The results of a recent survey for funeral professionals put out by Connecting Directors indicate that many funeral homes view rising cremation rates as a major hurdle to overcome when offering families what they want, while still making enough profit for a healthy business. Additionally, we’ve learned from the 2021 CANA Annual Statistics Report to expect a national cremation average of 72.8% by 2030. The time to solidify a cremation-focused business model is now.
According to many deathcare experts, one of the biggest misconceptions in funeral businesses today is that cremation families don’t want additional services, and they aren’t willing to spend money on them. We’ve talked to six industry thought-leaders who have been guests on the Deathcare Decoded podcast on how to re-frame selling services and experiences to cremation families in today’s deathcare space in order to better serve families and turn cremation into a lucrative option for your business. LARRY STUART JR.: DON’T MAKE ASSUMPTIONS, LISTEN TO YOUR FAMILIES
In a recent conversation with the Deathcare Decoded podcast, Larry Stuart Jr., founder of Cremation Strategies and Consulting, spoke at length about the first mistake many funeral directors make when working with cremation families, which is making assumptions about what families want:
“We as a profession cut our nose off to spite our face with cremation. We assumed that the rise in cremation was due to nothing but cost and that people who are coming in to arrange a cremation aren’t going to spend money, and that’s just not true [...] Embalmed and cremated is a thing, and we forget!”
Larry suggests that funeral directors take the time to listen to each family, in order to meet them where they are in their unique arrangement needs, instead of where a funeral director might think they are, or should be, as cremation customers. Larry says:
“To know whether or not you’re meeting families where they are is to ask yourself if you are asking them questions and actually listening to them [...] or are you telling them what they should do and not listening to them? People like to have options… a lot of people can’t make a decision. In those cases, I think that the skill of the funeral director is to guide and suggest and tell stories about how other people have experienced [services], based on the conversation you’ve had [with the family you are serving]. You can’t force them, you have to create value in your offerings, and the most valuable thing a funeral director has is themselves.”
Furthermore, Larry suggests that funeral homes re-evaluate how they structure costs, charging more for services and less for specific products:
“If a funeral director or business owner engages me as a consultant […] I actually recommend that they cut the prices of their products [...] your service should be where you make your money. Every single time I’ve seen that done it’s worked 100% of the time, because the value [of services] is what people want to pay for.”
This strategy avoids coming across as a pushy salesperson and embraces the idea that families are paying for personal service instead of price-gouged products
JUSTIN CROWE: EMBRACE THE EXPERIENCE ECONOMY PHILOSOPHY
Justin Crowe, founder and CEO of Parting Stone, a death tech start-up and public benefit corporation based in Santa Fe, NM, believes that personal service is one of the only ways that funeral directors can truly compete in today’s professional market. During an interview on the Deathcare Decoded podcast, Justin explained that:
“It’s important to create value in your service. Your competitor has all of the same urns as you and all of the same caskets as you, but your competitor cannot provide an identical service to the one you provide. And you can’t compete on price – we’ve seen what happens in that scenario, where there is a race to the bottom with pricing, and it doesn’t work. On top of that, we are battling Amazon where you can find the same urn that is in your selection room for just $50, and that’s not going away, it’s only going to get worse.
“I think service is really one of the only things you can compete on in funeral care. This isn’t a new philosophy, it is the experience economy. The funeral industry is the perfect profession to follow those principles and focus on the experience you’re giving those families – we’ve done it for over 100 years with burial and somehow forgot about it when cremation snuck up on us. Just like selling burial, experience is what you can compete on and that is where your value is going to be.” SANDRA WALKER: CREMATION FAMILIES WANT THE SAME SERVICES AS BURIAL FAMILIES
Sandra Walker, Vice President of Strategic Business at Fairmount Memorial Association and a recent guest on the Deathcare Decoded podcast, makes an argument for better education around cremation options both within the deathcare profession and in wider society. She elaborates that families and funeral directors alike assume that if a body is cremated no other services are required or wanted, but more often than not, when educated about available services and products, families opt in. Sandra advocates for focusing on the value of what is offered before and after cremation and educating families on every option available, so that burial families and cremation families are offered the same services and experiences:
“I think that what we have to understand when it comes to cremation is not to short the family. We have to ask all of the questions that we would if a family chose burial. It’s that simple. The arrangement process is no different, the conversation is no different. And a lot of times what I've found with the families we serve is that they come in thinking that [direct cremation] is all they can have until we, with their permission, are able to ask them questions that then might lead to them having a service or a viewing to see their loved one.
“What I’ve also found with our client families is maybe they aren’t seeing the value in the cremation itself, and so we [funeral directors] have to let that go, if that’s not where they are seeing the value. One of the things our clients love is memorialization, specifically cremation jewelry. They also love the fingerprint jewelry, and Parting Stone is now something that our families are choosing… So as a professional, you have to let go of the fact that the cremation itself is not what people value, because in their minds it’s simple, when really it’s not simple to us. It’s all of the things before and after cremation that we need to focus on. So ask ‘what can we do for the families before the cremation, and what can we do for the families after cremation?’”
Sandra also points out that, without offering meaningful services to families and listening to what they want, funeral directors just become body handlers. If families are not listened to, have limited options, or are told no, they will go somewhere else to have their full range of needs met. Disinvolved body handling isn’t why anyone enters the field of deathcare, we are here to help support grieving families and care for the deceased. Shifting traditional perspectives about what cremation families want, and putting the work in to educate your staff and your families about everything available before and after the cremation process will only help the families that you serve, and grow your business.
ERIC NEUHAUS: CHAMPIONING THE FAMILIES
Eric Neuhaus, founder and CEO of Green Cremation Texas, sat down with Deathcare Decoded to talk about how he started a thriving green cremation business from the ground up by focusing primarily on what families wanted and needed instead of looking at competing funeral businesses. In an interview for the podcast, he explained that, while his business may be more tech-oriented and less traditional than other funeral businesses, Green Cremation Texas’ success is not about the technology or what others in this space are doing. The primary driver behind Green Cremation Texas is simply “championing the families”
“For us, it’s about creating an experience that is meaningful for the families and leveraging technology in order to do that. If, compared to other providers, we are “on the cutting edge” I accept that, sure, but that’s not really our driver [...Our driver is] championing the families and creating an experience for the families that they find to be incredibly meaningful, very authentic, very valuable, and intrinsically supportive. And using that as our guiding mantra, that’s how we adopt technology in order to be successful in that particular space, rather than looking at the competition or looking at the industry as a whole and saying “let’s do this better, let’s do the same thing but do it with technology.” Our approach is to have an inherently different one. A different approach, which is to focus on that core end-user and enable them to, in a way, self-direct.
If you talk about the word “funeral director,” you’re talking about the activity of directing, and our approach to this is that a lot of families, want to take charge of that experience, and they lack the tools, education, and knowledge to be able to do those things. So for us, creating a platform and creating a safe space for them to essentially self-direct is really important.”
Empowering families to make their own choices and providing excellent experiences and services along the way is the main approach that Eric’s extremely successful cremation business takes. Green Cremation Texas is an excellent example of selling experiences over products and turning that strategy into a lucrative funeral business.
RYAN THOGMARTIN: SAY “YES” TO FAMILIES AND LET GO OF “DIGNIFIED”
Ryan Thogmartin, founder of DISRUPT Media, recently joined the Deathcare Decoded podcast to talk about the importance of authenticity in branding, marketing, and company culture in funeral businesses, and how visionary thinking can help move deathcare forward. In the conversation, Ryan touched on misguided ideas about what is “dignified” in funeral services, and how these subjective opinions are standing in the way of truly serving families:
“If I had a nickel for every time someone commented on a Connecting Directors article or Facebook ‘I wouldn’t do that, it’s not dignified’ I could shut the website down, go to an island and kick back. It comes out so naturally, but at the end of the day, what is dignified is one million percent up to the family, not to your personal opinion as a funeral director about what is dignified and what isn’t. What should happen with grandma is not your responsibility, it’s 100% the family’s and what’s dignified is whatever they think is dignified and whatever they want to do. But there is that hurdle. People will comment ‘I’ll never do that in my funeral home, that’s not dignified’ and they are alienating [families].
“You know, every rental application I fill out, every time I apply for anything for a home there is an equal housing statement… funeral homes should have to follow an Equal Death statement that says ‘I refuse to say no to the consumer unless it’s illegal.’ Other than that it should be a yes: ‘Yes, we’ll figure it out. Yes, we can do that. Yes, we have the partner that can help you.’ Why would you tell a family no? I don’t get that, because you are serving that family. And people will pay for what they want. We push people in a route of cheap because we don’t give them what they want and they say ‘Well I’ll just go do it on my own.’ Do you know how miserable it would have to be to grieve someone then still have to go plan your own memorial service and celebration and everything else because a funeral home didn’t think your tailgate or barbeque was dignified?”
Ryan also makes the excellent point that consumers are willing to spend more money on things that they want, services that fully meet their unique needs, and products that appeal to their individual culture, style, and tastes. Research conducted for a recent IBM Institute for Business Value article supports this point, revealing that a large percentage of today’s consumers “are willing to pay a premium for products and services that align with their values and lifestyle.” Consumers are also more likely to feel good about spending money when they are supported in their desires and do not feel pressured into making decisions that do not align with their family’s best interests. Keeping personal opinion and taste out of funeral planning and saying “yes” to a wider range of arrangement services, options, and requests will only bring in more opportunities for your business – regardless of whether a customer chooses cremation or casketed burial – while giving every family unique services that are special and meaningful.
serve all families completely
It’s clear that when a family chooses cremation for the disposition of a loved one, it doesn’t mean that the family doesn’t want other services as well. Cremation families need to grieve and process death, and they want the same thoughtful support and attention to detail that any other family would. It’s just as emotionally difficult to have someone cremated as it is to have someone embalmed and buried.
Following the advice of these experts and shifting perspectives around cremation services can turn the “rising cremation problem” into a boon for your funeral business. Consistently offering the same options and services to all families, involving your staff directly in curating the products and services your funeral home offers, and making arrangements based on what individual families want and need, will lead to happier clients and higher profit margins. The key to making cremation a thriving part of your business is listening to families, letting go of assumptions and personal opinions, saying “yes” to as much as you can, and selling services and experiences over products. Click below to sign up for the Cremation Rocks! Newsletter and get cremation inspiration from deathcare's thought-leaders each week!
PODCAST EXCERPTS FROM CANA MEMBERS:
Larry Stuart, Jr. is the Founder of Cremation Strategies and Consulting and the former President of Crematory Manufacturing & Service, Inc. Justin Crowe is the founder and CEO of Parting Stone. Sandra Walker is Vice President of Strategic Business for Fairmount Memorial Association in Spokane, WA. Eric Neuhaus is the owner and operator of Green Cremation Texas in Austin, TX. Ryan Thogmartin of DISRUPT Media is CEO of ConnectingDirectors.com, Price My Funeral, and Death Care Jobs, as well as co-host of Funeral Nation. Comments are closed.
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