How To Stop Customers From Fixating On Price

Equalize Price Points to Crystallize Personal Relevance. This is the first recession to show a measurable impact on DeathCare.  Most surprising have been the many reports from rural and "rustbelt" funeral directors that cremation has recently spiked, not because people in their markets want cremation but BECAUSE THEY CAN'T AFFORD BURIAL.   YIKES!!!! A recent article [...]

A Horrifying Revelation About Price

I have long believed that most price shoppers in DeathCare begin with the price question solely because they don't know what else to ask. That belief supports another which holds that what most shoppers are really looking for is someone they can trust. Thus I understood why it was important that we engage shoppers over [...]

By |2011-02-22T15:35:54-05:00February 22nd, 2011|The Creedy Commentary|12 Comments

Managers Vs. Leaders: Which Are You?

As a student of leadership and as a "Benchmark" Assessor for the Center for Creative Leadership, I am well aware of the impact poor leadership has on results.  The problem, in my mind, is the historical emphasis on styles more appropriate to factory settings than businesses that actually interface with the public. The difference between a manager [...]

By |2011-01-24T13:50:11-05:00January 24th, 2011|The Creedy Commentary|1 Comment

Great Advice on Turning Your Business Around

I started my career in business turnarounds in the 1970's when I worked for  a company whose business it was to buy and "refurbish" distressed businesses and resell them. DeathCare is in need of a turn around. There are different types of turnaround strategies and turnaround strategists.  Many are simply liquidators who cut costs so drastically [...]

By |2011-01-18T01:18:01-05:00January 18th, 2011|The Creedy Commentary|1 Comment

The Emperor Has No Clothes

What employee turnover reveals about your leadership. Employee turnover can reveal a lot of things.  Surely turnover is normal but both too much and too little are signs of serious management issues.  The pressures of the last ten years have led many in DeathCare to be frustrated with their employees.  An attitude has sprung up [...]

By |2011-01-11T20:37:53-05:00January 11th, 2011|The Creedy Commentary|4 Comments

Social Media Run Amok: Invasion of Privacy

Wow!!  Big Brother is watching. I really don't pay much attention to the issue of privacy.  But I learned something today that really spooked me.  Go to www.spokeo.com and enter your name.  This site aggregates publicly available information and makes it as easy as a couple of clicks to find out a whole lot more [...]

By |2010-12-29T14:06:12-05:00December 29th, 2010|The Creedy Commentary|1 Comment

What Are Your Views on Funeral Home Brokers? Is There a Possible Conflict of Interest?

A few weeks ago, in response to a series of commentaries on business valuation, a reader asked this very good question: "What are your views on funeral home brokers? I know Johnson Consulting will perform a valuation and then broker the sale, but how is it possible to ensure that the company doing the valuation [...]

By |2010-12-27T14:42:40-05:00December 27th, 2010|The Creedy Commentary|1 Comment

Do Boomers Find Your Website Annoying?

Funeral Home Websites have come a long way in the last 5 years.  Yet, most sites still remain fairly primitive.  One mistake many websites make (funeral and nonfuneral) is not understanding how their specific target market relates to websites in general.  Because many web developers and programmers are still relatively young and our audience is [...]

By |2010-12-13T23:36:34-05:00December 13th, 2010|The Creedy Commentary|1 Comment

Are You Too Proud to Succeed?

A problem, certainly not unique to DeathCare but just as certainly profoundly prevalent, is an artificial sense of professionalism.  Born out of defining success by what people might think of us, it blocks our ability to succeed by making us unwilling to "Stoop To Greatness". I just received this two page post from Patrick Lencioni's [...]

Is Your Company Coherent?

Booz & Company, one of the foremost consulting leaders in innovation, has discovered a link between performance and strategy called "Coherence."  For a company to be described as coherent, it must be resolutely focused on the interrelationship among three critical elements: its market position (its chosen “way to play” against competitors); its most distinctive capabilities, [...]

By |2010-11-30T07:23:48-05:00November 30th, 2010|The Creedy Commentary|1 Comment
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