Foresight on 
Written By Jen Graziano, Licensed Funeral Director, Attorney, Founder: RememBar Collection
As the saying goes, “you only have one chance to make a first impression”. How true these words are and the death care realm offers no exception. As professionals in this sacred space, we are tasked with selling our services, our funeral homes, our memorial products, ultimately even ourselves, in those critical moments of the “first call”. The “first call”, or the initial encounter is more than securing a client or sale. Often we are speaking to an emotional caller, one who was reticent to even make the call, or one who likely wishes they were calling any other place but a funeral home or a cemetery. Some may call with preconceived notions that we, collectively, are scammers looking to take advantage of the most vulnerable or that we profit off of pain. Therefore, our response in answering that first call needs to be thoughtful, measured and intentional. Our bottom lines, let alone our futures, rests heavily upon our ability to answer the first call.
In the first call, we, as death care professionals, must walk a fine line between salesmen and educators. Yes, the ultimate goal is for the family to choose us, but it is best accomplished by educating the caller on what we do and why we do it differently…or better. There are so many misconceptions about death care. Television and media have done us seldom justice over the years, exploiting and sensationalizing the worst among us. There is a misconception that we are expensive, yet there is rarely an understanding of the work we do or why the cost is what it is.
Today we live in a world where loyalty is scarce, if even existent. People will not automatically call the trusted provider that served their family, instead opting for a more convenient or cost effective option if available. Families that historically opted for traditional services with wakes, caskets and burials can no longer be counted on for those same selections. In the “first call”, we often have to resell ourselves to longtime clients, explaining why they should still use our firm, even if for a direct cremation. We have to create value beyond our brick and mortars. We have to explain, often times in the confines of the first call, what we do and why we do it differently. We have to dispel the notion that cremation is easy or simple, and therefore, should come at bare minimal cost. We have to educate prospective families that the work of a funeral director, the integrity he or she affords a deceased, changes not with with the manner of disposition. Simply put, our work doesn’t change all that much for a cremation!
Regarding cemetery sales, similar rules apply. Today you are forced to educate on the importance of creating a resting place. While you might not be competing with low cost providers entering the space, you, instead, find your in competition with the mantle above the fireplace. People have opted with greater frequency to display the ashes on their furniture, or better yet, spread them all over town, rather than finding a permanent place of rest. You not only have to sell your space, but first, must educate on the “why” behind burial. The inscription on a stone shows they lived, and ensures a permanent memorial to place a flower or acknowledge a birthday or anniversary. The initial phone calls you once took for granted of a guaranteed client making an appointment to buy a space, are now calls asking why they should even consider buying a space?
The need for thoughtful education provided in the first call is more important then ever. We need to take back the narrative in death care. So many are readily dismissive of the need for death care service providers, as they look for the cheapest, quickest and most convenient offerings, then they’ll worry about having a “celebration of life” later. We need to fight these trends collectively in the death care space. If we believe in what we do and why we do it, that message will resonate. In the first call, you and your colleagues need to be armed with an arsenal of thoughtful responses to combat misconceptions. We need to educate clients on the multifaceted roles of death care professionals, be it funeral director or cemetery professional . We need to make the first call end with the satisfaction and confidence that the family called the right person or place. The call needs to end on a better note than it began. Every time we secure the family, it is a victory for death care overall. When we prove to the public that we matter, the hope is that they believe it too. Anyone tasked with answering that first call is on the front lines in the war being against death care. Best advice: put on your armor, and be confident in answering the call.