Funeral Directors Chat – Funeral Radio: Recent Episodes
Funeral Directors Chat – Funeral Radio
Contact:
Web - http://www.greenburialcouncil.org/
Email - info@greenburialcouncil.org
Ph – 888- 966- 3330
www.awillforthewoods.com
Contact:
Eco Green Cremation Systems
Headquarters - 239-278-1661
Mayo Clinic and Alkaline Hydrolysis
Cornell University and Alkaline Hydrolysis
Contact:
Living Reef Memorial
Sea Turtle Rescue
Robert Sarnie Transcript
Contact:
Park Area Mortuary Transport Email
Park Area Mortuary Transport Facebook
Park Area Mortuary Transport
Commonwealth Institute
Duane E. Hall Interview Transcript
Contact Raymond Aikens:
Raymond on Facebook
Funeral Statistics and Facts
Beacham McDougald
Pub to open in funeral home
A.A. Rayner Funeral Home
Keening
Interview Excerpt:
Nancy Burban: Also, I think, a lot of people are not carrying life insurance as a priority as they did years ago. Because if you're unemployed, you have to cut back on your expenses.
Raymond Aikens: Yeah, and not only that, we're finding a higher incidents of loans outstanding on life insurance policies. I'm sure, again, that's just a reflection of a level of economic stress that's out there. A person comes in; they've got an insurance policy. You call to verify the status of the beneficiary and you also discover at the same time that there's a loan outstanding. There's not as much available relative to the face value.
Raymond Aikens Interview Transcript
Contact Ken Varner:
Cypress Lawn Cemetery
ICCFA
ICCFA University
H.R.900 - Bereaved Consumer's Bill of Rights Act of 2011
Senate Bill No. 658
National Funeral Directors Association
Cremation Association of North America
Arizona Funeral, Cemetery and Cremation Assoc.
Cypress Lawn Cremation Society
Todd Van Beck
Interview Excerpt:
Look at Cypress Lawn. We have the Cemetery Association. We have our funeral homes. We also have the Cypress Lawn Cremation Association; that's a licensed funeral establishment that we have. And then our new group of funeral homes that we purchased, there was also an off-brand cremation provider; it's called All County Cremation Services. Cypress Lawn is a little bit of everything.
Nancy: It certainly sounds like it.
Kenneth: Of course, here at Cypress Lawn, we have the internal obligation of maintaining 200 acres of property, which is very, very expensive. And so we've had to expand our services to expand our revenue, to ensure that we can continue to fulfill on the promises that we've made to our families.
Ken Varner Interview Transcript
Contact Ruthann Brown Disotell:
Celebration of a Lifetime
On Facebook
American Academy McAllister Institute of Funeral Service
Dallas Institute of Mortuary Science
Interview Excerpt:
Ruth Ann: There are a lot of different celebrant trainings that are popping up all over the country. I can't speak to the value of each of them, because I haven't been to all of them. But I think it's important to understand that when you hire a celebrant, it should be somebody who has background in grief. There are a lot of people that go and do celebrant work because they want to do a good thing. That's nice and people should do a good thing. But to go from being an event planner to being a celebrant is a jump. I think there's a lot to be said for having education in psychology on some level and grief in particular. Because you're dealing with people that are going through a very traumatic time. And a funeral home does not want to take their family and turn them over to just anyone. I would caution people, when selecting a celebrant, to keep that in mind. That you really want somebody who has a background in understanding how to deal with a grieving family.
There are a lot of funeral homes who are having people trained to be an in house celebrant. That's a wonderful thing. To have somebody that is from your staff is perfect. Because they've been in the funeral home, they've seen the situations, they've come to understand what a grieving person is. To give them a little extra training is not a bad thing.
Contact Kim Stacey:
Cremation Safeguard Group
Association of Women Funeral Professionals
LinkedIn Group AWFP
Joan Billman of Fleming Billman
A Special Touch Funeral Service
Lohman Funeral Homes
Interview Excerpt:
Kim: This is the model that Sharon Mace uses for A Special Touch Funeral Service in Dublin. I wrote a column on her for Mortuary Management this month, and she's got a phenomenally successful small business. And she's the woman in charge.
And that allows her to do something different than working for a male employer, which she has done. And she chose to do things differently. So that may be an option for Rhode Island and New York; I'm not sure.
Nancy: Now you said she outsources, so that she would be ...
Kim: That's right. She outsources everything. Her crematory is in San Leandro; her embalmer is in San Jose. She operates her business out of a tech center in Dublin. It's a little tiny firm, probably the size of your living room. Sharon's firm is, I would say, about the size of my office. It's very small, very homey. You can see pictures of her facility online at her website, aspecialtouchfuneralservice.com, if you're interested in looking. But it's small. It has not got a visitation room. It has not got a prep room.
She outsources her cremations and her embalming. It's all done off site, and it's working.
Nancy: And how does she attract clients?
Kim: She's got a very strong networking and educational program going on. She does a lot of senior fairs. She also is part of Rotary. She does a lot of things with the Rotary. It's all word of mouth primarily. She's got a high rate of client satisfaction.
Kim Stacey Interview Transcript
Contact Robin Heppell:
Funeral Futurist Tips
Funeral Director CEUs
Bob Biggins in Massachusetts
John Beckwith
McCall's of Victoria
Video Tributes
Interview Excerpt:
Nancy: Right. And even Zappos, where they offer, if you're not happy working for Zappos, please let us know, we'll give you $2,000 to resign.
Because they never want to have an unhappy employee because when you have an unhappy employee that permeates into your workforce and it touches every aspect of your business.
Robin: Yeah. I'm sure some funeral home owners, "Oh, I'd never be able to do that." But, if you could build the all star team, it's going to more than pay for itself. And people who aren't happy, if you could get rid of those people, because when you're not looking, they're dealing with families. If they're having bad days, that doesn't go away when they're talking to a family.
Nancy: And we know from our own experience, the Bob Biggins in Massachusetts, and John Beckwith, I think it's in Fort Worth, Texas. They have four funeral homes. And they have more cases than they can handle because everything is by referral. And they do such an excellent job at funeral services that they get more calls than they can possibly even handle. And when you see people building more funeral homes in their county, it has to be because they are providing such excellent service that people are coming to them through word of mouth.
Robin Heppell Interview Transcript
Contact John Thomas Grant:
John Thomas Grant
Passion Projects
Douglas Keister
Green-Wood Cemetery
Interview Excerpt:
Nancy Burban: Well John, do you have any favorite cemeteries?
John Thomas Grant: Of course. I lived for 20 years or there about in Brooklyn. You can't get any better than Green-Wood. That's my home away from home. I don't know how many times I've been to that place. Some of my finest pictures come out of there. As I mentioned earlier, I didn't start terribly long ago so, I have not traveled that far in pursuit of the pictures. It's still life and I'm still trying to get my photography to a point where it could be a form of subsistence, if you will.
John Thomas Grant Interview Transcript
Contact Beacham McDougald:
McDougald Funeral Home and Crematorium
Mortuary Management
Learn about Concetto Farmica
Alexandra Mosca on Facebook
Thomas Lynch on Facebook
Melissa Johnson Williams on Facebook
Funeral Home Viewing Bed
Olive Wood Ornament
Interview Excerpt:
Nancy: Now you said that cremation is almost up to 50 percent nationwide and 45 percent in your area in the south.
Beacham: Right. We put a crematorium in, in 1997. I had to wait until after my father passed because he was adamantly opposed to cremation.
Nancy: He was.
Beacham: In 1997 I installed one and our cremation was 13 percent of our services at that time. As I said, last year it was 43 percent and this year it's hitting 45 percent. So I see it continuing to increase. I know that in the next few years it's going to become over 50 percent here.
Beacham McDougald Interview Transcript
Email John Heald to display obituaries on your website.
Interview Excerpt:
Nancy: You launched in 2008, Legacy.com launched in 1998, is that correct?
Jeff: Correct.
Nancy: Legacy.com is pretty popular and is pretty profitable. Can you tell our funeral directors what the difference is between tributes.com and legacy.com?
Jeff: I think first of all as a compliment to Legacy, it’s a large business. I founded Monster.com in 1994 and Legacy is really in that first wave of companies. One of the things I’ve seen is a lot has changed, especially with the World Wide Web. And with the advent of Friendster and Napster, early and Myspace and Facebook, we’ve seen a transition from the traditional one point zero website to a two point zero website and as a result we’ve learned al lot along the way. I think the other thing about Legacy, it’s really a software as a service business for the newspaper industry. With about 800 newspaper clients in North America, Eurpe and Australia, their central focus is really on servicing the obituary software function of the newspapers. When I was thinking about founding and starting Tributes, I thought it might be interesting to focus on the consumer, very much in the way Monster focused on the consumer. And one of the things I realized right away is the consumer’s first real relationship was with the funeral home. So I went about doing the research and discovered that with funeral homes, there was a much different service model with the newspaper that I thought we could provide. So one of the main differences with Tributes is that our central client is the funeral home and ultimately the family and that is very different form legacy with the newspaper as their primary client. I think the other thing that we looked at, when I think about what Tributes really offers it’s a storied life. And one of the main things that happens with the newspaper section is it’s actually an obituary or a death notice which is limited to the cost per line or column inch. Which means that it’s a very small, two inch by two inch listing if when the funeral is typically; it’s not really a traditional obituary any longer. And what Legacy does, is pick up that little bit of information and then republish it out on the web. What we’ve done is go out the families and to the funeral homes look if you put together a three page document, that tells the story of your mother’s life, you should be able to put that whole thing online. And that’s where Tributes... it is all about a tribute to someone’s life. And that every life has a story and we’d really like to read about it and learn about it and be a part of it and that’s a big central thesis of Tributes.com
Obituaries Chat Transcript
Contact Chuck
ChuckGallagher.com
Interview Excerpt:
Nancy: It makes a lot of sense actually when you think about it because funeral directors are not trained in finance. They are trained in service. They are trained in taking care of the client families and they don't do this very well. They don't handle the financial piece very well. And this is probably one of the biggest reasons why independent funeral homes are in trouble right now. Because they try to do something, they try to enter into a field that they really don't have any training or expertise in.
Chuck: You know Nancy, you are actually a 100% right with the comment that you just made. I have been in this industry since 1991 and with Stewart Enterprises from 1993 to 2008. I have been involved in small operations with 60 interments a year to large with 2400. And the thing that I have found across the board is we as professionals in the funeral industry are trained to provide outstanding and expert service. We aren't bankers. We just absolutely abhor having to deal with that conflictual issue of money. And when a funeral home can bridge that gap, and turn that responsibility over to people that know what to do, how to do it and are efficient at doing it that makes a whole lot of sense.
Nancy: It does make sense and I think a lot of families don't realize that they will be facing this conflict. And when the funeral director gives them this service, which is going to make it very seamless, they have enough to do with planning the service and the whole bereavement process without having to worry about money or whether they will be able to provide a proper burial for their loved ones.
Chuck: Right. I think that's one of the key components in where we are today. You know, if you look at the funeral service across the board, in all of the components, you have increasing cremation taking place which erodes margins. It changes certainly the complexion of many funeral providers. You have low cost providers, you have the baby boomers who are looking at different options. And the easier we can make it for our funeral professionals to do what they really are great at, which is creating that experience to celebrate a life, unencumbered by having to worry about money and other things. The easier we make it for the funeral professional, the better their service and quality is going to be. And the easier it is going to be for people to see value in the service provided.
Well, one of the things Nancy that we find, and we have had this reported to us from a number of firms all across the country is, if you can make this a cashless transaction for the family by using this policy that mom or dad might have purchased years and years ago. But if you can make it cashless for the family, they will be more apt to buy what it is they want and have the celebration of that person's life the way they want it.
And one of the other things that we do is not only are we able to make that cash available to the funeral home or the cemetery to cover the cost, the services the family has chosen, but beyond that we actually actively cash out many policies through funeral homes so that families can have cash when they need it the most. Because there will be unexpected cash expenses that arise when there has been the death of a loved one.
Funeral Financing with Chuck Gallagher Transcript
Contact at the GBC
Interview Excerpt:
Nancy: What do you think about the government? Do you think the government will get involved in green burial at any point?
Joe: Only if we don't do a good job policing ourselves, and I think that's always the case. Once there's some scandals out there and people are effected. I'm working with a funeral association and estate that's trying to help put forth legislation to define green cemeteries. Because there is a guy in this state who got ordained online and then got an exemption from the cemetery bureau started taking money to sell burial plots and had his property foreclosed on and left town.
And we had to work with his partner to refund money and to prevent a real scandal. Thankfully no one was buried, but these are the kinds of things that can happen if there's no oversight and no one is looking under the hood to say, what's going on, fellas? Is there really a legally enforceable mechanism that runs with the land? Is there a deed restriction or a conservation easement?
Or how are you requiring that future operators enforce these promises that are being made today? You know? And how do we know that these protocols are going to result in the outcome that you're promising? It's a much bigger issue, by the way, at the cemetery level than it is with funeral homes or product manufacturers.
Nancy: Right, right. I just brought that up because a lot of cemeterians will be listening to this podcast as well. And I just wanted to get your viewpoint on how that might effect them.
Joe: Well, I think we're, again, doing a big service. And it's tough work and it's expensive work. And it's challenging work for primarily a volunteer organization. But we're allowing them to be able to credibly reach out to these more eco conscious consumers. But eco conscious consumers are demanding oversight and transparency and accountability. It's imperative. And again, this isn't understood I think by our culture, but that's really where things are going.
Nancy: Now, what big lessons have you learned, Joe, being in this movement as long as you have?
Joe: Well, I think I've learned, again, that ritual requires very light hands. We've seen people be able to participate much more in the funeral burial process and get much more out of it. I hear from funeral directors and cemeterians all the time about this. And we don't want to step on this. I always say that, you know, ritual can't be dictated or codified or served up on any kind of a platter, even a non‑toxic biodegradable one, if it's to really work. And so I think that we need to allow families to come into this on their own and to really give them the space that they need. And we're seeing that.
I think providers really need to do this the right way with the right ethic or not do it at all. And I, four, three years ago even, was out there trying to get people in our network. And now, you know, we're being a lot more careful. And we're trying to tell people, don't get pushed out of your comfort zone.
Green Burial with Joe Sehee Transcript
Get a free issue of Funeral Service Insider by emailing Tom.
Interview Excerpt:
Nancy: How are the National Death Care Associations, like the NFDA and the ICCFA, how are they responding to this growing niche in death care?
Thomas: The ICCFA just created a subdivision of its association called the Pet Loss Professionals Alliance, and that's actually headed by Coleen, who I just mentioned.. and Bill Remkus is also helping out with that as well. The NFDA, it has regular sessions, and webinars, and that type of thing about how to get involved in this.
And then CANA, the Cremation Association of North America recently announced a partnership with the International Association of Pet Cemeteries, and they are now going to be working together to try to bring forth this mission to a larger audience and to try to get the word out as to how to best serve pet owners and that kind of thing.
Regardless of what association you're allied with, what group you feel most comfortable working with, the point is, is that there are a number of death care associations getting involved with this. There's a number of resources out there where people can go to for information.
One is not necessarily better than the other, but just find a group that you're comfortable working with and seek them out for information.
Nancy: Do you see any obstacles or any push‑back to funeral homes for other death care professionals who are serving pets?
Thomas: There is. There are some funeral homes that really don't want to get involved in this, and that's not necessarily a wrong thing. As I said before, it might be based on your market, on your business, on your community. But some people really feel like it would almost denigrate their existing human business if they were to start serving pets, because they feel like that would be putting pets on a par with people and they feel like that would be a bad thing, that that's not something they really want to promote.
Pet Services Transcript
DennisMcgee.net
Den@DennisMcGee.net
Interview Excerpt:
Nancy: Dennis always says this, and I think it's really cool. "Service is my attitude, that says I will look forward to exceeding the expectations of this unique guest."
Dennis: Correct. I believe that each guest is unique to the funeral home, that comes in the door. Not necessarily the arranging client, but also the deceased that we're taking care of. I've developed this attitude over a number of years because I believe in total quality management in everything that we do in the funeral home.
Nancy: I understand that you bring your own embalming fluid and your own tools with you when you actually perform a service at a different funeral home ‑‑ one that you're not familiar with. Is that right?
Dennis: That's correct. The reason I do that, again, is part of that total quality management, where when I know that I've been called to go to a specific funeral home for some clinical work, that what I bring with me is enough to make sure the job gets done. I don't have to worry about anybody else having or (for the most part) not having what I would need to do a good job. This way, I know that I have what I need and can use to deliver consistent, good results.
Nancy: So Dennis, you speak very often about green funeral services. Are there other terms to actually describe this? Can you discuss this concept with us and why it's sweeping the funeral industry at this time.
Dennis: Yes, I can. And what it does mean to me is that green funeral services is essentially what I like to think of it as formaldehyde free services.
Green Funerals Transcript
Glenda at Insight Books
glenda@insightbooks.com
Interview Excerpt:
Nancy: Now Glenda, we had spoken previously, and you had shared with me some stories about some funerals that you did, that you had an especially creative approach. Would you mind sharing that with our listeners?
Glenda: Well every service gives us an opportunity to really think about what can we do ceremonially or creatively to make this a really long lasting meaningful experience. In many of the services that I do ‑ not all Celebrants do this, but a lot of them do ‑ I try to always find some kind of a memory takeaway, is what we call them, that we handout to the audience after the service, and give them a little physical token to take away to remember the loved one.
I've handed out golf tees, or I've handed out crossword puzzle pages. I've handed out little puffs of cotton balls because this woman really loved clouds. I've handed out bookmarks. All kinds of different pieces.
It's just one more little element to saying, "This life was important, and this life is worth remembering, and we are giving you something very tangible that you can take home, and remember that person by."
So those are always a lot of fun. People always really enjoy them when they receive them. I've done services for 97 year olds, and I've done services for 16 year olds, and so every life has a different take on it.
Funeral Celebrants Transcript
Monica on Facebook
Interview Excerpt:
Nancy: Monica, what new trends to you see in the death care industry? How has it changed over the past couple of years?
Monica: I believe we are going to get more exposure and information on green burials and eco friendly embalming fluid. I believe cremation as a choice for disposition is going to continue to increase, in part because of the economy, but also as a personal choice. I see more strategic alliances with the funeral homes coming together to share livery, employees, they may even buy a crematory together. More people are going to start taking funeral celebrant training and offering this service to families.
And we can't forget social media either with LinkedIn and Facebook. I am even going to throw online obituaries into this mix where the families maybe who can't come out of town, families of friends or even the local ones who can't even make the services, this is the opportunity for them to sign a guest book and leave words of encouragement for the families.
I know LinkedIn, I really liked it because it links me with other professionals in the country that I normally probably would never meet, and the same with Facebook. I actually have a Facebook page for myself and for my business and it actually has increased my exposure personally and professionally to people and mortuary students across the country, in fact on my fan page, that's an assignment. I should tell you of how many people from different countries are on there, because there has got to be at least 20 or 25 countries represented of funeral service people or students on my fan page, Morticia's Funeral Services, Inc. fan page. So I think social media is definitely here. It is a win/win situation to me. I know some people are skeptical of it and you do have to be careful.
Women in the Death Industry Transcript