October 2018

Page A4 OCTOBER 2018 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS S ec t i on A Personalized Cap Panels and Cremation Posters from $99 Call: 888-626-6491 Newly Designed Showroom Samples Now Available The creators of fingerprint keepsakes. Meadow Hill is now... The same exceptional quality and service from the name you’ve known for 20 years. Visit Booth #1727 at the 2018 NFDA Convention to see our newest releases! thumbies.com By Nancy Weil Let’s Connect This is an industry that can be very competitive. We scan the newspaper to count the number of obituaries to determine the number of funerals our fellow firms are listing. We watch for how many families are sched- uling a burial at a local cemetery. There are even a few that try to confuse the consumer in order to steal calls from another firm. Sometimes it is difficult to deter- mine where is the line between market research, area trends and the “I want them all” attitude. Yet I believe that we are stronger together. In an in- dustry that is under attack through regulations, nega- tive media attention and shifting consumer priorities, if we are to survive and thrive it will be due to coopera- tion, not competition. Recently I joined the staff of the International Order of the Golden Rule . This association brings funeral di- rectors who work at independent funeral homes to- gether and offers them business building benefits and opportunities to share best practices. The range of their offerings and desire to help each firm grow their com- Random Musings pany is impressive. “Better together” is certainly the mot- to at OGR. Once again, this year I will be attending the National Funeral Directors Association convention. The conversa- tions that take place, the educational opportunities and the suppliers showcase is impressive. The work the NFDA does benefits everyone in the funeral industry. I always leave feeling uplifted armed with a list of new ideas and leads to pursue longer than my schedule can ever permit. I have spoken at ICCFA conventions, state associations for both funeral directors and cemeteries and in individ- ual funeral homes and always come away with the same feeling of gratitude for being a part of such a great indus- try. Working in death care takes a special person who is willing to dedicate their lives to stepping in when most people walk away. It means long hours, missed time with the family, tear stained shoulders from offering comfort to the bereaved and an emotional toll that can leave you feeling drained at the end of the day. It also means find- ing work that is meaningful and makes a difference. It means becoming a resource for people in your commu- nity. The funeral industry is all of that and more and only those who work in it truly understand what your day is like. They understand the pressures you are under, the challenges you face and the joys of the job. Joining one or more of the industry associations is an investment. It is an investment of time and of money. Yet it also produces dividends beyond your Profit & Loss statement. It supports the industry, your company and, most importantly, it provides you with personal sup- port and connection. While Groucho Marx famously said, “I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member,” fortunately you are welcome to join many industry associations. I hope you have and you will continue to commit to them, for as Helen Keller wrote, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” www.nomispublications.com Funeral Home & Cemetery News Contributors share insights and exchange ideas. B logs Serving as Member Resources Director at the International Or- der of the Golden Rule, Nancy Weil brings her years of experi- ence 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 Veterans 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 sup- port 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. cans as “movers” – people who live in a state in which they were not born. They have higher income and higher educational levels than the national averages. But these families are minimally connected to the local community and often do not know the local funeral homes. In times long past, the Yellow Pages was a resource. Now families rely on the internet for information at a time of need, and they are accustomed to going to com- parison websites to review all of their options in one place. For instance, 84 percent of automobile purchas- es and 91 percent of real estate sales begin on compari- son websites. And like funerals, these are multi-thousand dollar transactions that take place years apart. And while these are compared online, they are actually purchased offline in offices and places of business, just like funerals. So how can funeral directors connect to “movers?” Ac- cording to Ed Michael Reggie, the CEO of Funeraloc- ity, funeral directors need to meet families where they have already begun to shop and buy: on a comparison website. I first met Mr. Reggie when he came to Atlan- ta to beta test his new company. As he explained to me, the idea of creating Funeralocity grew out of his partici- pation in planning a family funeral in which he realized that the six brothers and sisters in his own family now live in five states. For them, there is no longer a “fam- ily funeral home.” So, his team created Funeralocity, a free service for families to compare their choices in one place that lists services, prices, photos, videos, testimo- nials, ratings and reviews. The company also created an Excellence Provider Program to which burial and cre- mation providers can apply for risk-free participation. Funeralocity launched in Atlanta in May 2017 and it is no wonder that it immediately took off. The organiza- tion is expanding nationwide and now has hundreds of Excellence Providers. In the age of Expedia, families do not go from website to website to find a hotel. And it makes sense to me that they don’t want to go from funeral home website to fu- neral home website to find the right place to memorial- ize their loved ones. We need to meet the “movers” on their terms, and not expect that they will come to us as they did in the pre-internet era. How many funeral directors will successfully make the big turn in the road that the internet and compari- son websites represent? I think many will not make it. Don’t get me wrong, in-person engagement with our local communities is still critical to our continued suc- cess. But in the new math of today that will only reach 58.8 percent of the families in our hometowns. The digital community is alive and untended by too many in our profession. We need to show these families who do not know us that we are a better choice than are the competition. The internet continues to revolutionize our lives. How we communicate, how we read, how we watch TV and movies, and how we shop and buy have all been re- imagined. And funeral service is no exception to this unstoppable force. Funeral Service in the 21st Century By Jeffrey S. Wages, CFSP Jeffrey S. Wages As businesses of all descriptions become more and more digitally-based and consumers routinely rely on the inter- net for information and commerce, I have asked myself what does this mean for burial and cremation services? How does the digital world best intersect with a funeral director’s soft touch? How can the industry incorporate new best practices without losing a tradition of caring and service? I am a second-generation funeral director operating in greater Atlanta. My fa- ther instilled in me that ex- cellent service creates long term relationships and bring families to us again and again. I continue to live by that principle. But we live in a mobile society. The United States Census Bureau classifies 41.2 percent of all Ameri-