Jared Tanke

Staffing and employee retention has been an issue for various sectors in recent years. In particular, the funeral and cemetery profession has experienced the effects of this business pain point.  We asked Jared Tanke to share his insights as to what owners and operators can implement into their business models now to retain good employees. Question: How do I retain good employees? Jared Tanke: I recently attended the NFDA Leadership Conference in Ponte Vedra, FL. As a first-time attendee at this event, I was excited about networking with so many different funeral home owners, state association executives, and others. Throughout my time I was involved in many conversations around the biggest challenges facing the funeral profession. A question that kept coming up was “how do we retain talent?” This falls right in line with our 2024 Funeral & Cemetery Consumer […]

If you are like me, you are probably thinking how in the world are we already four months into the year? While relatively early still, it is always a good idea to take a minute to review what has gone well, what has not gone well, and figure out how to adjust with the remainder of the year. Just like SCI, Park Lawn, and Carriage do every quarter for their investors, every business owner no matter the size should have a quarterly report.  Let’s dive into some of the key things to look at: Number of services – When looking at number of services in the quarter, we should not just fixate on the total, but really break it down into the number of traditional burials, traditional cremations, direct cremations, trade cases, donor calls, etc., so that we can better […]

We begin 2024 in just a few days. For many people, it is a stressful time wrapping up the year and beginning the next. However, it is our goal to help relieve some of that stress. We asked Senior M&A Analyst, Jared Tanke to share a few key questions to ask yourself now, in order to keep 2024 in focus and make it your best year yet: What went well in 2023? By asking yourself this question, you must recall the past 12 months and identify the things that you, your staff, did well. Was there anything you changed or did differently this year than years past, and if so, how did that look and feel? Sometimes this is done by performing a SWOT analysis, which goes out identifying your strengths and weaknesses, and your opportunities and threats. While we […]

The new year may seem like it is far away, but there are just a mere 10 weeks left. While owners and operators have to keep their eye on the ball in order to maintain a strong finish to the year, simultaneously they must also keep the future in focus. This means, budgeting for 2024.  We asked Senior M&A Analyst, Jared Tanke to further elaborate on this process. Question: I am in the process of starting my 2024 business plan for my funeral home. What is the first step that I need to take to create a successful plan? Jared Tanke: Budgeting for a funeral home is absolutely critical to maintaining quality service, having adequate reserves for upgrading facilities, and navigating the constant changing landscape of the profession. Having a well thought out planning session where you lay everything on […]