July 23, 2026
Published by 
Welton Hong on July 23, 2026
Welton Hong on July 23, 2026Written by Welton Hong Trust has always been the foundation of funeral service. Families make one of the most emotional purchasing decisions of their lives based largely on reputation, recommendations and increasingly, online reviews. That makes fake reviews more than just an annoyance. They have become a business risk. A new survey from reputation management company LocalImpact found that fake online reviews have become nearly universal for local businesses, with 72% of business owners reporting they received at least one fake review during the past year. Even more concerning, nearly four out of five believe they have been the target of a coordinated attack at some point. For funeral homes, cremation providers and cemeteries, where a family’s confidence can be won or lost before a phone call is ever made, those findings deserve close attention. Reputation Is Revenue Unlike many […]
July 23, 2026
Published by 
Foresight on July 23, 2026
Foresight on July 23, 2026Written by the lawyers of WRW Legal, PLLC: Wendy Russell Wiener, Lauren Pettine and Hank Thompson. Unclaimed cremated remains: a problem for so many funeral homes and crematories. I would be surprised if even a handful of my clients did not have a storage closet containing unclaimed cremated remains. Those unclaimed cremated remains are often the result of inaction by a former owner of the funeral home or crematory. Buyers, however, have caught on to the sticky problem of unclaimed cremated remains and will often stall a transaction while the cremated remains are handled. We’ve even seen a transaction fall apart because of the inability of the Seller to address the dozens of unclaimed cremated remains on hand. The problem of unclaimed cremated remains is not unavoidable. In fact, there is a law or rule in nearly every state which […]
July 23, 2026
Published by 
Axel Jean-Francois on July 23, 2026
Axel Jean-Francois on July 23, 2026The Real Picture, Part 3: The Price of Certainty Two buyers walk into the same funeral home. Same building, same equipment, same call volume, same staff. One offers six times earnings. The other offers seven and a half. The owner does the only reasonable thing a person can do with a gap that size. He asks his CPA what he’s missing. Nothing, usually. The earnings are the earnings, and the financial statements are the financial statements. What’s different isn’t the business. It’s the buyer standing in front of it. By now you’ve read two articles on how to actually read this business. The balance sheet tells you whether it has room to breathe. The income statement tells you how it earns, and whether that engine is sound or borrowed against a good year that won’t repeat. Neither one, on its […]
July 23, 2026
Published by Foresight on July 23, 2026
Foresight on July 23, 2026Written by Jen Graziano, Attorney/Licensed Funeral Director/Owner It can be argued that the funeral industry is the last bastion of humanity. Of the many great conundrums in our field is it’s inability to be swallowed up by AI. While the rapidly growing “funeral-tech” industry has eagerly taken up space in our unchartered waters, AI may have found its first glass ceiling in our realm. Tech disruption is real but how much can they truly disrupt? While the latest tech can assist us in writing obituaries, scheduling appointments, and general administrative tasks, it can not replace the one facet of funeral service that has long set us apart…the human factor. The funeral industry’s reliance on human capital can not be replaced by artificial intelligence. When a trembling, choked up voice makes the dreaded call to a funeral home, they need the […]
July 23, 2026
Published by 
Chris Cruger on July 23, 2026
Chris Cruger on July 23, 2026Why exceptional service requires exceptional planning. In funeral service, the phrase “white-glove service” is often associated with hospitality. It brings to mind polished facilities, professional dress, attention to detail, personalized experiences and compassionate interactions with families during some of the most difficult moments of their lives. Those things matter, and they always will. But funeral professionals sometimes mistakenly view white-glove service only through the lens of the family experience. In reality, exceptional service is rarely the result of personality alone. It is also the result of operational discipline behind the scenes. Families experience the end result of your business model long before they understand the business itself. They experience it through responsiveness, consistency, professionalism, communication, organization, confidence and trust. They experience it in how seamlessly the team works together, how prepared staff are to handle difficult situations, how clearly options […]