Preneed
There is an old saying that goes, “You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink”. I think that the meaning of that phrase, in human terms is something like this, “You can tell a person the situation, but you cannot make them act on it”. In my…
Read MoreAbout a month ago I read this article from Yahoo Finance titled, “Retail employees are working fewer hours. Here’s why that is a risk to the economy”. While the article was good and informative in its own right a portion near the end caught my eye and I related it to Death Care.…
Read MoreIf you operate or work at a funeral home you know that there is a lot of change going on. . . . .Let’s see, there is less church membership leading to less church services. And, less church services seems to be leading to less traditional services going so far as to move to an…
Read MoreIt was only a couple of short months ago that Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed a new bill into law which allowed for less regulation in the preneed insurance business in that state. Proponents had argued that unless there was more freedom in how preneed companies controlled their growth rates more and more companies would…
Read MoreBreaking the taboo of “End-of-Life” planning can only be a help for funeral services and other death care companies. Funeral directors, funeral homes, and cemeteries with progressive sales force techniques have known for a long time that getting one to talk about their mortality is what gets those consumers to eventually enter into…
Read MoreAccording to this recent article from USA Today “discretionary” consumer spending is down, consumer savings rates have fell, and use of consumer credit card debt has shot up in the last quarter with its largest jump since 1999. . . . That’s probably all good information to know, but what does it tell…
Read MoreOver my lifetime I’ve learned that if something can work for everyone involved it’s probably a good thing. Getting “it” to work out for everyone is probably one of the problems we have with health insurance. . . . something that might work for the physicans maybe doesn’t work for hospitals or maybe something that…
Read MoreTrust is hard to earn. . . .and many times, harder to keep. Any business that promises a service at a later date in return for a payment now comes under scrutiny by almost everyone. However, most businesses that are conducted that way have a horde of government regulations that keep consumers safe.…
Read MoreWhen you get to be my age you have many of your friends’ parents passing away. One of the things I’ve noticed about that is when the 2nd parent dies the family almost always uses the same funeral home that they used for the first death. That’s not surprising — it’s what…
Read MoreIf you want to grow your business — whether through at-need or pre-need — there are some basics you need to understand about the consumer mind. You also need to understand how to reach those consumers. . . . Today’s column will touch on both of those aspects and hopefully point out some strategies…
Read More