Comments on: It’s Not the Funeral Product Industry!

By: casket supply

casket supply — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 12:17:38 +0000

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By: Jim Bauschke

Jim Bauschke — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 11:04:19 +0000

The funeral itself is our most important “product”, isn’t it? If we go back a few years to Gilmore and Pine’s book about the experience economy it is quickly obvious that, as you say, we are all about service. People have discovered they don’t have to be embalmed, they don’t have to have a casket, they don’t need funeral directors to be ushers, etc. So best we begin creating visitations and funerals that people want to go to and are willing to pay for because they are wonderful experiences. We call them Life Story Funerals. We no longer bury or cremate the story right along with the body. The life story makes everything we do relevant and is the springboard, then, for creating funerals that are all about life and memories, not death and caskets. Every life has a story, a beautiful story that connects us all to each other, it’s what makes us who we are and who we will become. Our stories are the very fabric of life, and if we don’t write them down and preserve them they will be lost forever. The focus on caskets actually started years ago when the furniture maker sold caskets and then, eventually, offered his home as a “funeral home”. Death was sudden and unexpected in those days and the casket was the focal point. Today, we die differently. Most deaths are not unexpected. In fact, many come as a relief, with the family having grieved, in a way, at the nursing home. This shifted the focus off of caskets, urns, burial or cremation and onto the celebration of life. The public is ahead of where we are in funeral service. They are already looking for a funeral “experience” that THEY want, as opposed to what funeral homes are giving them.

By: Jodi Clock

Jodi Clock — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:05:58 +0000

Finally – someone who gets it! What a refreshing post. Our funeral homes migrated from a product based profit margin mix to a service base mix years ago. I can speak from experience, consumers love it and so does our bottom line. Our margins are consistent – regardless if the product mix! I will also go on record to say that some of our directors resisted the transition (shocking I know) due to lack of “saleman” ship if you will. As a former Forethought vender – we (along with the other companies) did a great job of placing value on the “box” – rather than the life lived. Really – how many people walk away from a funeral (unless they are in the industry) and talk about the casket? At most, they will remember the color or wood selection and how the deceased looked. What really does differntiate one funeral home from another, its the service they provide. On CNN today, they discussed a person who died, who had been the inventor of something to do with “Pringles Potato Chips” and has his cremains split between and urn and a Pringles can! How cool is that! If you relied solely on product…well, you wouldn’t be thinking this was so cool. In my opinion only, many funeral home owners have made moneyt by accident – they just did what their fore-fathers did. Now, they will have to understand the margins, the mix and what the overall operating cost it. My concern is that shifting to a service based model, some funeral homes will not grasp it and be afraid to charge what is realistic. Consumer expect to pay for service, we should not be afraid to charge and charge realistically for our service!