June 26, 2022
Published by 
Dan Isard on June 26, 2022
Dan Isard on June 26, 2022The single largest cost of running a funeral home comprises salaries, benefits and employment taxes. Together, they make up employee compensation. In the 1980s, when some casket companies spent $250,000 on their NFDA booth build-out and another million dollars on an extravagant cocktail party during the convention, the cost of goods was about 20% to 25% of revenue while compensation typically ranged from 26% to 40%. Yep, you could eat and drink for free in those days thanks to the casket companies, but the people paid to run the businesses were getting the bulk of the revenue! As noted above, compensation consists of three key components: Salaries This includes those you employ, full and part time, licensed or non-licensed, as well as any third parties you pay to supplement your staff for removals and body prep. It also includes the […]
May 30, 2022
Published by Dan Isard on May 30, 2022
Dan Isard on May 30, 2022The cemetery has been in operation forever. You have been on the board for a long time. But times are changing. Sales are impaired. Cash flow is tight. You need to reconfigure your master plan to be more cremation focused. Finding good management for day to day is worrisome. On top of that, there is going to need to be an infusion of capital and you can’t find a bank to loan to your cemetery. What do you do to resolve this seeming impasse? This conundrum is not limited to nonprofit cemeteries. It is a similar matter for public cemeteries owned by municipalities. It is also an ongoing issue for church cemeteries. As you attend ICCFA meetings and see old friends, a few of them have chosen to try and sell their cemeteries. You now understand why they chose that […]
May 29, 2022
Published by Dan Isard on May 29, 2022
Dan Isard on May 29, 2022I got my start in the financial services world by selling life insurance across the kitchen table to young families. Once, as I met with a 20-something couple, the husband told me it was ironic we were meeting because they had just found out the day before that his wife was pregnant. Sensing an opportunity, I immediately started to explain a family life insurance policy that offered coverage on the husband, the wife and any and all children once they were born. The premium was $25/month, however, which was a lot of money for a young couple in 1980. The husband said, “We will probably wait on this until the baby is born.” In hindsight, I now understand why my reply caused them to evict me from their home: “Why wait? Do you want to see if you like the […]
April 28, 2022
Published by Dan Isard on April 28, 2022
Dan Isard on April 28, 2022As I attempt to transfer the knowledge I’ve learned over five decades in funeral service, I find I must ask questions as often as I answer them. Q1: Why is it important to set prices accurately? That sounds like a childlike question, but the way this profession sets prices would be an insult to most fifth graders. In 1985, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) forced funeral homes to change from a “package pricing model” (the family buys the merchandise and everything else is thrown in) to an “itemized service fee and merchandise-pricing model.” This caused owners to start by guessing how to allocate their fees on the 16 Funeral Rule-required itemized goods and services to account for the loss in revenue caused by dropping the markup on merchandise from about five times to roughly two times. To make matters worse, […]
March 29, 2022
Published by Dan Isard on March 29, 2022
Dan Isard on March 29, 2022In last month’s column, I outlined the questions you must address for preneed to serve as a positive part of your business and planning. As noted at the end of that article, I intend to answer those many questions in this month’s article, so please, read on. Today, between 20% and 30% of the average funeral home’s annual calls originate from preneed. Now, if you thought that one person in your community would account for 20% to 30% of all your calls in a given year, would you be cavalier about the financial status of this person? Of course not. You would want to know their net worth, their ability to pay in the future, etc. The concept of preneed involves getting consumers to make advance directives, thereby informing their loved ones and the funeral home of the services and […]