Author: Alan Creedy

Doing Nothing Costs Too Much

Written by Alan Creedy on January 14, 2013. Posted in The Creedy Commentary, Money: Getting it and Keeping it. 5 Comments on Doing Nothing Costs Too Much

On my office wall I have framed photos of three men. If I asked you what they have in common I anticipate I would get many different answers but, for me, there is only one answer.

Each, in his own way, despite significant personal tragedy and unimaginable public pressure and emotional stress understood the importance of MAKING THE MAIN THING THE MAIN THING.

And this, dear reader, is the single reason so many of us mere mortals find it almost impossible to refuse distractions and remain stalwart in the face of resistance, resolute under pressure and persevere for long periods of time toward our goals. We have no real idea what THE MAIN THING is. We hear a lot about someone else’s main thing but we don’t have a strong enough hold on our main thing that we end up getting caught up in theirs. Or we are wise enough to recognize it is not ours so we do nothing. We function on someone else’s agenda or none at all. So, we go to default futures:

We Work In Our Business Claiming We Are Too Busy To Work On Our Business.

I am in my 34th year of commitment to the DeathCare profession and the 42nd year of my career. Like my heroes (but not to the unimaginable degree they suffered) I have experienced much of what they did. As I know many of you have. It has shaped me. I am grateful not bitter. If nothing else it has built my faith. Like many of you, it has prepared me for such a time as this. There have been times where I had no main thing and times, like now, that I did. Age gives perspective. I see the purpose in both times now.

DeathCare continues it long, accelerating decline. We (I) have obsessed about what is changing. But we have forgotten to take into consideration what is NOT changing. People will continue to die. Survivors will continue to have a need to reconcile that death emotionally and to honor the life of those they have lost. I was reminded in the movie “Lincoln” that it was Euclid that first used the phrase: “self-evident”. I would suggest that these things are self-evident.

If you are an owner or a general manager, partner…whatever… you have a moral obligation to yourself, to your staff, to the legal entity you lead and, most of all, to the public you serve to MAKE THE MAIN THING THE MAIN THING.

SO WHAT IS IT?

I would prefer to have you think this out for yourself. But I have a moral obligation to at least help you get started…and it isn’t THE STUFF WE SELL. You don’t need to get into pet cremation or doodads and for all that is holy you need to get your nose out of the selection room if you still have one of those things.

No, depending on your circumstances, I see only two choices.

I didn’t sign up to oversee the demise of a profession. I am annoyed at the thought I might have to and I am betting that many of you are as well.

Given the state of the business, many of you are tired or approaching retirement or both. You love this business but you also know in your heart that what faces us may be a young man’s game. (I don’t think it is but it certainly is going to take time and energy and RISK). For you the main thing is to guide your firm, your family and staff into safe harbor by finding the right exit strategy. There is no shame in that. In fact, if we can take the recent Aurora sale as an example, it takes a good deal of courage and caring to lead that kind of initiative. I have been helping many do just that. I don’t broker. I don’t believe a broker is necessary in most cases. Most of you are smarter than you think. You and your advisors just need some good coaching and guidance. So, I can help you, but that is not where my heart is.

The second choice is to make a deliberate commitment to GET IN DEEPER. That isn’t just going to take reinvention it is going to take transformation. It will take work, risk and an open mind. It will require laying to rest some sacred cows and building some new paradigms. But based on what I am discovering among those who have found those new paradigms, I believe you will find new meaning in your work and even joy in your life.

What would it be like:

to look forward to going to work for a change?
What would it be like to not see that “phone shopper on line one” as a challenge but an opportunity to make a difference in someones life?
What would it be like to have people in your local community not just say “that’s the funeral director” but “That’s MY funeral director”?
What would it be like for price to be irrelevant in the context of choosing a caregiver?

If we can make all that happen…and I believe we can because I have seen it…the money will follow. But when it happens the richness of your career will overshadow the money. I promise. Am I blowing smoke?

Wait and see. Stay tuned.

Remember your two options:

Get you, your family and your firm to safe harbor

Get back in the game. Have fun, find meaning, help people and reclaim your future.

It may be darkest before the dawn but that only means it is the start of a fresh new day

WIND IS CHANGING-UPDATE

Written by Alan Creedy on January 10, 2013. Posted in The Creedy Commentary. 6 Comments on WIND IS CHANGING-UPDATE

If you were not able to access the video on this week’s post, “THE WIND IS CHANGING” it is now working or you can go directly to youtube by clicking here.

The Wind Is Changing – The Conversation Project

Written by Alan Creedy on January 7, 2013. Posted in Video, The Creedy Commentary, The Video Blog. 5 Comments on The Wind Is Changing – The Conversation Project

For months now I have been telling DeathCare that the wind is changing in our favor. The public attitude toward death and dying is changing at the GLOBAL level. For the present those involved in this are all “grass roots” initiatives springing up independent of each other wherever I look. I have examples in Singapore and Milwaukee, Vancouver and Boston, New York and Philadelphia.

People WANT to talk about the subject with their parents and with each other and, for now, they see DeathCare as experts who can help them with the information they need.

Eventually, someone will need an enemy to push against and since we make a convenient patsy they will choose us and if history is any prediction we will let them (our fault for letting them, not theirs).

ABC News has picked up the banner of The Conversation Project, A Harvard Medical School Initiative. Watch this short video.

if you are unable to view click here

What I would do:

I would transform my bereavement program which really only impacts 10% of those I serve to a “PreDeath” Project and incorporate the Conversation Project and some of the other stuff I am gathering and make my funeral home the local expert on this matter.

Burials down 4%…Cremations up 2.5%…Calculate Your Funeral Cliff

Written by Alan Creedy on December 17, 2012. Posted in The Creedy Commentary, Money: Getting it and Keeping it. No Comments on Burials down 4%…Cremations up 2.5%…Calculate Your Funeral Cliff

With all the hype about our nation’s pending FISCAL CLIFF, I was recently asked when we could expect funeral service to reach it’s fiscal cliff.

For a number of years now it seems that if it weren’t for bad news we wouldn’t have any news at all. Rumor has it that Batesville was reporting last summer that, between growing cremation and fewer deaths, burials were down 4%. We know that the cremation rate more than doubled in 2008 to its present rate of 2.5% a year and 2012 saw the number of cremations top 1,000,000 for the first time.

Well, the DeathCare Fiscal Cliff is a moving target but I reached out to my friends at Federated Funeral Directors of America and Cana and with a little algebra I was able to tease out a projection that suggests it will be sometime around 2020. (Hence the soon to be announced 2020 Project).

They say it is darkest before the dawn. I believe that. I spent two solid weeks on the road in November. I saw some things. Good things. Even some great things. I can’t wait to tell you about them. In the meantime, now is the time to think about two options: get your family to safe harbor by preparing your firm for sale

Get back in the game by finding your purpose and reinventing yourself. If you choose this option be forewarned: you may have so much fun that selling will not be an option.

Be that as it may. I thought you might like to see my work on the FISCAL CLIFF CALCULATOR AND then enter your own numbers to see when you might be FACING YOUR OWN FISCAL CLIFF.

CLICK ON THE BUTTON BELOW TO GO TO THE CALCULATOR PAGE AND THEN CLICK ON THE BLACK BUTTON TO SELECT THE FISCAL CLIFF CALCULATOR.

HAMMERS, NAILS, PEWS AND HEARSES

Written by Alan Creedy on December 10, 2012. Posted in The Creedy Commentary, General Topics. 5 Comments on HAMMERS, NAILS, PEWS AND HEARSES

My discussion of reinvention / transformation has sparked more comment (online and offline) than most any other topic. Clearly it is on every one’s mind. As we continue to explore this topic it is important…maybe critical…that we realize that we have an obligation to ourselves and to the public to be conscious of keeping a balance between the radical and the superficial.

Almost all the responses, comments and in depth discussions have revealed to me a classic blind spot. A blind spot that inevitably appears in such a discussion. In addressing this blind spot it is essential that balance be at the forefront of our thinking or we will automatically tip in one direction or the other.

If the only tool I have is a hammer…

…then every problem is a nail. We have heavy investments in the past…financially, emotionally and culturally. A total break will be hard and that is not what I am suggesting will be necessary in all cases. But just because you have a facility, pews and a hearse does not necessarily mean that your future will need those things. Maybe it will…maybe it won’t. Or, maybe it will be in a different form.

In the past, transformation in our profession often occurred around the facility (call it facility-centric). In this new era that may be true…in some cases. But in others your facility and all its accouterments may prove to be a significant liability. From what I am seeing one of several scenarios may include “virtualizing” your facility or not having a facility at all. Additionally, current trade area assumptions may no longer be valid. The standard 3-5 mile city radius may no longer be valid as we see people willing to travel much longer distances to get what they want.

For Example: As I visit funeral homes today I always get a sinking feeling when I see “fixed” pews. Notice, if you will, that many churches built in recent years have abandoned these and replaced them with comfortable movable chairs. This turns the sanctuary into a multi-purpose room (we had basketball nets that rolled up in the ceiling in ours) that gives a more informal tone and also allows a high degree of flexibility.

Most families now forego the private family room. Opting, instead, to sit with their guests. I expect that future services may be set up in semi-circle or even circle format. I recently attended a quaker funeral set up in their traditional square with attendees facing each other. That would have been impossible with fixed pews.

I am not picking on pews. I am saying that EVERY item in our toolkit needs to be examined. Some of you will need to reinvest in that building even if you just redecorated because now you know things you didn’t know before. Some of you will learn that you can use your current facility as a “base of operations” and create a “virtual” facility by developing relationships with churches and banquet facilities in other communities outside your normal service area. Others will see opportunity in bi-furcating their business into separate service areas in order to expand outside the funeral business.

Oh, and about hearses…

I read an article a couple of years ago that said most “Boomers” were expected to “age-in-place”. Meaning they weren’t going to retire to Florida like their parents. They were just going to stay where they were. I have been in more funeral homes than normal this year. Is it me? Or are there a lot of hearses “aging-in-place?” My guess is that they are getting used less and less so people are keeping them longer.

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: THE ARRANGEMENTS CONFERENCE–ENTERING THE “HOLY OF HOLIES”

Written by Alan Creedy on November 19, 2012. Posted in The Creedy Commentary. 16 Comments on REINVENTION: THE ARRANGEMENTS CONFERENCE–ENTERING THE “HOLY OF HOLIES”

In Old Testament Days the Hebrew Temple contained the “Holy of Holies” behind the “Veil of The Temple”. The Ark of The Covenant which, in turn, held the stone tablets on which were written the Ten Commandments and Moses’ rod was inside this area. So sacred was it that only one priest was allowed to enter it and then only once a year. After an elaborate month-long cleansing ritual the high priest entered to offer sacrifice atoning for the people’s sins.

It was customary to tie a bell around his neck and a rope around his ankle in the event he was not fully clean or his sacrifice was not acceptable and god chose to smite him dead. If the bell stopped ringing the other priests knew he was dead and could pull him out by the rope.

ENTER WITH FEAR AND TREMBLING

And so it is with appropriate fear and trembling that I enter that Holy of Holies of Funeral Service: The Arrangements Conference.

I think I have always been aware that the arrangements room is sacred. In 33 years I have been invited more than a few times to converse with clients in the prep room while they worked (and even helped out once or twice). In that same time I have only been invited to observe 1 arrangement conference and that was BY THE STAFF at Flanner & Buchanan. But I had assumed that once one had 5 years experience as a funeral director that a level of competence had been attained.

NOT SO!

I am now aware that the overwhelming majority (I am guessing well in excess of 90%) of funeral directors have never been formally trained, observed, critiqued or otherwise supervised in this most important of all functions. At first, I couldn’t believe what I was discovering. But I have spent the better part of a year now confirming this DARK SECRET. At first I did feel foolish for falling prey to the bluff and bluster of some of our more vocal defenders but then I began to feel sad and, finally, I began to understand.

THIS FAILURE EXPLAINS A LOT:

It explains why we are so feeble when it comes to defending ourselves against our attackers
It explains why we are so defenseless when it comes to standing up for what we believe
It explains why we don’t know what we believe
It explains why we spend so much more time fighting among ourselves than fighting for ourselves
It explains the “hyper-provincialism” among trade groups
It explains the bizarre co-dependency relationship between funeral-directors and their casket vendors
It explains so much

FINALLY, IT EXPLAINS THE COGNITIVE DISSONANCE I HAVE FELT SO MANY YEARS BETWEEN WHAT I BELIEVE TO BE SOCIETY’S NEED AND THE PROFESSION’S MISINTERPRETATION OF THAT NEED (i.e. selling boxes)

BUT NOW WE CAN FIX THIS

The lack of a cohesive narrative has hurt us in ways that we can only imagine. But let us not resort to our typical coping mechanisms: Denial, Blaming, Labeling and Avoiding. Because there is a way to fix this quickly.

It is said that funeral director’s make terrible sales people. If a requirement of selling is accountability then this is absolutely true! But another part of selling is teaching and in a serendipitous occurrence the right solution is appearing at the same time as the right trend. Funeral Directors (when they believe in something) actually make pretty good teachers. Boomers master products and services through acquiring learning…but not in the standard tell / memorize way. Boomer learning is a process of self discovery…not “you-tell-me / I-believe-everything-you-say”

It turns out a couple of humble funeral directors have been tinkering with this for more than 10 years and have finally honed the method enough to begin training other funeral directors how to do it. But before I tell you who they are two warnings are in order. This method will require:

Courage
Discipline

For which you will enjoy:

Significantly improved family rapport
Significantly increased repeat business
Significantly increased market share
Significantly more robust quality of service
Significantly increased Revenue / Profit; and best of all
Significantly increased Job Satisfaction

Introducing The Arrangers Academy

Karl Jennings and Todd Borek have developed a method and hope to create a movement to reinvent the arrangement conference. The promises I cite above are the ones they have experienced in their own firm. I have seen it with my own eyes and I believe in it.

They have created the first cohesive narrative for the profession. Their method is not a sales script (although it is initially a script). It is a process and a method by which they challenge the customer to think in a different way. The client then “Self-Discovers” their own need and how the services of the funeral home can help them meet that need. It is a perfect fit for the “Boomer” learning style.

NEXT STEPS

The Arranger’s Academy is the third leg of our reinvention stool. I will be introducing the THREE LEGS OF REINVENTION in the first quarter of 2013.

If you would like to know more about Profit Clinics, Culture Change or The Arranger’s Academy email me at alan@alancreedy.org

REINVENTION: PROFIT CLINICS

Written by Alan Creedy on November 12, 2012. Posted in The Creedy Commentary, Money: Getting it and Keeping it. No Comments 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: A 3 Pronged Plan

Written by Alan Creedy on November 5, 2012. Posted in The Creedy Commentary, Leadership. No Comments on Reinvention: A 3 Pronged Plan

I once heard a sermon that now seems appropriate to this last in my series on reinvention.

We all know the story of Jesus healing the blind. This sermon wondered not about the healing but THE DAY AFTER. The man’s whole life was turned upside down. He had KNOWN HOW to be blind. His livelihood depended on being blind. His relationships were structured around his blindness. The way in which he related to his environment was directly connected to his blindness.

BUT NOW HE COULD SEE.

And the consequence of being able to see is that everything had to become new. His relationships, his livelihood, how he interacted with his environment…everything! After years of automatic behavior he had to go into intense learning mode.

AND SO IT IS WITH REINVENTION

This sermon illustrates my sole concern for the profession. WE KNOW HOW TO BE ON THE LOSING END OF CHANGE. We are used to it. We know how to function in it. We have lowered our expectations. Many have lost faith in what we offer the public and even in people. As I said a few weeks ago, most of us are in some stage of grief…even if we feel optimistic. Some of us are stuck in it and have perversely started to like it. The struggle for survival has come to define us. A little like the “Stockholm Syndrome” defines some long term hostages.

3 steps to Reinvention:

I received some very nice feedback on last week’s post. Thank you. Everyone needs affirmation. But it made me a little sad because no one seemed to realize this reinvention business is a little like being invited to something akin to the crucible week at Marine Corps Boot Camp.

Reinvention is not an event it is a process. That said, I see 3 critical needs that can be addressed today and will provide the equivalent of immediate impact…both financial and organizational.

Consider this a “HEADS UP”. In the early part of 2013 I will be inviting you to a SPECIAL PURPOSE FORUM to experience the Islands of Excellence I believe will deliver the key leverage tools you need. No, not a Crucible Week. Those of you who know me from earlier times will recognize it as a “Busman’s Holiday”.

I told you last week I had found some Islands of Excellence in our Sea of Mediocrity and it’s time you met. These will be real solutions to the THREE PRIMARY ISSUES WHICH MUST BE RESOLVED before anyone can hope to successfully reinvent their business:

Change YOUR culture from this to this

Fix the Arrangements Conference Problem
Learn to be better stewards of your business

SIDE NOTE: UNFORTUNATELY, THE FORMAT OF A BLOG IS SUCH IT DOES NOT ALLOW ME TO TOUCH ON ALL THREE IN ONE WEEK. SO BEAR WITH ME AS I UNVEIL THEM OVER THE COURSE OF THE NEXT THREE WEEKS.

Fix our Dysfunctional Culture

A GOOD BOOK SAYS: “AS A MAN THINKETH, SO IS HE.”

As a lifelong student of leadership and, now, as a coach and mentor I have reached a profound conclusion:

All people are dysfunctional and, therefore, all organizations are dysfunctional.

Say it–get over it. This is an important first step for all organizations as everyone believes that there really are perfect people out there. So lighten up, recognize that you need to get better and then get better. Because…you can.

I have often observed that most small businesses are a hold-over from feudal society. Owners are Vassals and employees are serfs. That may have worked at one time but it doesn’t any longer. People in our profession want to be led not driven. This is one of the reasons I have been talking these last 6 months about the current trend toward turning owners and managers into shop foremen through the over-application of productivity metrics. Don’t get me wrong. These have their place. But knowledge workers don’t work that way. In fact, reducing knowledge workers to metrics on a chart is a sure fire way of undermining their motivation. You should maintain such metrics…but using them to support a “carrot and stick” or “command and control” management system is a recipe for problems.

Knowledge workers need, NO THEY MUST connect their personal value system to their work. And, not so surprisingly, this is easy to do in funeral service once we change the Feudal Society paradigm and connect the work with purpose.

What does this do?

Well, besides the obvious benefit of turning a group of individuals working independently toward an ill-defined and vague goal into a team focused on achieving a clearly defined goal with the right tools to do it. There is the added benefit of relieving the load from the shoulders of the key staff or owner. You see if you have the right culture, according to my hero Peter Drucker, your culture will eat someone else’s strategy for lunch. And that includes the strategies that have been so successful turning some of our colleagues into shop foremen lately.

Introducing the Pacific Institute. Just a few of their successes: Coaches Nick Saban and Pete Carroll (Mr Carroll did some miracle work with them with inner city gangs in Los Angeles) and the U.S. Olympic Swim Team. Here is a taste:

I have seen this program at work in schools, in unionized manufacturing plants, sports teams and inner city gangs. The results are nothing short of miraculous.

If you are an owner or manager and you are tired of “Pushing strings uphill” or “herding cats” this is the best answer for you I have found.

Next Week: Fixing the Arrangements Conference

Need cash flow? This is where…for the first time…you will find SUSTAINABLE revenue growth in terms of both quality of sales and volume!

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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. 6 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”

New Research: Why 99% of Funeral Facilities Reinforce Negative Stereotype

Written by Alan Creedy on October 1, 2012. Posted in The Creedy Commentary. 14 Comments on New Research: Why 9914 of Funeral Facilities Reinforce Negative Stereotype

The Funeral Service Foundation has just released the results of its “Bleeding Edge” research project with world renowned Olson-Zaltman Associates simultaneously revealing both disturbing and encouraging insights.

Recognizing that the growth of cremation has more than doubled (leaping from 1% to more than 2% annually in the last several years) The Funeral Service Foundation commissioned the unconventional market research using the patented ZMET process to study:

THE MARKET WE ARE LOSING.

The ZMET process is an unconventional approach to market research focused on uncovering the unconscious metaphors consumers use to relate with and make choices about a given service or product. Olson Zaltman developed the process while its founders were still professors at Harvard and Penn State in the 1990’s. It has since been embraced by a veritable “who’s-who” of Global companies, universities, non-profits and governments.

The results didn’t so much tell us anything new as they revealed how we are unintentionally reinforcing negative stereotypes which may be causing the market to seek out alternatives.

The Foundation will be rolling out the results of this research at the upcoming NFDA Convention TUESDAY OCTOBER 9 AT 7:30 AM. (SEE NOTE BELOW) in a program entitled:

Breaking the Consumer Code: New Insights Into Ways Consumers Really Think About Funerals

The program will cover the findings and attempt to identify the far-reaching implications for us and how the profession needs to begin the process of transformation over the next 5 or more years to remain relevant in this NEW NORMAL.

Attendees will learn:

Why 99% of funeral home facilites reinforce consumer attitudes toward death and what you can do to transform

Why conventional funeral home advertising not only reinforces negative stereotypes but may be driving consumers to look for alternatives

How consumers are projecting their feelings about death onto practitioners and how we need to reposition ourselves to change that perception

What is most important to “Baby Boomers” and how they want to be integrated into the planning process for their parents and themselves

How our profession is experiencing its own grief cycle as it grapples with the transformation of its livelihood

The NEXT STEPS FAMIC and The Foundation are taking to make resources available to practitioners to facilitate their adaptation

I strongly urge you to attend this pivotal event.

For your interest below is a brief interview with Gerald Zaltman, The Joseph C. Wilson Professor Emeritus, Harvard Business School, explaining how the ZMET process works in the context of a project Olson Zaltman Associates did for Coca Cola.
Special note: this program, Breaking the Consumer Code: New Insights Into Ways Consumers Really Think About Funerals, was originally scheduled for Sunday October 7. It has been rescheduled due to popular interest to Tuesday October 9 at 7:30 AM See your program guide for room number.