Business

In Memoriam: Robert Waltrip, SCI founder — Services today

By Funeral Director Daily / March 3, 2023 /

        Robert L. Waltrip, age 92, founder of death care company Service Corporation International, died on Monday, February 27, 2023.  A Celebration of Life service is scheduled for today (March 2).  Interment is scheduled in the Reflection Garden of Memorial Oaks Cemetery in Houston, Texas.   You can access an obituary powered…

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Bucking the trend

By Funeral Director Daily / March 2, 2023 /

    “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated” is a popular misquote attributed to author Samuel Clemens, known by his pen name, Mark Twain.  However, that quote has stayed with Clemens (Twain) forever and is now simply a part of his lore.   The same thing may be said for cemeteries.  The demise…

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Will rural funeral directors be able to replenish themselves

By Funeral Director Daily / March 1, 2023 /

    Funeral director Collin Bourgeois made this comment in this article from CBC, “I certainly tried to retire.  It lasted three weeks.”   Bourgeois is a funeral director and owner of and operator of a funeral business with three locations in northeastern Ontario.  After 45 years in the business he’s staying on the job…

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What’s with “Excess Deaths”?

By Funeral Director Daily / February 24, 2023 /

    This is one of those articles that I will write that probably has no answers.  It only brings up questions.  That question today is “What’s with Excess Deaths”?   When the pandemic hit and deaths increased for almost all funeral homes across the world, one of the questions asked was “With these extra…

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Don’t forget “Low-tech” to build your brand

By Funeral Director Daily / February 22, 2023 /

    There are a lot of great companies out there who can help you with the newest way to reach potential client families.  Some of them, like RingRing Marketing are sponsors of this forum.  They will do a great job in helping you navigate social media and the internet to let potential clientele know…

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Hiring funeral directors: Do you look for IQ or EQ?

By Funeral Director Daily / February 21, 2023 /

    Over the years that I hired funeral directors to work at our funeral home I looked for various traits that I felt would help a funeral home in a community of my size.  I certainly knew that I needed professional staff that was excellent in the preparation room.  But, I also needed staff…

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The Green Funeral. . . a contrarian view?

By Funeral Director Daily / February 20, 2023 /

    The Washington Post recently printed this article which in part said, “. . . .a distinct shift is underway in how we approach death. More than half of Americans are seeking greener funerals, according to the National Funeral Directors Association, and the percentage is rising. The funeral industry is responding: You can now be entombed in a…

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Suicide rates rise in 2021. . . Is the lack of funerals part of the reason?

By Funeral Director Daily / February 15, 2023 /

    Sometimes I just come across ideas for Funeral Director Daily articles by accident.  On Saturday I was going out for my weekly “reward” of a time at a coffee shop and stopped to buy a newspaper to read while there.  Since the local Naples Times-Herald was out, I had a choice of the…

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Is your business Transactional or is it Transformational?

By Funeral Director Daily / February 14, 2023 /

    Most businesses that I know of are transactional in nature.  They take a fee and give their customer a product or service in return for that fee.  Funeral homes tend to be transactional — we charge a family for the services and merchandise we render and then we provide those products and/or services…

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Passing the torch

By Funeral Director Daily / February 8, 2023 /

    Trust me.  This will not be a political article but I got the thought for it when I read this article in the Sunday Minneapolis Star Tribune entitled, “The Grayest Generation – the torch has been passed to the oldest pair of presidential front-runners ever.  Is it time for a younger generation?”  …

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