Sales Professional - Outside Sales

About the position

The Sales Professional - Outside Sales (Pre-Planning Advisor) is a self-starter expected to achieve their quota by selling pre-need arrangements and services. This role involves working from home or presenting to client families in the field, serving families in a professional, caring, and timely manner. Follow-up and generation of referrals from client families are integral to success and to establish a strong service relationship with families. The PPA also develops relationships with the community.

Responsibilities

• Lead Generation: Consistently networks and builds relationships to generate recommendations for gaining referrals for both at-need cemetery arrangements and pre-need arrangements using company tools, processes and standards.
• Holds self accountable for prospecting a minimum of 4 hours every day (if working 8 hours) such as approaching families face-to-face during events, door knocking or group seminars.
• Obtains referrals from families served by the location by following up through visits with families after the service.
• Networks and builds community and civic relationships.
• Explains and presents Dignity Memorial® Personal Planning Guide presentations to families served and referred families.
• Maintains and tracks activity levels to ensure productivity.
• Remains flexible with schedule to achieve results; often works nights and weekends.
• Establishes and maintains strong business relationships with families by connecting with the family, relating to them, resolving their concerns and needs, and committing to follow through.
• Responds to client inquiries in a timely, respectful, sensitive and professional manner.
• Supports families in time of grief with acts of kindness.
• Connects with families through listening, honest communication and genuine concern.
• Develops an understanding of each family's unique needs and offers solutions that provide value to them.
• Stays in touch with families to ensure satisfaction.
• Prepares for all appointments and performs all procedures with professionalism and attention to detail.
• Provides service beyond expectations to ensure satisfaction and to form the foundation for future sales based on long-term relationships.
• Builds trust-based relationships to earn the right to ask for referrals.
• Earns the right to gain referrals to offer protection to protect family members, and the family's relatives and friends, by educating them on the benefits of pre-planning.
• Consistently builds relationships and works cooperatively with the Funeral Director and other funeral home and/or cemetery staff.
• Collaborates and teams with funeral directors, location managers, and other members of funeral home and or cemetery staff, to provide seamless, high quality service.
• Represents a continuous link from services provided at need, through aftercare, to providing services to protect families in future.
• Thoroughly and completely reviews previous services and contacts with families to prepare to support current needs and or sales.
• Acts as one team, setting arrangement continuation visits within two to three days after the service.
• Shares family concerns with rest of the SCI team.

Requirements

• High school education or equivalent.
• 1-2 years of college or equivalent experience.
• Current state/province issued driver's license with an acceptable driving record.
• In states/provinces where required, must hold a Funeral Directors License to perform this role.
• Sales experience or one to two years industry experience or equivalent education.
• Previous experience with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems is a plus.
• Basic computer and technology skills within a sales environment.
• Ability to work well in a team, as well as independently.
• Ability to work beyond 'standard' hours as the need arises.
• Good driving record.
• Good work ethic.
• High-level of integrity.
• Creative, outgoing and energetic.
• Comfortable presenting in front of others.
• Desire to help others.
• Bilingual, knowledge of another language is a plus.