Tag: funeral home consulting

“If You Find You Are Riding A Dead Horse The Best Strategy is…

Written by Alan Creedy on March 19, 2013. Posted in The Creedy Commentary. 8 Comments on “If You Find You Are Riding A Dead Horse The Best Strategy is…

to dismount.”

Archimedes once said, “Give me a lever long enough and I will move the world”

For the last 30 years we have been pushing harder and harder on one and only one lever with diminishing results and it’s time we stopped.

Many of you, dear readers, know that I have been a bible student most of my adult life. The parallel between our behavior and this one lever has always struck me as akin to idol worship. 30 years ago it was amusing. Today it is tragic.

Having said that and before I continue let me be clear: I am NOT pointing a finger of blame. In the context of the times the behavior is fully understandable. Further, both sides to the resulting co-dependent relationship are equally complicit AND should now forge a new and different relationship because they still need each other. (emphasis on different)

Historically, until 1984 and the passage of the infamous FTC rule, society pretty much dictated what you did when someone you loved died. As a result, customers only had two decisions to make: 1. which funeral home; and 2. what merchandise. Everything was SIMPLE. Then everything changed. Not just because of the FTC. That was only a facilitative event. Because society lost its ability to cause conformity. Seemingly people could make alternative choices (including nothing at all) with no apparent ill effects. We began to experience our now increasing decline in relevancy.

Because customers only had one decision to make once they had selected a funeral home there was only one financial lever available with which to impact revenue. This:

Of course you can also increase volume. But that can take years because the public continues to stubbornly refuse to die at our convenience.

From this single lever grew a “co-dependent” relationship that is also understandable. Tacitly, manufacturers agreed to make practitioners their sole source of distribution and practitioners developed an over reliance (dependence) on the manufacturer for strategic direction. That was great when their challenges and goals were aligned. Unfortunately, that is no longer true. So, for 30 years now we have responded to a market turning away from traditional burial by pushing harder and harder on the one lever. This may be what has caused the cremation rate to spike by 250% in 2008. Who knows?

This is where the idol parallel strikes me. Families today don’t know what they want or need! To meet this challenge requires people skills. Skills like listening, guiding, teaching, relationship and trust building. To paraphrase god, “your idols cannot speak, they cannot listen, they cannot guide.” In fact, if they have any influence at all it is mostly negative.

Should the casket companies close up and go home? Should we stop selling caskets? Emphatically NO! But the question is begged:

“How is pushing so hard on that lever working for you?”

Instead a new alliance should be formed. Caskets need to take their rightful place as merchandise we sell…not “what we are.” We need, as a profession, to realize that we offer something valuable to society. For all of history mankind has demonstrated consistent needs when dealing with loss. Our current society is ignoring those needs but that doesn’t make them any less real. Replacing our real value to society with a piece of furniture only encourages that irrelevance. I think that for those who want burial we can do both. For those who want cremation we have a moral obligation to help them understand their needs. That means that instead of investing in a new selection room you need to invest in training.

I know both the funeral director side and the vendor side. The casket obsession has impaired the ability to adapt on both sides. U.S. vendors are severely hampered by their inability to become efficient both in distribution and in manufacturing by simple things that wouldn’t exist outside a co-dependent relationship. For instance, they have all realized that they would be dramatically better off by limiting the number of SKU’s they carry. At a recent supplier sales meeting I assured them there was not a funeral director in the country that wouldn’t support a reduction if it would hold down wholesale costs “AS LONG AS THEY CONTINUED TO SUPPLY THEIR FAVORITES.”

We are both (vendors and practitioners) in the same boat. It’s sinking. We should talk.

But maybe I am wrong. Maybe a box can replace a caring ear, an experienced word of wisdom.

PTSD: The Slow Leak in Funeral Service’ Tire

Written by Alan Creedy on March 5, 2013. Posted in Practitioner Forum: Insights and Ideas, The Creedy Commentary. 14 Comments on PTSD: The Slow Leak in Funeral Service’ Tire

As we enter our 3rd month following the Newtown disaster our nation has long since settled back into its routine fighting over symptoms and ignoring causes. I find myself reflecting on a hidden issue. A secret only occasionally mentioned and then quickly dismissed.

No doubt those directly involved following this latest trauma are still affected (afflicted seems a better word). The public would agree but in their minds they are thinking of the parents coworkers, friends and then first responders. Nothing is likely to be said for the funeral directors who cared for the bodies. Not that it needs to be. Except…perhaps…by us.

Some thirty years ago I sat with a friend from Indiana still suffering from nightmares incurred from aiding on a D-Mort team cleaning up after a commercial airline crash. Another friend still has flashbacks about having to remove the charred bodies of a family killed in a home fire while others refused to help. Still another friend who suppressed his own needs while ministering to the needs of the surviving family of his two best friends murdered in their beds. (Yes, I used that non-secular word “minister”. I can really think of no better) Others who aided in the Columbine disaster and 9/11 who still carry emotional wounds. Our own “Walking Wounded.” I imagine that one cannot serve in this profession a lifetime without scars. But somehow they are to be borne secretly.

I don’t think that’s healthy. I have always had a deep respect for people like Alan Wolfelt and John Canine who devote their careers to helping the deeply grieved. Maybe this is something the Funeral Service Foundation should consider researching and NFDA should consider providing support resources for. I don’t know.

Am I making a mountain out of a molehill? What do you think?

Why The Answer Is Not Just Increasing Volume

Written by Alan Creedy on February 25, 2013. Posted in The Creedy Commentary, Money: Getting it and Keeping it. 7 Comments on Why The Answer Is Not Just Increasing Volume

I am an accountant. As I have watched the financial metrics of funeral service continue in their long slow decline over the past 30 years my natural response was “make it up in volume.”

But then I had the good fortune to get my hands dirty. I actually managed a funeral home and worked along side practitioners. There I discovered that UNDER THE CURRENT MODEL such a theory was easier said than done.

One of the significant challenges facing a 24 – 7 operating model is finding a schedule that enables staff to function on the job at optimum levels AND enjoy a LIFE. One of the personal experiences I learned as a practitioner was that god created a 7th day of rest because we need it. Our capacities actually decline no matter how committed, zealous or eager we are after that 6th day. Science proves it but we experience it.

I have worked in manufacturing. There I learned that a given machine is “rated” for a certain number of units of output per hour. BUT that rating is an optimal level. Running any machine at optimal level hour after hour day after day leads to premature failure. In other words running even the best designed and maintained machines at 80% of optimal rating produced more than running them at optimal continually. So it is with people. A person can only operate at a certain level for so long. And then they start making mistakes or doing sloppy things. Not because they are error prone or sloppy but because they are tired.

The much-awaited Boomer Avalanche has yet to hit us with full force. Under our current model of licensure and outmoded idiosyncratic paradigms we will quickly be covered up. Why do we need a license to make funeral arrangements if mortuary schools don’t teach arranging? Why does it require a license to take a procession to the cemetery or to oversee a visitation?

Unless we can figure out a much more efficient model using non licensees to augment the real places licensees are needed we will be overwhelmed in fairly short order. Briefly we might see more cash flow but that won’t really help when we are forced to take the phone off the hook because we have outstripped our capacity.

Remember, in most states as long as I don’t touch a body I can do anything a funeral home can do and even better. Hospices in certain parts of the country are already coaching their families to say goodbye to mom at home, have the funeral home dispose of the body and then let Hospice help them with a DIY memorial service. Of course there are those that believe that if they suck up to them they can appease them out of doing that in their area. Maybe we ought to start a Neville Chamberlain Society.

Esse Quam Videri

Written by Alan Creedy on February 12, 2013. Posted in The Creedy Commentary, General Topics. 3 Comments on Esse Quam Videri

I have to admit I tense up whenever someone begins using the Ritz Carlton as an example Funeral Service should use to fashion its own customer service profile. Not that we can’t learn some things from the Ritz. We most certainly can! But it is a dangerous recommendation when we fail to “Go Deep” on the pain and effort it took for the Ritz to get to that level of service. Another example of mistaking form for substance.

I have now lived in North Carolina for almost 28 years. Within a year or so of arriving I noticed that the state motto is “Esse Quam Videri” which is latin for:

“To Be Rather Than To Seem”

I can’t find anyone who knows the genesis of that motto but I like it and have adopted it for my own. It’s a good standard and it’s good to have a standard. Especially when you fail to meet it. And that is really the story of the Ritz Carlton.

All too often we see something that works somewhere and we adopt what we see without really understanding the substance behind it. For the past 20 years I have witnessed many main line denominational churches send committees out to study the exploding megachurch movement. All come back with the outer cosmetic trappings. They change the music and often the ambiance but they never get to the deeper essence of what is really causing those churches to grow the way they do.

In the mid 1980’s, on behalf of my clients, I made a case study of the Ritz Carlton. They were then, as they are now, extremely gracious. It was entirely open book. I was introduced to the whole story of blood, sweat and tears or rather the herculean 10 year single-minded effort of Horst Schulz and his merry band of executives as they set about changing the culture of the Ritz. No small effort.

And that is really my point. Adopting “country club manners” was only the visible part. The focus and intentionality of achieving their vision was, by far, the most impressive. You see, it is not enough at the Ritz Carlton to ACT like a lady or a gentleman. You must actually BE a lady or a gentleman. And that is the key to any successful organizational change.

Your DNA must change

My wife and I have become addicts of Masterpiece theater’s “Downton Abbey“. In the presence of the Lords and Ladies the “help” puts on their best face. But downstairs in the servant’s work area they are as dysfunctional as any funeral home staff I have ever met. At the Ritz that would not be tolerated. The turnover rate at the average hotel (luxury or otherwise) is startling high. The Ritz turnover is a fraction of the industry average but it is still about 25%. That is partly because at the Ritz if you can’t BE a lady or gentleman…you simply can’t stay.

Click here for a copy of the Ritz Carlton Values Card

Click here for a copy of the Ritz Carlton Baldridge Award Application

The Road To Reclaiming Our Future

Written by Alan Creedy on February 4, 2013. Posted in The Creedy Commentary, Leadership. 2 Comments on The Road To Reclaiming Our Future

There is a way to a better future for Funeral Service. In fact, for those who are willing to closely examine the Sacred Cows I truly believe we will rediscover that we make a vital contribution to society. I say that not only because I have believed it for more than 30 years but because I believe history and our own experience, especially history of our most recent past bears this out.

But I digress. Soren Kierkegaard once said,

“Life can only be understood
backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”

For us to be able to begin moving forward we must begin with our own Sacred Cow: The Funeral Service WorldView. And to understand that it is important to understand how it came to be.

In the fall of 1996 an article appeared in MIT’s Sloan Management Review that, for the first time, shed light on why organizations have so much trouble adapting to change or, as the author Edgar Schein Professor of Management at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, called it “learning.” And that is really the problem, isn’t it? We, as an industry, are having a problem with learning.

The Three Cultures of Management

Schein established that within every organization there were basically three cultures or communities:

Operator Culture
Engineering Culture
Executive culture

For the sake of our discussion let me reclassify these as follows:

Operator = Licensees and staff
Engineering = Manufacturer vendors, suppliers and accountants
Executive = Owners

Clearly in smaller and medium size firms operators and owners are mingled but the cultures still exist.

Schein pointed out that while these cultures all share the same space and are trying to solve the same problems they necessarily have different worldviews, different needs and different agendas. Schein made it clear, and I agree with him, that all of these differences were legitimate and many were necessary. The breakdown occurs only in the resultant “Silos” that occur because the 3 cultures don’t know how to talk with each other. In the end, however it is how they view people in the equation that is telling and also critical to breaking this cycle. Here is a grid showing how these cultures think:

It is important to note that engineers strive to engineer people “out” of solutions because they believe people make things messy. Hence, the successful advent of the “people free” show room of the 1970’s and the ongoing but unsuccessful reengineering of same over the succeeding years. I say unsuccessful because not only are people buying lower and lower quality caskets, fewer and fewer people are buying caskets at all. Of course, both the executive and the operator cultures embraced this innovation eagerly but for different reasons. For executives, it made them less dependent on the abilities of individual staff and for operators it allowed them to avoid being “seen” as sales people and being held responsible for results.

Cultural WorldViews

The Chart below shows how I envision the various stakeholders in funeral service overlaid on Schein’s cultural map.

Prior to the 1970’s all of these cultures functioned in reasonable harmony for one reason: We sold a “SIMPLE” product. A simple product is defined as one in which few decisions are required and buyer and seller are normally in mutual agreement. Up to that time the only real decision a customer needed to make was: “Which Casket”. As a result, the casket manufacturer became the dominant influence in the industry.

What has changed from that time is that we now sell a “COMPLEX” product. Not only is there a much larger number of variables involved including different roles between buyer and seller but a historic new variable has been introduced: In addition to “why buy from you?” is added “Why buy at all?”

The answer to this problem is a people solution and engineers cannot comprehend a people solution and executives would prefer it not be a people solution. Compounding this is the very nature of the culture of funeral service itself.

Our Universal Passive-Aggressive Culture is Our Achilles Heel

For a while now I have been helping my clients address this issue through the use of an instrument called the Organizational Culture Inventory developed by Human Synergistics. Human Synergistics is a world renowned company that measures cultures and cultural changes within organizations all over the world. They are working with me now to do a research study on funeral homes to see the impact of cultural change on performance. By measuring current cultural norms in a given organization and simultaneously defining how that organization envisions the ideal culture for high performance gaps are identified in a visual way. In this way members of that organization see those gaps and begin discussing, first, their own deficiencies and, second, how they can close those gaps. It can be very exciting.

The chart below is the actual result of a classic funeral home. I have done enough of these now to say that even in the most admired and supposedly best run funeral homes I expect to see results like these. Without going into detail which I will do in a future article, the primary culture here is Dependent. This means that most of the people in the organization are “waiting to be told what to do.” By the way this includes the owner. The secondary culture is Perfectionistic. You will be tempted to interpret this as “getting everything perfect.” That would be wrong. In fact, it means “working long hours and enduring.” Perfect seamless product delivery is measured in the Achievement scale.

The results here show me in some detail why change is so difficult in funeral service and among funeral staff. It is not the purpose of today’s article to go into that. Suffice to say when these issues are surfaced in healthy dialogue in contrast to the “Ideal” culture most people begin moving toward the ideal. For now it is enough that over the years funeral service has become a “waiting to be told what to do” culture (owners and staff alike). Traditionally, it has received its marching orders from the Casket Manufacturers (an engineering culture).

So, you have a “Waiting to be told what to do” culture waiting on an engineering culture to tell it what to do for a problem that doesn’t have and never did have an engineering solution. It has a people solution which both Executive and Engineering cultures are ill-equipped to solve.

But lest you point fingers let’s remember that it is in the nature of the Engineering culture to design people out of systems. Just as it is in your nature to wait to be told what to do. And you can hardly fault them for fitting their solution into your problem. A solution which you so eagerly embraced. Unfortunately, as time has proven the paradigm (sacred cow) that the casket is central to the value of a funeral has proven a false one. Which is why I am so dramatic when I tell my clients to get their noses out of the selection room. Your solution isn’t in there.

What would I do?

As the 2020 Project unfolds in the next few months resources will be made available. Right now you need to stop seeing merchandise sales a solution. If you are an owner, you need to prepare yourself to deal with the reality that you are contributing to the problem. Before you get your back up on that issue please be aware that only makes you normal. But awareness and willingness to accept responsibility for it makes you leagues above most business leaders. Some years ago I took the certification course for administering an executive 360 degree assessment. This particular assessment is considered one of the top 3 or 5 in the world and in my class was a senior level partner from Booz & co. I happened to sit next to her and when I found out her rank in her company I asked her why she was taking the course. She shared with me that they had done the assessment on the CEO of a Fortune 100 company and that it was so bad they decided the news had to be delivered by someone of her rank and she drew the short straw. She figured she better get certified before she met with him.

My point is we all have issues and while you Mr Business Owner have issues you are not nor will you ever be the Sole Contributor. But until you are willing to participate and change yourself there can be no hope for your organization to change. The good news is that there are many devices and instruments that make this non-threatening and fun and very much life enhancing. In fact, in every instance people take the lessons learned and apply it to their family and personal lives with significant success.

The solution to today’s issues are two:

1: Reorienting our purpose

We must create an inspiring vision around an inspiring purpose

2: Reorienting our culture

We must move from transactional to relational

These are people solutions. They will work. I have already seen them at work and they are both high performing as defined by customer response and sustainable as defined by customer loyalty.

ALPHA DOGS AND THE ROAD TO NOWHERE

Written by Alan Creedy on January 28, 2013. Posted in The Creedy Commentary, Leadership. 10 Comments on ALPHA DOGS AND THE ROAD TO NOWHERE

WHY WE CAN’T AFFORD TO FOLLOW YOUR LEAD ANYMORE

Alpha Dogs are frequently those “Type A” personalities that exercise undue influence on others, especially organizations. You find them in every group of people. By their nature and sheer force of personality they tend to cause people to follow their lead whether they know where they are going or not. This is particularly true of Funeral Service which is generally populated by nice people who hate making waves and are quite content to let the Alpha Dogs have their way. Unfortunately, we live in a time where the results of this default behavior…or, really, lack of results… tends to speak for itself.

Funeral Service Alphas come in all shapes and sizes but can be recognized by their universal bark. But in order to hear it you have to sneak up on them. They only bark when their guard is down. Here is what it sounds like: “Those blankety-blank dumb– funeral directors.” Sometimes the bark is peppered with yips that sound like: “stupid” or “ignorant”.

Not long ago I was visiting with some staff members at one of the trade associations and they were lamenting that it was so hard to engage with the “average” funeral director who never came to meetings or conventions. I had just made an offer to do a program and had been told to “dumb down” my language because the “average” funeral director wouldn’t understand it. It is important for you to know, dear reader, that this attitude didn’t come from the staff. In fact, as I witness that staff pouring out their hearts to truly help the profession day after day and year after year with no real results I grieve for them. No, this was what they had been told by their leaders.

Hmmm!

So, I decided I would test their theory. And what to my wondering eyes did I find…“Beta Dogs.” Not only were they not dumb but they were actually beginning to make small but real differences in their markets. They too come in all sizes and colors. The difference is that they have no distinguishing bark. In fact, they seem to have no need to disparage anyone. They are quite content to mind their own business and, as I said a few weeks ago, “Make-The-Main-Thing-The-Main-Thing.”

I have been working with quite a few of these folk and I have to say it is a lot of fun. They are typically fairly humble, good learners and fairly passionate about their work. They watch all the bombast in funeral service with a mix of amusement and concern. They are very concerned about the future but long ago figured out the Alpha’s weren’t taking them anywhere. So, they decided they were going to have to do their best on their own. They tend to discipline themselves to think as positively as they can in spite of challenging times and they have little, if any, interest in parading on the national stage. They don’t tend to network a lot either so finding them can be a little bit of a challenge. But now that I am intentionally looking I am finding more of them than I knew were out there.

Interesting as well, Alpha and Beta Dogs have different life agendas:

It is not my intent to embarrass anyone here but to hold up a mirror for some and a flag for others. Alpha dogs are not bad people. They are simply strong people who have had undue influence over an industry that is populated largely by people who don’t like making noise. Alpha dogs can be either practitioners or vendors. Their leadership results speak for themselves. They have had their turn and it is time for something fresh. Besides, the Beta dogs are actually less intense and more fun and they are doing interesting stuff that looks like it is working.

As for me, my years are waning and I am tired of being around intense people with no results so I am planting my flag with the Beta Dogs. (I know, I know I am an intense person too. but I have found new purpose in helping people who help people and that is enabling me to lighten up) Beta’s seem to like me and truly appreciate the ways in which I can make a difference in their lives. And besides, it’s fun to swim in a blue ocean for a change.

After all seeing results is a lot better than hoping for them.

Disclaimer:

It would be easy to infer from this article that I am attacking Alpha Dogs: our industry leaders, vendors and associations. To the contrary. I am challenging all of us to think about the paradigms we have about each other. The fact that the results of the last 30 years speak for themselves and that countless funeral home owners have spent millions of dollars chasing after (what has turned out to be) rainbows is cause for all of us to stop and take stock.

We can be humbled by the market which it seems most willing to do; or we can humble ourselves and stop this ego driven mania and begin working interdependently. We are, after all, in the same boat.

So, in a nutshell, all I am saying is that, on a personal level, when I recognize the telltale bark of an Alpha Dog I am going the other way. It’s pretty simple really.

EXPERT OPINION: 5 Tips for Positioning Your Funeral Home for Success in the New Year

Written by Alan Creedy on January 21, 2013. Posted in The Creedy Commentary. 3 Comments on EXPERT OPINION: 5 Tips for Positioning Your Funeral Home for Success in the New Year

Did your funeral home achieve all of its goals for 2012? Does the increasing number of families selecting cremation with no services have you concerned? 2013 is a new year that brings a new set of goals to help reboot you business and your team. The New Year is the perfect time to create new success and raise the bar for your funeral home. As you reflect on the changes you have experienced, success you have maintained and the concerns that lie ahead follow these simple truths.

1) Acknowledge the problems that you face

Whether that is lost revenue or declining employee morale, it is important to acknowledge the situations you are facing in the New Year in order to move toward a solution. To gain trust and build authenticity with staff, funeral homes should provide open channels for communicating about challenges within the business. Employees who feel engaged in the success of the home funeral home will be more motivated, and empowered to contribute to innovation and decision-making.

2) Remember you are not alone

Funeral Homes across the country are experiencing similar challenges. The funeral industry is adjusting to changes in cultural and market trends beyond the control of any single funeral home. It can be overwhelming to take on the magnitude of these industry shifts. Defined strategies and a prepared staff can help homes accept all situations and respond to the unexpected. Also, use resources available to you, like vendor support and professional groups to tackle obstacles that are more manageable for you and your team. Do not get weighed down by issues that are having affect nationwide. Shared brainstorming and conversation with other professionals who understand the challenges can pave the way to smarter, faster strategies for overcoming the big issues.

3) Don’t make excuses

It is easy to blame the economy or a low death rate for loss of revenue or sluggish growth. Funeral industry professionals have an especially difficult job in a slow economy, where financial constraints are of great concern for many grieving families. It is the responsibility of homes to provide the best possible solutions for families, whatever their situation. It is easy to make excuses for shortcomings, but the most successful homes over the next year will be the ones that embrace the challenges and take responsibility for overcoming them. Turn the setbacks encountered in 2012 into opportunities for your funeral home to move forward and build.

4) Explore the professional needs of your team members:

It is a smart investment to take care of your team members. Supporting them in goals for a healthy lifestyle and a better work-life balance are great for motivation. Perhaps even more impactful is an investment in their professional development. There are many ways a home can support staff in professional development. Encourage time each week for reading industry publications and blogs with helpful, up-to-date information. Send high-performing staff to seminars and support them in earning certifications in areas that can help expand service offerings. No single man or woman can do it alone. Investing in the success of a supporting staff can build strengths and talents that you do not have. That investment goes back into the success of the home.

5) Focus on the future

Learn from past successes and failures, but don’t dwell on them. Remember that a whole network of people share the achievement of new goals: staff, vendors, suppliers and families served all have stock in a home’s success and ability to provide excellent service. Create the future of your funeral home with a shared vision and opportunities for everyone to participate in the achievements of 2013 and beyond.

Although it might feel like many things in business are uncertain, one thing the funeral industry can count on is that there is no going back. Change can be difficult and there has been a lot of it in recent years. 2013 will continue moving in this rapid progression of the industry and all of its moving parts. Funeral professionals have two options: 1) Go kicking and screaming and be left behind. 2) Embrace the New Year with all of its changes with greater success this time next year.

Lacy Robinson, CFSP

Senior Professional Development Trainer

Lacy Robinson is a Kentucky licensed funeral director/embalmer and a certified member of the Academy of Professional Funeral Service Practice. She is a graduate of Georgetown College, Georgetown, Kentucky holding a bachelor’s degree in Communications. She is also a graduate from Mid-America College of Funeral Service, Jeffersonville, Indiana. As Senior Professional Development Trainer for Aurora Casket, Ms. Robinson specializes in helping funeral directors partner with families to create funerals that honor both their basic and personal needs at the time of loss. She presents continuing education programs on both the local, state and national level. Ms. Robinson is an active member of the Funeral Directors Association of Kentucky and Bluegrass Toastmasters Group. She is also a Certified Funeral Celebrant, certified Wilson Learning Facilitator and serves on the Advisory Board to the Association of Women Funeral Professionals.

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

The Wind Is Changing – The Conversation Project

Written by Alan Creedy on January 7, 2013. Posted in Video, The Creedy Commentary, The Video Blog. 6 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. 6 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.