August 2020

Page A6 AUGUST 2020 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS S ec t i on A F AMILY O WNED & O PERATED S INCE 1893 HELPING YOU MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE https://shop.dodgeco.com | www.dodgeco.com tel 800 443 6343 | fax 800 443 4034 By Christopher Kuhnen There’s More To It... Advance Funeral Planning Don’t Leave Sales on the Table! Last month I discussed a company I discovered dur- ing the national COVID-19 lockdown. This company is making a name for itself in the funeral services indus- try. Elder Life Group is a national wholesaler of the Medicaid Exempt Funeral Trust product. Over the last ten years their advisors have found space in the indus- try, writing over $250 million in prepaid funerals. After I spoke with Scott Moan , the co-founder of Elder Life Group, their process intrigued me, and I had to know more about the ways they are generating sales in this in- dustry. After all, what they sell will influence the funeral profession. In the long run, is this influence positive or negative? If you want to know more visit their website at elderlifegroup.com or call 877-336-7782. The first thing I asked Scott Moan, co-founder of El- der Life Group was, “Why are your agents operating in a space, that is traditionally reserved for funeral pre-plan- ning agents? Scott states “The statistics are astounding. The reality is 7 out of 10 people aged 65 and older will require some sort of long-term care assistance in their lifetime. As part of good planning, funerals should always be taken care of when an individual is looking for ways to expedite nursing home financial relief. Part of our intake process is to review the states’ funeral exemptions and find ways for our advisors to maximize their sales when guiding clients that are facing these issues.” Overwhelmingly, the funeral trusts that were written oc- curred when a person was experiencing a chronic long- term care event. Their customers were looking for ways to “spend down” assets to qualify for federal financial relief. Long term care assistance programs, such as Medicaid, are usually federal programs and notoriously complex. Fami- lies are under an incredible amount of stress when a loved one enters a nursing home. Compounding the stress, is the fact that this process usually involves dealing with numer- ous financial institutions, financial advisors, lawyers, social workers, and nursing home administrators. This is where you as the professional, can provide a huge value to your clients if you understand how the funeral trust product fits into the bigger picture. By understanding some basic state exemptions, advisors not only procure the sale of the individual entering a care facility, they are often writing plans for the person’s spouse, their own children and at times their children’s spouses.With one check, a person has the honor of gifting their loved one’s final expenses and expediting nursing home financial relief. This is where Funeral Pre-Planners have the potential to generate increased sales and productivity. By digging deeper and finding out if there is a chronic long-term care issue, you can propose options to the family that generates more sales and takes care of the family’s stress at the same time. This is a game changer. Funeral Trust agents are working across the country in towns small and large. I amwilling to bet they are active in your local community. Contact Elder Life Group and find out how you can partner with them and incor- porate the funeral trust into your business. The funeral trust can be assigned to any funeral home of choice and the commissions are lucrative. As Medicaid continues to grow and expand (especially since the COVID-19 pan- demic) you need to better educate yourself about Medic- aid Exempt Funeral Trust products. Christopher Kuhnen of Edgewood, Kentucky has been actively en- gaged in funeral service for over 34 years. As an insider into excel- lence, he is a trustworthy advisor to many funeral home and industry professionals. Kuhnen provides regular comprehensive consultation and support and additionally trains and bolsters leading death care professionals concerning profitability, management, pre-need sales and marketing, family service follow-up, and much more. Over the course of his professional career, he has presented numer- ous continuing educational seminars and workshops (on sales, mar- keting, pre-need, public relations, etc.) to a variety of national, state, and regional funeral associations. He is on the forefront of the indus- try and enjoys sharing his knowledge with others. Kuhnen is a Ken- tucky Licensed Funeral Director, Life Insurance Agent, and member in good standing with the Funeral Directors Association of Kentucky. Additionally, he is a Certified Marketing Specialist, as bestowed by the National Marketing Academy and a Certified Funeral Celebrant as bestowed by the distinguished Insight Institute. He can be reached at cpkuhnen@gmail.com . FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS www.nomispublications.com Monthly Columns online at mymortuarycooler.com Are you state compliant? Hank Levine, pres- ident of the 150- acre memorial park. “Many aspects of Jewish burial prac- tices are inher- ently ‘green’ such as wooden caskets, burial shrouds, and no embalming,” he ex- plained. “We wanted the community to know and ap- preciate this, and to understand some of the steps we have taken to honor the environment even as we pre- serve and practice Jewish traditions.” Gan Zikaron was certified as a “Hybrid” Burial Ground because some sections of the memorial park do not use concrete liners while others use liners which do not decompose even though all liners have openings on the bottom for decomposition of wooden caskets and remains. The seven-part certification assessment pro- cess reviewed all aspects of the Garden of Remembrance to evaluate compliance including operations, landscape and maintenance policies, family involvement, trust funds, and materials. The mission of the Green Burial Council is to inspire and advocate for environmentally sustainable, natural death care through education and certification. “Rec- ognition by the Green Burial Council is a testament to our commitment to the environment and the sensitivity and diversity of our community,” shared Glenn Easton, executive director of the Garden of Remembrance. “We look to our advisory committee of community rabbis and synagogue leaders for continuing guidance in our practices of ‘bal tashchit,’ the commandment to pre- serve our environment.” The Garden of Remembrance has multiple sections throughout the memorial park for the community at- large and for its twenty-seven partner congregations. Founded in 1999, the memorial park has held over 2,100 burials, and accommodates the wide range of reli- gious observances and practices of the Jewish communi- ty. For information, call 301-428-3000 or email info@ gardenofremembrance.org. The memorial park is locat- ed at 14321 Comus Road, Clarksburg, MD 20871. Garden of Remembrance Receives Green Burial Council Certification CLARKSBURG,MD— The Garden of Remembrance (Gan Zikaron) Memorial Park, the region’s only non- profit cemetery serving the entire Jewish Community, has become the first cemetery in Maryland to be cer- tified as a Green Hybrid Burial Ground by the Green Burial Council (GBC). “Our board and advisory committee have been dis- cussing what it means to be a ‘green cemetery,’” said www.nomispublications.com ADS Classified Online