Why you might want to do this..
To be eligible to be certified you must alread have achieved some success. If you haven't, you are not qualified to be certified -- and you probably won't want to. The family consulting business may not be your cup of tea. If, however, you do qualify, certification greatly broadens your horizons. You will continue to speak to groups and sell CFIC core products, but, now, you will be able to expand your working (and earning) scope.
You may have wondered how the systems you have been selling have worked out when they were taken home. Did they ever get completed? The the family go so far and stop? As a Certified Family Comunication Consultant (CFC), you will be in a position to help them move forward -- and you will be paid for it. It is not unlike the people who are paid to help a busy housewife organize closets. Except your work can literally save families from years of unhappiness -- simply because they either did not communicate certain decisions and expectations -- or did not how to.
Your interface with these families will also allow you to introduce a number of high-end, heirloom-quality items into the conversation. The restoration of old family photographs will be another offering you will have. Or, directing certain photographs, either print or digital, to a professional lab for extraordinary results. Commissions on the sale of these items are substantial.
Certification moves you up in the professional ranks. Your training will prepare you to feel fully competent in guiding families and interfacing their professional advisors.
What is the position?
In the role of a Certified Family Communication Consultant, you will represent the CFIC in an agreed geographic area. In so doing, you will continue to give presentations to groups who have an interest in the subject of clear communication between generations. As a Certified Family Communication Consultant, you will earn the designation CFC on your business card. You will be trained to offer a broader range of services and, thereby, significantly increase your income. You will be trained how to interview customers of the Here to Hereafter; Everything My Family Needs to Know system for compensation. You will assist them in the completion of the documents and guide them to resources to help them with legal documents they may need. You will also be in a position to help create family heirlooms with access to a professional photo lab or make extraordinary mementos using family images.
Your positon will be greatly expanded. Your stature as a consultant will be greater. The marketing staff of the CFIC will assist you in the creation of increased media opportunities and, if warranted, your coverage geography will be expanded. You will have the opportunity to charge for your consultative skills as you interact directly with families. You will be trained to recognize the dynamics and potential challenges in discussing sensitive family issues and will be prepared to handle them with professionalism and objectivity.
Prerequisites
You will have completed the coursework for becoming a CFIC Family Communications Consultant. You will have completed a minimum of four public presentaions with audiences of a minimum of 25 people. You will have sold a minimum of 20 Here to Hereafter... systems. You will have achieved a minimum of two media events (radio interview, newspaper write-up or TV appearance).
What tools do you get?
You will receive training over a five-week period that thoroughly prepares you to be a Certified Family Consultant. You will be given the opportunity to warehouse production materials for the CFIC centerpiece product, From Here to Hereafter; Everything My Family Needs to Know. Your Family Consultant Manual will be expanded to include an additional range of CFIC products. You will also receive additional pages in your manual that explores each question in greater depth.
The CFIC will follow-up with every contact e-mail address you collect from presentations, however, now as a CFC the newsletters will go out with your name on them as the source, further enhancing your local reputation.
Additionally, you will be given the opportunity to sell stardard template document forms such as Last Will and Testiment, Living Will, Healthcare Power of Attorney, General Power of Attorney and other estate planning documents. You will not act as a legal advisor in any capacity. Rather you will provide tools for assisting your clients in completing these forms themselves or with the assistance of licensed professionals.
As in your pre-certified Family Communication Spokesperson role, you are NOT going to be taught how to sell products. You are going to be taught everything that is necessary to raise awareness of the importance of intergenerational communication and will assist families in avoiding hardship by being aware. Your experience as a Family Communication Spokesperson speaker will provide you with any number of real stories from your audiences who were not prepared to lose a loved one and had not planed for that event. They may be augmented with stories of clients who actually bought Here to Hereafter... but neglected to complete it, increasing the opportunity for you to be invited in as an interviewer.
As a result, presentations will become even more vibrant and real. The goal is to be perceived as an experienced expert (which you will be) which will spur your clients to invite you to help them. This is not a hard sell. All you need to do is make clients aware of your availability. You will first teach them how to do this without the System. The availability of the product, however, will seem to be an easy alternative to doing all of the research themselves. By leaving your business card (which now includes your title as certified), you will have the opportunity to make sales of additional services (live consultation) beyond the sale of the System.
Your manual and on-line classroom training will include expanded lessons on public relations and marketing. Once certified, your position as a "go to" person for a media quote (you will be taught how to be exactly that!) will be greatly enhanced.
What is the tuition fee?
The tuition for the course in how to become a Certified Family Communication Consultant is $897. Included in these fees are a full set of samples of resale documents. You will also be given ten more copies of the Here to Hereafter... system to make your investment self-liquidating.
How do I make money?
As a Certified Family Communication Consultant you have a number of sources of income:
- You may earn honorarium fees for your presentatons as you become better known.
- You will earn income from the sale of the Here to Hereafter... system. ($45 per unit)
- You will earn consulting fees for interviewing families who ask you to help them prepare the forms in Here to Hereafter... ($100 to $300 per session).
- You will earn commissions on the sale of stock legal documents available through the CDIC ($5 -$10 per document)..
- You will earn commissions as your audiences and/or clients join as sustaining members of The CFIC ($5 for every $15 membership).