Tailoring your recruiting message to match the needs and concerns of your candidates will create opportunities to broaden and sustain your applicant pool.

You can’t recruit Counselors from a fast-food value menu

It’s Saturday evening, you and the kids have been in the car all day buzzing around from a soccer game, a birthday party, stopping at the grocery store, then a quick visit to Grandma and Grandpa’s, when you hear from the far back seat, “Daddy, I’m hungry. Can we go to...(insert the name your family’s most frequented fast-food restaurant here)...?” Luckily, there are more than enough drive-through value menus to quickly satisfy any child’s hunger.

Fast-food companies have mastered the quick-fix process. For example; there’s only six bucks in your pocket and your stomach’s growlin’ – you pull up, order a small fry, double cheese burger, small soda, and a cookie…$3.96 plus tax. The attendant asks, “Is there anything else”? You say, “Nope”, drive forward, grab your bag of food and change, then you’re off down the road.

Unfortunately, not all of our needs can be met as quickly and as easily as ordering from the value menu. What happens when one child wants a kid’s meal, another doesn’t want lettuce or tomatoes, and your wife wants grilled chicken instead of fried? Well…a value menu no longer holds value.

So it is with recruiting. There are types of positions where a quick placement at a set compensation rate can be made – typically using a temporary agency or newspaper ad in these situations. However, the position of a Family Service Counselor (preneed sales person) is one where you must tailor your recruiting message to match the values of the candidate, before you can place them in a counselor role.

There are three general applicant pools to recruit your Family Service Counselors from. Each requires you to tailor your message in order to find and keep a Counselor who will not only meet your needs, but help you grow your preneed business.They are:

Neophytes – 0 to 6 months of counselor experience

Experienced – 6 months to 2 years of counselor experience

Professionals – 2+ years of counselor experience

All candidates are individuals and should be recruited as such. However, when recruiting on a work experience level, all candidates have the same basic standards by which they will judge any opportunity; be it a Counselor or the receptionist at the front desk.These basic standards are:

Do you know me? Do you know my needs and my

concerns? How will you make my work life better?

Each candidate in one of the three applicant pools has a concern/need that you must tailor your message to.

The Neophyte Keep in mind the Neophyte has little to no experience in the Family Service Counselor role. In addition, most counselors are independent contractors who work on a commission-only basis. When considering these challenges, the Neophyte’s core concern is:

“Is this a lasting and securecareer choice?”

The Neophyte seeks assurance. There are some very effective ways to ease a Neophyte’s mind in the decision to become a new counselor. Here are a few methods:

1. It’s a Numbers Game – Share with the candidate real preneed sales potential through lead numbers. Expressly, the firm’s call volume/internments per year and how those numbers relate to the number of leads generated for Preneed sales.

2. Success Breeds Success – Everyone wants to be successful, but we often don’t know who to look to when modeling our success. Ask your

preneed carrier to provide you with a list of successful Family Service Counselors the candidate may contact. Urge the candidate call and/or meet with the counselors listed and find out first hand what it takes to be a successful counselor.

3. Be a Cheerleader – Team environments are the best places to work. Root for your team! Highlight your funeral home’s culture and its community relationship. Clearly explain how the funeral home staff, including the family service counselors, all work together to achieve common goals. Importantly, explain how the new counselor will not be abandoned in the middle of the game.

The Experienced Counselor The Experienced Counselor comes to you with a clear understanding of the industry and prearrangements. They have had success elsewhere – maybe the competitor down the road – but are not satisfied with where their career is heading. However, they have not given up hope, and still want to actively be in Family Service Counseling. Knowing this, the Experienced Counselor’s core concern is:

“How will you help me succeed?”

The Experienced Counselor seeks support. They strive for a feeling of appreciation and trust from the organization. Here are some ways to showcase your support:

1. We’re All in This Together – Talk with the candidate about your firm’s preneed/at-need relationship philosophy, and how the success of at-need and preneed is dependent on each other. Share with them how your firm’s directors are incented to provide leads, and how your counselors participate in at-need services. Importantly, give the

candidate an opportunity to see your firm in action – invite them to speak with a director and watch one of your services.

2. Teach by Example – Many people leave their current employment because their supervisor is an “arm-chair quarterback”. Outline your training and coaching programs and how, as a manager, you work shoulder-to-shoulder with your counselors – be it riding along with them in the home, organizing their selection book, or helping set up group presentations. This candidate wants to know you will not ask them to perform a responsibility you are not willing to do yourself.

3. Plan, Then Execute – Have you ever heard the phrase, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”? Experienced Counselors are looking for a plan. They are frustrated about not knowing the current direction and goals of their firm’s preneed program. Show your plan. Lay out your step-by-step process for achieving your firm’s preneed program’s objectives, and how your team figures into that process. Help the candidate understand where they fit into the plan, and how important their role is in accomplishing the firm’s goals.

The Professional Professional Counselors are just that…professional. A counselor with two or more years experience should be consistently producing sales at the $700,000 plus level annually. They are accustomed to added sales perks, such as incentive trips. In addition, this level of counselor has little need to be managed, but rather, is looking for ways to efficiently meet with more families. When you better understand the Professional, you better understand their core concern, which is:

“What do you have to offer me?”

The Professional wants more advancement, better recognition, and innovative management systems. Unless a Professional recognizes these opportunities within your firm, you will never be able to win them over. To recruit a Professional, use these tactics:

1. Show Me the Money! – For the Professional Counselor, cash is king. They want to know your firm’s commission schedule is in line with their active mix of production and income goals. Let me cautiously advise; DO NOT move forward in showing your firm’s commission schedule without first knowing the candidates current production volume, mix of business, and commission rates. Once you know that critical information, you then should create a full comparison of your total compensation package against what they currently receive. Don’t forget to include all benefits and perks. Then, it is appropriate to put a dollar figure on your firm’s preneed programs potential.

2. Work Hard, Play Hard – Most Professional Counselors will spend anywhere between 60-70 hours per week on their career. Many times, they are meeting with families on weekends, and primarily use their own resources to generate leads. Needless to say, it takes tremendous effort to produce sales at this level. Professionals want a break. Have materials prepared to discuss and illustrate your firm’s world-class incentive travel. Have brochures, photos, and DVDs of past trips, and of the next year’s incentive trip. Importantly, explain realistic qualification requirements and upgrade eligibility.

3. Let Us Do That For You – Some of the greatest challenges in maintaining high sales volume are lead generation, lead contact, and lead management. All of which are costly and time consuming. You will win over any Professional when you explain how your firm’s preneed program is designed to generate sustainable leads, and has a database system in place to ensure no family falls through the cracks – creating opportunities to meet with the right family, in the right way, at the right time. In addition, when you share with the candidate that your firm provides appointment setting assistance, they will be begging to represent you.

Recruiting and employee costs are some of the highest expenses of any organization, and our industry is not immune to those costs. If anything, we scrutinize candidates more than most due to the sensitive nature of our business and fear of having the wrong type of representative in the community.

In the end, not all positions or people are the same. It is your responsibility to first, know what you want to accomplish in a position; second, know the type of individual you are looking to fill that position; and third, know how to respond to that type of individual’s concerns/needs to attract them to your funeral home. Importantly, be prepared when a candidate says, “I’ll have a double cheese, hold the pickles, sub a shake for the soda, and supersize it.”