After some twenty-seven years of working with funeral service professionals, I continue to be asked my opinion about the preneed staff providing aftercare services. Even after all of these years, I still hold to my position that aftercare and preneed go hand in hand and indeed complement one another but they should not be done [...]

When it comes to most anything in life, it is our passion, purpose, values and motives that determine what we do, why we do it, and how we do it. It’s these elements that help form an individual’s or company’s philosophy; their guiding principles. I entered the profession of selling preneed in 1971. Over the [...]

A funeral director called me recently for advice on acquiring a mailing list for direct mail marketing. He asked me where to find a really good mailing list for acquiring preneed prospects. My answer will be a shock to some of you and sound like common sense to the rest of you. I told him [...]

With all the buzz about “social media” like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, the average family has found themselves, like it or not, in the technology fast lane. When families come to you for funeral services, now, more than ever, these families will look to the funeral home they’ve chosen to have some of the newest [...]

If you believe in the old adages, “You only get one chance to make a first impression,” and “The first impression is the most important,” how would you react to realizing that for an ever-increasing number of families, the first impression they get of you, of your staff or your facility occurs before any personal, [...]

In this crazy business climate we are currently experiencing, business owners need to look beyond traditional methodologies and into the mirror to see how they can win more business and just as importantly, keep the business they have already worked so hard for. In fact, due to the state of our economy, right now is [...]

On Monday, May 1, 2006, my world came crashing down when my beloved husband, Jason Bailey, had passed away in our home from his ten-year battle with Hodgkin’s disease, a lymphatic cancer. I knew in my heart that this time would come, but I did not expect it to be two days after we discussed [...]

You’ve seen it a hundred times on promos for the evening news; a hungry, local reporter who has dubbed himself a “fraud buster” or claims to be “on your side,” pushing his way through the doors of some unsuspecting local business, firing off questions all to the complete surprise of the business owner or salesman. [...]

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