In these economic times, when every penny counts, are you leaving money on the arrangement office table? Are you not charging the proper amount, giving things away, or not offering products and services to your consumers?
If you can say yes, then you are failing to gain profit that can be used to upgrade your facilities, increase wages, take the burden off increased health care costs, and aid in other expenditures that are needed but continuously pushed back because of low cash flow.
For example, many firms don’t charge for a same-day visitation an hour before the service. But hotel rooms aren’t free when only used for an hour, and restaurants don’t offer discounts for ordering takeout and not using the dining room. One way to balance such a service, and a common approach, is to include “visitation two hours or less, same day as service” on your GPL and use some percentage of the normal charge.
Similarly, many firms charge less for direct cremation than the cost of their non-declinable, basic service fee. Is there a standard for charges when a consumer wants more than direct cremation or immediate burial, but less than full a service? Does your firm build off the pre-packaged direct cremation or immediate burial charges off your GPL, or do you itemize?
On another level, many firms throughout the country have expensive color printers to print service folders. These folders with photos and artwork are a vast improvement from the prior version with only praying hands and a cross. The personalized service folders provide family and friends with a keepsake from the funeral.
But how do you charge? Are they priced by the hundred? If more than 100 are needed, do you charge? Many locations do not. If you went to a print shop, could you get more for less or the same cost? Many funeral homes have no idea what the cost of printing in color is on their printer; so they couldn’t answer that question.
Even with the cremation rate at more than 40 percent nationwide, many firms still return cremated human remains in a brown or black plastic container when an urn is not selected. These “temporary containers” are not temporary; they are, in fact, more permanent than many of the urns funeral homes sell. In that vein, some funeral homes may select to have a buy or supply urn policy and let the consumer know they will need to supply a suitable container or purchase one before cremation.
When direct cremation is requested, many firms do not offer choices of alternative containers. The consumer may elect the cheapest service, but the arranger should not assume that they want to forego all options. Cost may not be the decisive factor in their selection. And even if it is, the consumer may want to upgrade something small, such as a container.
The consumer should still receive options, including fingerprint jewelry. Are all consumers offered fingerprint jewelry? If not, why does one consumer get more options than another? A director’s job as a professional is to allow all consumers to make selections based on every option rather than to assume their wants.
Profit is not a bad word in business. And by making better profits, firms can pass on benefits to their staff, facilities and community. Every firm should consider ways, such as those above, to generate additional revenue without increasing prices.