July 30, 2024
Published by 
Nicole Vullo on July 30, 2024
Nicole Vullo on July 30, 2024Establishing a funeral home or cemetery business for future success is crucial for its longevity as well as for a smooth ownership transition. You must be proactive in this approach and take early steps as opposed to waiting for when it must be done. We asked Financial Analyst, Luke Potter to go into further detail on the process. Question: What steps can I do now in my business plan to set my funeral home up to be successful? Luke Potter: Setting up a funeral home for future success is essential for ensuring its longevity and the smooth transition of ownership. Proactive succession planning is a key component of this preparation. By identifying and mentoring potential successors early, whether they are family members or key employees, funeral directors can provide continuity and stability. Developing leadership skills and creating a comprehensive transition […]
June 27, 2024
Published by Nicole Vullo on June 27, 2024
Nicole Vullo on June 27, 2024Written by Diann Anderson, formerly of Anderson Funeral & Cremation Services Why Momentum Matters: Transforming Your Funeral Home from Stagnation to Success and Making a Lasting Impact As the saying goes, a picture paints a thousand words, and the best way to illustrate a point is by telling a story. I would like to tell you the story of two different funeral home businesses. I cannot think of a more engaging way to stress the importance of your business having momentum than painting the picture representing the difference between two different business models – one that has it and pursues keeping it and one that doesn’t care. In this article I am going to tell you exactly why your business must have momentum for you to realize success. I am opening up my vault of experience and will be sharing […]
June 27, 2024
Published by Nicole Vullo on June 27, 2024
Nicole Vullo on June 27, 2024Written by Jarod Bernat As the first half of 2024 comes to a close, it is time to take a look back at how the year has unfolded so far. I’m sure everyone established a budget at the start of 2024, and I’m also sure everyone has set aside time to review how they’ve done versus their expectations through the first six months of the year. Could you read my sarcasm there? Okay, maybe it’s a bit presumptive to assume everyone took time to budget their year out, especially since we’re talking about a profession that’s infamous for being a 24/7 commitment. But it is vitally important to our evolution as business owners to set goals each year, and then afterwards, reflect on our performance against those goals. This means that we must intermittently self-evaluate to identify times in which […]
June 27, 2024
Published by 
Gabriel Ngo on June 27, 2024
Gabriel Ngo on June 27, 2024Scenario: Oren Gibson is a fourth-generation owner-operator of Orville H. Gibson Funeral Home & Cremation Services in Sevierville, Tennessee. The business has been serving their community for over 100 years and is deeply and successfully entrenched in Sevierville with a sterling reputation. One Tuesday morning, Oren completed a routine monthly meeting with his entire staff and had just sat down at his desk to approve some invoices when he received a call from the receptionist. A lady named Missy was there to see him, and she had an urn in-hand. He peeked at his calendar and saw that there was not anything that had been scheduled, and the name “Missy” did not ring any bells. He had one funeral director on maternity leave and his other funeral director was off. Oren got up and braced himself for either what could […]
June 27, 2024
Published by 
Jared Tanke on June 27, 2024
Jared Tanke on June 27, 2024Start your succession game plan today by addressing these five critical items in your current business operations. I have recently finished watching the hit TV show “Succession,” and I can’t recall how many times I thought to myself, wow, this is stressful just watching. If you’re not familiar with the show, it’s based on the Roy family, which owns a large media business and whose father, the CEO, is reaching the age of retirement and looking to identify his successor. Multiple sons and daughters, along with some trusted advisors, all fight for pole position to be named the ultimate successor. While this show has clearly been over-dramatized, there are many things we can take from its premise, the first one being that it pays to plan for the future. From the 2023 NFDA Member Succession Planning Study, it was found […]