August 25, 2022
Published by 
Dan Isard on August 25, 2022
Dan Isard on August 25, 2022Cemeteries are not Funeral Homes. Their mission is very different from their sibling within the deathcare business. A cemetery is a long-term provider of care versus a funeral home, which is short term. The funeral home may have an intense relationship with a family, going from stranger to intimate member of the family within two to five days. The cemetery may start out as a stranger, but the relationship will go on for generations (a generation is measured as a term of 20 years). But both funeral home and cemetery are important providers to survivors in the event of death. Yet, many funeral homes spend a lot of time, money, and effort promoting their “independent” or “family ownership.” Cemeteries do not. And for good reason. Cemetery Ownership If we look at the history of cemetery ownership, there are a few […]
August 25, 2022
Published by Dan Isard on August 25, 2022
Dan Isard on August 25, 2022Nothing is worse for a columnist, especially one in the darkening days of his career, than to repeat himself or herself endlessly. If you do that, you become the print version of that elderly uncle who tells you for the seventh time in two days the same story from his glory days. I use “uncle” instead of being gender neutral or defaming an aunt because men tend to live in the past more than the fairer sex. When an elder female family member wants to belabor a point, she just reminds you that she already told you something, averts her eyes and goes back to her mah-jongg tiles. Anyway, as that aging uncle, I won’t remind you that your profession must rebuild funeral service licensure and education for the future. (See my previous columns for discussions on that.) I will […]
July 26, 2022
Published by 
Foresight on July 26, 2022
Foresight on July 26, 2022The team at The Foresight Companies are passionate about the funeral and cemetery profession. The knowledge that we teach our profession is not opinion, it is empirical facts and findings based on what the consumer is thinking about the funeral and cemetery profession. This is how they see the profession and they embracing new ways of doing things. When the pandemic began in 2020, we saw how fast our profession was hit due to the increased amount of deaths that were occurring. Certainly, all the first responders were put to work to aide and guide us through the pandemic. But what also emerged was the title of Last or Final Responders. These are the funeral and cemetery professionals who could not skip a beat and needed to work diligently and quickly to help families with shocking and sudden losses due […]
July 26, 2022
Published by Foresight on July 26, 2022
Foresight on July 26, 2022At The Foresight Companies our mission is to provide our clients with customized financial and operational solutions. We deliver results through our passion for the profession and the communities they serve.
July 25, 2022
Published by Foresight on July 25, 2022
Foresight on July 25, 2022We are excited to share our participation in the Viewpoint with Dennis Quaid educational series. The Foresight team is featured in the episode titled “Funeral Care and Final Wishes”. This short piece focuses on the way the profession adapted to meet the needs of the consumer following the pandemic. At The Foresight Companies, our mission is to provide customized financial and operational solutions to the funeral and cemetery profession. We actively engage with all members of the profession. We deliver results through our passion for the profession and the communities they serve. Over the last 40 years, we have made our goal to educate the profession on the new trends and shifts in behavior. Specifically, during the past two years we have focused on the factors impacting the profession because of the pandemic. We educate by providing empirical data and […]
July 25, 2022
Published by 
Nicole Vullo on July 25, 2022
Nicole Vullo on July 25, 2022We were excited to take part in the 2022 Funeral (Un)Conference. DISRUPT Media and ConnectingDirectors.com teamed up with deathcare leaders to bring the first-ever Funeral (un)Conference to your digital screen. Chris Cruger joined Day Two of the event for an unscripted and unprecedented panel discussion about all things business growth and funding. For a recap of the discussion, click the video below.
July 25, 2022
Published by Nicole Vullo on July 25, 2022
Nicole Vullo on July 25, 2022It is not surprising that the transaction environment is still as fast paced as it was this time last year. We were recently asked about the current environment and what to consider when deciding to sell your funeral business. Chris Cruger provides his insights on this important topic. Question: I am considering selling my funeral home in 2022. What does the current environment look like and what should I be considering when selling my business? Chris Cruger: First and foremost, if you want to do anything in 2022, you need to get the ball rolling immediately. The end of the year will be here before you know it and there is no time to waste. We discussed this very topic during the 2022 Funeral (un) Conference and it also introduces a number of other considerations. The first is, are you […]
July 24, 2022
Published by 
John McQueen on July 24, 2022
John McQueen on July 24, 2022How can you make a positive difference in your community as society trends toward a meaningless tomorrow filled with simple cremation? Most scientists and archaeologists agree that Homosapiens, or modern humans, came into existence between 200,000 and 300,000 years ago. The first known communities, however, did not exist until around 14,000 years ago. But it’s the 9,500-year old Neolithic settlement known as Catalhoyuk, located in south-central Turkey, where nearly 8,000 people gathered, that may hold the key to the rise in major communities. Prior to the discovery of Catalhoyuk, humans were mostly known as nomadic people, hunters and gathers wandering in search of food. Although still up for some debate, archaeologists believe these early settlers came together through shared spirituality and artistic expression, giving way to shared farming and other social customs. There is no doubt that the Neolithic Revolution […]
July 24, 2022
Published by 
Gabriel Ngo on July 24, 2022
Gabriel Ngo on July 24, 2022EI, the biggest workplace performance predictor and strongest driver of leadership and personal excellence, begins with you. “Let us all be the leaders we wish we had.”– Simon Sinek, Author and Inspirational Speaker While there is no “I” in TEAM, the winning team you build (or currently have) must start somewhere, and that somewhere begins with you, Mr./Ms. Owner-Operator. By default, and regardless of whether you wanted to be a leader or not, your team looks to you to be captain of your ship. Throughout my career, I have worked for others and found myself wishing that this leader was more “this way” and that leader more “that way.” However, none of us is ever complete and perfect. I have always found myself learning what I should do under past managers and leaders, but just as importantly, I have learned […]
July 24, 2022
Published by Dan Isard on July 24, 2022
Dan Isard on July 24, 2022I appreciated attending the 2022 ICCFA Annual Convention in Las Vegas. It gave all of us there a feeling of what normal used to be. As I was walking through the exhibit area, one person stopped me and asked, “Is there one single thing we can do to enhance our revenue?” I pondered the question as asked and felt that the topic should be treated as three questions: How do we know what our revenue should be? Is there something we can do to enhance revenue? Is there one single thing we can do to enhance revenue? Allow me to answer the one question, three ways. How do we know what our revenue should be? This is simple math. Revenue should be equal to or greater than overhead. Whether you are a cemetery, funeral home, trade service, or combination operation, […]
July 24, 2022
Published by Gabriel Ngo on July 24, 2022
Gabriel Ngo on July 24, 2022E-commerce Is What Families Are Expecting Serve future customers. Is that not what all businesses set out to do? Substitute “customers” with “families” and replace “stores” with “funeral homes” and the quote below from the CEO of Walmart could have easily come from Tom Ryan (SCI), Mel Payne (Carriage), Brad Green (Park Lawn), or any other CEO for companies in the funeral, cemetery, and cremation profession. Or replace “customers” with “patients” and “stores” with “hospitals” and this quote can easily apply to hospitals/healthcare as well (and make no mistake about it folks, hospitals are businesses, with the majority of them being for profit). However, the part of the quote that I would like to focus on is “e-commerce” (before tying it all back to the rest of the quote and what it all means to you). So, what is e-commerce? […]
July 24, 2022
Published by Dan Isard on July 24, 2022
Dan Isard on July 24, 2022I have seen many changes in the funeral service profession during my career. Some of these changes created challenges to the business plan with which funeral directors were indoctrinated, such as cremation and funerals without merchandise. Some involved operating trials, such as the rise of price-focused competitors. Others arise from cultural challenges that have changed the consumer’s paradigm, such as natural burial, alkaline hydrolysis and other new-fangled horticultural burial offerings. Any/all of these factors could change the future of funeral service by impairing your profit. There is one change moving along at full speed, however, that could be part of the future in a positive way: the rise of women and minorities coming into this business. The single largest problem the funeral service profession must deal with is who is going to serve families. I love that technology now allows […]