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Closing the Year Strong – December 2023 

Every year in January I think to myself, December is so far away. So far. So many months to accomplish the things that I hope to accomplish this year. And yet, every year, November and December still just sneak up on me, and I find myself in a panic thinking of everything I wasn’t able to do. At least that’s my initial reaction. But through working at ClearPoint and the processes we have in place, I have found a way to take back control of the last few months of the year, creating an end to each year that isn’t one of panic, but instead one of intentional closure.

My tip for closing the year strong is: don’t panic, take control. What does that mean, you ask? What I mean is a multi- step process. First, start the process as early as you can, preferably late October/early November. If you’ve already missed that timing, that’s ok, start where you are. Next, take a look at your intentions that you set at the beginning of the year, and, if you haven’t already done so, acknowledge what you did accomplish. Give yourself credit for what you did, even if nothing that you accomplished was on your original list. Third, take a look at whether anything on your initial list can still be accomplished before year end. Maybe you have projects and tasks that you started, but you just need to wrap up. Make a year end list that is reasonable for the amount of time you have left. Finally, take that list, and tackle it! Make this year end your best year end yet!  – Beth Kmiec, Chief Fiduciary Officer, Executive Vice President

Selling Preneed – December 2023 

I’ve learned over the years that in order to be great at bringing in customers and selling services, you have to have a central focus on who your customer is and what matters most to them. In order to do that, I have learned a lot about how funeral homes and cemeteries sell preneed services and merchandise. I’ve had to understand why they do and why they don’t sell it. Understand the motivation and reasons to make it a part of their business model. Carefully consider times where it makes sense and times where it doesn’t.

Although I personally have never sold a preneed contract to a family, I have worked to understand the idea, the motivation, the pain points, and the benefits. If I were to boil down all that learning to one tip related to selling preneed, it wouldn’t be a tip related to whether you should or should not do it. (You won’t be shocked to learn that I am a huge proponent of preplanning.) My one tip when it comes to selling preneed relates more to how to be successful at it.

Oddly enough, a successful preneed salesperson seems to be someone who can do exactly what I’ve found that I need to do when talking to a funeral home or cemetery owner about their trust. My tip, therefore, is to remember who your customer is, and learn their motivation. Sometimes they are afraid of what the future might hold, sometimes they have just been through a loss and want a different experience for their loved ones than what they’ve been through. Sometimes they just want to be organized. Take the time to understand why that person is at your door or on the phone or surfing your website and use that. As long as you understand the value that preplanning brings to them generally, you will be able to explain it in terms that matter to them. Often times, success is as simple as coming from a place of understanding the person in front of you. – Beth Kmiec, Chief Fiduciary Officer, Executive Vice President

Attending National Conventions – December 2023 

I’ve written before about the benefits of networking. There’s truly no better place in existence to network than when you get together for the stated purpose of networking. Everyone that is there understands the purpose, the ask, and the give required of them. Often, networking events happen one at a time, for a few hours, and then you are done.

When I joined the death care industry, I had the opportunity to experience my first ever national convention. Or really, any convention at all. I understand that several industries have conventions, but it was not something I had experienced in my first seven years of my career, and it certainly wasn’t something I had experienced as a vendor. My first impression was overwhelm. I didn’t realize how big the death care industry truly was, and I certainly hadn’t realized how many different ways death care could touch people. There were casket vendors, as expected, trust companies, also expected, preneed insurance, people selling urns, markers, at need services, and many other expected goods and services. But then there were all the ways that remains could be handled and ways to memorialize that I had never seen or heard of prior to that day. It was, honestly, very enlightening.

Over the last decade, I’ve attended numerous conventions. I’ve gotten used to the number of vendors and the types of attendees. I’ve acclimated myself to the purpose and process of a national convention. In doing so, I have learned a lot about how I attend a convention, what works, and what doesn’t work for me. And I have learned that the most important tip I can give anyone who is either considering attending their first convention or someone who has been attending and isn’t really seeing the point is this. If you are going to take time away from work and away from your family to attend a national convention, attend it with a plan. For every single convention, set a goal for yourself. Why are going? What are you trying to do?

Some examples of goals I have at various conventions and conferences are: train a new employee, introduce two people to each other, visit with a specific prospect, move a certain deal forward, meet with a client who is otherwise difficult to connect with. These are just a few examples, but the main theme is always people. Attending a national convention, no matter how “old school” is a several day networking opportunity, that, if you choose not to use for networking, you are missing out on the purpose. – Beth Kmiec, Chief Fiduciary Officer, Executive Vice President

Using Credit Cards to Support Business Growth- December 2023 

I have this favorite burger joint restaurant in Michigan, right on the border by Indiana, near the Indiana Dunes, that I go to every summer with my family. I’ve gone there every summer my entire life. It opened sometime in the 70s, so my parents have gone there most summers as well. The ambience is great, the burgers are fantastic, the servers tend to be college aged kids home for the summer, hoping to make a few extra bucks. It’s iconic in the area, and fantastic in its own right. I took my fiancé to this restaurant for the first time a few summers back. He had heard me and my extended family talk about it more than once. Before we left the house, I pointed out that we needed to make sure we had enough cash. He almost fell over when I explained that this long-standing, well-known restaurant did not accept credit cards.

To be perfectly honest, I had never considered why a business might not accept credit cards. I took it with a grain of salt that they did not, and if I didn’t have cash or didn’t want to go get cash, I simply wouldn’t eat there. It was that simple. But if your business is one that sells goods to consumers and doesn’t accept credit cards to pay for those goods, it is something to consider. My tip when it comes to growing your business through the utilization of credit cards as a payment method is that if you aren’t already offering this service, it’s something you should certainly consider. There are several companies that make accepting credit cards simple, compliant and allow you to pass the fees through to your consumers (where allowed by law) who have become accustomed to doing exactly that. Instead of losing that business to the location down the street because they do accept credit cards, you would be positioning yourself as a consumer friendly and modern business. You would be meeting people where they are, instead of counting on the fact that a family has been coming to you forever and will always do so. – Beth Kmiec, Chief Fiduciary Officer, Executive Vice President

Writing a Blog- November 2023 

Somehow this year has just flown by, and our experiment with writing a bi-monthly tip to celebrate ClearPoint’s 25th anniversary is quickly coming to a close. This is the first time I’ve ever tried writing a blog, although it is certainly something I have wanted to do for some time. When deciding to embark on this blogging adventure, the first thing we did was to come up with topics for each of the blogs. Since we knew we wanted to have 25 separate blogs, we tried to come up with things that our potential readers might care about. And, more importantly, things that I could share insight on. The goal of this blog, which hopefully we have accomplished, was simply to share insight on a range of topics that might be helpful to you, our readers. If you learned anything from this blog over the last 11 months, then we have been successful.

It’s hard to come up with just one tip when it comes to writing a blog. If it’s something that you are interested in taking on, I would recommend that you start with a little pre-planning. Come up with a theme, know how often you want to post, and who your target audience is. I can’t say at this point whether the blog has been a success, although it certainly has been a terrific experience. You may have noticed a theme at this point if you’ve been reading these, that my tip, in the end, even when it comes to blogging, is to sit down and take some time to plan. Once you have a plan, doing anything new and different seems a lot easier to tackle. – Beth Kmiec, Chief Fiduciary Officer, Executive Vice President

Losing a Loved One to Cancer- November 2023

My blogs so far this year have touched on different aspects of business, my career, things I have learned so far. I’m writing this blog in the month of October, and partially because October is breast cancer awareness month, but more because a year ago this month, I attended the funeral of a very dear friend who passed away from cancer, I want to talk about something a little more personal.

The other day, I was attending a Bengals football game with my family, and the halftime show was dedicated to cancer survivors. If you haven’t heard of it, when a cancer patient completes their chemo treatments and is declared to be in remission, many places will have them ring a bell to commemorate the completion of the grueling treatments they have been through and the fact that they are now moving forward with their lives. I first learned of this bell when my friend sent a video of her ringing her bell after her battle with breast cancer. It was a great feeling for her and for our group of friends, who had been close since we were 13 and 14 years old. It was only months later that she discovered that she had glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, and the video of her ringing the bell became a thing of the past. My friend did not have the chance to ring a bell to signal remission of her brain cancer, and that simple ceremony brought all those memories back.

Sitting there in the stands at a football game, I remembered and mourned my friend. I was happy for the people who had survived, and I hoped very much that they would not ever have to battle cancer again. But the sudden emotion I felt and the recollection in that moment was somehow very unexpected for me. My tip that I would give to anyone who has lost someone they love to cancer, or for any other reason, is that you can expect that small things may, and probably will, occur that will remind you of that person. And when they do, it’s ok to let the emotion come up. Maybe it won’t be in the best place or the best timing, but if you let the emotion come, and you let the emotion pass, it will help. It may not ever change how you feel, but holding the emotions in definitely won’t. So, I took my own advice, much to the concern of my ten-year-old son, I let myself feel what I felt, and I was able to watch the rest of the football game remembering how much my friend meant to me and how greatly she is missed. – Beth Kmiec, Chief Fiduciary Officer, Executive Vice President

Year End Planning- October 2023

It’s the month of October and all I want to think about is fall leaves, Halloween, and the food I want someone else to cook for me for Thanksgiving. But if you run a business, you can’t just rest as you move into fall, it’s time to start your year-end planning! No, by year end planning, I don’t mean planning your holiday travels, or preparing for your New Year’s resolutions that you intend to break. I mean assessing your goals from this year and building out your goals and plans for your business for next year.

If you had asked me ten years ago, before I was an integral part of running a small business, when year-end planning happened, I would have told you December. I would have said that one month is plenty of time to set goals and financial targets, to get things approved by Boards, to decide on the coming year’s projects. I would have been wrong. To effectively plan for a successful business year, it helps to start much sooner than December. Keep in mind that, yes, you probably can squeeze everything into a month, but this post isn’t about how to get things done at the last minute or how to check things off your list. This post is a tip about effective year end planning. And if I have learned anything throughout the planning process over the last several years, it is that, when it comes to year end planning, the sooner you can start thinking about it, the better.  – Beth Kmiec, Chief Fiduciary Officer, Executive Vice President

Using Data to Make Decisions- October 2023

Over the last several years, it has come to our attention that one of the things that ClearPoint does for our customers is house data. It has also come to our attention that one of the things that ClearPoint does for itself is analyze its own data. In addition to analyzing our data, we also take the data on our customers and use that to build out plans and projections. We excel (get it?) at using data. We use data to make our budgets, to do our planning process, to understand our expenses. There’s always room for improvement, as is the case in any area of a business, but starting with data is something we have traditionally done very well.

Being a person who tends to shy away from spreadsheets and would rather open a Word document and type away sharing my thoughts, adjusting to a data driven approach was difficult at first. It was hard for me to move away from what my gut told me was right to an approach of number theory and analytical thinking. When it comes to looking at the data first, this does not come naturally to everyone. My one tip that I would share with anyone entering into the world of data to improve efficiency or enhance their business is this: start small. When you are just starting out at using your data to make decisions, don’t try to find every single relevant point and piece of information and collect and analyze it all. You will be setting yourself up to fail. Choose one of two points or items, learn about them, gather your information, and then analyze it. Once you know what you are working with on that one piece of data, you will be able to then come up with one or two action items that are specifically related to that data. And once you’ve done that, you can move those action items forward. That small amount of success will give you the confidence and ability to decide what the next piece of data you want to analyze is, and you will be able to slowly, but surely, become an organization that makes many of its decisions not based on gut feelings, but on actual data. – Beth Kmiec, Chief Fiduciary Officer, Executive Vice President

Creating Sales Metrics- October 2023

Before I was on the Senior Management team running a company, if you had asked me what time of year that planning for the following year should happen, I would have said December, hands down. It seems so logical. But that was before I knew everything that went into planning for a successful year. So here I am, writing in August about creating metrics for the following year, and I’m steeped in it. I’ve been researching and making notes, jotting down ideas, and thinking about goals and targets for weeks now. Oddly enough, I’m quickly approaching the end of the process for 2024, and I have learned a lot through my research.

I’ve read articles and books on how motivation works. I’ve taken trainings on building culture and keeping a team working in the same direction. I’ve read about different KPI’s (key performance indicators) and choosing the right ones. What I have learned is this: creating motivational metrics that drive performance and get the job done is not a set it and forget it process. Your metrics should change at least slightly on a regular, ongoing basis, and should be created to match the personalities of your team. The larger your team, the harder this will be to do, but when you are trying to create metrics that help you grow your business, you should create some that are very specifically geared towards your employees, leaving others more generic. Even then, you can take the metrics of what you want to measure and create different systems of reward based on what actually motivates your employees. Sales metrics are not a one size fits all, and they are also not something that you can let stagnate if you want to drive continued growth.

If you’ve never set metrics before, choose just a few, implement them, attach them to a reward system that you think will be motivating, and set a time for re-evaluation. Depending on how quickly things move for your company, you may choose to re-evaluate at the mid-year point instead of waiting until year-end. Either way, hold yourself accountable for completing the evaluation. Don’t let yourself fall into the trap of having metrics that you never change; they won’t motivate you or your employees for long. – Beth Kmiec, Chief Fiduciary Officer, Executive Vice President

Learning Something New- September 2023

I’ve always been one of those ‘inspirational quote’ kind of people. You know the kind, we sign up for daily text messages that send us quotes or skip to the bottom of newsletters that we know include fun, funny or inspirational quotes. In my case, I’ve also had one of those daily desk calendars that has a quote of the day. For 365 days I got a new quote, and each of them was great, but there was just one I tore off and kept sitting on my desk. The quote is by Will Rogers and says: “The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking spaces.”

I look at this quote every day and have found many ways in which it applies to my life. Something that this quote has inspired me to do is to continue learning something new. Can I say honestly that I learn something new every day? No, not really. And people who tell you that they learn something new every single day are probably either new to their job, new to their field, or new to their organization. Otherwise, you will definitely have days or even weeks where it’s just as easy to not learn anything new as it is to get up in the morning. It’s easy to fall into a routine of doing the same things every day, especially if you are good at those things and they work, for you and your organization. But looking at this quote reminds me that just because something works, that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t learn something new.

One way that I’ve managed to learn something new is through a Reading Challenge. I know it sounds like something my 10-year-old would tell me (except the challenge he did recently was a Fruit by the Foot challenge, so I like to think my challenge is slightly more professional). I personally use the app Goodreads, which lets you set your goal, determine your timeframe, and get started. You can see your progress and share it with your friends who are also in the app. In my reading challenge, I read one “development” book for every “fun” book I’ve read. I’ve learned about virtual selling, creating a group of referrals, getting things to catch on with a larger crowd, and how to work through adversity with people around me. And that’s just this year. Some of the things I’ve read, I can apply immediately, some I use to help teach those around me. If I were to give you one tip regarding learning something new, it would be to come up with your own learning plan and be diligent about its execution. It’s far too easy to let time slip by, and you end up parked in the same place you’ve been for years. In the words of Matt Damon from Good Will Hunting, “Don’t do that.” – Beth Kmiec, Chief Fiduciary Officer, Executive Vice President

Online Sales- September 2023

Do you have an Amazon Prime account? My mom doesn’t have one, and sometimes I think she might be the only person left in the United States without one. My parents do not order things online. They don’t have packages arriving at their home daily like so many of us do these days (you know who you are). Often, we like to think that the world can stay the way that it is. That it won’t change, but the truth is, the world changes around us whether we want it to or not. No, my parents won’t ever get an Amazon Prime account, but they’ve also gotten to an age where they need more help with things. And, as it turns out, I buy things for them. And within the span of just a few weeks this past summer, the Amazon delivery person probably got to know their house pretty well.

You might wonder what this really has to do with selling funerals and cemetery property online. What kind of tip could I have related to that coming from a story about my parents not buying things online? My tip when it comes to online sales is this: if you are hesitant to have online sales, remember who your buyers are. Perhaps your buyers will only be people who don’t like to transact online for the next 15 years. After that, though, it will change, and you should be prepared. After those 15 years or so go by, your primary purchaser will become someone more like me. Yes, it will still probably be women, but those women will categorically prefer online sales. Yes, you have plenty of time right now, but now is the time to plan and prepare for the future. How will your business show up online? How will you capture the sales that you would otherwise lose? Now is the time to make those decisions and plan accordingly. – Beth Kmiec, Chief Fiduciary Officer, Executive Vice President

Maximizing PC Income- August 2023

As with all careers, even managing a cemetery comes with certain types of work that aren’t necessarily what you might have intended to “sign up for”. One of those things that I often hear from my clients is managing the investments of their perpetual/endowment care trust. Even more, how managing the investments can be done in such a way to produce enough income to cover the maintenance needs of the cemetery on an ongoing basis.

Over the years, I’ve noticed that several of my customers who are less comfortable with investments tend to focus on stable income producing investments, regardless of the rules in the state. They gravitate to these investments because they are most comfortable there, but often the income falls short of the needs of the cemetery.

My one tip when it comes to maximizing the perpetual care income is to know the rules in your state, and, if you are allowed to invest the funds for total return, do so. Investing for total return as opposed to income production, even if it sounds counter-intuitive, is the best way to not only grow the fund for the future but also to maximize current income production. If you aren’t familiar with this method of investing, talk to your investment manager or trustee. If you learn nothing about investments, learn about total return and how it works. – Beth Kmiec, Chief Fiduciary Officer, Executive Vice President

Preneed Record Keeping- August 2023

As you can imagine in my line of work, I’ve seen many different ways that people keep track of their preneed records, particularly when they are using trust as their primary funding vehicle. Some people use excel, some QuickBooks, some invest in systems that have modules made for tracking purposes, and, obviously, some people will use our services.

There are a number of issues that can arise in the various methods of tracking your preneed records, but the biggest tip I can offer anyone when it comes to your preneed records is this: do not rely on a paper filing system as your method of “keeping records”. A paper filing system can’t keep track of inventory, it can’t tell you when your preneed trust company has changed and a new bank has taken over, it can’t tell the person you sold your location to whether or not you’ve actually have serviced a contract. The ultimate purpose of keeping your preneed records is to understand what potential business you have waiting out there and to ensure that the funds you collect prior to the contract turning at need are managed with a focus on growth over inflation. Keeping records in a paper system is almost as bad as keeping no records at all.

To take the tip one step further, I would argue that if you are keeping records in some system, and not monthly allocating income, growth, and fees, then you are also shortchanging yourself and your preneed program. One of the most common mistakes we see is people taking out of their preneed trust fund only the amount paid in, leaving income and growth to sit in the account forever. Ultimately, if you want to have a healthy means of record keeping, you need to start with some electronic means of tracking and make sure that you have a way to allocate your monthly income, growth, and fees. If you aren’t sure how to do this, or how ClearPoint does this on a daily basis, reach out to me directly at elizabeth.kmiec@clearpointfederal.com.

– Beth Kmiec, Chief Fiduciary Officer, Executive Vice President

“Dark Week”- July 2023

We live in a society that’s constantly connected.  Just now, before writing this blog, I checked my various social media accounts and made sure I was up to date on my email. Then I checked quickly to see that I hadn’t missed any instant messages. I travel a lot for work, so, fortunately, I can check all these things from the convenience of my phone, including my instant messenger. I never have to be more than a second away from connecting with my co-workers, colleagues, friends, family, and extended network. I don’t know about you, but I’ve found that checking all of these things has become at best a habit, and, at worst, a compulsion. I’ve noticed in my co-workers and employees too.

Early on in my trust career at a nationally chartered bank, I learned about what is typically referred to as a “dark week”. Not to totally date myself, but this predated smart phones, and dark weeks were required so that no one employee had full access to monetary systems without interruption, to prevent fraud. Therefore, I’ve always been required to take 5 full business days 100% away from work, no exceptions, no checking email, no logging in for “just one thing”. At first it was hard. Over the years it has become freeing.

At this point in my career, however, my entire work life crosses into my personal life through my phone, so the idea of a dark week requires even more thought and care than it used to. I make an effort to truly disconnect for at least 5 days every year and find myself feeling more connected to those around me, and less stressed than when I started the week. Even if it’s not required by your work, my tip is that you could try a dark week. If you can’t do a week, try a day or two. Maybe let yourself get on some accounts for a certain period of time, but not the ones that cause you stress, only the ones that bring you joy. I hope this summer you are able to take some time to disconnect from all the things that stress you out and reconnect with the things that give you life. Try a dark week, it works. – Beth Kmiec, Chief Fiduciary Officer, Executive Vice President

Cross Training Employees – June 2023

When I first started as a new employee at JP Morgan right after law school, no one said to me, “Beth, we are going to cross train you on Katie’s functions so if she’s gone, you can cover for her.” And honestly, I wouldn’t have thought much about what might happen while one of us was on vacation. I worked at a big company, and there were 10 people in the same department who all had the exact same or similar function. If one person left, any one of the other 9 could pick up their work without much hesitation.

That’s not necessarily the case in a smaller, growing organization. Especially these days, when turnover seems to be higher than I can recall from the last decade and a half. Every day, staff seems to come in, put their heads down, and get their work done. They learn, grow, develop, and change, but what they don’t just naturally do is the job of the person next to them. And what if one person is the only person in your organization who does that job? What happens if they take vacation, get sick or leave?

Often managers wonder how they will find time to cross train their people, but my tip today is that, in reality, you don’t have time not to. There should be two or more people who can perform every single necessary function in your organization. If you have functions that you can go weeks or months without doing and not have a major negative impact on your business, worry about cross training on those things last. Start with the essential functions and ask yourself: can more than one person here do this job? If they cannot, put that on the “must cross train” list. And move on from there.

The value of cross training now instead of waiting for turnover is that you won’t have to panic and scramble when (yes, when) someone leaves. Turnover is high, staff is aging and retiring, illnesses are abundant, and not cross training leaves your business open to far too many potential pitfalls. Make sure that if you have not properly cross-trained your staff, you make a plan to get it done, as soon as possible. – Beth Kmiec, Chief Fiduciary Officer, Executive Vice President

Working in Death Care as an “Outsider” – June 2023

Although I’ve been working in death care now for ten years, I still remember the first time I ever set foot in a funeral home as a vendor. To be perfectly honest, it was a completely different experience than the times I went as a child for a family funeral. When you go as a family member or friend who has lost a loved one, you are seeing what I would call the “show side” of a funeral home or cemetery. But when you go as a vendor, you get to see behind the curtains. See how things really work.

I recall that first vendor visit, waiting in the waiting room. One that looked eerily like the funeral home where I had attended my grandparents’ funerals not many years before. I felt like perhaps I should feel sad or somber, but I felt like I was working, and it was difficult to grasp how those feelings worked together. I sat with my then boss, waiting for the owner/funeral director to take us back to his office for our trust investment review. We were a few minutes early, and eventually, he was running a few minutes late.

After what seemed like an interminable amount of time, he came out, wiping his hands on a paper towel, indicating he had just washed them, and threw the paper towel into the trash as he approached. We all shook hands, and what felt like a normal business meeting began. As he led us back to his office, he turned and said, “Sorry I’m running late, but I think I finally got everything to look right.” It took a second to process, but he continued on to talk about the deceased’s body he had been working on and the tragic story, and suddenly I understood how much of an outsider I was. The way that he was able to discuss very sad and tragic circumstances, and the fact that he had to transition from talking about death and tragedy to discussing trusts and investments baffled me. My job did not require me to jump from sadness and tragedy, from pain and hurt, to managing business details, and, if I were to be able to understand my clients, I would need to understand that their jobs did require this. And that sometimes it was hard.

My tip on working with funeral homes and cemeteries as someone who doesn’t deal with death and tragedy day in and day out, so to keep in mind that compassion fatigue is real, and it’s difficult to understand. Try not to take tardiness or curtness personally, because people in this industry in particular, might have had to see or deal with something completely unimaginable to you earlier that day. – Beth Kmiec, Chief Fiduciary Officer, Executive Vice President

Networking – May 2023

I had a mentor in law school in Chicago in 2005, shortly before the legal market there hit a major hiring dip. He told me how things were trending downward, and we chatted about my prospects for a job at a law firm after school. He recommended that, instead of trying to fight for a position at a law firm right out of school, to go to a bank and work in the trust department to get experience. He also recommended joining some groups, or at least start attending various meetings.

So, with this advice in hand, I decided to attend an Estate Planning luncheon, to see what I could learn, and who I could meet. I would end up meeting my first boss in the line for food at that luncheon, which would start me on the path for my future career. If you asked 25-year-old me if I went to that lunch to network, I would have said absolutely not. I went to learn. I went to meet people. That wasn’t networking.

Over the last twenty years, however, I have learned that what I set out to do at that lunch, is precisely what networking is. Although it tends to sound very big and scary, networking is about making connections, getting to know people, and getting to know your industry. As with many other activities, networking sounds scary and overwhelming until you break it down into its core components. But when you get down to it, networking is about grabbing a coffee with a friend and having them bring along another friend. It’s about asking a lot of questions to understand where people are coming from, and what matters most to them. No two people will network exactly the same way, and that’s ok. Build your network in a way that works for you.

I will say that, although networking and connecting with people comes very naturally for me, it has only proven to be exceptionally useful when I have specific and intentional goals related to my networking. For example, I attended that Estate Planning lunch to learn about working in a bank trust company. When I found someone who worked at a bank trust company, I had many questions about that person to help me learn. The same has been true as I have made connections throughout my career. Therefore, when I think of the most effective and important tip I can give anyone who thinks they need to do more networking is this: don’t just network to network, network with a purpose. Define the purpose of each interaction ahead of time, and you will find that your time becomes more and more productive. – Beth Kmiec, Chief Fiduciary Officer, Executive Vice President

Outsourcing – May 2023

I recently had a prospect refer to himself as someone who believes in Outsourcing as a business solution. I found the concept that using outsourcing was somehow something that you either believe in or not to be novel. I had always considered outsourcing to be more of a foregone conclusion created by the need for growth and efficiency, rather than something you either believed in or not.

I do recognize that over the two decades I have been operating in the business world, outsourcing has become both increasingly popular, and, often, absolutely necessary. I’ve had many conversations with co-workers and colleagues about how business has changed over the years, and with more and more small businesses and private companies that are trying to keep up with the “big guys”, the solution that gets those companies on par or better than their competition is often outsourcing.

I personally have seen the advantages that outsourcing can have for a business first-hand. Being a small business, with a national footprint, ClearPoint has grown rapidly over the last decade, and has managed to do much of that through strategic uses of outsourcing. One big example is with our HR functions. Utilizing a PEO outsourced provider has allowed us to be more nimble and provide better benefits for our employees. That has, in turn, made us more competitive as an employer, even when compared to much larger companies.

If you find yourself in the camp of people who “don’t believe” in outsourcing, you might want to consider using it very strategically to help your business continue to grow and thrive. By outsourcing, a small business can focus on core activities and delegate some of the more mundane tasks to outside experts. That way you have more time to focus on your families, while still getting the things done that you need to get done. By outsourcing some of the more complex tasks, you can free up resources to invest in other areas of focus, such as marketing and development. In our case, outsourcing our HR functions has allowed us to be more efficient and, I would argue, has been integral in supporting our growth. – Beth Kmiec, Chief Fiduciary Officer, Executive Vice President

Motivating Employees – April 2023

As I sat to write this, I tried to pinpoint when exactly I became fascinated with understanding what makes people tick. It was certainly well before I ever entered management. Before I began my career, and even before I was in college and law school. It’s likely always been a primary part of who I am, and a skill that I’ve cultivated throughout the years. This desire to understand people has translated over into a desire to understand how to motivate employees and is a central focus of our management group at ClearPoint.

Over the years, we have engaged a number of different resources to help us down this path. We have focused on building a good culture and making people interested in the work they do. We have tried to make sure that people are utilizing their primary skills to accomplish their day-to-day tasks. The landscape of employee motivational resources is vast. It can be hard to know where to start.

I only began managing people about 10 years ago, which is both a blip and a lifetime (which any of you who manage people will understand). I’ve been central in deciding our management strategies and approaches during that time, and I have learned one very key, important tip that is key if you want to successfully motivate your employees. My one tip about keeping your employees motivated isn’t some magical program, a specific method of providing feedback (feedback sandwich, anyone?), or even some sophisticated carrot and stick method (don’t even get me started on carrots and sticks). It’s very simple: Care. If you genuinely care about your team as individuals and you care about their motivation, you will find lots of resources that will work sometimes and sometimes they will miss the mark. But keep caring. Keep trying to figure out how to motivate that one worker that you know can be a star performer. Focus your time and effort there and work hard on being present, showing just how much you care.

Your employees will see that, and the great ones will meet you halfway. They will actually tell you exactly what motivates them if you listen close enough. And in order to be open to hearing that, all you have to do is care. – Beth Kmiec, Chief Fiduciary Officer, Executive Vice President

Public Speaking – March 2023

Much like any other activity, public speaking is one that can be very divisive. Some people hate it with a fiery passion and swear they will absolutely never do it. To be fair, if you are one of those people, it’s very likely that if you hate it that much, you really shouldn’t attempt to do it. Public speaking is nerve wracking for anyone who has ever done it, particularly the first few times. But in order to improve, one key path to growth is to just do it. Do it again and again until you get a little more comfortable, and eventually you will become a lot more comfortable. Develop a plan and a process, a strategy.

You’ve probably heard people tell you when you are public speaking to picture everyone in their underwear. Perhaps you’ve tried that, and it has worked for you. That’s not my approach. Maybe because of how I was raised or maybe because, really, do you really want to see EVERYONE in their underwear? No, you do not, and neither do I.

So instead, I had to develop my own approach. My preferred approach, that I’ve found to work really well in calming my nerves (yes, I still get nervous, no matter how many presentations I’ve given), is to really “live” with my presentation in many different formats. What I mean is, first, I live with the outline. I write it, I walk away and do something else, I revisit it, I tweak it. I wear it in. Then I create the presentation itself and live with that. I do a draft, edit the draft, tweak it and improve it. At first, I thought this would be enough, but found it didn’t quite get me as comfortable as I was hoping. I did some research, read expert opinions, and found that what I really needed to do was the thing I wanted to do least.

I needed to practice my presentation out loud multiple times. I needed to actually physically say the words I planned to say. I needed to feel and sound stupid in somewhat more private settings so that I would feel less stupid when in public. Adding in practice sessions, first alone, and then with others, made a huge difference to my confidence and mastery of the material. I remember the first time I gave a presentation, and thought to myself “if I practice out loud, it will just feel dumb and would be nothing like the real thing.” In many respects, I was right, but I underestimated how making myself feel a little dumb for a couple hours would make me feel so much less dumb when it came time to give the actual presentation. Therefore, if you are newer to public speaking but really want to excel at it, my one piece of advice is to practice each of your presentations. Like with voting in Chicago, practice early, and practice often. – Beth Kmiec, Chief Fiduciary Officer, Executive Vice President

Giving a Webinar – March 2023

I just finished reading a great book called Virtual Selling by Jeb Blount. If you are in sales, I would definitely recommend reading it. If you aren’t in sales, but you are reading this tip because you are thinking of giving a webinar presentation, you should read it. If you just want to learn something new and interesting, you should read it. So what I mean is, you should probably read this book. There are thousands upon thousands of great books out there that you could read. I can’t opine on whether this one is better than any others, but I can tell you that if you read this book, you’ll learn something about how to give a webinar. And I’m guessing that’s why you are reading this blog post, right?

Now I’ve been offering one tip or piece of advice in each of my posts, but because that book was so great, and I felt the need to direct you to it, you’re getting two pieces of advice for the price of one. In addition to reading that book, my other piece of advice related to giving a webinar is that you simply cannot treat it the exact same way you treat giving any other presentation. I’ve given several webinars, and have found that the key to success here is actually embracing the medium. In other words, the best webinars that I’ve attended and the best that I’ve given are the ones that accept that they are giving a virtual (vs in person) presentation, and that you can’t ask people to raise their hands when you can’t see them, but you can interact with them in other ways.

In the middle of your presentation, ask a poll question, accepting that people are often zoning out even more than in person, and bring them back in to the presentation. If people can use react buttons, ask them to do so. If you can see faces, use that as a means of interacting with your participants. If you want to successfully embrace giving a webinar, which is a medium that will allow you to reach and connect with more people than just the people you could get to travel to wherever you’re going to be, adjust your presentation style, and embrace the technology. Learning and embracing this as part of your presentation will make you look more polished and like the expert in the room. – Beth Kmiec, Chief Fiduciary Officer, Executive Vice President

Traveling for Business – February 2023

I’ve been traveling regularly for business for the last eight years. I know that’s not a lifetime, and those who have been on the road longer and for more days at a time certainly have more tips and tricks than I do. But business travel in the 80s and 90s isn’t the same as it is today. And it’s certainly unique when you add in being the primary caretaker of your children as well as the breadwinner. What I’ve found, however, is that a large portion of the population travels significantly less than I do, and therefore, I’ve become somewhat of an expert when it comes to travel within my personal circle.

If I had one piece of advice that I would give to anyone traveling, it’s not: find a reliable airline and fly on that one (although I do tell people that, and refuse to fly certain budget airlines). It’s also not: get TSA Precheck (so much easier than regular security). It’s very simple actually: plan things in advance and relax. Too often I see people in airports worried and harried and uncomfortable. Freaking out about the security line and what to do and overly panicked about getting to the gate 2 hours before your flight (really???). Flights are delayed all the time. Luggage gets lost. Planes break and plans need to be adjusted. Having taken some 50 flights a year (at least) for the last eight years, I can guarantee that things will go wrong. You must learn to just relax, let go, and adjust.

There are other rental cars out there, other flights to take, airport bars and restaurants that will let you sit for hours. Bring along a book or headphones or a good friend, and go with the flow. Air travel is not for the faint of heart, and it is definitely not the place to let your need to control overpower you. If you’ve never flown without being worried about the bumps in the road, I strongly recommend that you try that on your next trip. I would love to hear how that goes for you. – Beth Kmiec, Chief Fiduciary Officer, Executive Vice President

Getting Involved – February 2023

I joined the death care industry almost 10 years ago. Before that, I was working in personal trust in Chicago. I must admit, regardless of my profession or walk of life, I’ve pretty much always been a “joiner”. What I mean is, I’ve always been someone who loves to be involved. I want to be a part of something bigger than myself. And my outgoing and extroverted personality makes that easy for me. I find organizations that support the work I am doing, I meet people, and I join.

I just finished my first Board meeting with the Funeral Service Foundation this week. This is not the first Board I’ve served on, and it is definitely not the only organization that I have joined in the 10 years I’ve been in this industry (I told you, I’m a “joiner”). What really resonated with me through the days of meetings that I just went through was something, though, that applies to everyone. It applies to every organization and every industry.

My tip on getting involved is very simple. Do it. Join something. Why, you ask? I’m already so busy, you say. Because the simple act of joining ties you in to something larger than yourself. You can get involved in making policy, changing the direction of your industry. If you don’t join, you don’t have a voice. I know the Millennial generation and beyond are not known for being joiners, but I’m telling you it’s worth it. I promise you will not regret it if you try. Because the ones who join are the ones who will decide the future of your industry. And if you have the opportunity to be in control of your future, why wouldn’t you? – Beth Kmiec, Chief Fiduciary Officer, Executive Vice President

Cybersecurity – January 2023

If there’s one thing banks know about these days, it’s cybersecurity. It used to be regular security, with the armored cars carrying cash that you see on the streets. But these days, although the armored cars still exist, we tend to be much more worried about what can happen online than off. But, you say to yourself, I’m a funeral home or cemetery, why should I be worried about cybersecurity?

I was watching my monthly training on this topic today and it occurred to me that one reason you may not have considered is hackers trying to hack into your social media pages. With this access they can learn more about you and your business. Sometimes they will go so far as to post things that look like they are from you and by you that can be harmful to your reputation. Even though you may not think cybersecurity matters to you, your reputation is everything, so you need to protect it.

What I found most interesting, though, is that the advice on how to avoid a cyber attack and infiltration is simple: create complex, secure passwords, add two factor authentication where you can, don’t write your passwords down on a piece of paper. With these very simple adjustments and a minor change in thought process, you can save yourself money and headaches down the road. As you prepare for the beginning of the year, resolve to be cyber aware this 2023!  – Beth Kmiec, Chief Fiduciary Officer, Executive Vice President

Finding Your Path – January 2023

The beginning of the New Year is one of those times when many people like to take a pause. A pause to reflect on what happened the year before and check in on whether they are on the path they want to be on for the coming year. To be perfectly honest, it’s one of my favorite times of the year. I don’t typically stop between work, kids, life, etc. to pause and reflect. But every January, I find myself doing just that.

Many of us, even as adults who presumably ‘know what we want to be when we grow up’, wonder if we are on the right path. Are we heading in the right direction? How do we know? If we don’t think we are, how do we get there?

Although I don’t profess to be an expert, I’ve done a lot of work over the last several years on my career path and making it one that I can love being on. As I’ve done this work, what I’ve learned is that the answer is in the planning. Your plan doesn’t have to be elaborate, but it does have to be intentional. Stopping to think about where you want to be in 3, 6, 12 months isn’t going to change the world, but it will help you on your way to meaningful progress.

As you are reflecting this January on your path for 2023, consider looking at where you want to improve and find resources to give you ideas and direction. Your path won’t become clear overnight, but the more work you put in each day, each month, the closer you will get. Then, when you get to December 2023, and stop to look back, you will see how you intentionally got to where you are, and I promise, you will be proud. – Beth Kmiec, Chief Fiduciary Officer, Executive Vice President