Business

Digging for data to reach your client families

By Funeral Director Daily / November 18, 2021 /

There was a day back when I was growing up that young attorneys would pass the Bar exam and then were instructed to “Hang out a shingle” to let the world know they were in business.  That might have worked back in the 1970’s or 1980’s but today if that attorney is not reaching out…

My hunch: Inflation, other factors will lead to rapid acceptance of “Online Direct Cremation”

By Funeral Director Daily / November 15, 2021 /

Thursday night into Friday morning brought Minnesota’s first snowfall of the 2021-2022 winter season.  It was light, but created slippery conditions outside that forced me onto an indoor treadmill run on Friday morning.  My 2 1/2 mile daily run is punctuated by the fact that I have a lot of stamina. . . just not…

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier — The history behind this “Soul of America” Memorial

By Funeral Director Daily / November 12, 2021 /

The numbers 11-11-11 have always been significant when I think of November 11.  Yesterday was that day that we now refer to as Veteran’s Day in America or is referred to as Remembrance Day in Canada.  Those numbers, 11-11-11, refer to the day and time that the cease fire that ended World War I in…

Extending your revenue lines from a big picture point of view

By Funeral Director Daily / November 11, 2021 /

Back in about 1990 I made funeral arrangements for a 55-year old who died of a sudden heart attack.  His widowed wife eventually talked to me about an idea for our funeral home which was based on the premise of what we now call “Aftercare”.  At that time our funeral home did not have a…

Time to regulate the anatomical bequest business

By Funeral Director Daily / November 9, 2021 /

As a funeral director every so often I was asked by a person or family to help with an anatomical bequest of a person who wanted to donate their body for medical research.  I’m located between Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Grand Forks, North Dakota, where the medical schools for those respective states are located.  There was…

The Segmentation of an Industry

By Funeral Director Daily / November 8, 2021 /

I recently read this article from The Irish Catholic where Joseph Behan of Hibernian Funerals explained that Covid-19 has changed many things about death care in Ireland.  For instance, he told of the “Tell us Once” format where instead of notifying the post office, the credit union, your bank and others of your death there…

What about Closure?

By Funeral Director Daily / November 5, 2021 /

It’s Friday.  How about we take a couple of minutes to think about how death, dying, grief, and funerals deal with what is always termed as “Closure”.  Are you aware of how often we use the term?  What does it mean?  Do our client families desire this? I bring up the subject because this past…

Back to the Future

By Funeral Director Daily / November 4, 2021 /

The World Series has been played for the past two weeks and I’m a baseball fan. . . and former little league coach.  I’m “Old School” and don’t particularly like the “data-driven” strategy decisions used in today’s game of baseball.  I like the past when you watched a hitter’s feet move to determine if they…

Could “Skimpflation” be part of your margin solution??

By Funeral Director Daily / November 3, 2021 /

My wife, Angie, came home from the grocery store on Monday morning and showed me a bag of Honeycrisp apples that priced out at over $18. . . Now, I don’t buy the groceries, but I could tell from her reaction that this was a high price for these apples.  So, I think we know…

Funeral homes adding “assisted death” to service options

By Funeral Director Daily / November 1, 2021 /

What some people term “Death with Dignity” is a growing movement that I confess to know little about.  However, the acronym MAID, which stands for “Medical Assistance in Dying” and is part of the Death with Dignity movement is becoming better known and accepted.  Legal in Canada since 2016 the Medical Assistance in Dying Movement…