Friend or Foe: Assignment Funding

Do you view the competition in your particular industry as your enemy or friend?

By being friendly and even helpful, you can learn a lot about your customers and your industry. You don’t have to invite competitors over for socializing but if you keep an open mind, you can help others and even benefit too. Who said: “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer”?  Well, if you keep your competitors close, they will often turn into your friends.

Whether you’re a Funeral Home or Insurance Assignment Funding Company, competition is everywhere and unavoidable. After all, where there are customers, there will always be multiple companies competing for their business. But being connected to your competition is both a value to you and your market.

Let me prove this point by sharing why being helpful to others in your line of work works:

Competitors may Share Valuable Information

Your competition may be putting out articles, blogs, and other information on their website, Facebook and Linkedin sites. You can learn from that information and share it with your own network, helping you to stay up on ideas and trends.

For example, Jamie Meredith of C&J Financial recently shared a communication from Torchmark on their Insurance assignment verification processing with other funeral funding companies.  It hurt no one, and only helped to support an environment of cooperation among what some might view as “competitors”.

They Will Look for Ways to Help You

A prospect that is not the best match for your competition’s business could turn to you instead.  Just because your competition has a similar product or service, doesn’t mean it’s identical. So, if a customer is looking for an Assignment Funding Company that is closer to home, a friendly competitor might share your information and help push the potential client in your direction.

If the relationship is mutual, perhaps you might do the same thing for them sometime in the future.

You May Need them Someday

You never know when a former rival will become a potential lifesaver.  Suppose you have a funeral assignment that is being submitted with you and another funding company, or a family that doesn’t pay their bill.  Wouldn’t you like to have a relationship where all parties can work together for a best outcome?  Or if your company needs a salesperson, your rival may be a great source for a potential candidate.

The moral of the story: It’s always beneficial to have more friends than enemies in the business world.  Believe it or not, competitors can be a valuable resource to you and your company and it’s never wrong to be nice.

About Assignments: Insurance Assignment Funding is a simple process where a 3rd party like Trinity Funeral Funding pays the Funeral Home the cost of funeral services upfront through an assignment of proceeds from an insurance policy. Here’s how it works. A one page insurance assignment is completed by the beneficiary and the Funeral Director, a claim form provided by either the insurance company or Trinity, and a death certificate are sent. Trinity Funeral Funding will advise on what if any added forms are needed for each claim. Once these documents are completed the policy is verified (normally within a day or two), funds are wired to the funeral home. The payments from the insurance company are then sent to Trinity and any additional proceeds are sent directly to the beneficiary. For more information visit http://www.trinityfuneralfunding.com/ or call Cristina at 201-750-1117.