FE and Pre Need Demographics

[inreverse]

What would be the direct mail demographics for pre need instead of final expense?
Helping a new funeral director.

 

[Newby]

What would be the direct mail demographics for pre need instead of final expense?
Helping a new funeral director.

Funeral homes usually have a KILLER internal list to start with. Do that first.

After that just mail the entire zip codes that the funeral home pulls the majority of families from. Ages 40-80 and all income levels (if you sell both FE and preneed) or $20,000 to unlimited if preneed only.

Don't let the FH owner mail the outlying zip codes that he rarely gets a funeral from. They ALL want to do that and it always fails. They always think they have their own zip code in the bag and want to poach their competitors zips. If you are paying for the mail, don't do that.

 

[inreverse]

Any recommendations for a direct mail house for a pre-need mailer? The ones he has looked at are $650-710 per thousand,
seems high.

 

[Newby]

Any recommendations for a direct mail house for a pre-need mailer? The ones he has looked at are $650-710 per thousand,
seems high.

You are going to pay more for a funeral home mailer than a generic lead piece. A quality funeral home doesn't want their name on junk mailers. And you are prospecting for a much higher end customer in most cases.

Don't measure by the cost per 1,000. Measure it by how much you sell by dollar spent. With funeral home mailings 50% of your leads (and probably 75% of your sales) will come from call-ins generated by your mailing not from the mail pieces. You have to educate the people within the funeral home that answer the phone as to how you want those calls handled. Most of them honestly would never dream of getting a name or number of the caller. Doesn't even occur to them.

Here is a typical funeral Preneed lead and how most funeral homes handle them. (I can promise you I'm not exaggerating.)

Jane Doe gets the mailer. Reads it. Knows she needs to talk to the funeral home sometime but is reluctant. Sets it aside for a week. Picks it up again. And finally calls in but doesn't really know what to say so she says:

Jane Doe: How much are funerals nowadays?

FH director: oh they're around $10,000 give or take a little depending on which casket you pick out.

Jane Doe: oh! I was just wondering. (silence.) Well tell Billy Bob I said hi. Tell him Jane Doe isn't dead yet though, here, hee!

OK. I'll tell him.

Preneed insurance agent who just paid $5,000 for the direct mail drop comes walking around the corner: Who was that on the phone?

FH director: oh just some lady that wanted to tell Billy Bob hi. I already forgot her name.

For funeral home mailers you can't do any better than Shelly Morrison out of Florida. Do a website search for the Shelmore Group.