August 2019

Page A4 AUGUST 2019 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS S ec t i on A Everything you need to know about Funeral Homes in Georgia • Comprehensive death call information by disposal • Email addresses and other contact information - Do you know your competitors’ actual death call volume? - Considering buying another funeral home? - Considering expanding service to another county? - Supplier to funeral homes? Georgia County Reports are available! • Determine your market share by county! • Find out which funeral homes or crematories serviced deceased residents by county. • Reports for all 159 Georgia counties. Call (404) 618-2486 | www.robertsresearchandmarketing.com Click on Funeral Home Guide or County Reports Get the 2018-2019 Georgia Funeral Home County Guide now! CREMAINS SAFEGUARD GUARDIAN GUARDIAN + • Lowest Profile • Used for second rite of interment Most Affordable vault on the market! • Most versatile, single vault system • Red, velour-lined interior • 2" Riser and brass plates are sold separately • Also available in gold HOLLAND SUPPLY, INC Servicing the Death Care Industry since 1962 www.hollandsupplyinc.com (800) 527-8818 sales@hollandsupplyinc.com The Guardian Vault System saves storage space and eliminates the hassle of having to stock multiple sizes. -Best selling vault on the market! A Full Line of Urn Vaults for Every Need By Nancy Weil You Don’t Say! As part of my job with the Order of the Golden Rule (OGR) I conduct price shopping calls, both to our members’ funeral homes and to their competitors. Hav- ing worked many years in funeral service, both at cem- eteries and funeral homes, I was fortunate to work with caring professionals. We were aware that when someone called our number they were likely going through a dif- ficult time and were in emotional pain. Before I share with you what you should never say, let me state that handling a call is not that difficult. Dem- onstrate to the caller that you care about them through your tone of voice and the words you use. Find ways to differentiate your company from your competitors. An- swer questions clearly and offer pricing in a way that the caller can comprehend. Get their contact information and follow up with an email synopsis of your discussion and further information. Although we go much deeper than that in the reports we create, that’s the basic gist of what you should be doing. Here are excerpts from actual conversations we have had with our members’ competitors that may shock, offend or horrify you. These are the kinds of things I cannot un- hear – the kinds of conversations that make me aware of why the consumer is wary of calling us. Even though I know that the majority of people who work at funeral homes or cemeteries truly care, there are enough (based on our calls) that just need to find another line of work. Random Musings Read on at your own risk! Funeral Director: “Cremation with a memorial service would be $2,500. You’d have a picture and her cremains and things like that. I don’t want to confuse you. It’s not an easy thing to just an- swer over the telephone. It’s not like calling a grocery store and asking about how much a dozen eggs are.” Funeral Director: “In regards to how much you spend, we treat you the same way. We had a $19,000 funeral and we’ve done funerals for free and we treat them the same way. I recently did a funeral with Michael Jackson’s casket.” Caller: “Michael Jackson?” Funeral Director: “It’s a bronze casket, like Aretha Franklin just had.” Funeral Director: “You want to be careful when you call other funer- al homes because a lot of funeral directors will do a disservice to our profession. I don’t want to be part of them.” Funeral Director: “We’re part of a group that uses a crematory that’s done in a 100% proper way. The turnaround time is good… no multiple cremations take place.” Caller: “Wait, you do multiple cremations? What’s that?” Funeral Director: “No – multiple cremations are illegal. It’s where someone is cremated with someone else at the same time. It’s ille- gal. The only reason I mention it is it pops up from time to time in the newspaper. We don’t do that.” Caller: I saw on your website that you do aquamation. Can you tell me more about this? Funeral Director: It is different from cremation, but you get the same results. With traditional cremation, flame based cremation the person goes into the retort and the flames burn off the flesh until all you have left is the skeleton. The water alkaline solution gets rid of the tissues and organs so you still have the skeletal re- mains. Caller: So you get the same result? Funeral Director: Actually, you get more of the remains back. Some bones are destroyed in the flames and go up the flue. With aqua- mation you get 20% more back. While I could have also written an entire article about the wonderful things that we have heard on these calls, let the above serve as a cautionary tale. While it may not be your company that conducts business this way, it may be someone else in your town that does. And just when we think we’ve heard it all, we make the next call and realize that there’s always more to add to our “can’t unhear” list. www.nomispublications.com Funeral Home & Cemetery News Contributors share insights and exchange ideas. B logs Serving as Member Resources Director at the International Order of the Golden Rule, Nancy Weil brings her years of ex- perience working in the funeral industry to funeral directors across the globe. Her professional experience includes serving as Director of Grief Support and Community Outreach at Vet- erans Funeral Care in Clearwater, FL and at eleven cemeteries in Western New York. Nancy travels throughout the country offering presentations on how to reduce stress, combat compassion fatigue and offer support for those who are grieving through her company, The Laugh Academy. With certifications as a Grief Services Provider and Grief Man- agement Specialist, Funeral Celebrant, Soul Injury Ambassador and Laughter Leader, Nancy is uniquely qualified to bring new perspectives into how to best meet the needs of the families you serve. For more information on how Nancy can help you and your company grow, visit her website: www.TheLaughAcademy.com or e-mail Nancy@TheLaughAcademy.com. Park Lawn Selects Inman Shipping Worldwide as their Preferred Shipping Partner Park Lawn acquires Integrity Funeral Care and Horan & McConaty Funeral Services TORONTO,ONTAR IO— Park Lawn Corporation (TSX: PLC) is pleased to an- nounce that it has completed the acquisition of Horan & McConaty Funeral Servic- es in Colorado and Integ- rity Funeral Care in Texas, increasing its US footprint. Horan & McConaty Fu- neral Services, formerly owned by John Horan , op- erates two cemeteries and eleven funeral homes (in- cluding two on-sites) in the high-growth Denver Metro- politan Area. Integrity Fu- neral Care is a funeral home serving Houston. “The acquisition of Horan is a unique and extreme- ly exciting opportunity for ly owned and operated by David Peña , adds a funer- al business to complement PLC’s existing cemetery operations in the Houston market. “We are excited to ex- pand our presence in Texas by adding a funeral home to complement our exist- ing cemetery operations in the Houston market. This location will tuck-in to our Houston portfolio and is in line with PLC’s growth strategy,” stated Clark. PLC provides goods and services associated with the disposition and memorial- ization of human remains. PLC and its subsidiaries own and operate business- es including cemeteries, crematoria, funeral homes, chapels, planning offices and a transfer service. PLC has a North American wide platform with operations in five Canadian provinces and fourteen US states. Park Lawn. Horan is a pre- eminent funeral home and cemetery business in the US, which has served the Denver area for generations. I am de- lighted that John Horan and his team are joining PLC and will remain involved in the business,” said Andrew Clark , Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PLC. The purchase of Integri- ty Funeral Care, former- FORT WAYNE,IN— Inman Shipping Worldwide has been selected Park Lawn Corporation’s (PLC) pre- ferred shipping partner. Inman will provide ship- ping services both domesti- cally and internationally for Park Lawn locations, which serve thousands of fami- lies annually at their funer- al homes, cremation centers and cemeteries nationwide. This will provide locations with a one-call solution for all their shipping needs en- abling to spend more time with the families they serve. “We are thrilled to partner with Park Lawn Corporation and its family of world-class facilities,” states Inman CEO and owner Dave McComb. “Park Lawn has established itself as an industry leader and we are proud to partner with them to enhance the service they provide families moving forward.” “Inman Shipping World- wide offers everything we need in a true national part- ner,” added Jay Dodds of Park Lawn Corporation. “They are the experts in the shipment of human remains thanks to their successful ser- vice model and expert cus- tomer service team. Most importantly, their partner- ship enables all our business- es to focus on our core com- petency – serving families.” Since 1978, Inman has be- come the expert in the ship- ment of human remains domestically and internation- ally. For more information, visit www.shipinman.com or call 800-321-0566. 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