Building Business and Retaining Clients by Adding Services

My wife’s 85 year old father died suddenly last February.  He and his wife had lived in the small – under 3000 person – community that they were both born in for all of his years.  Life in a community like that revolves around community activities that many times are centered around families – not widows or widowers.

I will also say that the funeral home and funeral director in that small community are wonderful people and really serve the death care needs quite well.  I’ve also noticed that in small communities like that the expectations of grieving families are less than those of some of the client families that I had to deal with in a larger community.

So, yesterday my wife comes to me with tears in her eyes and says, “I’ve got an idea for us that can use your expertise and my time and energy.”  Turns out that she had just talked with her mother and like many widows, her mother had had a bad day on Sunday.  After church it was just boring and she thought of things her and her husband would have done together in the past.  Angie’s idea for us was to start an aftercare social group for people in that community – which is 50 miles away from us.

You see, our funeral home started an aftercare group 30 years ago- that offers grief seminars but also offers social interactions for widows and widowers several times a month.  A newsletter announces noon meal get togethers at local restaurants – with Sunday’s being especially popular, group ticket attendance for plays,  some sporting events in town, and even volunteering to build “Andy Bears” with grieving families on certain days at our mortuary.  Our “Andy Bear” days are very popular in that is where client families bring loved ones clothes, cut them up and use them as the fabric for making small teddy bears to cherish.  While members come and go to the events as their schedules and needs warrant, we have over 600 active widows and widowers that make use of our program.

We have a part-time paid Director of our Aftercare Services.  However, I think that cost pays for itself many times over, not only by serving our client widows and widowers but by giving them social interaction which, in my opinion, maybe keeps them in our community longer.  Not to mention that through our programs many learn about the advantages of pre-arrangement and pre-financing of services.  The commissionable revenue from insurance funded pre-arrangements is welcome.

I told Angie that while that is a great idea. . . it would be an even better idea if the funeral director in that community offered some aftercare programming.  I told Angie I would give him a call and tell him of the business benefits of adding a service such as aftercare to what he does.  From my point of view, many widows and widowers who live alone in small communities may stay there if there is ample opportunity for socialization to relieve the feelings of isolation many have following the death of a spouse.

I will remind that funeral director of the business opportunities of pre-need funding and the thought process of eventually serving the family when the widow/widower passes away.  In my book, that is the better outcome for a small town funeral director than having that widow/widower move away to a child’s community and move into one of the new urban senior living complexes.  If that happens then it will probably mean that the small town funeral director has lost the eventual sale of the second funeral and a funeral home in the child’s larger community will take care of most of the services with the body or ashes just brought back to the hometown cemetery for interment.

My take is that added services are not always a cost. . . they can be a business builder.  Make sure you are doing all that you can to build business for your funeral home.

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2 Comments

  1. MaryAnne Scheuble on July 24, 2018 at 5:23 am

    Tom – I’m so often impressed by your business sense, common sense and kind approach. Thanks for sharing so many great ideas. Your community (and the funeral industry) must be grateful for your continued involvement!



  2. David Adams on July 24, 2018 at 3:29 am

    Tom,
    Excellent perspective and one quite frankly had not noticed until reading your article. Suddenly, a light went on in my head as to how many former friends and family have vacated my home town for that very reason.



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