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.

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.

The reality behind marketing myths

Do the families you serve struggle to understand your flower regulations?

Do they understand the importance of memorializing their loved ones after choosing cremation?

Do they know all the facts about the benefits of planning their final wishes ahead of time?

Did you know that a solid marketing strategy can help ease all of these situations?

As long as we have been in marketing, we have heard our fair share of myths for why businesses have sub par marketing. And, because many believe these myths, marketing gets a bad rap. Well, we want to help you debunk those myths and get you headed in the right direction. 

Marketing myths:

MYTH: Marketing is just making information look pretty.
Reality: While the graphics may be what you see first, marketing and graphic design are so much more than that. You’d be surprised how much time, research and talent goes into creating something that will effectively educate the families you serve and help them make a well-informed decision.

MYTH: Marketing is for our sales staff only.
Reality: Marketing is not the same as advertising or sales. Marketing includes everything your customer touches, from the sign on your front door to Yelp reviews. It’s the way your staff answers the phone and your email signature.

MYTH: The right brochure solves everything.
Reality: Great marketing puts the information where your unique customer is looking for it. Unless you regularly have customers who come to you looking specifically for brochures, you probably need to expand your arsenal of communication methods. Well-placed signage, social media, multimedia advertisements and editorial articles are just the start to a layered approach.

Is it time for you to update your marketing? We have resources to help you get started. Give our Customer Service team a call at 800.798.4900 to get in touch with our experts.



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.