August 2017

A8 A1-A48 B1-B24

Page A8 AUGUST 2017 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS S ec t i on A
Argenta, IL 62501 • 800-331-9093
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 1ST OF EACH MONTH!
By Kristan Dean
Let’s
Chat
In 2000 Kristan Dean began working with her family to bring
Merry Christmas From Heaven® to all who need the gifts’ mes-
sage of Comfort, Love, and Faith. Today she is the Vice President
of Marketing and one of the primary members of her family’s
Bereavement Ministry.
Thanks, in great part, to the thousands of funeral directors and
retailers nationwide who make Merry Christmas From Heaven ® a
part of their communities, countless numbers of families reach out
to their family every year. Their bereavement ministry helps families
realize that those in Heaven live forever in our hearts. Their love is
with us always.
Prior to Mooney TunCo, Inc. Kristan worked with companies nation-
wide helping them build revenues by creating greater sales opportuni-
ties through the use of sales intelligence and marketing alignment.
Funeral Home & Cemetery News
Contributors share insights and
exchange ideas. B
How does kindness effect business? One question
may provide part of the answer. What is customer ser-
vice? Is it solving a problem? Of course it is because
most of us in need of service are having a problem that
we need a company to solve and it is more than that.
The art of customer service lies in the representative’s
ability to feel our pain and, in the same breath, give us
the kindness we need to catch ours.
Are you asking: catch my breath? Why do I need to
catch my breath when it is their company that needs
to solve the problem they are causing me? You are not
alone. This is the space almost all of us are in when we
speak to customer service. We are seeing red.
The problem that makes us want to reach out to a
company is often the tipping point that makes us want
to unleash our frustration on the one we see as the
cause of our aggravation and frustration: the person
that represents the company. This could be the repre-
sentative that answers the 800 number; the gate agent
that announces our flight is not taking off any time
nies become that much better at serving our custom-
ers. Just a thought, I look forward to learning yours.
Please join in the conversation on the Let’s Chat blog
at give me a
ring at (781) 331-5308, or if you prefer email me at
.
soon, the waiter that brings us a raw or burnt meal,
or the answering service that takes our message with-
out any regard for the pain we are in or the answers we
need.
What happens if we look at customer service in a dif-
ferent way? Rather than seeing them as the ones who
are there to correct our problem. What happens if we
realize those that serve are there to correct all of the
problems of all the people they come in contact with
on their shift? In this light do you see how they take the
brunt of everyone’s problems while we have the luxury
of only having to deal with our own challenge?
Another way to look at it is that our frustration gives
us unique opportunities to express even greater kind-
ness. Think about it: what would happen if every time
our frustration meter rises we chose to take a step back
and see that our problem is just one that this person is
trying to solve for their company and us? In this light
we could help the company solve our problem by let-
ting their customer service person take a breath from
the last person’s screaming and frustration so that they
could employ all the company’s resources to help us.
This is not always possible. We are human and there
will be times when our problems trump all others. In
these moments I pray that we will take a moment to
catch our own breath before we reach out to ask some-
one at a company to solve the problem that we know
their company is causing us.
When we realize that our frustration is the barom-
eter that tells us how much more kindness we need to
give we may be able to help ourselves and our compa-
Mark, Jenny and their son Ayden Ballard at a Traditional
Blessing at the Grand Opening of the Ballard Family Moanalua
Mortuary in 2016.
Ballard Family Mortuary Kona, Hawaii Island
Ballard Family Mortuary Moanalua – Oahu
Ballard Family Mortuary Group serves Hawaii
istered licensed mortician and funeral director in Kentucky
and Hawaii. Ballard said he sold two funeral homes in Rich-
mond, IN to finance theMaui venture. He had been scouting
for a Maui location for three years, and settled on Maui Busi-
ness Park because it is the most visible and centrally located.
In 2003, with the continued success of Ballard Family
Mortuary, Ballard quietly bought out two neighbor is-
land mortuaries and a cemetery: Borthwick Norman’s
Mortuary of Maui (now called Norman’s Mortuary ),
Borthwick Hawaii Funeral Home of Hilo, Hawaii
(now called Ballard Family Mortuary – Hilo), and Val-
ley Isle Memorial Park & Cemetery in Haiku, Maui.
Mark and Jenny Ballard could then offer a wide vari-
ety of burial options on a 23-acre cemetery overlooking
the Pacific, with dedicated staff providing custom mark-
ers, a columbarium, urn niches, a mausoleum, lawn and
Custom Statues
Life Size
Bronze or Marble
Delivery in 120 Days
$23,000.00
or Less
Contact:
Gregory Cave
1-800-989-2283