memorial Park, Funeral Home and Crematory will explore his approach to goal setting and how to use the goal as a training tool.

Michael will discuss:

• how to arrive at a number (that doesn't penalize your high performers or coddle your weak ones)
• how to manage the process
• how to coach your counselors to success

After instituting this program, with strong accountability and targeted training and coaching, Serenity Meadows experienced an increase in preneed sales of 34 percent compared to the same period the previous year.

Michael Bohner is general manager for Serenity Meadows Memorial Park, Funeral Home and Crematory in Hillsborough County, Florida. Prior to becoming involved in the cemetery and funeral service profession, Bohner served as vice president/general manager for one of the largest independent jewelers in the eastern United States. He helped develop training programs and was a sought-after speaker for the Luxury Jewelers Resource Group, the Jewelers Association of America and many local retailers and associations.

11:15 a.m.
Break

11:30 a.m.
Cremation Phone Shoppers: How Does Your Staff REspond?
Julie A. Burn, CCrE, CSE
For the past year, ICCFA Director of Cremation Services Julie Burn has been conducting "First Impressions," a mystery phone shopper program to help members evaluate and train their staffs in answering initial calls requesting cremation information.

In this session, Julie will use examples from this program, sharing the good and the bad, and will offer her expertise on how you and your staff can tweak your initial conversations to make a positive impression, to capture those cremation prospects and to encourage them to consider cremation with tributes and memorialization.

The program will demonstrate how you can:

• improve your communication skills with today's cremation consumer
• effectively promote the value of your company and services
• provide information that will allow clients to make an informed decision while at the same time making them feel as though they will be treated first-class by you and your company
• determine whether you would do business with your company

Noon
Lunch on Your Own

1:30 p.m.
BREAKOUTS (30 minutes)

Promoting REmembrance: A Better Way to Sell Memorials
Ken March, CCE
Many counselors do not use proper sales techniques and tools when presenting memorials. In this session, Ken March will show how to build the importance of proper memorialization using a powerful and proven program that is easy to learn and can increase the quality and retention of your sales. Attendees will receive a written script along with supporting materials and photos.

Ken March is senior vice president of Matthews International. He formerly ran all sales for Service Corporation International and has personally worked in virtually all sales capacities and ultimately managed thousands of sales managers and counselors to sell cemetery and funeral products and services.

REeling Them In: Low-Cost Tools for Community Outreach
Joe Finkleman
A key to success for cemeteries and funeral homes is simply getting members of the community through the doors. You'll walk away from this session with 20 ideas for effective community outreach, including:

• free events on site (art festivals, walking groups, tours, service projects and more)
• partnering opportunities (chamber of commerce, schools, gardening groups, museums, hospice and more)

You'll receive news release templates to help you promote your events in the local press as well as sample presentation pitches for partner event proposals.

Joe Finkleman is community outreach director for Davis Cemetery District, Davis, California. He has worked with Davis for five years, during which time he has introduced the programs in his presentation with excellent results. He has more than 30 years of prior experience in marketing, sales and community outreach.

2:00 p.m.
BREAKOUTS (30 minutes)

REsearch REport: What Moves Consumers to Prearrange?
Pam Kleese
What drives someone to prearrange, and what can you do to encourage them?

In this session, Pam Kleese will share original consumer research from Homesteaders Life Company offering insights based on individuals who have actually prearranged. Find out what motivates people to prearrange and how your marketing and sales activities can reduce the "action gap"—the time between your prospects' consideration and their action.

Pam Kleese is director-marketing information for Homesteaders Life Company. She joined Homesteaders in 2005 with a focus on marketing research activities that generate strategic consumer insights. Her current position incorporates the marketing research function with an added emphasis on marketing information and analysis. She also leads the company's business intelligence function and provides custom research services to Homesteaders customers. Previously Kleese worked in research capacities for Gateway and Maytag Corporation. She holds a bachelor's degree in economics.

REvamp Your Group Presentations
Kathi Wells
The two key elements that can make or break your group presentations are (1) choosing your audience and (2) matching your presentation to that audience's needs. Kathi Wells will show you how to target and find specific prospects and how to make sure the message you present is the right one for the audience you choose. No more panel discussions to generic groups that may or may not leave them thinking of you and your firm!

Kathi Wells is a sales trainer for Forethought Life Insurance Company and has been working with preneed departments in funeral homes and cemeteries for 14 years. With Forethought, she conducts sales training for managers and agents, assists in developing marketing plans and lead-generation programs and provides extensive support to recruiting and hiring efforts in the firms she visits.

2:30 p.m.
Using Social Cues to REv Up Your Sales
David Shipper
People respond to basic social interaction cues such as reciprocity, mutuality of interest, a desire to be consistent and the perception of authority. In this session, you'll discover how these cues can play an essential role in how you interact with your client families and how important each word of your presentation can be in activating these cues.

Find out why each aspect of your sales program needs to be carefully scripted for maximum success. How does the Personal Planning Portfolio or Living Will fit into your sales program, and why is it so important to present these tools properly? Teaching counselors what to say is one thing but having them understand why they need to stay on script is quite another. You'll learn how to communicate the importance of this to your sales team in a very compelling way.

David Shipper is president and CEO of companies that own and operate 42 cemetery and funeral home locations serving more than 12,000 families per year. He is also co-author of The System, a complete preneed sales program for cemeteries and funeral homes (www.sellwiththesystem.com). Previously he served as a vice president and director of corporate development with Loewen Group International. He is an ICCFA past president.

ICCFA Wide World of Sales Conference

January 12-14, 2011

Bally's Las Vegas

Las Vegas, NV

For more information, please visit www.iccfa.com/education-events/wide-world-sales/wide-world-sales

SAVE THE DATE:

January 18-20, 2012
Bally's/Paris Resort & Casino
Las Vegas, NV

2012 Wide World of Sales: Call For Presentations

The ICCFA Sales & Marketing Committee is preparing for the 2012 Wide World of Sales Conference, January 18-20, at Bally's/Paris Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, and we invite you to share your expertise with your colleagues.

The Wide World of Sales is the largest sales and marketing conference in the cemetery, cremation and funeral service profession.

We are seeking the very best, most relevant and most thought-provoking sales and marketing programs, tools and techniques being used today. We want presentations with concrete, how-to information, with an emphasis on the "how" rather than the "why." If you have expertise to share, this is your opportunity to give back to the profession. The committee invites you to submit a session proposal, to include:

• your contact information
• a detailed description of your "how to" topic, including the specific tools, techniques and/or initiatives the attendee will be able to put to use immediately
• the primary target for your presentation (managers, counselors or both; cemeteries, funeral homes or both)
• a list of handouts you will provide for our attendee on-site binder supplementing your presentation (at least two handouts are required)
• a brief bio regarding your background and qualifications, including any previous speaking experience

The format for this conference calls for numerous brief (20- or 30-minute) sessions, so please narrow your topic to one or two key points that you can fully develop and communicate within that time period. Please submit your proposal by May 31, 2011, to Linda Budzinski at lindab@iccfa.com (preferred) or via fax at 703.391.8416.

Thank you for your willingness to share your time and talents!

Here's what past attendees have to say about the Wide World of Sales Conference:

I loved the conference. The interaction is the best aspect of participating in any ICCFA program.
—April DeYoung, Forest Park Cemetery-East, Shreveport, Louisiana

The content, speakers and networking opportunities are all superb. I will definitely be attending future conferences.
—Andres Aguilar, Los Parques, Miami, Florida

Great networking and sharing of ideas. Every topic well done. This is my 11th year coming to this and I take great new ideas home to try and am reminded of old ideas that I need to do. Good conference for seasoned industry people and newcomers as well.
—Barbara Stewart, French Mortuary, Albuquerque, New Mexico

I found the conference very informative and feel confident knowing I can take a lot of helpful information back to my location and make great changes.
—Loida Caba, Letum Care, Steelton, Pennsylvania

I thoroughly enjoyed both keynote speakers tremendously. New ideas are important and they both delivered.
—West D. Foulger, Memorial Estates, Salt Lake City, Utah

ICCFA 2011 Wide World of Sales Conference 

Call for Presentations (Deadline: June 4)

The ICCFA Sales & Marketing Committee is preparing for the 2011 Wide World of Sales Conference, January 12-14 at Bally’s Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, and we invite you to share your expertise with your colleagues.

The Wide World of Sales is the largest sales and marketing conference in the cemetery, cremation and funeral service profession. 

We are seeking the very best, most relevant and most thought-provoking sales and marketing programs, tools and techniques being used today. We want presentations with concrete, how-to information, with an emphasis on the "how" rather than the "why." If you have expertise to share, this is your opportunity to give back to the profession. The committee invites you to submit a session proposal, to include: 

• your contact information
• a detailed description of your "how to" topic, including the specific tools, techniques and/or initiatives the attendee will be able to put to use immediately
• the primary target for your presentation (managers, counselors or both; cemeteries, funeral homes or both)
• a list of handouts you will provide for our attendee on-site binder supplementing your presentation (at least two handouts are required)
• a brief bio regarding your background and qualifications, including any previous speaking experience

The format for this conference calls for numerous brief (20- or 30-minute) sessions, so please narrow your topic to one or two key points that you can fully develop and communicate within that time period. Please submit your proposal by June 4, 2010, to Linda Budzinski at lindab@iccfa.com (preferred) or via fax at 703.391.8416.

Thank you for your willingness to share your time and talents!

We are pleased that you were able to attend our recent Wide World of Sales Conference in Las Vegas.

A supplement to the Attendee Directory you received on site is available for download below. This new list has contact information for everyone who registered after the original directory was printed.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS: We hope to see you in New Orleans, January 13-15, 2010!

The ICCFA's Wide World of Sales is the largest preneed sales conference in the world. For more information, please visit the Wide World of Sales Web site.