Gone are the days when we could sit back and wait for people to come to our door. Pre-planning a funeral and burial may have once been part of life planning, but today it is at the bottom of the list. For many it isn’t even a consideration.

  So what can you do about it? Educate your community about their options. Do not hide from what you do because you think it may offend or turn people off. Shout from the rooftops the importance of pre-planning. Offer seminars at senior centers, retirement apartments, churches and synagogues or your funeral home or cemetery. Host a Death Café or a cremation seminar. Write articles for the local newspapers or community bulletins. Share the stories, for at the heart of all that we do there are stories. We carry with us the stories of those that have left an impact on us, those we have helped along the way, those that we have guided and those we could only listen to and commiserate that their situation was indeed difficult.

  Sometimes these conversations occur just by bringing people into your place of business. It could be a remembrance service, a speaker series or a concert. Perhaps you invite the community to attend a Handling the Holidays program. No matter the reason for the interaction, once you are with them, they may open up and start to ask you questions. You will build a trust relationship with them and they will feel that they know you and that you care about them and their personal story. This can become a form of top-of-mind marketing. You become their “go to” person when they do make their end of life plans.

  Recently I was hired to put together a Holistic Open House for a funeral home. Over 300 people came through the doors and many had never been there before. They met the funeral director and his staff as they were greeted at the door. They spent hours visiting the many practitioners and receiving free mini-sessions of massage, reflexology and more. They learned about Emotional Freedom Technique and Breema. Not only did we have a system in place to capture their personal information so that we could invite them to future events, we also got news coverage. A story ran on the evening news the week prior to the event and the local newspaper also ran a story both in print and online about a funeral home who cared about keeping people healthy. The entire event was a win/win for everyone involved and will lead to new business for this funeral director.

  Start thinking about ways you can use your talent and knowledge to connect with your community. If you don’t, you can be sure your competition will. Don’t think outside of the box, eliminate the box. Brainstorm with no limitations on what you can do. Then choose one, set a date, make a plan and enlarge your company’s circle of influence. You know that you are the best at what you do and how you serve those who come to you. Now make sure as many people as possible know that as well. Get your ladder ready…you’re going to be shouting from the rooftops this year.

  Need help getting started? Give me a call at 716-908-9154 and let’s talk about what programs you can launch this year.