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More than forty years ago, an older funeral director that I worked
with would call a family within days of their loved one's funeral
and make an appointment to visit with them. Taking along his
arrangement folder, he would go to the family’s home and sit down
with the closest surviving family members. He would then go over a
short list of items that were designed to help them regain a sense
of normalcy. Someone had already taken Social Security information
and it had already been sent to the local office, but he always
started his visit by reminding the survivors that they needed to
take a death certificate to the office themselves and fill out the
additional paper work in order to receive benefits. Over the course
of the next hour, my mentor asked the family questions about
retirement benefits, pensions, life insurance, title transfers, bank
accounts, and any other subjects about which they might need advice.
He never failed to finish his visit by asking if the surviving
family members had enough burial insurance to cover the cost of
their own funeral service.
Now, please keep in mind,
that this was at a time before preneed systems, as we know them even
existed for most funeral homes. More than sixty percent of the
families that called on us for services had some kind of
 A
"Family Care" program will have families telling others about the
great new service and how the funeral home "exceeded expectations."
funeral insurance. I remember well how some of the
families told him that they had adequate coverage and would not need
more. But I also recall that other people answered that they did
want to discuss more coverage at a later time and there were always
families that told him they were concerned they did not have enough
coverage and they wanted to talk about their needs now. Sometimes
they would put on another pot of coffee and we would stay a while
longer. I cannot tell you, how many times we walked out of a home
with preneed applications but there were many times that we did. In
the beginning, I sometimes felt uncomfortable as I sat there while
my mentor asked about future funeral considerations, but he was
always so calm and self-assured in his man- |
 People
are increasingly prone to make decisions about service-oriented
purchases based on the experiences of those they know and trust.
ner and in return he was always
treated such warmth by the family that I soon realized that this was
just a part of taking care of the people that he served.
When I was a young boy, we went to
the largest, oldest church in a small town. My mother insisted that
I attend regularly, and I could expect severe punishment if I failed
to follow her order. A large part of the church experience was
social, as well as religious, and at the gathering of the faithful
there was always a time of reception after the formal worship hour.
At this reception, a child could not help but overhear numerous
conversations amongst the adults. One conversation that I overheard,
and I heard it more than once, was about how someone was doing after
the death of a family member. Many of those conversations included
discussion of the funeral experience.
I often heard people talk about the arrangement session, the funeral
itself, and what was happening in their lives after the burial took
place. I even heard them talk about the senior funeral director who
came to their home a day or two after the service and how they were
thankful for the advice and assistance he had given them as they
began to put their lives together again. Like my future mentor's
clients, some had planned their funerals at that time, others were
considering it, and others said that they had no desire to do it,
but almost every person that I overheard discuss this, often talked
about how they were grateful for the help this man had offered.
Over the years, this senior
director grew old, then retired, and eventually joined that long
line of human beings, stretching back to Adam and Eve who gave up
the mortal flesh and were joined with their ancestors. No one took
his place, no one continued to call on the |
families that we served and offered the care
and advice and consul that he had provided for so many for so long.
Our funeral business continued to grow in volume and, judging by the
number of rooftops that we had to keep up, we must have been doing
something right. But we had lost an important part of our personal
service to our friends in the community and it was something gave
everyone that we served a list of the important tasks to which they
needed to attend to. We also sent them a questionnaire that asked
for input on our service, but we had lost the personal touch, the
human contact that had such
The "Family Care" Checklist is one of
the critical steps to help surviving family members get their
affairs in order.
It's service after the funeral.
a powerful impact on vulnerable people, and replaced
it with a third-rate copy of the genuine care we had once offered
them.
Eventually, however, we
figured out how to regain that personal touch and make it cost
effective. We can even show you how we are doing it. The primary
impact of this service is that it draws us into closer union with
the neighbors that we sometimes call customers. Our volume of
positive comments and favorable word of mouth has increased by an
amount that has amazed us, and as an unexpected by-product, so has
the number of prearranged services that we are writing.
If
you are interested in learning more about what we call ”True Family
Care”, and “How to get the best advertising of all – word of mouth”
contact me at (504) 837-8868 or e-mail succeed@preneed.net. I will
be happy to share with you a simple brochure that outlines the steps
we successfully use to care for the families that all of us are
privileged to serve. I will tell you what I know about this
renaissance of service in our business. |
