You will often find that many people confuse marketing with advertising or vice versa. While both components are important they are very different. Knowing the difference and doing your market research can put your company on the path to substantial growth. “Times are certainly changing in the funeral industry,” said Charlie Kanet of Kanet Advertising. [...]

Solution On: Management The funeral services industry is one that requires the highest respect, compassion and urgency. The grief, emotional stress and vulnerability of your clients should be handled with sensitivity and empathy. To provide a quality service your availability is required 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. When you are not available, [...]

Solution On: Management Training and development is essential for the continued success of your business. Many funeral home owners seem to view training and personal development as more optional than essential … a viewpoint that can be costly to both short-term profits and long-term progress. Instead, the essentials of continuing education, training, and development are [...]

Solution On: Management Do you know what your funeral home is worth? Most business owners think they have a good idea. Some will guess at their value and others might apply a multiple to revenue they’ve heard is an accurate measurement of value.  Guessing and applying multiples to revenue typically does not produce accurate estimates [...]

Solution On: Marketing If you ask ten people to define the phrase “social media” chances are you will get at least eight totally different definitions. That’s how much confusion there is on this topic! Some think it is just for kids, since they see their own children using these platforms every day. Well, if as [...]

Solution On: Management Whatever happened to the good ole days when funeral directors went about their daily lives following a much simpler business model? Those were the days when funeral directors had the luxury to focus solely on the needs of the families, and it was a time when the needs of the families were [...]

Solution On: Management As cremation numbers increase, do our sales figures need to decrease? Now, there is the question of the millennium. Whether in my native country New Zealand or traveling the globe, I have met hardworking funeral directors, many carrying on their family’s heritage of providing funeral service. Nearly to a person, they find [...]

Solution On: Marketing In the last issue of Funeral Business Advisor, I wrote about how the funeral consumer is changing. Changing what they want, changing how they view funerals, changing what they expect of us as funeral professionals and changing what they changed before. Is all this change giving you a headache, yet?  It has [...]

Solution On: Management Imagine you are the knowledgeable, conscientious and hard working owner/operator of a small but successful funeral home and cemetery in a small town in America (probably not a stretch for many of you). You do your work on a daily basis taking care of the families in your town. You have several [...]

Solution On: Marketing Who remembers the 60s? That was a kinder simpler time where you and your family probably lived in or above your funeral home. Your father could also have run the ambulance service in town or made and sold furniture, everyone went to church on Saturdays and Sunday wearing a suit and tie [...]