Business

The Psychology of Commitment

By Funeral Director Daily / June 27, 2025 /

    When you are in a competitive business you need to acquire customers and then find a way to make sure that those customers are “commited to you”.  Many times acquiring the customer might be the easy part, but making sure the customer stays commited to you and loyal to your brand can be…

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Acquisitions, equity funding, new funeral homes. . . The nexus between technology and traditional continues

By Funeral Director Daily / June 25, 2025 /

    In the last couple of weeks I’ve noticed articles that truly point to Death Care as being at a nexus, or intersection, of technology and tradition.  Today’s Funeral Director Daily article brings you information and links to articles that truly show that Death Care is changing.   There is one article that shows…

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So, you’re selling your funeral home. . . . and moving into retirement

By Funeral Director Daily / June 23, 2025 /

  We keep hearing that about 50% of the family owned funeral homes in North America will change hands within the next decade. . . .If there are about 20,000 funeral homes in the U.S. and Canada that means that about 10,000 will be sold.   That’s a lot of transactions.  The companies that help…

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Debt, Demographics, and Disruption

By Funeral Director Daily / June 20, 2025 /

  Are we living in the age of Debt, Demographics, and Disruption?  And, if we are, are there parallels from life and investing that might also move into the Death Care realm?   I heard the phrase “Debt, Demographics, and Disruption” when I sat down to catch my breath on Wednesday afternoon after returning from…

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Death Care Out-of-the-Box: The Epilogue

By Funeral Director Daily / June 16, 2025 /

    I tried something different last week and had a five-part series on how “Out-of-the-Box” thinking may change Death Care.  The series of articles was well recieved and, from feedback I recieved, seemed to make people think. . . even if they don’t think my thoughts will become a reality anytime soon.   Joel…

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A 4th possible death care evolution: More government payments

By Funeral Director Daily / June 13, 2025 /

  When I look at the long-term trends of democratic countries — countries that I define by having free and fair elections for leaders — I see historical movement towards more “socially economic” values.  For instance, when I look at European countries that were founded much earlier than the United States I sense a pattern…

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Who might be our future competition?

By Funeral Director Daily / June 12, 2025 /

    Smart companies look for “Line Extention” to help them grow.  I learned a little about “Line Extension” in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s when I served on a Board of Wells Fargo.  At that time, CEO Richard Kovacevich realized that Wells Fargo had satisfied customers in the banking business.  He realized that…

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A four-day work week for funeral service professionals?

By Funeral Director Daily / June 11, 2025 /

      If you have been involved in leadership for any length of time you will find that any decision that you make, even if you think it is the greatest decision in the world, will not be taken as beneficial to all parties.  Someone down the line of employment will wish the decision…

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Funeral Home acquisitions: Why not royalties as part of the consideration?

By Funeral Director Daily / June 10, 2025 /

  The negotiations to sell and or purchase a funeral home generally involve “what one is buying and how are they paying for it”.  It’s pretty common to hear the terms “asset sale”, “real estate”, “convenants not to compete”, “consulting agreement”, “equipment”, “inventory”, and “goodwill” among the nomenclature of the transaction that takes place between…

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Outside the Box: 4 Things I think will eventually come to Death Care

By Funeral Director Daily / June 9, 2025 /

    Over my lifetime some things have just stuck with me.  A couple of those things are quotes that share a message of complicated projects or ideas that might seem insurmountable but also give the hope to try. . . because maybe the idea might just work.   The first one I remember is…

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