Do you believe in what you sell?

Drew Edwards,
General Manager,
Sunset Funeral Homes

At Sunset Funeral Homes, we often times meet with cremation families that want to host a gathering or memorial service without the help of the funeral home. Many times, they go this route in hopes of saving some money. Although their intentions are great, they almost always end up adding a lot of stress to an already stressful situation, and at the same time end up with a sub-par service of remembrance. But, since we provided the cremation services, our name gets tacked onto their memorial celebration anyway. 

How do we overcome situations like this? Simply put, we are the professionals and we have to make sure our families know that. After all, we do this every day. We know the logistics, seating and printed materials like the back of our hand. Can you imagine how good a mechanic would be if every time a vehicle broke down he asked the customer to do the diagnostics?

No matter if we are selling a bronze memorial, an upright granite memorial or a memorial service at a church, we have to remember to continue to educate the families we serve and provide them with options. We have to remember that we are the professionals and we know what they need to begin a journey to healthy healing. Believe in what you sell, and you will find that both you and the families you serve will benefit in the end. 

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.

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.

Benefit your company by getting involved

Drew Edwards,
General Manager,
Sunset Funeral Homes

How often do you leave the office to learn and connect with others in our industry? Are you involved with regional, state or national organizations? I think one reason a lot of us are afraid of change is that we don’t make the time to refresh our knowledge and get involved.

By the time you read this, I will be finishing up a week in Orlando, Florida, at the National Funeral Directors Leadership Conference. This conference is designed to place leaders from each state association together to share ideas, goals and visions, and to network with the objective of preserving the industry that we love. It typically has representation from almost every state in the United States.

The Darby Family encourages its employees to stay involved in the industry and to get out of our comfort zone. If you are an owner of a memorial company, funeral home or cemetery, I encourage you to invest in your employees and send them to industry conventions and workshops. Not only will they come back more knowledgeable, they will also know that you care about them and want them to share in your success. It might very well be one of the best investments you ever make.

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 power of positive thinking

Rich Darby,
Chief Operating Officer

How many of you truly practice thinking positively? When our television screens are full of negative political campaigns and businesses bashing other businesses, how can we stay positive?

Last year, I joked around with some of the staff that this year was going to be our year. I ended every conversation, whether it was a text, email or phone call with those very simple words - this is our year. Do you know what happened? It ended up being our best year ever. It got to the point where it wasn’t a joke; it was truly a daily declaration. It was going to be our year, and we had lots of reasons to believe it.

Soon after I started this little campaign, other staff members caught on. It kept us positive. Whenever we saw a drop in business, we weren’t worried because we were always saying it was going to be our year.

Positive thinking keeps you in the game and keeps you focused on the prize. Negativity breeds negativity. If you are always talking negatively, your life will be consumed by negativity. If you talk negatively against your competition, your business is going to suffer. I am sure you have heard the old saying, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” Well it is true, no matter the situation.

I challenge each of you to pick someone in your life and either tell them in person, text them or email them every day for the rest of the year that “it’s going to be your year.” You will be amazed by the results.


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.

'Tis the season for change

Drew Edwards,
General Manager,
Sunset Funeral Home

'Tis the season for great food, family and all the things that make the holidays special. It’s also the season for vendor price increases. Yes, many companies pick this time of year to send out their dreaded new price lists, including vendors that help the success of your business.

Although many look at this time of year as a burden, in essence it is a great time for you to reevaluate your business and prepare for 2015. It’s a great time to look over your sales from 2014 and find out where the best opportunity for growth might be for next year.

The trends in the funeral and memorialization industries are changing. And, as a business owner or manager, it is essential that we’re always looking ahead and making a plan to stay ahead of these changes. Whether it is memorialization sales, casket sales, vault sales or even something as simple as your paper goods, take this opportunity to let history tell you what the future might hold. I encourage you to set goals for better sales, and be willing to make small changes in goods or services that just might impact your business in a big way. If you make the necessary changes now, you will guarantee yourself the opportunity to be ready for the next challenge our industry throws our way. Here’s to a happy and prosperous new year.

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.

Why do we educate our families?

Drew Edwards,
General Manager,
Sunset Funeral Homes

Recently, I received a newspaper clipping from a fellow funeral director in Illinois. The article was written by a man who had lost his wife and didn't feel supported by the small community in which he lived. The gentleman was upset with his hometown for not sharing in his grief.

A few days prior to this article, her obituary was submitted and clearly stated that she was to be cremated and a public service was not going to be held. I had to wonder if his feelings would have been different if he would have had a public service and allowed the community to share in his grief.

As funeral professionals, it is our job to educate the community on why families hold funerals and why we create for our loved ones. Whether the ceremony is big or small, or their memorial is traditional or full of color, their story is worth being told.

If you would like us to help you create your next unique memorial, give Customer Service a call at 800.798.4900.

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.