February 24, 2022
Published by 
Dan Isard on February 24, 2022
Dan Isard on February 24, 2022Nothing is more confusing to an outsider to this business than the concept of “inventory” in the cemetery business. Inventory is defined by most financial dictionaries as “the entire stock of goods, materials and components, finished and unfinished, of a business.” Therein lies the problem. The definition does not apply to the unique nature of the cemetery business. I have performed almost 1,000 valuations of cemeteries in my career. Routinely, each and every balance sheet of a business will list items as inventory. Some such items of a cemetery will be identified on their balance sheet as inventory. However, not all items that are called inventory by an accountant are, in reality, inventory because the definition is flawed. Cost of Goods Not a Good Measure Inventory is used in accounting as a “Cost of Goods,” but not all “Goods” can […]
February 24, 2022
Published by Dan Isard on February 24, 2022
Dan Isard on February 24, 2022My Knowledge Transfer Plan Chapter 2: A Preneed Overview The first large-scale speech I gave at an NFDA convention was in Orlando in the 1980s. In the room next to me was an industry “expert” whose presentation denounced the use of funeral directors as salespeople and asserted that preneed was an inferior way of promoting funeral home services. From then until 2019, preneed sales rose in almost every category you can look at it. Overall number of contracts sold by the profession increased at least 300% during that 40-year period. The annual number of preneed contracts served increased almost 500%, and the backlog of preneed contracts as “inventory” for future service by any funeral home also increased by at least 100%. In other words, the presenter in the room next door had been wrong. Despite the onset of the pandemic, […]
January 27, 2022
Published by Dan Isard on January 27, 2022
Dan Isard on January 27, 2022After almost 40 years in the profession, I never questioned the concept of the “size of a cemetery.” I have seen them 40 acres, 200 acres, and even family and church cemeteries that are only 1 or 2 acres. But those were cemeteries initiated 50 years to 200 years ago. As we exist today in 2022, how big will the cemetery of the future be? Cemeteries in the Past The creation of a cemetery was in many ways a requirement for a “town” to become a “city.” As the town wished to be elevated in sovereignty to a city, it needed to have a cemetery. Usually, that cemetery was built at the edge of the town. People would walk, ride their horses and buggies, and (for the past five generations) drive their cars to the edge of town for burial […]
January 26, 2022
Published by Dan Isard on January 26, 2022
Dan Isard on January 26, 2022My Knowledge Transfer Plan Chapter 1: The future is cremation Two issues ago, I turned 68 years old. I mention this because I feel I bear a responsibility to this profession, one that has allowed me to build a company and serve more than 3,000 of its members during my career. While I have written more than 500 articles and four books covering many topics, I now want to systematically share all I have learned for the benefit of the next generation of business owners. I call this my Knowledge Transfer Plan (KTP). We human beings know we are not immortal, and I do not want to take any more knowledge with me to the grave than reasonable. (Yes, I will be buried.) With that said, please note that this column is now called “Finance 301.” This is the graduate-level […]
December 20, 2021
Published by Dan Isard on December 20, 2021
Dan Isard on December 20, 2021How can someone make a cemetery a place that people will be happy to come to? The lore and fiction of our society have us avoid cemeteries. We even believed that whistling while passing a cemetery protected us. In the south, the Gullah Geechees believed in holding their breath to keep the “haints” away (“haints” is Geechee for haunts). Many people have their own personal experience of being in a cemetery typically involving saying goodbye to a loved one. So how can someone make a cemetery a fun place to visit? Well, I have seen it done well. It takes a reset of your mindset. Think about who your consumers are? If you think your consumers are the deceased who are interred in your property, I would ask that you rethink that answer. I think you have two groups of […]