Dan Isard

Adjusting your funeral home operating model for maximum continuing business viability. There is a time when every business needs to evaluate its effectiveness from every facet to maintain financial viability and relevance to customers. Operating a funeral home and adjusting a business model can put owners in a quandary because of the hindrances surrounding the physical property. But a quandary does not mean impossible, and a funeral home building does not necessary need to be razed to make changes. Re-engineering your funeral business starts before any construction or wallpaper changes. The first priority to be addressed must be the business of doing business. Before considering any changes, conduct an in-depth market research study to understand the consumers who support your business. How do you do this? Surveys are the best way to find out what your community thinks about your […]

Dear Dan, My cemetery is 60 years old. We have 40 acres of land to develop and about three acres developed for sale. We average 300 sales a year. The issue is, how do we determine what to develop these 40 acres into? Developmentally Delayed in Des Moines Dear Triple D, Your quandary is very easy to resolve. I strongly recom­mend doing two things: Survey your existing consumers. Hold public meetings. Never in the history of communication has conducting a survey been easier than it is today. Today we can send a survey to families and ask them questions about how they see their relationship with us. You should be surveying your families throughout the year. Ask them how satisfied they were with the process of working with your cemetery. This can include questions such as: Why did you elect […]