February 2019

Page A31 FEBRUARY 2019 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS S ec t i on A CJF.com | 800.785.0003 TRUSTED – #1 provider of Insurance Assignment Funding in North America EASY – submit, track, and manage claims through any web-enabled device SIMPLE – most assignments require only one signed document FAST – receive payment within 24 hours of verification FAST FUNDING ® can help! Waiting weeks or months for payment on your insurance claims? Argenta, IL 62501 • 800-331-9093 • robertsanddowney.com For over thirty years Rick and Elizabeth Roberts, owners of Roberts & Downey, have been supplying the funeral industry with superior quality handcrafted hardwood chapel furniture, on a custom built to order basis. Queen Anne Collection Large Baby Bier/Cremation Altar as the base of the Urn Carrier, offers multi-purpose functionality. The enclosed Urn Carrier provides a way to present the cremains in a more formal manner for the funeral service. Urn Carrier Your authorized Howard Miller, Hekman and Woodmark dealer. Guaranteed 1 Unit in Stock on the 1 st of Each month! Conclusions Johnson Consulting releases 2018 Insights and Trends Continued from Page A30 2017 saw a repeat of the following: 1. Recommendations are the number one reason cited in the selection of a funeral home. Proven statistically for the third year, families reporting higher satisfaction are more likely to recommend their funeral home to oth- ers, driving additional sales. Improving family satisfac- tion is a win-win for both families and funeral firms. 2. Among the family touch-point areas, for all three years, staff and services reaped the highest satisfaction scores, while the initial contact with the firm earned the lowest scores. 3. Overall satisfaction is highest among those choosing at-need cremations with memorials followed by tradi- tional at-need services, whether a burial or cremation. Honoring a loved-one’s life is not only cathartic for families, it results in higher sales for funeral firms… which leads us back to item #1 above! 4. Direct cremations are the most common disposition chosen, and rapidly growing in popularity, yet along with pre-need cremations continue to receive the low- est satisfaction ratings. The following changes seen in 2017 are of particular note: 1. Among all JCG firms, the shift from burials to crema- tion slowed from 2016 to 2017, with only 1/10 of a percent difference during this time, compared to 2.6 percentage points from 2015 to 2016. 2. Overall, the average per case sale amount has declined, with decreases seen across all categories. The largest decline was in the average sale for a pre-need burial (a non-controllable case type), which was down by $736 or 11%. 3. Arrangers at mid- and large-sized firms averaged ap- proximately one case fewer each month for each ar- ranger at the firm, a decrease of approximately 13%. Smaller firms did not experience this decrease in num- bers, but instead saw an impact in the sales as the aver- age per arranger sale amounts dropped by nearly 6%. As we all know, the profession is changing and evolving, but we now have insight to form our plans for the future. Watch this space for next year’s Trends & Insights (Vol- ume 4)! Analysis and article prepared by Michelle Wilson and Rose Milto, Funeral Research & Insight, www.funeralresearch.com. Send Us Your News! PO Box 5159, Youngstown, OH 44514 Fax 1-800-321-9040 Email info@nomispublications.com FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS Funeral Directors Research,Inc. AMRA INSTRUMENT, LLC 623 N. Tower (P.O. Box 359) Centralia, WA 98531 “the shorter the supply line the better off you are” WEB DIRECT GIFT & PRICING TM ® www.amrainstruments.com www.preproomdirect.com