There are many different types of customers in the market. If you've been in the game for a while now, you might have encountered a customer who wants to build a long-term partnership with you or a customer who can never be satisfied with your products and services. It can be challenging to encounter customers like that. It can damage you and your team's confidence in being able to satisfy your customers. It can also force you to reevaluate how you think your company should be operating even though the reality might very well be that you're just not serving the right customer based on your products and services. Fortunately, there are things that you can do avoid being in this situation.

In order to build long-lasting and mutually beneficial relationships with your customers, you first need to find the right customer for you. This involves research that might be overwhelming at first glance, but you've come to the right place if you're looking for some help. We've done the research for you, and this article serves as a summary of what you can do to serve quality products and services to the right customer. Of course, if you want to know the details, then you might want to check out our course.

But for now, here are five things you can do to find the right customer and give quality service every single time:

First and foremost, your products and services can only fulfill the needs of a customer from the right target market. As such, you need to understand what they're looking for and what you can do to match those needs.

Spend some time in forums or wherever your potential customers hang out to get insight into the common features they're looking for in the products or services you plan to offer.

You may also want to engage them in conversation to get a more in-depth perspective on what you can do to effectively infiltrate the market as well as the quality they're looking for.

Another thing you can do to ensure that you're always serving quality to the right customer is to check your capabilities. While taking more orders might be tempting as it means more profit and revenue, you have a reputation to build and protect.

Take the time to check your inventory, financials, and team status.

1. Can you fulfill the orders on time?
2. Can you do it in such a way that you won't be sacrificing quality for quantity?
3. Can you handle potential customer questions on your product and services?

These are some of the questions you might want to keep in mind to prevent aggravating your customers and turning what could have been the "right customer" into a "customer from hell."

If you've done your research and you're confident in your ability to deliver, then chances are that all your current customers are satisfied. However, you need to remember that someone will always come along who might demand a little more from you.

These customers may be encountering your company for the first time and thus may have a few more questions than normal. Answering questions promptly and engaging them respectfully and politely helps build customer satisfaction, which you can use to make sure to not only build your reputation but also integrate giving quality service within your company culture.

A satisfied customer is one who will more than likely return to subscribe to your products or services. As such, prioritizing quality over quantity gets you a one-way ticket to long-term customer relationships that drives regular profit. These are the customers you want to serve, but keep in mind that requires the effort that's detailed above. While you can never make sure that everyone is satisfied, doing your best means that if you still encounter someone who might be disgruntled with what you've given them, then chances are that they aren't the right customer for you. Focus on the ones you can serve and trigger business growth.

Speaking of growth, another thing you can do to keep up the quality of your products and services is to keep an eye on your company performance. If you think you're in a position to offer more and to grow your repertoire, then by all means, do so. Do your research on who else might benefit from what you offer and adjust accordingly.

Always keep in mind that growing your business means that you need to reach the customers who can support your company all the while ensuring that the quality of your products and services aren't compromised.

By the end of this article, you should have a more comprehensive idea of what you should look for and what you can do in balancing quality and customer satisfaction. It's a hard balance to achieve but it’s not impossible. Check out CANA’s Deathcare Business Administrator course if you want to make sure that you're achieving that balance every single time.

Jeremy Wall is lead facilitator for the CANA Deathcare Business Administration Program. He has a passion for simplifying the complex. As you will see in both the self-paced learning, he will help support your learning journey to bring these learning concepts from theory to practical implementation within your business. Jeremy has founded, grown, and exited businesses before and will work with you and your team as you look to create a lasting impact on building a better culture, healthier balance sheets, and a stronger bottom line.

Last evening I had dinner with a good friend. We proceeded through our typical topics of family and travels after which she conveyed her disastrous treatment by store personnel after her purse was taken from her cart. Completing her saga of the poor customer interactions she suffered, she added, “Foxy (solely ideated from my last name), I immediately thought of you. You've dedicated your career to improving customer experiences. Why are they still so terrible?”

Splendid question, and one I continually ask myself.

At first glance, it appears that we have failed. All the noise: books, seminars, training exercises and cheerleading about the customer experience have not produced significantly better customer experiences on a consistent basis. However, an important evolution of thought has taken place over the last couple of decades. We’ve transitioned from focusing on front line personnel as the provider of customer experiences to understanding that the entirety of the organization provides customer experiences. AND, most importantly, we’ve come to understand that company culture is the milieu from which all customer experiences spring.

Despite or perhaps because of stories of insolent cashiers, phone calls not being returned, car repair hell, endless waits in a physician’s office, frustrating phone systems without human access, indifference, there is a huge opportunity. McKinsey & Company states that declining customer satisfaction rates across a range of companies suggest that many companies have lost their focus on the customer. There are certainly exceptions to these bright spots. You can name a few. However, many other organizations are still operating under potentially fatal assumptions.

Just a dollar, that is all I want for every time I’ve been told by an organization that they are “known for great service.” When asked to defend that statement, anecdotal evidence prevails. A random call from a customer, a five star google review or the fact that they have received few or no complaints, are the answers given most often. Many companies assume that if there are just a few or no complaints their service is at an acceptable level. After all, why would an organization put resources into improving service if they believe it’s fine?

Another reason companies choose not to allocate resources to improve the customer experience is a failure to understand that experience quality actually impacts the bottom line. Multiple surveys of CEOs present data where the CEOs state that the customer experience is a top priority, yet, few put actual resources, either human or financial, into improving it.

There is a tendency to sense that service matters but to believe that it does not matter that much, at least not enough to impact real growth and profitability.

Let’s be candid. Resource allocation, that part where expenditures are made to improve the customer experience, is a harder dollar to spend than expanding marketing efforts or upgrading your physical environment, or your website.

Without a commitment of resources, a service initiative is merely “lip service,” like saying your health is a priority, while puffing on a cigarette.

Imagine you wake up in a different country, especially one that differs from North American culture, you are likely to notice indicators of the local culture right away. Language, dress, road rules, values, menu items, behavior, and definitions of crime all vary across cultures. In Singapore, for instance, selling or importing chewing gum is banned to maintain public cleanliness. Cultures reveal themselves clearly.

In parallel, when an organization intentionally embeds values, speaks a language of customer focus, has engaged employees, creates policies and processes with the customer in mind, generates performance standards at each and every touchpoint, AND hires to standards with the customer in mind, the customer will notice a positive difference. They will ‘feel served.’ Yes, I used that term intentionally. There is a difference between ‘getting served,’ and ‘feeling served.’ People remember how we make them ‘feel.’  When a customer ‘feels served,’ they are more likely to recommend you, buy more, casually talk about you. They’ve become loyal, and loyalty is a matter of the heart.

The most significant concern any organization can have today, is whether their customers “feel served.” In the behavior sequence, feelings precede action. Said another way:  How people behave is critically affected by how they feel. Customer retention depends on this fact. Customer acquisition, through promoters and referrals is an outcome.

Each employee inside an organization owns a part of whether the customer feels served. The customer will only feel served however when all the impressions from all the touchpoints scream loudly with one voice.

If you are wondering how to begin to create the culture described here, start with a few questions and get your entire staff involved. Good starter questions are:

• What systems, processes and policies need to be in place for our customers to feel served? Which ones need to be changed?
• How would you rate the customer experience we provide on a scale of 1-10? What can we improve upon?
• How would you rate the internal customer experience on a scale of 1-10? What can we improve?
• What tools and resources do you need to do your job better?
• What does the leadership do well? What can leaders improve upon?
• When our customers feel served, what have they experienced?
• What touchpoints is each staff member responsible for and how can they be improved?
  

Please note that a culture which automatically cultivates loyal customers does not happen overnight, without struggle and without a strategy. It is only possible when leaders are on board, committed to change and relentless in their drive to bring their aspiration to reality. The leader’s heart is really the heart of the matter.

The author, Joan Fox, has provided speaking, training and consulting solutions for some of the world’s best organizations for more than 30 years. She has noted expertise in improving the customer experience, organizational culture and leadership teams. Joan is the author of the critically acclaimed book, The Chronicles of Sir Vival: Customer Service Under Siege, endorsed by Ken Blanchard. Her clients include AT&T, IBM, Xerox, Novartis, Johnson & Johnson, Wells Fargo, Safran Landing Systems, Johns Hopkins, Mitsui Sumitomo and numerous others.

I may be new to the deathcare industry, but over the past 25+ years, working in multiple industries and leading teams across 10 functional areas, I’ve experienced tremendous success, learned some lessons from a few setbacks, and gained some valuable skills and experiences along the way. As I cross the 100-day mark in my journey as CEO of Foundation Partners Group, it’s a good time to reflect on all that that I’ve learned about the deathcare industry, the people and the road ahead.

I attribute much of my past success to what the Zen Buddhists call Shoshin, a Japanese term that translates as the “beginner’s mind,” based on the teachings of Shunryu Suzuki in his classic book, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. It’s the idea that when you’re new to something and don’t know much about it, you adopt a unique mindset, free from preconceptions and expectations, and filled with curiosity. Experience is a wonderful thing. It often helps us do things at a higher level; but knowledge and understanding of how things work can prevent us from seeing clearly what’s possible. A beginner’s mind means having a healthy dose of intellectual humility and an open mind to receive new information.

I’ve spent the past three months traveling around the country visiting with our regional and support center teams, listening to customers, partners and former funeral business owners. I am extremely impressed with the sense of purpose, passion and professionalism of our funeral home teams, for whom service is a true calling. Getting out to listen and learn from those who’ve been successful in this profession also is helping me understand “why” we do the things we do at Foundation Partners. I’ve asked questions, listened to responses and posed follow-up questions to further understand and “turn” the prism a bit to get people to see things in a different way.

What I’ve learned is that our operations, business model and our industry are ripe for transformation. But organizations don’t change in a sustainable way until people do, so leadership matters. My leadership approach is to inspire people both individually and collectively as a team, to empower and unleash their greatness to achieve extraordinary results. Change is constant and expected in today’s world, and my role is to see around corners and guide our organization to new growth areas.

The past few months have been extremely rewarding, and I am resolved to maintain my “beginner’s mindset” as I apply all that I’ve learned and will continue to learn from the career funeral service professionals around me. Here are five takeaways from these first 100 days:

We’re in a service business and you can’t be successful if your team members are not excited, energized and leaning into their work. Set the tone by defining and communicating your organization’s mission and values and demonstrate them in your actions every day. Empower your team members by investing in training, better systems and tools to deliver a better experience—for them and for the families you serve. For example, at Foundation Partners, we’re transitioning to a new, more user-friendly online learning portal, which will offer leadership and position training courses for career growth, providing team members with more resources to succeed. If yours is a smaller firm, take advantage of the great online and in-person training available through CANA and other professional organizations.

Communication is a two-way street. Keep the lines of communication open at all levels of your organization. The best ideas come from the people on the front lines. I’ve asked team members at across our organization, “If we do this, how will it impact your world?” I may not be able to implement all their suggestions but giving them space to express their points of view will help win their buy-in to our final course of action.

We’ve launched programs to listen to and act on team feedback—because it’s impossible to build a customer-centric winning culture if your team doesn’t buy in. Our commitment to engagement is rooted in our efforts to maximize discretionary effort, which starts with honest everyday conversations – leaders being both visible and accessible to have conversations with the team. In addition, we have an annual team member survey that gives our team members a voice and offers valuable insights that help guide our leaders to address wins, opportunities and concerns our team may express.

Whether it’s exploring all a family’s options in a preneed conference or walking a family through difficult at-need decisions, we need to listen to what families want, understand what’s possible with our varied service and product offerings, and tailor a personalized experience that exceeds their expectations.

Words matter. Do you have employees or team members? The term “employee” is very contractual. Employees fulfill their individual duties and responsibilities and receive salaries and benefits in return. Team members, on the other hand, are driven by a common sense of purpose, interdependency and a sense of community beyond one’s individual role.

In the end, to sustain lasting change, it’s all about mindsets, skillsets and toolsets. Changing mindsets, which requires clarity around the “why,” is the first step on the transformation journey. Then it’s about developing new skillsets and providing the right toolsets to enable people to embrace change and be energized about what’s possible. People tend to be afraid of change, but once they understand the “why”, and how it impacts them they are open to it. When you listen and take action, you can foster a culture in which every team member feels valued, inspired and engaged to serve families in new and meaningful ways.

John D. Smith was named CEO of Foundation Partners Group in January 2025. He oversees the company’s long-term growth strategy, vision, talent and culture, establishing Foundation Partners as an innovative leader in the industry. He brings over 30 years of branded consumer experience delivering accelerated growth, operational excellence, service and cultural transformation. John can be reached at [email protected].

A quick search on Google about horror stories in the office yields results that are often related to the work environment, company culture, and, worse, their manager. The workforce has had much to say about how managers and leaders handle their teams.

They have every right to – after all, your employees are the backbone of your company. Without them, business owners, especially those who have only just entered their respective industries, can face insurmountable challenges in operations, service delivery, and customer relationships, among others.

As such, it is essential for startup and well-established companies to invest in management training that matters. Regardless of experience, managers are expected to refresh their skillset and knowledge base in order to adapt to the new demands of the workforce.

Management education and training provides you with the tools you need to not only hire the best people for your team but also take advantage of every new talent you add to your company. If you need more reasons as to why you should be getting management training, then this article is for you. It will show you what proper management can do in hopes of emphasizing that learning is an essential part of being an effective leader.

Over the past few years, the workforce has become increasingly diverse as technology has made it possible for people all over the world to connect with each other.

For managers, this trend can mean one of two things. For one, the increased diversity could pose unexpected challenges due to differences in culture, perspective, and work ethic.

However, with the proper management skills, company leaders can maximize this diversity to bring out your team's potential for innovation, which is an invaluable asset in an era of knowledge and technology.

You can motivate them to grab the opportunities instead of waiting for it to happen, become more assertive, and hone themselves into becoming future leaders. A good manager can also empower their team, which not only increases their productivity but also their reliability and sense of responsibility.

An incompetent manager can be detrimental to your team's productivity and creativity. Your employees may find themselves bogged down by inefficient processes, fatigue, and job dissatisfaction – factors that can increase your attrition and causing your company to lose the money you've invested for their hiring, training, and onboarding.

Management training helps you identify the signs and prevent the problem before it can happen. It can teach you what to do during coaching and one-on-one sessions as well as any other employee interaction you may have.

As a result, it can ensure that you're inspiring employee loyalty instead of inviting resignation letters to land on your desk.

Once you have a workforce that you can rely on, the next thing you may want as a manager is to ensure that you're doing things right on the business side of things.

Proper management training teaches you how to devise better business strategies that can benefit you in the short- and long-term. Such strategies may have something to do with your workforce, like what, when, and why you should implement an effective rewards system.

It may also teach you how to identify the market you want, reach the customers you need, and keep them coming back to your company for your products and services. The best training modules out there might also include how to handle finances, which is a key responsibility of leaders.

Imagine if you had a workforce that you have to replace every once in a while because people don't want to keep working for you. As a leader, this scenario means that you have to keep hiring people, investing in training over and over again. It also means that you have no one to rely on but yourself.

If you want to start focusing on growing your business, then consider getting management training for the simple fact that it ensures that you're hiring and training a team that will be with you throughout your growth as a company.

It also enables you to delegate tasks, which is something you'll find yourself grateful for when growing inevitably means more paperwork, tasks, and decisions. Having the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve this is essential for startups, especially if you want to hit the ground running.

As a general rule of thumb, remember this: happy workforce, happy leader. If your team spends their time trying to come up with efficient strategies and thinking up solutions to your problems, it's more than likely that you, as a manager, are leading an empowered team that can support the growth of your company. Invest in management training because your workforce is as much an asset as it is your capital.

In February, I attended CANA’s 2024 Symposium focusing on green practices. There were several presenters and vendors who provided information and products covering embalming, green burial, alkaline hydrolysis, and natural organic reduction. Everyone brought their best attitudes and willingness to learn about new ways to consider how we serve our families.

As the presentations continued, it was clear that many people in the room had strong preferences and could argue clearly on behalf of the methods they preferred. It occurred to me while listening to these discussions that we have to have something to be against in order to have something that we support.

Now, isn’t that the truth for humanity throughout our collective experience? In every story there is a bad guy and a good guy. A right way and a wrong way. This is how countries, political parties, religious denominations, cults, and, even, sports teams gain their followers. We’re number one and everyone else is a loser.

In the 60’s Jessica Mitford was the objective of our collective anger. In her book The American Way of Death, she pulled the curtain back on the practices of the day. Some of her assumptions and accusations were inflated and unfair. Some of her statements were correct and on point. This exposé that outlined many problematic business practices drew the attention of the FTC and funeral service was put on notice that someone was watching. So, then we had a second point of pain and an enemy that we could all agree on. That meddling FTC that makes our lives so difficult.

And then, along came cremation. Now this was something threatening that we could all rally against. What do you mean that you do not want to embalm the body, buy a casket and a vault and a burial plot? This is what we do. This is our entire business model. This is how we survive.

So, for another two decades (and, for some much longer) many funeral professionals were less than engaged with the cremation family. The famous professional shrug and eye roll as we referred to the request as “just a cremation.” We hid the urns in a closet and only brought them out when we had to. As cremation continued to increase and it became clear that it was going nowhere, many funeral professionals learned to embrace and adapt and have successful businesses serving the cremation customer. But, if you listen closely when a group of funeral directors get together, there is still that collective sigh as they remember the good ol’ days.

Just as we thought that we had figured out how to sleep with that enemy, along came green burial. “What? What kind of hippy dippy, tree hugging stuff is this? ”And, of course, Jewish and Islamic families all over the country gently reminded us that they have been honoring their dead in this manner for 2000 years.

And this is when the enemies became divided. For those who were promoting and encouraging the natural disposition choices, formaldehyde and caskets and fuel-based cremation became the enemy. Bad for the environment. Bad for practitioners. Bad for the land.

For those whose business practices relied on embalming or cremation, green burial became a threat to their established models and frustrating in the limitations of offering options.  “Sure, I am happy to support a family’s wishes, but how do I find a cemetery that accepts natural burial? Or dealing with green-identified cemeteries that won’t allow burial of an embalmed body which means that families cannot be buried together? And what does green burial mean? A wicker casket? A shroud? Formaldehyde-free embalming? So confusing. Perhaps we can just ignore it and hope it goes away.”

In the last decade, the landscape has gotten even more crowded with the introduction of alkaline hydrolysis focusing on the enemy: flame-based cremation. So much better to utilize water and sodium hydroxide and not pollute the air or use large quantities of fuel. At this writing, twenty states have legalized it, indicating a lag in professional support and urgency for making this available for families who would like to have that choice. Why create yet something else that we must deal with?

And then, in 2019, natural organic reduction came on the scene. You could feel the collective gasp all over the country. “What? Another option? Turning bodies into soil? A truck load of remains? Are you kidding me?" At this writing, nine states have legalized this process and much of the pushback has come from religious and funeral professionals. “We’ve never done it this way before and it just doesn’t feel right. ”The best way to bring folks together is to give them a really good enemy.

Personally, I am a fan of all of the above. I have had the privilege of working with such talented and dedicated professionals in all of these fields – embalming, cremation, green/natural, alkaline hydrolysis, and natural organic reduction.

I am completely convinced that their life’s work has been focused on serving families in dignified and honoring ways and of supporting a funeral practice that serves the community.

My question is – Why does anything have to be the enemy? Why have we been so resistant to accepting and enthusiastically embracing ALL of the options? Why must one thing be bad in order for our preference to be good? Clearly each method has pros and cons that must be considered, but there is no one method that owns all the pros nor one that is inherently bad.

Why can’t we open up those doors and become proficient and conversant in every option that is allowed in our states? Why are we not having full and informative conversations with professionals, law makers, religious and lay communities as we consider what it means to take care of a person’s final disposition and honoring those wishes? What message are we sending to families who are seeking the best alternative that fits them and their lifestyles and convictions when we refuse to be the professional experts in all the ways we take care of bodies?

Perhaps it is time to put down our We’re Number One foam finger and consider ourselves part of the death care team with everyone pulling in the same direction. Perhaps the best way to bring everyone together is not to create an enemy but to create a vision of progressive inclusion and expansive imagination. In that scenario, no one has to be the enemy. Everyone can be the good guy.

The loss of talent is one of the biggest challenges organizations face. In a competitive job market, managers can help ensure stability by intentionally creating a culture that people will be more likely to stay in. And, contrary to what is often assumed, it does not have to cost a lot of money.

Here are 10 ways managers can create a culture people will want to join and thrive in: 

Denise Reid and Martha Webb-Jones provide consultation on Human Resources policies and processes through Raven Plume Consulting. The mission of Raven Plume is to change the way people think about funeral service by sharing knowledge and expertise with funeral home and crematory professionals, clients, and the public.

With Cremation Strategies & Consulting, part of Raven Plume Consulting, you can get a discount in developing your SOP Manual and reduce liability, improve employee training, and ensure operations are done correctly, efficiently, and consistently. Available free to CANA Members, the Crematory Management Program provides step-by-step instructions to build a Standard Operating Procedures Manual with the help of experts. Not a member? Learn more about why CANA keeps growing!

In the fast-paced and ever-evolving landscape of leadership, the ability to thrive under stress is a hallmark of effective leaders. Understanding our own tendencies is a crucial first step. Leaders who are self-aware can better comprehend how their actions impact others, fostering a culture of empathy within the team.

A key element in navigating stress is providing a balanced combination of support and challenge. This equilibrium liberates the team, encouraging them to push boundaries and reach their full potential. Leaders who master this delicate dance create an environment where innovation and growth flourish.

The distinction between influence and power is critical for leaders striving under stress. While power relies on authority and control, influence is built on trust, respect, and collaboration. Choosing influence over positional power fosters a positive team dynamic, where each member feels valued and empowered to contribute their best.

Intentionality in team development is a strategic move that pays dividends. By investing time and resources into cultivating the skills and strengths of each team member, leaders unlock untapped capacity. This not only enhances the overall effectiveness of the team but also enables achieving more with the same resources.
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Leaders who thrive under stress are those who embrace self-awareness, balance support and challenge, wield influence judiciously, and invest in intentional team development. This multifaceted approach not only fortifies a leader's ability to weather storms but also propels their team to unprecedented heights of success. After all, true leadership isn't just about managing under pressure but thriving and enabling others to thrive as well.

I think it's important we talk about disaster planning and emergency management coordination. It is important to know how a disaster is defined, because that is how we react and how we are deployed. A disaster, by definition, is a serious disruption of your community, and it's when you exceed all the capacity and resources that your community has, or is allowed to have, in coping with the situation.

That’s how we define it, and it's how we are deployed, and it's how we react whenever the time comes. We've all seen or been through disasters and you know it is chaos at the time.

When something happens, there's a lot of adrenaline. There's a lot of people in charge, or that’s the way it may look, but truly it's what we plan for. To be able to rehearse and go through different situations. There are several different levels of jurisdiction for a disaster event, depending on the severity and the resources available.
Disasters can range from extreme weather events, commercial transportation wreckage, and mass shootings to—as we’ve seen recently—pandemic devastation.
When a disaster strikes, how are we deployed? Who decides where we go and what resources are available? Most of that information is compiled with what is called an Emergency Management Coordinator. An Emergency Management Coordinator is someone in your community – on a state and local level – who is the first get a complete analysis of the disaster or the event, and who is then responsible for appropriating different resources to that event that are necessary.

Each type of event has a different need. With a mass shooting, you're in a rescue and triage situation. There's a lot of different things that we train for, depending on what the event is. We were recently in hurricane season, so we in Texas and other coastal areas can understand and know the devastation of a hurricane, and we have trained and gone through several different hurricanes in our area.

Big, catastrophic events, such as the Oklahoma City bombing or 9/11, are handled at the federal level. Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Teams (DMORT) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) work together to take charge of those situations.
I'm chairperson of the Texas Disaster Team, which is affiliated very strongly with our Texas Funeral Directors Association. That is a very strong bond that we have together. It's where all of our volunteers’ training is done, together through that organization. Other states have very similar organizations that are part of their state funeral director association. So, if you’re not a part of your state association, I would encourage you to get involved, because they play an important role in coordinating resources.
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Our association is affiliated with the state of Texas, and we are contracted by the state for all of its mortuary assets. So, all mortuary assets go through our association that we manage for them, so when any type of deployment comes in our area in the state of Texas, our funeral directors are the frontline resources available that go out.

Let me give you a few of the incidents in our area that we have been a part of. Our team was the lead agency in for the West Fertilizer explosion back in 2013. We were the lead agency that took care of 13 of the 15 bodies that were killed. It was a small town, so we came in not only as search and rescue and transportation, but we also have a funeral director element of our team that came in and assisted the funeral home.

Recently, we faced the pandemic. Our team was deployed to the Texas Valley in 2020. We spent three months there. We took over full mortuary operations for the Texas Valley, including the intake and transportation of bodies. We handled over 1,300 deaths there in two months. It was a 24-hour operation there.

Our team, some of whom are here in the room today, were also very active in the Uvalde school shooting. We went into Uvalde and we assisted taking care of that situation. So, we have been a part of a lot of different disasters.
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As a funeral director, cemeterian, cremationist, you are on the front lines, and your resources are valuable to emergency management coordinators. So, if you are not currently part of emergency planning in your area, I encourage you to do so. You're the expert. You know, on the front line almost all disasters, you're dealing with death, you're dealing with transportation of bodies, you're dealing with temporary morgue holding facilities, so I encourage you to get involved with that.

Three things I want to leave you with, because when disaster strikes, it's too late to plan, so be prepared.

1. Know what resources you have. Take inventory of what you have, and know for different types of events that are happening, you're going to need different resources, so know what you have.
2. Then, communicate that to the emergency management coordinators, your local county officials. They need to know what you have. When you're in a smaller, rural area, it's even more important to know that.
3. Be willing to volunteer, be willing to help when the time comes again. You are the expert. You are the person that knows how to move decedents, storage of decedents.

Be prepared. Be ready.
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Before I got involved in this, and then after seeing on the other side, I know our importance, our value to the county and state officials when a disaster hits. Because it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. We all know that, and we see it daily on the news. So, be part of the response and get involved to be able to help when the time comes.

There’s been a revolt against hiring for cultural fit. Business Insider says it leads to a homogeneous workplace. The Harvard Business Review calls it a “misguided hiring strategy” and says to stop doing it. Forbes even published an obituary for the concept, saying it’s “fraught with bias.”

With all due respect, they’re wrong. Companies will always have a culture, and culture will always be set by the people you hire. If you’re not actively building a healthy one, you’re passively building a sick one. But the antidote for bad culture is to build good culture—not to pretend you’re building no culture at all. My worst hiring mistakes (and I’ve made doozies) have come when I’ve forgotten culture and hired for something else instead. Determining cultural compatibility is tough to do and tougher to do well—which is why only the best have mastered it.

A shibboleth might help.

The word “shibboleth” comes from an Old Testament story about the Ephraimites, who devised a test after they were infiltrated by an enemy tribe. Anyone who couldn’t say “shibboleth” with the local pronunciation exposed himself as an imposter. Today, the word is defined by Merriam-Webster as “a word or saying used by adherents of a party, sect, or belief and usually regarded by others as empty of real meaning.” A business who knows itself well will establish certain ideas and concepts that are central to its identity, but meaningless to the outside. Your best hires will be the people who recognize and share your excitement for those concepts.
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Here’s the really good news: establishing a shibboleth for your company will allow you to better focus your business, invigorate your team, and increase diversity. Here’s how:

The hard part—and the real importance—of a shibboleth isn’t finding someone who recognizes it, it’s picking one in the first place. To say exactly who fits your brand requires first understanding your brand. And most companies don’t. But that’s exactly why finding a concise articulation of your identity is such an important exercise: it requires the clarity that is essential for you to succeed.

Former IBM CMO Abby Kohnstamm put it this way: “The larger the company, the greater the importance there is to get to a clear, simple brand idea. Ours became a rallying point for the entire organization. It shapes the culture, it shapes business decisions, and it shapes behaviors.”

Think about that. A single litmus test against which a firm can evaluate everything. Every hire, every new product decision, every investment opportunity, aligned to a single idea. You know exactly what the most successful brands are about, because they’ve put in the sweat equity to figure it out for themselves. You can’t afford not to do the same.

It’s the second half of the definition of Shibboleth that’s really important: “usually regarded by others as empty of real meaning.” My firm, which specializes in advertising for stalled, stuck, and stale brands, has helped hundreds of companies find the essence of their identity. Usually, the identity we land on seems boring to outsiders—it hardly ever ends up in ad copy, and nobody outside the company ever knows about it. But that’s why it works: if you get it, you’re attracted to it. And if you don’t, you’ve already disqualified yourself.

The idea Kohnstamm (not to mention IBM’s 380,000 employees) was so excited about? “Solutions.” Not exactly a revolution. But solutions to business problems were what IBM’s customer wanted, and that’s what drives IBM. “Solutions” is a boring word to which IBM gave its own special insider meaning. So it became something that IBM employees could get excited about, because it provided a way of articulating what makes them special. And if solving problems isn’t your thing, you’re probably not what IBM is looking for.

Like a family in-joke, the whole point of a shibboleth is that the world doesn’t get it. It’s for you, so that when the going gets tough, your team can remind each other why they’re here.

The worst backlash against “culture fit” is from the people who assume it’s discriminatory. Patty McCord, former Chief Talent Officer from Netflix, argues that “culture fit” is shorthand for ‘people just like us.’ It’s a fair concern, and the practice can be abused that way. Weeding out anything feels a bit discriminatory, so it’s easy to assume that if we all have to agree on culture, then we’ll suffer from groupthink and bias.

But in fact, the opposite is true. Every hiring decision is inherently discriminatory. You’re picking one person out of thousands. If you have to discriminate, it’s better to discriminate on the right things. And mathematically, you’ll have the broadest talent pool if you discriminate on only one thing.
An organization that lacks a single point everyone can agree on isn’t diverse, it’s divided. On the other hand, the organization who can pinpoint the single concept that defines it has actually opened the door to the most diverse company (and thinking) possible, because it’s eliminated all other incidental or unintentional barriers. You can hire any age, race, background, or expertise, because none of those things are what define who you are.

In my own firm, we have a former realtor in our media department, an ex-political-consultant in accounts, and a psychology major in strategy. Our creative director will tell you that recent hires he’s made from outside the agency world have been a lot more successful than those he’s poached from other agencies. The reason those particular team members have panned out—even as seasoned agency pros have come and gone—is that we’re inspired and unified by a single idea. If we can all agree on that one thing, then we can bring diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and strengths to the table in its pursuit.
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To modern businesses, like the biblical Ephraimites, sifting out those who are not committed to your cause is a matter of life and death. It’s worth taking the extra time to make sure you’re doing it right. And when you do, you’ll stop wasting time on guesswork about whether a person, partner, or project is a fit—because you’ll know who you are.

How can you engage your employees' purpose to improve their performance and retain them? Eric Layer will share proven research and strategies from inside and outside the funeral business during his Keynote session — sponsored by National Guardian Life Insurance Co. (NGL) — at CANA’s Cremation Symposium this February 8-10 2023!
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Join Eric and others to share ideas on re-energizing passion and purpose in funeral service. This year, the event is focused on staffing efficiencies and retention with a host of experts to discuss. See what we have planned and register to attend: goCANA.org/ignite
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This post originally appeared in the McKee Wallwork Insights blog in April 2018, reprinted with permission.

Ever wonder what it was like to be a buggy whip maker during the rise of the automobile?

Look in the mirror.
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Numerous trends are converging to create the dramatic change we’re experiencing today, including the generational shift away from Boomers, the splintering of cultural norms, and the unnerving impact of late-stage digital industrialization literally changing how everything is made, sold, and delivered.
We may not be buggy whip makers anymore, but we’re experiencing a similarly historic change in the fundamentals of our economy. And just as businesspeople in the 19thcentury bespoke economy had to learn the new rules of industrialization, we must learn a new way of conducting modern business.
Below are five new rules for our new economy. Together, they are a foundation for generating momentum for businesses and value for customers in our transforming world.

Western civilization champions individualism and the use of the scientific method to parse out discrete problems, identify “control” variables, and pursue solutions by manipulating one variable at a time. This perspective views problems as if they are light switches in a home that can be isolated and manipulated room by room.

Silicon Valley, on the other hand, champions a worldview more prevalent in the East that sees reality as a series of interconnected networks in constant flux. Think Butterfly Effect minus Ashton Kutcher’s 2004 film of the same name. Winners in our digital economy (not coincidentally, built by those Silicon Valley engineers) embrace a view of business rooted in Systems Thinking. It’s not just a light switch, but a house filled with wires, a city-wide infrastructure, a regional power source, and a national electrical grid.

The truth is that business and life are dynamic. Reality is a complicated web of interconnected systems. It’s unrealistic to isolate variables and turn them on and off like a light switch in the real world. So don’t pretend to.
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20th century companies think in switches. 21st century companies think in systems.

Business models that thrived under mid-stage industrialization were built on synchronicity. Break the product into its component parts, get everyone and everything set up perfectly on an assembly line, then keep everything running as smoothly as possible. Like a symphony, when this model worked, it was beautiful.

But late-stage digital industrialization has changed the game. The internet fragments everyone and everything, creating many little pockets of change occurring simultaneously at incredible speed. This new world requires an entirely new approach to business that emphasizes flexibility over efficiency.
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Ditch the assembly line and burn the conductor’s baton. As I’ve written before, the future belongs to jazz.

Fast. Faster. Fastest. Speed is on everyone’s mind because technology is enabling such rapid change. According to our latest research among business leaders across the country, nearly 30% of companies today are suffering from stalled growth or commoditization. Companies (and even industries) are moving through the Disruption Cycle so quickly it’s making everyone feel dizzy.

But trying to stay competitive by just running faster isn’t enough. Speed is simply a measure of how fast something is moving. But speed alone can just as easily hasten decline as keep one competitive.
Velocity, on the other hand, is the measure of speed with direction. You can move quickly in circles, but it gets you nowhere. Add direction to your efforts.
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Speed is only part of the solution. Growth requires velocity.

The comparably slow rates of change enjoyed in the past enabled a powerful illusion. Because one could count on culture and technology gradually changing over years or even decades, looking back at historical data had some value in predicting the near future. This illusion provided confidence by removing uncertainty. And now it’s going away.

Because the modern economy moves exponentially faster, looking at historical data has limited predictive power. To avoid losing their nerve, organizations need to find ways to get their swagger back. Agile methodology, customer-centeredness, and prototyping are all techniques to stay in the now and make confident bets. As an executive of a Fortune 100 corporation recently stated to a colleague of mine, “It used to be test, test, test, test, then rollout,” he said. “[Now it’s] test, rollout, learn, modify…”
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Certainty was yesterday’s illusion. Confidence is today’s way of doing business.

During Facebook’s rise it famously painted “Done is better than perfect” across its walls. As digital technology transforms the economy and increased speed-to-market becomes a price of entry for business, it’s imperative for leaders to throw off the fading luxury of perfection and embrace a new ethos.

Today’s leadership must foster a shared feeling of growth and improvement in their organizations best referred to as momentum.

Businesses that pursue momentum instead of perfection are more concerned with customer problems than internal navel-gazing, appreciate the power of organizational health, and understand that if a group of people feel like they will win, they often do.

Perfection was last century’s lie. Momentum is this century’s imperative.

The incredible change we’re living through doesn’t have to lead to doom and gloom. If you research a little more about the horse and buggy industry, you’ll learn that many companies actually successfully transitioned to the automotive industry.

But it wasn’t easy. Just as our forebears navigated the Industrial Revolution a century ago, it is our turn to navigate change. With the proper focus on systems, flexibility, velocity, confidence, and momentum, you can ditch the horse and buggy too.

Few organizations understand the internal dynamics that can keep them from maintaining momentum. Take the 60-second self-diagnosis survey (based on research conducted among thousands of companies) to diagnose your company’s trajectory and give you a sense of what factors are helping, or hindering, your momentum.