May 22, 2014
Published by 
Dan Isard on May 22, 2014
Dan Isard on May 22, 2014Preneed isn’t just for funeral homes. Cemeteries can certainly benefit from boosting their advance sales – but it’s not an easy task, especially with the rise in cremation. We spoke to Daniel M. Isard, president of The Foresight Companies, and Paul White, vice president of client development and marketing with Funeral Services, Inc., who shared their thoughts on best practices for making advance sales. Click below to see full published article.
May 16, 2014
Published by Dan Isard on May 16, 2014
Dan Isard on May 16, 2014Isard leads off his analysis by stating, “In the 28 years I have calculated Funeral Service Inflation, this past year showed a number of trends that were totally unpredictable.” click link below to see full Press Release… Press Release on FSI 2013
May 14, 2014
Published by Dan Isard on May 14, 2014
Dan Isard on May 14, 2014In 2014, I’m taking readers through a business re-engineering plan, where profitability is looked at on a minute scale. So far, we’ve established the true overhead and itemized pricing. Now let’s take a look at the concept of service packages. Everyone, that is, except New York, which is restricted from using packages. If you‘ve studied funeral service, you know that the concept of packages is not new. In fact, it is very old. Prior to the establishment of the…
May 14, 2014
Published by Dan Isard on May 14, 2014
Dan Isard on May 14, 2014Every now and then a public official does something stupid. When President Obama was captured by his press photographer at the funeral of Nelson Mandela posing for a picture with the Danish prime minister, that was stupid. However, “stupid,” when applied to celebrities and our leaders has a different definition than “ignorant or uninformed.” No, “stupid,” when applied to the actions of a celebrity or politician usually means, “just like a common person.” What exactly did President Obama do, other than something that probably occurs in funeral homes throughout the United States hundreds…
May 14, 2014
Published by Dan Isard on May 14, 2014
Dan Isard on May 14, 2014If you were to secretly strap electrodes to the frontal lobes of funeral directors, you would be surprised at the brain wave changes when you say words like, “cremation” or “urn.” Funeral directors have learned not to change their facial muscles when hearing those words but the electroencephalograph cannot be repressed. Cremation is a problem for the funeral side of the world. Yet cemeterians have not yet figured out if cremation is good or bad for business. Let me assure you, it is good! I am going to explain why cremation is good for the cemetery business – however, we must modify our business The good news is that the modern-day cemeterian realizes that their master plan is a work in progress. Cremation has made it necessary to revisit master plans to change them from rolling lawns with 27-square-foot interment areas to […]