Five things to remember when revising your regulations

Salting, spraying and gravel – oh my! A few months ago, we worked with the Sunset Memorial Park Grounds Superintendent on a new regulations sign.

Many parts of the existing sign were still important, such as always allowing cut flowers and the restrictions we have in place during mowing season. But there were many new issues that we hadn’t even imagined. Some visitors are coming to the memorial park and salting, spraying weed killer and even adding gravel around their loved ones’ memorials. Others insist on leaving statuary next to a memorial, but don’t want it moved when the section is mowed and maintained.

It didn’t take long for the wish list of items for the new sign to grow far too long for any one sign to hold. So how did we whittle down the list without sacrificing information?

First, we gathered the most comprehensive, specific list we could. We included everything that we could possibly want families who visit the memorial park to know. Then we got to work doing some strong editing. Here are the top 5 things we kept in mind when streamlining your park signage:

1. Your audience is made up of families who trust you to take care of their loved one. It’s easy to get focused on problematic visitors or times that someone violated your regulations. But keep in mind that your regulations sign is probably the first thing most people see when they enter your cemetery or memorial park. What kind of a mood does it set? Is it welcoming or does it sound like a lot of rules for a classroom of misbehaving children? Never forget that your sign is being read by families who are trusting you to take care of their loved one. They want a place to share their most precious memories, and your regulations sign should honor that responsibility.
2. A sign can’t (and shouldn’t) replace an in-person conversation. It’s certainly a good idea to have your regulations posted clearly, but no sign can ever replace personal interaction. If you see someone violating your regulations, don’t expect the sign to take care of it. Instead, practice exactly what you and your staff will say to them to help them understand why the regulations are in place. It may be as simple as explaining the rules and where to find them.
3. Focus on the typical visitor to your cemetery or memorial park, not those that stand out.  Just because one person dug holes to plant mums around their loved one’s ground memorial, it doesn’t mean that everyone who comes to your cemetery will do the same thing. When it comes to signs, be sure you’re focusing on the 80 or 90% of well-behaved, well-intentioned visitors. Then, address the outliers one by one. It’s like a classroom. 
4. Build trust by focusing on what is allowed versus what is forbidden. Which would you rather read? Option A: No shepherd’s hooks allowed from March 1 to October 1. Option B: Shepherd’s hooks are welcome October 1 to March 1 when we are not mowing.
5. Keep the wording simple and inclusive. When the internet was still young, malicious companies would buy domain names like www.jackspizzastinks.com and then offer to sell them to Jack’s Pizza for a ridiculous amount of money. The problem was the nearly limitless number of potential domain names, so you could never buy them all to keep one from being posted online. In the same vein, you can waste a lot of words on a sign trying to list out all of the items that are allowed or not allowed in your memorial park. Instead, find categories that are self-explanatory. It’s much easier to read “only cut flowers are welcome” instead of “potted plants, hanging baskets, silk flowers, wreaths, statuary, solar lights and stuffed animals are not allowed.”

This article originally appeared in Modern Memorialization, Trigard Memorials' weekly electronic newsletter featuring information for the funeral industry. Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.trigard.com/thursdays.

Your last minute Memorial Day grounds checklist

Patrick Lewis,
Grounds Manager,
Sunset Memorial Park

Memorial Day visitors will be here before you know it. Although the official holiday is a little over a week away, we all know that families will start visiting our cemeteries and memorial parks early next week. I’m sure your grounds crew has been hard at work for weeks in preparation for the busiest weekend of the year. But what details have they saved for the last minute?

Here’s what’s on our list at Sunset Memorial Park for the next week:

Trimming and mowing: We continue to mow all week, especially if we get some rain. More rain means more mowing.

Raising markers: Did you have a hard winter? Are your grounds wet? We’ve identified and raised many markers and repaired areas of the park that have been impacted by severe and wet weather. In the next week, we’ll continue this process.

Flower regulations: Be sure you have clear flower regulations and share them with your visitors. Information about clean up after the holiday is vital. Remember to use a warm tone when you share your regulations. While you certainly need rules, you need to make sure your visitors feel welcomed.

Post-holiday priorities: We’re already thinking about the work planned for after the holiday weekend. We’ve partnered with our cemetery sales staff, who will greet visitors all weekend. They’ll get us a list of vases that need attention, refinish requests and markers that need to be raised.

Could your grounds superintendent use a checklist like this? Use the forward email icon below (it looks like an envelope with an arrow) to forward this post to your grounds crew.

This article originally appeared in Modern Memorialization, Trigard Memorials' weekly electronic newsletter featuring information for the funeral industry. Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.trigard.com/thursdays.

The importance of sharing your vision

Jason Murphy,
Director of Family Services,
Sunset Memorial Park

As a manager, your responsibility as a leader is very important and is sometimes easy to overlook. That responsibility is to share your vision of the future of your company with your staff. We all get busy with our everyday routines and get caught up in the whirlwind. But, great leaders make the time to share their vision with their staff.

Why is this important? Because your staff needs direction. Your staff needs to know where you want them to go. If someone has no guidance and no goals to shoot for, then they may never know if their work is meeting or exceeding your expectations. How can we improve on this in our own organizations?

• Set both short-term and long-term goals individually and as a group. It’s easy to throw out a long term goal, but it’s much more difficult to establish a plan to get there. That’s why it is so important to set smaller, short-term goals that lead to your ultimate goal or your long-term goal. These short-term goals are easier for your staff to refer back to, and will give them quicker feedback on whether or not they are on track to reach their long-term goal.  
• Conduct mini employee reviews throughout the year. At times, managers may notice poor performance, but choose not to correct the issue at that point in time. Rather, they wait until an annual review to unload all of the employee’s mistakes. This leaves the employee feeling discouraged and worried about their performance. Touch base with your employee’s on a regular basis to review their progress and make any adjustments that are needed. This may ensure you to stay on track to your long-term goal. Plus, your employee will feel encouraged along the way because they feel supported. 

If you want the best results, then it is up to you to create an environment that can breed the results you desire. Communicate your vision with your staff and refer to it on a consistent basis. It is your job to make sure that everyone stays on track and keeps the organization's vision in sight.

This article originally appeared in Modern Memorialization, Trigard Memorials' weekly electronic newsletter featuring information for the funeral industry. Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.trigard.com/thursdays.

Mother Nature has what we need

Erin Brodbeck, LCSW, CT,
Director of Grief Services,
Sunset Funeral Home

With the recent February weather being in the 70s here in our part of Illinois, I am beginning to get a touch of spring fever. The warm weather has got me thinking about spending time outside and its ability to aid in the grief process. I recently read a few articles that discussed the therapeutic abilities of nature and its tendencies to reduce stress.

When a family is grieving after the loss of a loved one, their stress levels are more than likely skyrocketing. By utilizing the healing powers of Mother Nature and her many different resources as ways of memorialization, we can help the families we serve to reduce their stress levels.

• Plant a tree in honor of a loved one.
• Dedicate a favorite hiking spot by placing a plaque or memorial in their honor.
• Design a memorial by incorporating images of nature’s beauty or decorate a grave with some beautiful flowers.
• Host a nature walk or presentation in your cemetery to educate the community about our natural resources. At Sunset Memorial Park, we host an Arbor Day celebration at the end of April for area schools to learn about its history and plant a tree.

The combination of memorialization and nature can be a great way to help the families we serve in their journey to healthy healing.

This article originally appeared in Modern Memorialization, Trigard Memorials' weekly electronic newsletter featuring information for the funeral industry. Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.trigard.com/thursdays.

Taking a journey through time

Ethan Darby,
Director of Business
Development

For those of you who are loyal readers of this newsletter, you can probably remember us talking about the importance of a memorial a time or two. You might even recall us discussing how a memorial tells a story about a family’s loved one. And, there is a good reason for it.

I’m lucky enough to live fairly close to our family-owned cemetery, Sunset Memorial Park. My wife and I spend a lot of time walking our dogs, exercising, and giving our friends and family tours of the cemetery grounds. As many of you know, if you spend enough time in a cemetery, you start to notice certain things. And, one thing I have noticed are “the roamers.” These are the people that explore the cemetery. Their cemetery adventure began while they were visiting a loved one and then became curious. Or maybe they came to the cemetery for the sole purpose of exploring. I am guilty of being a roamer, and something I have noticed about “our breed” is we seem to be looking for something unique. We want to be told a story about our history, and the cemetery provides a very valuable tool for just that.

Walking into a cemetery is like opening up a history book about your community. It tells the tales of all the people who have come before us. Each page of this book represents a memorial, no matter if it is full of color or simple and delicate, their story had meaning. This is what is so interesting to the roamers of a cemetery. It is the journey through time as they walk through the sections of the cemetery that matters. So, I want to continue to encourage you to educate families on the importance of memorializing their loved ones. It not only gives me a great hobby, but it also provides a great historical resource for your community.

This article originally appeared in Modern Memorialization, Trigard Memorials' weekly electronic newsletter featuring information for the funeral industry. Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.trigard.com/thursdays.

Is there value in setting goals?

Jason Murphy,
Director of Family Services,
Sunset Memorial Park

With the new year quickly approaching, it is a great time to start setting goals for 2016. As a manager, setting goals for your sales team is one of the most important things you can do, but many don’t understand the best way to utilize them. In my experience, I have found that meeting with each counselor individually to develop their goals has been most beneficial. A few things we focus on during our annual meetings include:

1. Setting attainable, motivating goals. This may be the most important aspect to creating successful to goals. We begin by comparing the numbers from the past couple of years. These numbers will help us identify sales trends which in turn help us figure out our annual, quarterly and weekly goals for the next year. We typically set the goal a little higher than the year before but don’t make it too far out of reach. We don’t want our sales staff to feel discouraged. 
2. Developing an action plan together. What has worked best for you and your team in the past? What are the areas that need the most improvement and possibly more training? How many group presentations, expos and other events will we need to attend in order to reach our new goals? These are the types of questions to ask when developing a functional plan of action. Without a solid plan, your goals are just numbers. Having a plan allows you to keep better track of your sales team’s activity, but it also gives them some structure or focus heading into the new year. 
3. Setting goals outside the office. I believe if you encourage your sales team to set goals outside the office, in other aspects of their life, it will motivate them more. Improving on their personal habits may in turn improve on other negative habits. Goal setting should go beyond the workplace. I feel that if we all took some time to look at what we can improve in our own lives, we will develop into a better individual and a better employee.

This article originally appeared in Modern Memorialization, Trigard Memorials' weekly electronic newsletter featuring information for the funeral industry. Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.trigard.com/thursdays.

A few fun ways to get involved with your community

Erin Brodbeck, LCSW, CT,
Director of Grief Services,
Center for Loss & Healing

Are you currently getting involved with your local community? Do you host events that attract visitors to your cemetery? A great way to get people in your community to come to your cemetery is by hosting an event.

At Sunset Memorial Park, we host a number of events throughout the year. We do this with hopes that families will not only enjoy the beautiful surroundings but also realize there are more reasons to visit a cemetery than to grieve a lost loved one.

In the spring and summer, we host ice cream socials. It is a great and easy way to attract people to your cemetery. We offer ice cream, musical entertainment, friendly conversation and prizes. It provides a great social atmosphere and lifts some of the heavy hearts visiting the cemetery.

In the fall, we enjoy gatherings with local students during Arbor Day and closer to Halloween for Pumpkin day. On Arbor Day, students from area schools help our horticulturists plant a tree in our cemetery. On Pumpkin day, students enjoy games, coloring and time in our pumpkin patch.

When you first start hosting events in your cemetery, I suggest starting small. You can host an informational luncheon or an ice cream social. Then consider branching out to larger events. When you get involved with your community, you will make lasting relationships and provide families new and unique ways to remember their loved ones. It will be good for your business and good grief for the families that you serve.


This article originally appeared in Modern Memorialization, Trigard Memorials' weekly electronic newsletter featuring information for the funeral industry. Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.trigard.com/thursdays.

Five things to remember when revising your regulations

Julia Sullivan,
Creative Director

Salting, spraying and gravel – oh my! My team and I have been working with the Sunset Memorial Park Grounds Superintendent on a new regulations sign.

Many parts of the existing sign are still important, such as always allowing cut flowers and the restrictions we have in place during mowing season. But there were many new issues that I hadn’t even imagined. Some visitors are coming to the memorial park and salting, spraying weed killer and even adding gravel around their loved ones’ memorials. Others insist on leaving statuary next to a memorial, but don’t want it moved when the section is mowed and maintained.

It didn’t take long for the wish list of items to be included on the new sign to grow far too long for any one sign to hold. So how did we whittle down the list without sacrificing information?

First, we gathered the most comprehensive, specific list we could. We included everything that we could ever possibly want families who visit the memorial park to know. Then we got to work doing some strong editing. Here are the top 5 things we kept in mind:

1. Remember your audience is families who trust you to take care of their loved one. It’s easy to get focused on problematic visitors or times that someone violated your regulations. But keep in mind that your regulations sign is probably the first thing most people see when they enter your cemetery or memorial park. What kind of a mood does it set? Is it welcoming or does it sound like a lot of rules for a classroom of misbehaving children? Never forget that your sign is being read by families who are trusting you to take care of their loved one. They want a place to share their most precious memories, and your regulations sign should honor that responsibility.
2. Remember that a sign can’t (and shouldn’t) replace an in-person conversation. It’s certainly a good idea to have your regulations posted clearly, but no sign can ever replace an in-person conversation. If you see someone violating your regulations, don’t expect the sign to take care of it. Instead, practice exactly what you and your staff will say to them to help them understand why the regulations are in place. It may be as simple as explaining the rules and where to find them.
3. Remember to focus on the typical visitor to your cemetery or memorial park, not those that stand out. Just because one person dug holes to plant mums around their loved one’s ground memorial, it doesn’t mean that everyone who comes to your cemetery will do the same thing. When it comes to signs, be sure you’re focusing on the 80 or 90% of well-behaved, well-intentioned visitors. Then, address the outliers one by one. It’s like a classroom. I always hated it when one kid would act out, but everyone would be punished. 
4. Remember to build trust by focusing on what is allowed vs. what is forbidden. Which would you rather read? Option A: No shepherd’s hooks allowed from March 1 to October 1. Option B: Shepherd’s hooks are welcome October 1 to March 1, when we are not mowing.
5. Remember to keep the wording simple and inclusive. When the internet was still young, malicious companies would buy domain names like www.jackspizzastinks.com and then offer to sell them to Jack’s Pizza for a ridiculous amount of money. The problem was that there was a nearly limitless number of potential domain names, so you could never buy them all to keep one from being posted online. In the same vein, you can waste a lot of words on a sign trying to list out all of the items that are allowed or not allowed in your memorial park. Instead, find categories that are self-explanatory. It’s much easier to read “only cut flowers are welcome” instead of “potted plants, hanging baskets, silk flowers, wreaths, statuary, solar lights and stuffed animals are not allowed.” 

This article originally appeared in Modern Memorialization, Trigard Memorials' weekly electronic newsletter featuring information for the funeral industry. Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.trigard.com/thursdays.

Does your cemetery have an animal mascot?

By Patrick Lewis
Do you have a cemetery “pet?” Do you have an animal that utilizes your cemetery grounds as their permanent place of residence and acts as the ambassador or mascot? Many cemetery grounds are also the homes to a number of different types of animals, but a favorite of mine is the swan.

At Sunset Memorial Park in Danville, Illinois, two swans, by the names of Joe and Nellie, have taken up residency in our pond for many, many years. These beautiful birds and their home have become something of a community treasure, which attracts a large number of visitors throughout the year.

But, why would you want to have this type of animal living on your grounds? Why is it beneficial to have animals, such as swans, living on your cemetery grounds?

1. They bring attention to your cemetery. We are always looking for reasons for members of the community to visit our cemetery other than to honor a lost loved one. When you have animals living on your grounds, they attract people from all over.
2. They make it more like a park. Our cemetery is beautiful. Our horticulturists and ground crew do a really great job of landscaping, but the swans are the stars of the show. They create a different atmosphere and make our cemetery feel more like a park than a cemetery. 
3. They help begin the healing journey. All types of animals, including dogs, cats, horses and birds, are known for their healing capabilities. They provide a safe and neutral environment to process grief to those healing from a loss. 

If you would like to learn more about Sunset Memorial Parks’ swans, visit us at www.susnetfuneralhomes.com.


This article originally appeared in Modern Memorialization, Trigard Memorials' weekly electronic newsletter featuring information for the funeral industry. Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.trigard.com/thursdays.

Is pet memorialization worth it?

Jason Murphy,
Director of Family Services,
Sunset Memorial Park

Many families see their pet as a part of the family and will go the distance for them. In some situations, families will spend thousands of dollars throughout the course of a pet’s life to keep them healthy and happy. So, why wouldn’t they spend the time and resources on honoring their life in the end? The simple answer is that people will spend their resources on pet memorialization if they know it is an option. However, they probably won’t spend enough to make this a huge profit maker for your business. The question then becomes, how do we make the pet memorialization business worth it?

At Sunset Memorial Park, it took us a while to fully commit to the pet memorialization business. We’ve had a pet section in our memorial park for a long time, but never fully committed to providing other funeral services for pets until recently. We now have our own pet crematory and a program titled, Cherished Companions, which deals strictly with helping families honor their pets' lives.

We’ve found that we can’t expect to make a huge profit off of pet cremations, burials and merchandise.  But, we can expect to serve these families to the best of our ability. We can work hard to make them a Sunset family for life.

When you take care of a family’s beloved pet like you would their mother or father, then they have peace of mind in knowing you will take care of them and their other family members with care and dignity. We train our counselors to go beyond simply serving the family at the time of need when their pet dies. They are trained to encourage the families they serve to preplan their own final wishes and their loved ones as well. If they are taking the time to preplan their pet’s final wishes, they’re more likely to see the value in preplanning for themselves. It is only a matter of whether or not your counselors are bold enough to ask the question.

This is where you will see that the pet death care business has value. When you begin to increase your preplanning and cemetery sales through touching families after the loss of their cherished companion that is when the pet business will make the biggest impact on your company.

This article originally appeared in Modern Memorialization, Trigard Memorials' weekly electronic newsletter featuring information for the funeral industry. Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.trigard.com/thursdays.

Merry Christmas!

Jason Murphy,
Director of Family Services,
Sunset Funeral Home

It's the most wonderful time of the year. Or as we say in the cemetery, Happy Memorial Day!

It really is our biggest season, isn't it?  

We all spend a lot of time, money and effort during Memorial Day weekend, which is why it is important to track and analyze your return on investment after the weekend is complete.

Have a staff wrap-up meeting with everyone who worked the cemetery during Memorial Day. Gather a list of things that worked and things that didn’t quite go to plan. Fix anything that needs immediate attention, and put the list in a safe place for next year. You’ll already be a step ahead when planning for 2016.

Did you create a sales goal for Memorial Day leads? First, figure out if you reached the short term goal that was set and reward your staff accordingly. In fact, you should reward them in some way no matter if they reached the goal or not. They did work the entire holiday weekend for you! For the leads that haven’t been closed, make sure to game plan on how these leads will be followed up within a timely manner. Discuss possible scripting that may help your sales staff get the leads back in the door. Follow up is extremely important as most of the sales will come from leads obtained over the weekend and not sales made during the weekend. 

Lastly, make sure to share your results from the weekend with the rest of the staff. Acknowledge all of the hard work from your staff members and get the other staff engaged and interested in what the cemetery staff does for Memorial Day. Communicating what worked and some sales numbers will spark conversation and interest from all of the employees.

This article originally appeared in Modern Memorialization, Trigard Memorials' weekly electronic newsletter featuring information for the funeral industry. Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.trigard.com/thursdays.

Your last minute Memorial Day grounds checklist

Patrick Lewis,
Grounds Manager,
Sunset Memorial Park

Memorial Day visitors are just around the corner. Although the official holiday is eighteen days away, we all know that families will start visiting our cemeteries and memorial parks much sooner than that. I’m sure your grounds crew has been hard at work for weeks in preparation of the busiest weekend of the year. But what details have they saved for the last minute?

Here’s what’s on our list at Sunset Memorial Park for the next two weeks:

• Trimming and mowing: We usually stop mowing on the Wednesday before the holiday weekend, but we have to keep an eye on the weather. More rain means more mowing.
• Raising markers: Did you have a hard winter? Are your grounds wet? We’ve identified and raised many markers and repaired areas of the park that have been impacted by severe and wet weather. In the next two weeks, we’ll continue this process.
• Flower regulations: Be sure you have clear flower regulations and share them in a caring way with your visitors. Information about clean up after the holiday is vital. Remember to use a warm tone when you share your regulations. While you certainly need rules, you need to make sure your visitors feel welcomed.
• Post-holiday priorities: We’re already thinking about the work planned for after the holiday weekend. We’ve partnered with our cemetery sales staff, who will greet visitors all weekend. They’ll get us a list of vases that need attention, refinish requests and markers that need to be raised.

Could your grounds superintendent use a checklist like this? Use the forward email icon below (it looks like an envelope with an arrow) to forward this post to your grounds crew.
 
This article originally appeared in Modern Memorialization, Trigard Memorials' weekly electronic newsletter featuring information for the funeral industry. Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.trigard.com/thursdays.

Life of the grounds crew during the winter

Patrick Lewis,
Grounds Manager,
Sunset Memorial Park

You might think that because it is cold outside, cemetery grounds crews don’t keep busy during the winter months. That couldn't be father from the truth. In Illinois, our winters are far from tropical. We see many snowy days and below zero temperatures. But, that doesn’t stop us from taking care of the cemetery and the families we serve.

The life of a grounds crew during the winter consists of three things:

1. Plowing, plowing and plowing. It is very important to us, as well as to the families that visit our cemetery, that everyone has a safe, clear path to walk and drive down when visiting a loved one. So, when there is snow on the ground, we must make sure the roads are cleaned off. 
2. Maintaining vehicles. We have a number of different vehicles or machines that we use during the summer. It is the perfect time to change the oil, sharpen blades and do general maintenance. This makes sure they are in tiptop shape when the snow melts. 
3. Serving families. Families don’t only lose loved ones in the warm months. Digging graves can prove to be more work during the winter when the ground is frozen, but that is why we use a propane ground thawer. It takes more time to dig a grave this way, but at the rate of an inch an hour, it’s easier than trying to dig it with a shovel. We do have to keep a close eye on existing markers. If the space has one, we have to remove the marker before we begin thawing the ground. If we don’t, we run the risk of burning the marker, which means it will need to be refinished. 

When visiting a cemetery in colder weather, remember, we are still outside braving the frigid temperatures to make the grounds as safe and beautiful as we do in the summer.

This article originally appeared in Modern Memorialization, Trigard Memorials' weekly electronic newsletter featuring information for the funeral industry. Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.trigard.com/thursdays.

Don't let the holidays slow you down

Jason Murphy,
Director of
Family Services,
Sunset Memorial Park

During the holidays and into the winter months, cemeteries often see their sales take a nosedive. This happens for a number of reasons, but most often, it is because of the cold weather and the holidays leaving potential customers short on cash.

I think the most important thing to do in order to have a successful holiday season is to have a different outlook. Don’t let your sales staff convince themselves that being slow this time of year is “normal.” Remind your staff to be more proactive this time of the year. They can’t just sit back and wait for sales to walk through the door. That won't help increase your sales. Instead, I have two solutions for helping you have a successful holiday and winter cemetery sales season.

1. Hold seminars to attract new customers. Ask your sales staff to hold seminars or informational meetings to keep potential customers coming in the door throughout the colder months. These presentations not only give you more opportunity for better sales during the winter, but they also give your staff a head start going into spring.
2. Contact current customers. The holidays can be tough after losing a loved one, and many people visit the cemetery around the holiday season. This would be a great time to remind visitors to restore, refinish or even upgrade their loved one’s memorial. We constantly upgrade our cell phones, cars and appliances, so why not our loved one's marker? 

This article originally appeared in Modern Memorialization, Trigard Memorials' weekly electronic newsletter featuring information for the funeral industry. Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.trigard.com/thursdays.

Educate families about alternatives to scattering

Blake Swinford,
Project Manager

For a lot of us in the funeral profession, scattering can be a taboo subject. When we hear of families scattering their loved ones' cremated remains without creating a permanent place of memorialization, it breaks our hearts. It breaks my heart in particular because I know, first hand, the consequences of scattering.

When my mom passed away, we scattered her cremated remains. Years down the road, I came to the realization that I needed a place to bring my family to honor the life of my mother. It was too late to include her cremated remains with her memorial, but I could still create a place to visit and share memories. I placed a memorial bench at Sunset Memorial Park, and now my children have a place to go to talk about grandma.

As supporters of permanent memorialization, we need to educate the families we serve about scattering alternatives. We never know what will happen to the beautiful field their loved one is scattered in. It could be a shopping center a few years from now.

If you're struggling with cremation memorialization options, check out the products that we offer. You can also call our Customer Service team at 800.798.4900 for more ideas. 
 
This article originally appeared in Modern Memorialization, Trigard Memorials' weekly electronic newsletter featuring information for the funeral industry. Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.trigard.com/thursdays.

The merry, merry month of May

Jason Murphy,
Director of Family Services,
Sunset Memorial Park

The month of May is a busy time of year for any cemetery manager. Mother's Day and Memorial Day bring more foot traffic to your cemetery than any other time of the year. It presents a huge opportunity to showcase your cemetery's unique qualities and increase sales. But, how do we make sure we are getting the most out of these opportunities?

The answer is simple: be prepared. You should already be brainstorming promotions that can be implemented during this time to encourage visitors to purchase property. If you don't think visitors are thinking about buying, keep in mind that if someone is visiting a loved one in your park, there is a good chance they will want to be with their family down the road.

Another thing to keep in mind during the May holidays is your staff. They are the individuals who spend their holidays with the families that you serve, instead of their own. Consider a bonus program to keep them motivated and to show your appreciation.

May is quickly approaching, but it is not too late. There is plenty of time to make a plan to enhance the experiences of both your visitors and staff during Mother's Day and Memorial Day.


This article originally appeared in Modern Memorialization, Trigard Memorials' weekly electronic newsletter featuring information for the funeral industry. Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.trigard.com/thursdays.