The March of Dimes was founded in 1938 by Franklin D. Roosevelt to eradicate Infantile Paralysis (Polio). With the advent of Jonas Salk's vaccine in the early 1950's the disease was largely eradicated in the Western World. In 1994 the United States was the first nation to be certified "Polio Free." What does this have [...]
Six Blind Funeral Directors - Third Installment In our prior two installments we looked at our future from a theoretical perspective and a rational perspective. This installment we will focus on a contextual perspective. A Contextual Approach To The Future A study of the evolution of contemporary American DeathCare beginning in 1850 suggests that our [...]
Six Blind Funeral Directors - 2nd installment A Rational Approach To The Future Last week we explored the theoretical approach to our future using the allegory of the Six Blind Funeral Directors. This week we explore a Rational Approach. Our first question is: What do we know? We know that our market has changed and [...]
Six Blind Funeral Directors Describe Our Future Chapter 1 The Theory of DeathCare We are all familiar with the parable of the six blind men describing an elephant. As we struggle with imagining the future of funeral service a survey of trade journal articles and convention agendas can’t help but bring this parable to mind. [...]
Artificial Intelligence - Doing more efficiently that which is already done poorly. It's all the buzz - Artificial Intelligence. Of course the excitable "hand wringers" among us are already speculating about its disruptive potential. Perhaps this time they are right. It remains to be seen. AI's first toehold is in the writing of obituaries. Feeling, [...]
Covid - 19 and The Reinvention of Spring Burials Talking with funeral directors across the nation and Canada I am hearing (as you are experiencing) that you are busy but the services are mostly abbreviated or direct. So your revenue is deeply affected. Many wonder what funeral service will be like after we struggle to return [...]
This is an example of great creative thinking from O'Connor mortuary. CLICK ON THE PHOTO BELOW
While I was involved in preneed marketing I observed an odd and, yet, consistent human behavior. Research suggests that many people would prefer to plan their funeral with someone other than a funeral director. YET, when a death occurred they don't want to talk with anyone BUT a funeral director. So as the internet has [...]
Sometimes people ask WHY we have funerals. Good Question. Unfortunately, many of our colleagues aren't quite sure themselves so they stumble. With almost 40 years under my belt (and you thought I was overweight?) I have come to a conclusion and have coined a phrase I welcome my readers to adopt: Collaborative Healing My [...]
These two questions will help you set the stage and provide the service your families are looking for. Today, there are two schools of thought on how to attract more families: Low cost Hyper service To be financially successful as a low-cost provider requires a level of discipline and cost control rarely seen among [...]
This category contains articles about how to get and keep customers