Author: Alan Creedy

What is needed is a sensory rich way to communicate why people should call us rather than the other guy. I created this draft version for a client’s website. He is now working to use it as a commercial for tv ads. Most of the work is done. It can be modified for your use outside his trade area for less than $900.

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People Call Us Video is the intellectual property of 

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Many funeral directors know that when they really help someone that person often becomes a friend and advocate. Yet, we are reluctant to ask for that public testmonial. Kilpatrick Funeral Homes in Monroe, LA produced this testimonial ad for about $3,500. It’s a great one.

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In a recent Harvard Business Review article of the same title as this page the authors discussed research findings on 4 approaches that work for moving customers off price fixation. The one I liked most was narrowing your prices so that customers stopped thinking about what they could afford and, instead started thinking about what they wanted.

Not two weeks after reading that article I walked into the selection room of the Bean Funeral Home in Reading, PA. and witnessed first hand the impact of this concept. Mr. Bean has narrowed his offerings on caskets to range from a low of $1,150 to a high of $2,950. I literally experienced emotional relief, stopped thinking about cost and started looking at what I liked. What makes that experience interesting to me is that I was NOT a customer…I was a visitor. If it had that kind of impact on me (supposedly a knowledgable person) I can only imagine the impact on an actual customer.

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It used to be said that “Funeral Service is in the details.” One of the characteristics of truly great practitioners and one that fascinates me is their preoccupation with even the smallest details.

I have often thought that one of the most important traits I would look for in a funeral home employee might be called an “anticipatory response.” Good funeral directors are always anticipating family needs, logistical needs and so on. Key to this is the drive to “think things through.” It’s not so much being finicky as it is the heartfelt desire that everything is perfect for your guests.

Here is an example of attention to detail that exemplifies the kind of thing that makes for high service standards.

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Today’s awareness of our active military and veterans is higher than it has ever been. We are all looking for a way to thank them or lighten their burden.

Here is a simple, meaningful way to involve your community and get some PR besides.

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We all look for special ways to interact with our community. We know that when a national or international figure dies people need a way to express themselves. Many of us have made efforts to have register books available for the public to sign that can be sent off to commemorate public deaths like Princess Diana, the Pope or President Reagan.

The same holds true when a local tragedy occurs like a firefighter’s death or 9/11.

Here is a magnificent way to help your community find a central place of expression, a place to gather. It has the added benefit of providing local media focus as well.

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I used to have a senior manager who worked for me that told me that when he served a family he consciously made that family the center of his world. He wanted them to feel they were the most important thing in his life at the moment.

If you have ever seen the training film based on the four cultural principles of The World Famous Pike Place Fish Market, you know that one of the four is: “Be There”. Here is a funeral home that has incorporated a mechanism that facilitates that behavior.

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I have never been able to find anyone who can explain to me why our profession believes they should always be unobtrusive. Then I met John Wujek.

John and his firm have created a way to dismiss funerals that affirms the speakers, the deceased, the family AND the attendees while reinforcing WHY WE HAVE FUNERALS.

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If you watch “Antiques Roadshow” with any regularity or you are like me and are old enough to have met practioners who were around 60 and 70 years ago you are probably aware that almost all the innovation of the past 5 – 12 years is really reintroduction of practices we abandoned decades ago.

When my own mother died we viewed her in a rental casket. She was not embalmed but the funeral home did a fantastic job of making her look great. I didn’t have the option you will see in this video. I wish I had, it would have been perfect!

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There are 65,000,000 adult caregivers of whom 45,000,000 are caring for the elderly. These folks are part of the influence chain and this is a perfect inexpensive way to tie into a national brand for very little cost.

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Preneed Guarantees are a hot topic these days. Funeral Homes feel caught betwixt and between…desparately wanting to get out of the game but feeling they can’t for competitive reasons. Here is a great way to compromise and improve your average at the same time.

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