Don’t Hire Me If You’re Going to Ignore Me

There are two versions of this work.

One produces results. Real ones. Pre-need appointments on the calendar, seminars filling up, sales happening consistently, year after year.

The other produces invoices, disappointment, and a slow cycle of blame that feeds itself until someone fires someone and nothing actually changes.

The difference has nothing to do with strategy. It has everything to do with the relationship between a funeral home owner and the expert they bring in to grow their pre-need program.

Here is what I have learned after years in this industry. The funeral homes that grow are the ones that hire an expert, share what they know about their community, give you the context you need, and then get out of the way. They let you work.

The ones that don’t grow follow a different pattern. They hire you. Then they manage you. Then they override you. Then they blame you.

I am not built for that second version.

I will also tell you this. When a new potential partner comes to me complaining about their current agency, about how nothing is working and how frustrated they are, I listen carefully. Because a lot of the time, what they are describing is not a bad agency. It is a bad relationship. The same one. Playing out again.

Fear is not a strategy

Here is a real example. A campaign is running. Positive engagement. Leads coming in. Real momentum building. And then one person, one, leaves a negative comment. The owner panics, pulls the Facebook page, and starts completely over months later.

That is not a marketing problem. That is a fear problem.

You just let the minority drive the bus. And growth does not come from letting the loudest, most uncomfortable voice in the room set your strategy.

There is a tendency in the funeral profession to make every decision in the direction of least discomfort. I understand why. The nature of this work breeds a certain kind of emotional caution. But when that caution crosses over into your marketing and your business decisions, you are no longer building a business. You are managing anxiety.

Shiny objects dressed up as strategy

Then there is the other pattern. Everyone wants to partner with the estate attorney, do the joint seminar, reach every possible audience at once. It sounds smart. It sounds like leverage. You hear others in the industry talk about it. But it is distraction dressed up as strategy.

You know what is not exciting? Running the campaign that already works. The one that has worked for six years. Facebook campaigns putting registrants into seminars, creating leads, creating appointments, creating sales. The same clear message, the same keywords, the right audience, consistently over time. That is the whole thing.

Not sexy. Extremely effective.

The funeral profession has a FOMO problem. A shiny object pops up and because your knowledge of that space is not where it needs to be, the vendors have gotten very good at making you excited about the potential of the new thing. Even when you have three things already working that deserve more of your attention before you even consider moving on.

What this relationship actually is

I am not your vendor. I am not interchangeable. I am not one bad month away from being replaced by whoever sends the cheapest proposal or the most attractive commission schedule.

If that is how you see this, do us both a favor and do not hire me. Do not reach out. That will be better for both of us and I am completely okay with that.

But if you are ready to hire an expert, trust the process, and get uncomfortable in pursuit of real growth, I will own the results. I will tell you when something is not working. I will tell you when you are about to make a mistake. I will tell you when you are wrong. And I will not apologize for any of it.

Because that is what a real expert does.

The best relationships I have are with owners who show up, execute, and trust the system. They grow every single time. Most of them at least double. Everyone else is still wondering why their pre-need program is not moving.

If you are ready to have that conversation, you know where to find me.

-johnny renaissance

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