July 30, 2024
Published by 
Stephanie Ramsey on July 30, 2024
Stephanie Ramsey on July 30, 2024In order to lead well, you must first grow yourself, as any meaningful and lasting change begins within you. “Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” – JACK WELCH, AMERICAN BUSINESS EXECUTIVE AND FORMER GENERAL ELECTRIC CHAIRMAN AND CEO Let’s go over some of the challenges and hurdles staring leaders in the face in 2024 (and possibly beyond): Rapidly changing consumer wants and needs (client families are a consumer subset) ✔ Consumer demand for more convenience and greater transparency and use of technology ✔ Finding and retaining qualified talent and staff is increasingly more difficult ✔ Funeral home environments becoming more multigenerational among staff ✔ It’s an inflationary environment in which not only money/cost of capital but everything else is more expensive. ✔ There is […]
April 28, 2024
Published by Stephanie Ramsey on April 28, 2024
Stephanie Ramsey on April 28, 2024Scenario: Kirkpatrick Funeral & Cremation Services consists of multiple locations in the southern United States. Duncan Kirkpatrick started the business with a single location 20 years ago. Duncan is very proud of how he has been able to grow the business over the years and the positive feedback he has received from the communities the business serves. This is a direct reflection of his highly trained and qualified staff. It has been challenging for Duncan to find and retain qualified staff, but he has diligently overcome this obstacle by providing great benefits and a wonderful work environment. Duncan worked with a professional to create an employee handbook and procedure manuals as well as a variety of other applicable HR processes for his entire operation. Employees are introduced to these processes from the day they are hired. Currently, his staff is […]
September 26, 2023
Published by Stephanie Ramsey on September 26, 2023
Stephanie Ramsey on September 26, 2023Scenario: Jacob and Cathy Thomas own a thriving funeral business in the Southeast that consists of multiple funeral homes, a crematory, a pet crematory and a cemetery. Jacob and Cathy employ a large staff who are assigned to work at a specific business, each with their own employee handbooks and standard operating procedures based on the nature of the business. Through the various businesses, they and their team successfully serve approximately 100 families each year. Jacob and Cathy are very proud of what they have accomplished. While dealing with employees can be challenging, they feel they have a strong and talented team that provides exceptional care to their families. Recently, they faced a unique employee situation they were unsure how to address. They had an employee, Gerald, who had been hired and assigned to work at the pet crematory, apply […]
March 20, 2023
Published by Stephanie Ramsey on March 20, 2023
Stephanie Ramsey on March 20, 2023Scenario: David Sully has a thriving funeral business in the southern United States comprised of three locations serving more than 700 families. Recently he decided to create a multidenominational funeral home as well as building his own cemetery, crematory and pet cremation business. Given the success of his existing businesses, the current staff did not have the capacity to take on the added responsibilities that would be associated with the new development. Further, they did not have experience in the cemetery, crematory and pet crematory segments. As part of his expansion plans, David anticipated that he would be locating and hiring an entirely new staff to handle the new business enterprise. He carefully thought about the various positions and interviewed cemetery, crematory and pet crematory owners to understand the number of employees and the positions that he would need to […]
September 29, 2022
Published by Stephanie Ramsey on September 29, 2022
Stephanie Ramsey on September 29, 2022Scenario: Troy and Tammy Lexington run Lexington Funeral Home & Cemetery, a generational funeral home/cemetery combo in the southern United States that has served their community for almost 100 years. Currently they serve more than 600 families a year with case count on an upward trend. Troy and Tammy bought the business from Troy’s father and uncle 10 years ago. They are both licensed funeral directors but find a significant portion of their time is spent managing the business. However, they still roll up their shirt sleeves to help with daily tasks as needed. Several of their employees were inherited when they purchased the business and have many years of experience in the funeral industry in various positions throughout the operation. Their business has grown steadily over the years, leading them to increase their staff. A few of the “original” […]