Tag: the new normal

Terrorism and Funeral Service: The Secret Sauce

Written by Alan Creedy on December 3, 2012. Posted in The Creedy Commentary, Leadership. 5 Comments on Terrorism and Funeral Service: The Secret Sauce

What is the link between Terrorism and Funeral Service?

Well, you have to read a very short story and watch an even shorter video to find out. But the rewards will be worth it because I am going to reveal some of my secret sauce.

A few years ago a friend shared that: “Alan see things everyone else does… but differently.” And I guess I do. The video below gives you an insight on how I do that but first a little story about me that might help you understand why this is important.

The 2020 Project

This is not a formal announcement but in a few weeks I will be announcing what I will be calling the 2020 Project. Until then you can wait on pins and needles.

In the interim it might be interesting to know how I got there.

It actually began as a child (this has a point so bear with me). During World War II my father was an analyst in the OSS (the precursor to today’s CIA). He loved to hike and camp and often shared stories of clandestine activities that were very exciting and even mystical to my young mind. As I grew older I began to apply some of the techniques he shared during our campfire talks. I found they worked unusually well in providing me insights well beyond the superficial.

Later, after graduating and passing the CPA exam, I had the good fortune to work for a company that bought distressed companies, repaired them and sold them at a substantial profit. It was my job to figure out the shortest distance between the current distress and operational health. There I found I had a real talent for using those skills I learned from my father to rapidly discern trends and uncover the true source of problems so that I could avoid the “rabbit trails” others seemed tempted by. I also learned the difference between “fads” and “substance”. But that’s another story.

My first job in funeral service was in 1980 as President of OGR’s Service Corporation. At the time it was insolvent. It was immediately apparent that the primary problem was that the organization had confused form for substance. When proper priority was given to the real value offering the company was restored.

The Funeral Service Application

Having restored solvency and growth to OGR I couldn’t help but become aware that the profession…Funeral Service…was doing much the same thing: Confusing form with substance.

While I knew, in my heart that was a problem, it was too early in the process for it to be apparent which was form and which was substance. It was, after all, only 1983 and my opinion was only a gut feeling then. All that was apparent was that every year more people were opting out of burials and services. Try as I might I could not find a worthy application of what I learned from my dad. And I tried a lot.

The Secret Sauce

What did I learn from my father? What is my secret sauce? Frankly, for many years I thought this was common knowledge. I thought everyone knew about it. Now I know that it is a developed ability and requires both intuition and a high level of ability to consider the impossible (now popularized as “Black Swans”).

Basically, what my father did was study media from inside occupied countries to determine what was “there that was not supposed to be there” and “what was not there that should be there”. Based on general frequency or lack thereof certain inferences can be made.

Here is an easy one: During the 1990’s there were many articles on how to value your business and many conferences on the same. It was easy to infer that we were in a period of consolidation. Another, during the last decade was the preoccupation with “sideline” activities like pet cremation and niche business like veterans services. An outside observer could infer we were in a phase of lower volume and / or boredom or desperation.

Those are the easy ones. But sometimes it is stuff that just doesn’t make sense. This technique is all about incongruities. For instance, I have only recently made sense of the co-dependency relationship between funeral directors and casket manufacturers. From the beginning I saw no relationship between market share and casket brand. Nor did I see the casket as a sustainable value driver in a market that was inexorably moving toward casketless services. Looking back I now see what was happening. No one is perfect. I missed the fact that this was a carryover dysfunctional factor that was keeping the profession from dealing with some of the more urgent issues.

Just as challenging is the reality of what SHOULD be there… but isn’t. Every organized society for several thousand years has had the need to formally honor their dead and to designate individuals within their society to handle the process. Why were funeral directors in today’s society feeling like “second class citizens”? Why was our society so death averse? How were we contributing to the problem?

The Secret sauce is really relatively simple.

It rests on a basic assumption: There Are No New Problems. The first task when presented with a problem is to find someone who has already solved it and replicate it (with adjustments of course) and apply it to your own situation. After years of searching I realized that there was a direct parallel between the “megachurch” movement and the changes impacting the mainline denominations and what was happening in funeral service. For 12 years now I have been applying that parallel and have yet to find a difference in the pattern. It makes it simple. But, being fairly intimate now with mainline churches attempting to emulate megachurches, the danger of copying the form and ignoring the substance is even greater.

The video below illustrates the principles of my approach in a profound way. I would read the book. But do not be tempted to think that innovation is going to come through Cremation Societies. It is coming from different avenues than that. It’s not about price it’s about the delivery system.

REINVENTION: PROFIT CLINICS

Written by Alan Creedy on November 12, 2012. Posted in The Creedy Commentary, Money: Getting it and Keeping it. 1 Comment on REINVENTION: PROFIT CLINICS

There is a level of neglect in our profession that will (and is) causing too many to approach the end of their careers facing great disappointment, forcing the postponement of retirement or spending retirement much more humbly than anticipated. It is too dangerous to be considered benign. Dangerous, certainly, at the individual firm level. But, collectively, and ultimately dangerous at the industry level as an outmoded pricing strategy and misunderstood value proposition drive consumers to lower and lower price points.

The need for awareness

Metaphorically, let’s say you are driving your car on the interstate. At both the conscious and unconscious levels you are AWARE. Aware of your speed and lane, distance to the next car and where you are relative to your destination (your goal). But you are also aware of other environmental factors. Road conditions, for instance. Or subtle noises in your car. I know that when I hear “thump-thump-thump” I have a bad tire. If I feel the vibration in my seat it is a rear tire, if in the steering wheel a front tire. If the thermometer gauge goes above the red line I know my engine is overheating or if the “check engine” light goes on I know to pull over and see what’s going on. I don’t exactly know how to fix my car but I know when it needs to be fixed, I know when I have taken a wrong turn, I know when I am about to run out of gas and I know how long it will be before I reach my destination. BUT I AM NOT A MECHANIC I AM ONLY A DRIVER. I can’t build a car or design a car but I would be poor driver, indeed, if i were not AWARE of a myriad of things while I am driving.

But my consistent experience, even among some of the more prestigious firms, is that most business owners operate without the slightest awareness of what is happening with them and to them financially. During the past several years I would guess that 8 out of 10 of the firms I have helped have been experiencing a decline in average sale. Some of these were significant! In every case the owner was unaware. At best they had a vague feeling something wasn’t right.

The need to be better stewards

Over the course of 30 + years experience I have seen a number of times where firms have made critically poor financial decisions because of fads. I did this myself in the ’80’s when my partner and I bought a flower shop. We were lucky to get out 7 years later with our shirts on but would have done much, much better using those resources elsewhere.

Today, we are seeing firms over investing in facilities and rolling stock and getting involved in the latest fad: Pet Services. I know, I make myself unpopular by making this point but it serves as an excellent illustration.

In and of itself the pet service business is not bad. But in light of the fact that it normally requires in excess of $200,000 in capital investments (ignoring the reallocation of human resources) it deserves serious consideration. Especially when it requires most firms to take on debt. There was an old advertising slogan that went “never borrow needlessly but when you MUST…”. In light of our profession’s current economic environment (let alone our national one) this slogan should now be axiomatic. Borrowing money to fund a venture with margins that are a fraction of the margins generated even in a cremation business has the potential to put many firms in a very untenable position in the future.

In the ’90’s the investment firm of Duff and Phelps approached me to start another funeral home acquisition firm. I admit I was less than enthusiastic (it was in 1998 as I recall) but it’s hard to turn down such a heady opportunity so I sought the counsel of a very wise friend. He asked me if I thought I could generate an 18% annual return. I said “no” to which he responded that I should just buy SCI stock because at the time they were generating that return. In 1999 the whole acquisition trend collapsed. He was right.

My point?

When using precious limited assets (financial, physical or human) you need to know how to make decisions with your head as well as with your heart. Otherwise, you can find yourself working for the bank instead of yourself.

The process of doing this is simpler than you might think.

You don’t need to be an accountant

When I passed the CPA exam I went to work for a man who I still consider the best accountant I have ever known. He could look at a set of financial statements and within one or two minutes spot either a mistake or an issue that needed closer attention. I was trained to do extensive analysis so this talent truly intrigued me. I asked him to teach me and he did.

That is what I want to teach you.

You don’t need to be an accountant.

But you do need to be AWARE just as you are aware as you are driving a car…both at the conscious and subconscious level. You need to know what key numbers you need to be aware of and where the “check engine” light and fuel gauge are. You need to be able to distinguish whether that “thump-thump-thump” you hear is cracks in the pavement or a tire going bad.

What my boss taught me enabled me to do just that. Complicated? A little. But no more so than learning to drive… and probably less complicated than learning to embalm. Less smelly too.

PROFIT CLINICS

Goal:

Using your firm’s own financial reports enable you to quickly identify your key numbers and use those key numbers to know where to focus your energy
Recognize the “early warning signs” before they get out of hand.
Develop a long term strategy to move from “Cost-Led Pricing” to “Price-Led Costing”
Learn how to determine whether an investment is right for you without adding so much debt you sink your ship

NEXT WEEK: THE THIRD LEG IN THE REINVENTION STOOL FIXING THE ARRANGEMENT CONFERENCE

REINVENTION: The “Valley Of Death”–Your Cycle Of Grief

Written by Alan Creedy on October 22, 2012. Posted in The Creedy Commentary, Leadership. 5 Comments on REINVENTION: The “Valley Of Death”–Your Cycle Of Grief

Last week I referred to Andrew Grove‘s comments relative to the reinvention of Intel in which he referred to the process as the “Valley of Death.”

Strategic Inflection Points: what happens to a business when a major change takes place in its competitive environment… what is key is that they require a fundamental change in business strategy. Nothing less is sufficient.

… you really go through the stages of grieving. Going from denial, which is the most prominent of all the stages, to various behaviors, to finally acceptance. And once you reach acceptance, action, whether it’s sufficient or effective or not, is about to follow.

And it is the very key in all of this to strive toward making these changes as fast as possible because time is your ally. …you’re going to become a late mover by being stuck in the denial stage too long.

As you go through the change, the business goes through major transformation that I can best describe as a Valley of Death. It is not fun to go through those changes. We all say changes are wonderful, we all welcome change. We love change when it happens to somebody else and change is very rarely wonderful when you have to do away with the established practice and established people to adapt –– to tear apart before you can put together the new. So I look at the Valley of Death as an appropriate way to do that.

After you have struggled in the Valley of Death long enough, you have a clear picture of the strategic dissonance and how to close in on it. You are ready for chaos and you’re ready to deploy your resources. It’s one of those things like empowerment.*

The Grief Cycle Among DeathCare Professionals

If you are to accelerate your own journey through this cycle in order to begin the healthy process of acclimating to our “New Normal” it is important that you recognize when you are stuck. Here is what each stage looks like:

Denial: In this stage there is a preoccupation with fighting yesterday’s battles. Things like licensing laws: Should we allow dual licensing? Should we require a bachelors degree? Who should be allowed to sell preneed? Who should be allowed to sell caskets? Should funeral homes be allowed to serve food and drink? These laws, once barriers to entry, are quickly becoming barriers to survival.

Other examples include the decade-long battle and now rumored appeal in Pennsylvania regarding the State Funeral Law and the Louisiana fight against the sale of Trappist Coffins. Given the urgency of the real issues facing our profession this behavior reminds me of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Anger: Anger, for people who are typically very restrained in emotional expression, is subtle. I think their staff sees it as increased frustration and maybe some confusion. They are aware that things are no longer going to be as they once were but they are not yet aware there is a solution.

I imagine them going home at night, kicking the family cat and raging about the family they just served: “I just don’t know what these people want anymore.” Then fixing a stiff drink and collapsing in their easy chair.

I do think I see a growing number stuck here because of the bitter-tinged conversation about other practitioners and vendors in the convention conversations. There is a disdain among those stuck here as if they had answers (which they may think they have but I haven’t seen) that others aren’t smart enough to see. At any rate, for my own emotional health I have found it is best to let them rant until they run out of steam. Eventually one of two things happens. They move on to the next stage or they get so bitter no one wants to be around them.

Bargaining: This is where most of the profession is stuck for now. The implicit assumption on which most DeathCare marketing is based is:

If we are likable enough you will choose us.

So, as consumers have increasingly moved to less and less service and even sought non conventional vendors we have turned to adding more and more value. This “add-on” value has added cost but no corresponding revenue. In essence we are saying: “If we do more for you, we hope you will appreciate us more and maybe next time you will come back and buy more.” Unfortunately, time has shown that, while customers may appreciate you more, there is no corresponding impact on loyalty or revenue. In fact, quite the opposite is too often true.

What is this added value? Things like dove and balloon releases, free DVD’s and multicolored paper goods. These things are good in their own right and I am not suggesting we should not do them. But too many have fallen into the trap of believing they are innovations when, in reality, they are only novelties.

Peter Drucker correctly defines innovation and, therefore, reinvention as follows:

“The test of an innovation is that it creates value. A novelty only creates amusement. The test of innovation is not: ‘Do we like it?’ It is: ‘Do customers want it and will they pay for it?'”

Despair: Those in despair are almost inconsolable. They are convinced that we have become a commodity. It is a “race to the bottom.” It is all about the dollar.

This is a delicate stage. The most effective technique I have found is to almost mockingly agree with them or to aggressively abandon them. Sometimes if you use a form of hyperbole they are shocked out of their malaise and willing to listen.

I once told a client that I had heard you have to wait for a drowning man to go down for the third time before trying to save him and to call me when he felt he was going down for the third time. He did and followed my advice and doubled his business in a year.

But it is easy to get trapped in this phase and sympathy is not what works.

Acceptance: Having been through the grief cycle and reinvention with clients myself more than once, I can only say: “I love this stage!” And the reason is:

“There is nothing so dangerous as someone who has nothing to lose”

Those who have reached this stage have resolved the “burning platform” issue and have made peace with the question: “it is better to choose probable death than certain death” (view video below)

It is really fun to work with and coach someone at this stage because they are willing to challenge their own paradigms and they are free or becoming freed of the Persona they have so carefully protected for so long. They recognize they don’t have all the answers and that no one else does either and they love going with me on the search. They become learners. and, for me that’s the best part of all because now they can grow as persons.

I think that’s why Andrew Grove says

After you have struggled in the Valley of Death long enough, you have a clear picture of the strategic dissonance and how to close in on it. You are ready for chaos and you’re ready to deploy your resources. It’s one of those things like empowerment.*

This Video will give you an insight into why a “Burning Platform” is sometimes necessary:

Next Week: What It Will Take For True Reinvention. “Islands Of Excellence in A Sea of Mediocrity”

*Excerpted from an address to The American Academy of Management by Andrew Grove CEO Intel Corp.

What You Should Know About Reinventing Yourself Before You Start

Written by Alan Creedy on October 15, 2012. Posted in The Creedy Commentary, Leadership. 7 Comments on What You Should Know About Reinventing Yourself Before You Start

Reinvention will soon become the latest catchword in the DeathCare professions. I agree! Reinvention has been a long time coming. But I fear that many have already mistaken cosmetic touchups to our traditional practices as reinvention thus fooling themselves into continued complacency.

There are many shades of reinvention and the magnitude of the one called for today hasn’t been experienced by us in well over a century. It would help to know that this is not the first time we have reinvented ourselves…not by a long shot. But it will be the first time in any of our lifetimes that will require a complete overhaul. Cosmetic touch-ups to existing paradigms won’t do it. As Andrew Grove Chairman and CEO of Intel Puts it:

“Strategic Inflection Points…[are] what happens to a business when a major change takes place in its competitive environment…it causes you to make a fundamental change in business strategy. Nothing less is sufficient.”

This chart shows but a few of the inflection points funeral service has experienced over the past 100 + years.

The reinvention that parallels today’s in order of magnitude is the advent of embalming after America’s Civil War…or as those in the South refer to it: The War of Northern Agression.

Until that time furniture and cabinet makers offered “undertaking” as an ancillary service to their regular trade. It was a “sideline” business related to their coffin making. When traveling embalming “surgeons” appeared after the civil war some of the more entrepreneurial minded craftsmen saw an opportunity for market advantage by becoming embalmers and offering the service themselves. Eventually the modern funeral model was born. Those cabinet and furniture makers who failed to adopt the new science simply let it go and pursued their normal trade while the funeral director profession grew and flourished as a specialist industry. The advent of embalming introduced an inflection that sent the practice of undertaking into a completely new direction…ultimately creating a stand-alone profession.

Subsequent and less dramatic inflection points occurred over the years until 30 years ago cremation, specifically cremation without the sale of a casket, caused the first downward trending inflection. Until then, small adjustments or adaptations enabled effective “course corrections” that created market advantages for those who took advantage of them.

The advent of cremation was different and for a variety of reasons we dropped the ball. This trend continued in a steady 1% annual progression until 2008 when the rate spiked to more than 2% annually, an increase of more than 200% in a single year.

Because this trend has been relatively slow and progressive we have forgotten the impact. To many it remains an abstract. 2012 witnessed the first year in which cremations exceeded 1,000,000. Most of these did not include a casket sale. Since the MARGINS on cremation are more than $2,000 lower than burial this factoid represents more than $2 BILLION loss of MARGIN at the retail level. What does that mean to you individually? I concede that individual circumstances vary. But for a quick thumbnail estimate you can simply multiply the number of cremations you served last year by $2,000. So, if you served 50 cremation families then AT A MINIMUM you lost $100,000 in MARGIN. OUCH!!!

FUNERAL SERVICE FOUNDATION RESEARCH

The research revealed at this year’s NFDA convention conducted by the Funeral Service Foundation was both frightening and encouraging.

Frightening because it showed us how our demeanor, facilities and advertising are actually reinforcing negative stereotypes.

Encouraging because it showed us how we can begin the process of reinventing ourselves to reengage consumers and recover lost ground.

Make no mistake. The day of the casket is over. And we can no longer sustain ourselves by overcharging our burial customers. We, indeed, must reinvent ourselves. But we now have clarity relative to what we must do and how we must do it. To download the slides go to funeralservicefoundation.org and click on the button on the home page “Breaking The Consumer Code”

WARNING DANGER AHEAD

Much of what was learned was not so much new as it was clearer. Funeral directors have been gleaning hints for years. And the danger is greater than ever. But not a danger that most would imagine. For example: It is now as clear as it can be that people want and will probably insist on celebrating their uniqueness. This will most likely be interpreted as “personalization”. And in a limited way it is. But it is also much more. I suspect many in the audience at NFDA were comforting themselves saying: “we already do personalization.”

I don’t think the personalization we have done thus far is really hitting the mark. In many ways the funeral home is still center stage and the effort is almost always cosmetic instead of substantial. We mistake form for substance. We think gimmicks and “do-dads” suffice for deep meaning when they don’t.

Reinvention is Hard, Dirty Work

As I write this ICCFA is holding its fall management conference with reinvention as its theme. I suspect the combination of the Foundation research and the ICCFA meeting will make “reinvention” the new buzzword. I hope they will. Because reinvention…transformation…is what it will take to deflect the downward trend of the past 30 years and turn it upward again.

But, again, make no mistake. Reinvention is hard, dirty challenging work. It means substantive change to a business paradigm that is broken beyond repair. Notice I said paradigm. I am not as confident the model is broken. It may need repair but the model may be relatively sound. Time will tell. That kind of reinvention is painful. That is why I compare it to the magnitude of the inflection point embalming created. Like the cabinet and furniture makers during the advent of embalming, not everyone will be suited for it.

This transformation will require that we examine every part of what we do and what we believe. Some of what we do is like the “Baby In The Bathwater” and should be kept. Other parts should be separated out. It is that process that will be so difficult. And process is the right word. It is not, nor will it be, instant. Nor will it likely be an “either / or” answer. In this multivariate world we now live in it is more likely to be a “both / and” answer.

Andrew Grove, Chairman Of Intel Gives Us Some Insight

Andrew Grove, Chairman of Intel, spoke before the American Academy of Management regarding the reinvention of Intel many years ago. His insights help us learn what we will face. He referred to the experience as “The Valley of Death” forcing us all to go through a grief cycle of our own as we let go of the old and embrace the new.

This is an important metaphor if you will be undertaking this process. For you will indeed experience grief and so will your staff and family. In fact, the profession has been in the throes of the grief cycle for better than 10 years. Understanding where you are in that cycle will help those of you who may be stuck get unstuck.

Next Week: I will discuss how to recognize which stage of the grief cycle you are in.

Two Weeks From Now: What It Will Take For True Reinvention. “Islands Of Excellence in A Sea of Mediocrity”

The Non Question: Why Are Funerals So Expensive?

Written by Alan Creedy on September 24, 2012. Posted in The Creedy Commentary. 10 Comments on The Non Question: Why Are Funerals So Expensive?

This question and its brother: “How much does a funeral cost?” Are non questions. When we attempt to answer them directly with rational logical explanations we only end up annoying most people. Especially if we weigh them down with a litany of hours, cost of having a building and the time we waste being ready to take their call.

S0, how do we respond to these questions when they are posed? I use the word respond instead of answer because respond is what we should do. But first a little background.

During the last 30 years funerals have morphed from being a simple product (where the only real decision was selecting a casket) to a complex product. That is complex as opposed to complicated. (another one of those Creedyesque nuances). Complex as applied to products and services is actually a well-defined concept among sales and marketing experts. I don’t know who has missed this, the advertising agencies specializing in our industry or the funeral professional. Probably both. Our continued belief that we are a simple product / service is a large part of why we have so much trouble engaging the public. But I digress…

Among the attributes of complex products and services are that they are expensive and buyers have an inadequate frame of reference from which to assess value. Complex services also involve buyer resistance and, often, multiple decision makers. But most important among the attributes of complex products is this one which is entirely new to our paradigm:

In addition to the age old “why buy from you?” it includes “why buy at all?”

What people, then, are really asking is not about cost. It is:

“Why have a funeral at all?”

How to respond

Again, we should respond instead of react or defend. And the first thing to do is offer a challenge. Something the inquirer has to react or respond to.

As products and / or services become more complex the natural tendency of people is to look for ways to reduce that complexity and its attendant risk. Opting out altogether is one way of doing that. But in the majority of cases that is not what people really want.

It turns out that what people want is for someone to offer them a new and unique perspective and then teach them how that perspective best fits their real need.

When I am asked this question I redirect the conversation by challenging my inquirer. In this case I might say: “Actually, when you think about it, it’s surprising funerals aren’t more expensive than they are.”

Typically, people give me that “tell me more” look. So, I will continue with something like:

“Well, honoring a loved one is a pretty important thing in most peoples lives and you only get to do it once, right? It takes a special skill to be able to pull that off without notice in 3 or 4 days time and be effective at it.”

Generally, that will get me into a conversation. Sometimes it’s a “tell me more” conversation and sometimes it’s something else like: “I’d just as soon skip the whole thing”. Either way I am prepared because my response to either is pretty much the same:

“What I find when people really get a chance to talk about it…I mean after they get over the whole ‘creepy’ thing…is that they really do want to be remembered and they have something to say. If you go back over 4,000 years of human history we have always had this need and always had designated people who helped us with it.

My observation is when people take the easy way out and do nothing they aren’t giving people a chance to do what’s normal like gathering and comforting. When we are under any kind of stress we need other people around and we need physical touch and reassurance. Otherwise we could get stuck in our sadness and despair.

So, It may sound creepy but it really isn’t. It’s hard work helping people with their sorrow come to a better place…to find release. Wouldn’t that be what you would want for those you leave behind…release and transformation and not being forgotten I mean?”

And then, of course, I shut up because 99 times out of 100 I have opened the gates and they want to talk and all I have to do is listen and explore options.

Ain’t so hard really. You just have to make certain assumptions that I think a lot of practitioners aren’t making any more.

The need to gather and comfort and offer physical reassurance is a normal and natural human need
The need to designate someone in society to coordinate that activity is time honored
If people opt out their needs aren’t met and…MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL
PEOPLE REALLY REALLY DO WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT…WHEN THEY FEEL SAFE.

Video: If You Want A High Performing Organization Are You Measuring The Right Things?

Written by Alan Creedy on September 3, 2012. Posted in Video Gallery, The Creedy Commentary, The Video Blog, Video. 2 Comments on Video: If You Want A High Performing Organization Are You Measuring The Right Things?

My hero, Peter Drucker, believed:

“For the organization to perform to a high standard, its members must believe that what it is doing is, in the last analysis, the one contribution to community and society on which all others depend.”

For more than 30 years I have believed that DeathCare makes just such a contribution. This belief makes it, in my mind, a noble profession and it is the specific reason I have chosen to plant my career flag in it. I am not persuaded otherwise by the frequent attacks made on it by outsiders. Nor am I discouraged by the knowledge that it hosts any number of ignoble characters.

For the last several weeks I have been discussing leadership. There is a disturbing absence of positive leadership in our profession. It concerns me that the current emphasis on metrics, albeit necessary for the management of the business, threatens to turn us into shop foremen instead of leaders by rewarding the mundane over the essential. after all:

“you manage a business, you lead people”

You can prove this to yourself. Who are the heroes in your firm?

The arrangers with the highest average sale?
Those who create repeat customers?
Those who win over new customers among the guests attending services?

Perhaps they are the same. If so you are lucky.

When I was President of Brown-Wynne Funeral Homes some of our heroes, or should I say Heroines, didn’t have a license. Our focus was different then. We weren’t as concerned about profit-per-customer. We had a longer and bigger horizon in mind. A vision that is, in my opinion more sustainable than the direction our current metric obsession has the potential to take us. Maybe that’s why we enjoyed a 70+% market share.

A couple of comments in this video jumped out at me:

“…are we spending our lives mired in measuring the mundane.”
“We don’t have to choose between inspired employees and sizable profits, we can have both. In fact, inspired employees quite often help make sizable profits.”

One last point before you view this video: the point is made that “When the only tool you have is a hammer everything begins to look like a nail.” I will paraphrase his use of this as follows:

“If the Casket has been our Hammer…then our nail has been the early 20th century model of success.”

What I would do:

First, I would advise you to take an introspective step. If you are truly a “command and control” person, ignore this post. Stay the way you are. Keep your nose in your Excel worksheets. This is not for you.

If you really want your business on the right track I would share this with my key people first. We know from research that consumers see us as dark, lonely mysterious places. What would it be like if we could overcome that?

Then I would view the video together and ask the questions he has asked. How, why, who.

Finally, I would commit to weekly meetings to pursue this agenda.

Final Thought:

DeathCare is on the cusp, like so many other industries and professions, of transformational reinvention. Many practitioners will mistake dressing up what we have to sell as reinvention. It is not. For us to succeed means we must leave the place we are and become something that may surprise even us. We must transform the image consumers have of us so that they see us as the place they can go for solutions to their problem.

A Model For Change Within Your Organization

Written by Alan Creedy on August 27, 2012. Posted in Video Gallery, The Creedy Commentary, The Video Blog, Video. 2 Comments on A Model For Change Within Your Organization

Here is an interesting perspective on implementing change within your own organization.

Most funeral homes and cemeteries are at level III. One or two are possibly at level IV. To my knowledge, I have never been exposed to a level V.

Where Do You Fit on The Scale?

Will it be your tribe that changes Funeral Service For Your Community?

The Simpler The Strategy The More Likely The Success

Written by Alan Creedy on August 20, 2012. Posted in Video Gallery, The Creedy Commentary, The Video Blog, Video. 4 Comments on The Simpler The Strategy The More Likely The Success

Why do DeathCare Practitioners get these “Deer In The Headlight” looks when you use the word “Strategy” in their presence?

I think it’s partly because they don’t really know where to start what can really be a pretty simple activity. And, besides, somebody keeps changing the starting point every darn day.

If you attend enough conventions and seminars you can’t help but be aware we have too many options and not enough clarity.

Whenever confusion and indecisiveness set in a good coach will tell you to go back to basics and start over. And that is what most practitioners need to do. After all doing nothing in a rapidly changing business environment is the same as doing something except it’s riskier. Kind of like forgetting to get out of the way when a car is about to run you down.

The truth is: Developing a simple but doable strategy for your future isn’t as complicated as you might think.

See below for a short video on how really simple strategy can be

You don’t always need a complicated SWOT analysis or offsite retreat. Often by focusing on key essentials you can figure out where you need to go and get there a lot faster.

As I watched this video I couldn’t help think of Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. These were leaders who took daunting challenges and reduced them to simple goals that everyone understood and could get behind. Here is how I would phrase it if I were to address a funeral home staff:

“I don’t have to tell you that today’s family isn’t like the families we USED to serve. (gain consensus)

We either need to adapt or get left behind. And if we get left behind we get left out. And I didn’t sign up for that and I don’t think you did either. I am not going to tell you I have all the answers but I believe we can find the answers if we are willing to make the effort and suffer the inevitable mistake along the way. I am choosing to adapt. (take a leadership stand)

If you’re with me let’s start focusing on our key drivers. (start doing something)

If you’re not we need your support in the day-to-day operations until you can find another job…and that means you too dad. (clarify the culture)”

Oh, and I would probably fire the “Ten Call Tyrant” on the spot…just to save time. He’ll leave anyway.

To Buy a reprint of Donald Sull’s Article “Simple Rules For A Complex World” Click Here

Lessons On Leadership: Peak Performance From Adequate People

Written by Alan Creedy on August 14, 2012. Posted in The Creedy Commentary, The Video Blog, Video, Video Gallery. 4 Comments on Lessons On Leadership: Peak Performance From Adequate People

Peter Drucker was the first to draw a parallel between Leadership and Orchestra Conductors when he observed:

“A great orchestra is not composed of great musicians but of adequate ones who produce at their peak. [A great conductor] has to make productive what he has…the players are nearly unchangeable. So it is the conductor’s people skills that make the difference.”

What makes this particularly applicable to DeathCare is that our workers are not factory line workers as current trends in funeral home supervision and management are beginning to treat them. They are knowledge workers and in this same essay Drucker went on to say:

“The critical feature of a knowledge workforce is that its workers are not labor, they are capital.”

The success of any business is in how it invests its capital and if our workforce is our capital and we manage them like machines in a knowledge environment we are likely to lose. If, instead like the great conductors in this video, we begin to create the environment, the structure and the mechanisms that enable adequate people to continuously operate at their peak then we will realize a 100-fold return on our investment.
But, I fear this video may be too subtle for many in the profession to fully grasp what Mr. Talgam is trying to convey. In essence, his point about enabling the players to tell their own story and thereby become partners is really about building a team of collaborators around a central purpose and the conductor being a team leader.

Some Things To Note As You Watch:

Itay Talgam takes us through the entire progression of management as it develops from the “micro-manager” as represented by Riccardo Muti to what Jim Collins (author of the book: “Good To Great”) refers to as a LEVEL V leader as represented by Leonard Bernstein.

Note the fate of Riccardo Muti

This video is 20 minutes and you may be tempted to stop but HERE IS WHAT I REALLY WANT YOU TO DO:

As you watch the video and as Talgam describes the leadership style of each conductor try and decide where you fit. If you are an employee, what is your bosses style?

“[A conductor’s] happiness does not come from only his own story and his joy of the music. The joy is about enabling other people’s stories to be heard at the same time.” (Itay Talgam)

How Leonard Bernstein managed to get adequate people to perform at their peak:

My bet is that he did not overpay people. In fact, compensation probably didn’t have much to do with it. But I do believe the following components were key factors:

He set clear expectations
He set personal goals for each player and enabled them to develop
He gave regular and speedy feedback
He worked one-on-one and in teams
He did not accept mediocrity and would not let individuals accept it either
Everyone knew how they contributed and they were important to the team
Everyone knew they were cared about
He took obvious pleasure in THEIR success

Final thought: Can you imagine the sublime ecstasy Mr. Bernstein experiences in enabling ADEQUATE PEOPLE to accomplish a SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE.

THAT IS A LEVEL V LEADER.

If you want to know what a LEVEL V leader is then take another 2 1/2 minutes and watch this last video

This Blog Is Interrupted For Something Much More Important

Written by Alan Creedy on July 30, 2012. Posted in The Creedy Commentary, General Topics. 6 Comments on This Blog Is Interrupted For Something Much More Important

I know you are busy but YOU HAVE TO READ THIS! If you want to know what our future is about then I want to share a key example. Something that began just a few years ago and is now starting to pop up with a frequency that makes it into a trend. A trend now being picked up by major media. Something that will help us reengage that part of the market we have been losing.

My thanks to The Funeral Service Insider for bringing this to my attention by posting a link to the Forbes article on their Facebook Page.

SO STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND CHECK THIS OUT.

Why Is This Important?

Because this is not a “feel good” public service move by print media. This is a way newspapers believe will get them back into the paid obit game. If they succeed it will preempt you. So, you need to be in front of it not behind it. This is a great opportunity for a great PR move that will help you Reinvent Your Image.

Forbes magazine (indicates national press interest) recently published an article about an odd event that occurred at The Toronto Star in March of this year entitled But Don’t Go there Yet unless you intend to come back here!

The Incredible Story of Why A Newspaper Sent 15 Reporters To Cover The Funeral Of An Ordinary 55-Year-Old Woman

I have something to tell you. Here is an excerpt from the Forbes article:

“Sometimes an ordinary life is completely extraordinary — and hearing about it stops you dead in your tracks and makes you reflect about yours.

A story first appeared in the Toronto Star in March that I only just heard about through a tweet last week.

Imagine picking up your local newspaper and seeing a 4,000 word essay — beautifully written by 15 reporters no less — on the life of a recently deceased 55-year-old woman.

But, instead of the woman being a head of state, a princess, or a celebrity, this story is about a nobody. It’s the nobodies who fill the obituaries every day that we never pay attention to.

In fact, this was a woman who the primary author of the story, Catherine Porter, hadn’t heard about until one month prior to the story running, when she randomly came across her obituary when reading the paper casually.

The obituary was for a woman named Shelagh Gordon. She never married. For a time she sold wine, but was then laid off. She got a job selling ads in a condo magazine, thanks to her sister. She took anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication. She texted her family often and checked her Facebook messages all the time. She also referred to herself as a “freak.”

Why did a newspaper decide to pull 15 reporters aside to then do 4,000 words, exploring the boring life of such an insignificant person? Because, in such a random and fluky way, they found an amazing life that had never been noticed before by anyone else outside Shelagh’s family and they felt compelled to share it with the world.

It’s important you read it because, in reading the story of Shelagh, you start to realize how wonderfully rich are the lives of the scores of faceless people we pass each day on the bus or subway. You also see the importance and the fragility of your own life through her story”

I Want You To Do Two things

A few months ago I published an article entitled: Differentiate Your Funeral Home: Reinvent The Obituary The article featured a video panel of the leading obit writers of several of the world’s largest newspapers discussing the need to reinvent the obituary in order to recover relevance and preserve the practice. As you well know many newspapers are hanging by an economic thread. This story by the Toronto Star exemplifies this quiet but growing trend…a trend all funeral homes should be leading not following. So, first view the video by clicking the link above. It will help you see where this is going.

Feel free to read the Forbes version of the original article above but, Second, I urge you to go to the original source at The Toronto Star to see how they have incorporated some amazing interactive graphics. Click here Toronto Star. I bet you could do this on your own website.

Here is what I would do:

When I published the original article on reinventing the obituary I asked John Callaghan to look into how he could help funeral directors do just that. I would contact him and find out what he has accomplished. I would approach my local paper and negotiate with them to highlight a local ordinary citizen in the way the Toronto Star did at least monthly, weekly if I could. It would be exclusive under my banner and logo. If they didn’t cooperate I would simply do it on my own website.

One last thought: It is impossible to produce an obit of this type coincident with the service. Why does it have to be? There is no reason it can’t be published a few weeks later…ON YOUR WEBSITE. If you feel you have to do it for free then only include it in your high end burial and cremation services. PUT A PRICE ON IT FOR ALL OTHER SERVICES.

CONTACT John Callaghan here: John Callaghan

DISCLAIMER: I asked John to take on this project because he has the ability to do it. There is no economic relationship between us. I simply respect his work.

Tomorrow we will resume our regularly scheduled post on a new pricing strategy

Expert opinion: What To Say When They Say “Dad Wanted Nothing”

Written by Alan Creedy on July 9, 2012. Posted in The Creedy Commentary, Practitioner Forum: Insights and Ideas. 1 Comment on Expert opinion: What To Say When They Say “Dad Wanted Nothing”

A few years ago I was meeting with a husband and wife who operated a very successful funeral home. Like most successful people they were always looking for new ideas to help them stay in front of their competitors. To protect their privacy I’ll call them Bill and Jane.

Over the course of our two days together we talked about a wide range of marketing topics. At one point Bill was asking my advice on his arrangement process. It seemed that he kept running into the same obstacles over and over again; families that said that Dad didn’t want a funeral, families that said they were told not to make a fuss, families that said they weren’t going to do anything.

We launched into a lively conversation at his white board where we mapped out the entire arrangement process. The board was filled with opening statements, responses, transitions and closing statements. If they say…here’s what you say….if they say that…switch to this…and so forth.

After watching us for about 30 minutes Jane started laughing hysterically. Here’s how the next few moments played out…..

Jane: “you guys are really over complicating things”

Bill: “what are you talking about this is brilliant?”

Me: “Jane, what do you say when someone says Dad didn’t want a funeral?”

Jane: “I ignore the men and turn to the eldest female in the room and ask her how she feels about that. We talk about her feelings, and the feelings of the other women in the family, and then I help her find a compromise.”

Me: “What do you mean by compromise?”

Jane: “The women always want to do something but they feel that their hands are tied. Their loved one said they didn’t want a funeral and they want to honor their wishes. But they still want to do something so they really just need a new option.”

I was curious about how effective her approach was so we checked some of their performance reports. Of the 5 people making arrangements at their funeral home she had the highest average revenue. In fact, the next closest was 25% behind her.

Bill and I had approached the problem from our male perspective. We had looked at the arrangement meeting as a negotiation and had carefully planned each step in the process.

Jane, on the other hand, approached the arrangement meeting as a conversation that included her and the other women in the room. The focus of the meeting was not the social security number or the obituary information or even the events surrounding the death. The focus was on feelings….a topic that makes most men run for the safety of the nearest Home Depot tool aisle.

As I mentioned earlier this experience happened a few years ago. Since then I have studied over twenty books on the topic of marketing to women. My favorite is a book called Why She Buys by Bridget Brennan, which I highly recommend.

In today’s society women control the vast majority of purchase decisions, especially when it concerns a family event (like a funeral).

Gentlemen, if you disagree with me go home and have a conversation with your wife then call your sister to confirm. They will straighten you out.

If you want to see an immediate improvement in your business you do not need to go to an expensive academy to learn new arrangement techniques. You also do not need to bring in an expensive consultant (yes, that includes me). You only need to do three things.

Accept that women are the decision makers.
Learn how to have a conversation with them on their terms.
Help them balance the wishes of their loved one with the needs of the family.

Learning how to communicate with women will definitely help your funeral home business and it may even help your home life as well. In my own study of this topic I have learned to be more comfortable talking about emotions but I’m also careful to spend adequate time at Home Depot just to keep things in balance.

John Callaghan is owner of Funeral Success.com. His Blog is one of my favorites and I strongly recommend you subscribe

Are You Tired of Burying Your Local Treasure?

Written by Alan Creedy on July 4, 2012. Posted in The Creedy Commentary. No Comments on Are You Tired of Burying Your Local Treasure?

My friend, Ed Mazur of Kapinos-Mazur Funeral Home, ran a very successful PR / Public Service program in his local community. The campaign featured this poster and newspaper ads. Weekends were set aside to encourage parents to clean out unused medication from their medicine cabinets and bring them to the funeral home. On the first weekend more than a 1,000 people showed up and the funeral home collected 153 pounds of unused medications. “YOU GO ED!” If you want to know more give Ed a call at Kapinos-Mazur. Maybe he’ll sell you the program. 😉