Business

Will “deflation” improve your margins?

By Funeral Director Daily / August 4, 2023 /

    “Deflationary forces will be the story of the season.”  That’s a headline I recently saw.   I receive three general business newsletters in my inbox every morning.  I woke up on Monday of this week with two of those newsletters headlining their newsletters with talk of inflation. . . more specifically, that talk…

Is your message reaching the “Right” audience?

By Funeral Director Daily / August 1, 2023 /

    I think every funeral home owner and marketing directors of larger funeral home, crematory, and cemetery operations by now understands that social media has some say in how people perceive your business is operated and how it may take care of their family if and when necessary.   One big question, however, is…

Who said, “Cemetery management is easy”?

By Funeral Director Daily / July 28, 2023 /

        For the most part, cemeteries are tranquil places where lot ownership, interments, and maintenance usually go off as planned and when they do people just don’t seem to notice all the good work and planning that has been done to accomplish that.  But, as this recent print and video news story…

Smith Family Funeral Homes is #1 in Arkansas reader poll

By Funeral Director Daily / July 24, 2023 /

    In my research into Funeral Director Daily topics I see lots of articles like this from around the country.  What made me stop and consider this article for publishing is not only my knowledge of the Smith family, but a thought I had when reading the article.  That thought being. . . “You…

Leadership: You need to “Stand Out” but still “Fit In”

By Funeral Director Daily / July 21, 2023 /

      It’s estimated that about 85% of North America’s funeral businesses are still family owned.  However, that number seems to be headed downward as the large national and regional consolidators seemingly accelerate their purchases of these family funeral homes when they come to market.   I think that increased rate of consolidation is…

Confessions of a retired funeral director

By Funeral Director Daily / July 20, 2023 /

      I had an incident in church on Sunday that both the party I was involved with and myself laughed about at the time.  However, when I returned home I thought about the situation and wondered to myself, “Is it just me in this stage of life or is humanity, in general, losing…

What keeps ’em coming back. . .do you have the data?

By Funeral Director Daily / July 18, 2023 /

    The funeral home business is well known for its retention of retaining families served over the generations of deaths.  Most of us call this “Heritage” business and any great funeral home will find a way to keep the families they have served happy so they don’t look any where else the next time…

Another argument for Preneed. . . .

By Funeral Director Daily / July 13, 2023 /

      Americans are taking a loan, early withdrawal, or hardship withdrawal from their retirement plans at record rates according to this article from Yahoo Finance.  And, one of the top reasons why, according to the survey, is to pay for a funeral.   According to the survey released by by the non-profit Transamerica…

Here’s some good news from our profession

By Funeral Director Daily / July 11, 2023 /

      I like it when I read about good things happening in the Death Care business.  Sometimes, like this story, the good news grows out of bad deeds. . . but, in the end, it’s how our profession can step up and help that makes me feel good about what we do.  …

Health care costs may drive increased expenses in 2024

By Funeral Director Daily / July 10, 2023 /

    According to this recent article from Yahoo Finance, businesses, including funeral homes, may find their employee health care costs rising by up to 7% in 2024.  And, that is on top of increases of 5.5% in 2022 and 6% this year.   According to the article, “. . .hospitals and providers will often…