May 14, 2014
Published by 
Dan Isard on May 14, 2014
Dan Isard on May 14, 2014This is a confusing world we live in. When a funeral home has an advance sale, we call it “preneed,” but when a cemetery has an advance sale, it’s cash money. I am not one to get hung up on semantics or proper spelling, but it annoys me when the word “preneed” is applied to the cemetery business. This world went along well enough for hundreds of years with funeral homes being funeral homes and cemeteries being cemeteries. There have been a few combination properties that were operated for a long time, but they were the exception rather than the rule. In most cases, cemeteries are cemeteries, and funeral homes are funeral homes. Some states even pass laws that forbid the commingling of the two. Black-and-white is order and discipline, but gray…
May 14, 2014
Published by Dan Isard on May 14, 2014
Dan Isard on May 14, 2014Many cemeteries operate with the same business plan they had hundreds of years ago: Someone dies, and he or she gets buried. But the progressive cemetery has enhanced the business plan: Someone dies, he or she gets cremated, and then he or she gets inurned. Cemeteries are businesses, and they need data to run at their maximum efficiency. We need to be able to use the electronic world to capture the data. The problem is that most cemeterians do not know what data to capture. The data capture is simple when you realize that more than 75 percent of all cemetery sales (interment or inurnment is immaterial) come from people…
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 […]
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, 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…