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OCTOBER 2014
FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS
S ec t i on A
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
CREMATION DIVISION
Jonas A. Zahn is the president and founder of Northwoods Cas-
ket Co., a manufacturer of environmentally friendly caskets made
in Wisconsin. He has been involved in casket-making since build-
ing a casket for his Grandfather in 2004 and now distributes sus-
tainable caskets to funeral homes throughout the United States.
Jonas has a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from
the Un
e reached by
email
Northwoods
Casket
By Jonas A. Zahn
Greening
the Funeral
Industry
Motivation. Making your motivation transparent
for your customers will have a profound impact on
both their attention span and their loyalty.
So maybe you get the Gold, but where’s the
Green in the Black? I illustrate with my own ex-
perience. I don’t build caskets to make money-
-there are a lot of other ways I could make mon-
ey, and some are far easier than making caskets.
And I don’t just make caskets. I make sustainable,
eco-friendly, non-toxic, locally sourced, carbon-
negative caskets because I am fascinated by the
challenge of building a business on Smarter Plan-
et ideas. I plant lots and lots of trees because I
believe that nobody can argue that planting trees
isn’t a great thing. I source raw materials and man-
ufacture with local talent so that I can create jobs
in my community. This is my passion. Before lis-
tening to Mr. Sinek, I was shy about my passion
and kept my motivations private. I now realize
that not only was there no need to hide my moti-
vation. Making my personal motivation transpar-
ent has only helped to build trust in personal rela-
tionships, longer attention spans, and true loyalty
from our clients and followers.
I invite you to find the why in your motivation.
Yes, I admit Green is arguably an already over-
played marketing moniker and trend. It is no lon-
ger relevant to a consumer to tout our wares as
simply Green--that’s not good enough. Go for the
Gold and tell your customers why you do what
you do. Add a little Green to that Gold and you
will find yourself on the path to Black.
The Path to Black is Paved with
Green & Gold
The funeral business is changing and that is evident in
several trends: decreasing death rate, increasing life expec-
tancy, increasing cremation rate, rising employer costs, ris-
ing cost of health care, decreasing asset to debt ratios, and
many more. Every one of these topics is the subject of news
articles and op-ed pieces in every publication on-line and
off-line from which we opt to fill our minds. There’s no
shortage of opinions on the profitability (or lack thereof )
in death care service or where the industry is headed next.
One thing for sure is that for those fifth and sixth genera-
tion funeral directors, operating a funeral service business
today is nothing like it was five generations ago when cash
and bartering were the primary means of transacting busi-
ness.
In a previous installment of this column I wrote about
the Golden Circle of Motivation as presented by Simon
Sinek in a TED talk. In about ten minutes Mr. Sinek
makes a compelling argument for any commercial busi-
ness to re-invent our marketing message to focus on why
we do what we do. Answers like “to make money” are not
valid. A business makes money to exist, it does not exist to
make money. Mr. Sinek uses breathing as an analogy. We
breathe to live, not the other way around. Typically most
employees in a business can explain what they do. Very few
can explain how they do it. And even fewer know why. For
some firms, nobody can articulate why their firm exists.
But those who can explain why, and can explain effectively,
already have their go-to-market message.
In these contemporary times of volatile markets, political
challenges, and ever-rising cost of doing business, it is hard
enough to keep a business in The Black. Add to
our challenges this new breed of consumerism
with the loyalty of Benedict Arnold and the at-
tention span of Sponge Bob exposed to more
information in a day today than a person was
exposed to in an entire month in 1881 when
President James Garfield was shot by Charles
Guiteau.
How might the funeral industry today adapt?
Can we leverage our values in sustainability in
our go-to-market messaging to earn more loy-
alty with a contemporary consumer? Could
Green and Gold lead us to The Black?
Ten years ago I designed and built my first cas-
ket with my family for my grandfather. Nine
years ago we sold our first “green” casket kit on-
line. About six years ago we discovered, almost
by accident, that people were more interested
in why I decided to build caskets than how we
build them. Like many businesses, we have a
web site that describes what we are selling. For
a short period I thought it clever to describe in
great detail how we build caskets. Then about
four years ago I listened to Simon Sinek’s TED
talk and things haven’t been the same since we
focused our messaging on why. We are using
our casket business to plant trees—lots and lots
of trees. Ten million, to be exact. This is an easy
message for our followers to support and re-
peat. Sales have more than doubled in each of
the three years since we have re-focused our go-
to-market messaging on why we build environ-
mentally friendly, non-toxic, and sustainable
caskets.
I share this with you and anyone interested
enough to re-think their marketing message.
For those of you who are fifth or sixth genera-
tion funeral directors, I applaud you. For those
of you just entering this industry, I applaud
you. You are both likely very close to explaining
“why” you have remained in, or have recently
chosen, this profession. As for the rest of us…
can we quickly and effectively explain “why does
my firm exist” or “why am I a funeral direc-
tor” to a 10 year-old? Keep in mind that “make
money” is a not a valid answer. Not everyone’s
answer is the same--and need not be. Your an-
swer is your own—it is your Golden Circle of
Meadowlawn Funeral Home and Crematory
Meadowlawn Opens New Facilities
SAN ANTONIO,TX—
Family owned and operated,
Mead-
owlawn Funeral Home and Crematory
in San Antonio is
committed to continue bringing quality service to San An-
tonio families with new, expanded facilities and services.
A new 12,000-square-foot facility, one of the largest in
Southwest Texas, provides the most advanced technology
for funeral services as well as seating for more than 200
people in its chapel. The chapel features an original mural
created by Sisters in Art,
Amanda Rogers
and
Amy Mar-
tin.
A 3,000-square-foot shop also adds additional servic-
es for families in their time of need.
The community was invited to tour Meadowlawn dur-
ing a special grand opening which was held September
4th. The grand opening included a ribbon cutting fol-
lowed by a reception.
Owner
Craig Cates,
following in his father-in-law’s foot-
steps in 1981, continued to expand existing services in-
cluding perpetual care at the cemetery to ensure grounds
and graves are pristine at all times. Cates opened a crema-
ity service dating back to the early 1850s.
With its combined history, additional facilities and expand-
ed services, Meadowlawn Funeral Home and Crematory is
dedicated to delivering the best care for families in San Anto-
nio and surrounding areas.“We are committed to do our best
to help make the passing of loved ones easier,” Cates said.
tory in 1991 and built the
funeral home in 2003.
Under Cates’ oversight,
Meadowlawn also provides
quality service to the four-
legged family members at
All Paws Pet Crematory,
which was added in 2004.
“We are extremely proud
of our new full-service fa-
cility,” Cates said. “With
our new chapel, Meadow-
lawn is able to better serve
our clients with the con-
venience of the chapel and
cemetery in one location.”
Located on 88 acres
at 5611 East Houston,
Meadowlawn Memorial
Park is one of the largest
and oldest cemeteries in
San Antonio, continuing
a strong tradition of qual-
Grier Funeral Service New Fleet
CHARLOTTE,NC—
Pictured are
Brad
Humphrey
and
Margaret McCullough,
along with the staff of
Grier Funeral Ser-
vice, Inc.
in Charlotte, NC taking de-
livery of 6 new 2014 funeral cars. Their
fleet consist of two 2014 Cadillac S&S
Medalist Hearses and four 2014 Federal
6-door limousines purchased from
Mel-
vin Thompson
of
Bill Black Cadillac
in
Greensboro, NC.
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