Eternal Gardens, a company that operates in the memorial industry, has disclosed its plans to expand the number of its branches, aiming to open at least two more within the year, to further service the demand of Filipinos for memorial lots.
According to Eternal Gardens President and COO Numeriano B. Rodrin, the company is sure to open a branch in Cabuyao, Laguna, during the second quarter of the year, while it is also targeting to open another branch in the Batangas area, where the company has a strong market presence.
“We have 10 branches, but seven branches are actively selling lots, meaning we have a lot of inventory for sale. We have one in Baesa, and Biñan, fully sold-out. And the latest is Balagtas, Batangas, also sold out. So right now, seven active branches selling our lot inventory,” Rodrin told the BusinessMirror on Wednesday at the sidelines of the Eternal Gardens Grand Annual Awards Night at the Manila Grand Opera Hotel in Santa Cruz, Manila.
Rep. Mario Vittorio Mariño of the Fifth District of Batangas, which includes Batangas City, in his keynote speech, hailed the increased presence of Eternal Gardens in the province. To date, the company has three modern memorial parks in Batangas, including two in Batangas City’s Barangay Balagtas and Concepcion, and one in Lipa City.
Mariño noted that besides the memorial parks, the ALC Group of Companies, founded by the late Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua, has acquired a property in the city that is now being developed as the city’s Grand Transport Terminal on Diversion Road, Barangay Alangilan, Batangas City, in partnership with the city government.
The congressman said the Ambassador immediately recognized the potentials of the property for job-generation projects when it was offered to him. The 2.5-hectare property now has the Isuzu dealership Isuzu Gencars Batangas, Planbank and several other companies under the ALC Group.
He paid tribute to the ambassador’s strong entrepreneurial spirit, saying it was not only
profitability that drove the ALC Group founder to open up companies, but also his passion to render service to countrymen through his companies.
He called on the officers and staff and sales force of Eternal Gardens to preserve and keep alive the ambassador’s legacy of commitment to excellence in products and service offered to Filipino families.
More than 60 sales associates and executives were honored for top sales production in various categories. They include Helen Abesa, top general agency manager; Nayda Cuenca, top regular unit manager, who is also the Rookie of the Year for the same category; and Cynthia Leycano, top regular sales counselor.
Another Rookie of the Year awardee was Domnina Livra Franzuela for the regular sales counselor category. For the Garden League category, the awardees were Ma. Theresa Manlapig, top league manager; and Rachelle Anne Manlapig, top regular sales counselor.
Aside from Batangas City, Eternal Gardens also has branches in Baesa, Caloocan City; and in the cities of Biñan and Santa Rosa in Laguna; Lipa, Dagupan, Cabanatuan, Naga and Cagayan de Oro City (Greenhills Park).
The branch expansion is just one of the many programs that the company is trying to achieve this year. Eternal Gardens is also well into diversifying its projects, namely, the offering of funeral services aside from the sale of memorial lots.
Rodrin said, “Right now, we are diversifying projects, in fact, we already opened funeral services or mortuary services. We have already a crematory in four of our branches Baesa, Batangas City, Biñan and Dagupan. In fact, we already opened the Cagayan de Oro City funeral and mortuary services.”
According to Eternal Gardens Vice President for Finance Marvin C. Timbol, the company has incentive programs to further encourage its employees to work hard and sell more lots to further drive its sales collections.
“Right now, we have this branch excellence award, so for each category, like finance, part of the criteria is to hit their installment goal. So for each branch we set installment goals, like if you have 100 accounts, you have to collect at least 85 of those accounts to reach your goal. It has a corresponding prices if you reach your target so it becomes a motivation,” Timbol said.
Image credits: Alysa Salen