Society is losing sight of the value of the services that funeral directors provide.
Rapidly changing attitudes toward death and the death care industry are being led by the ‘baby
boomer’ generation. They are increasing cremation rates and opting toward non-traditional
“Celebration of Life” services. Once the cremains are returned to the family, they often choose
a third-party instead to handle the celebration ceremony details such as event and wedding
planners. This poses a threat to the funeral industry because families are opting out of using funeral directors as their event planners, thus mitigating our services. Maintaining a strong funeral business involves reinventing and creating new traditions for the industry to match the families’ needs. Adding value to our services is done by educating families, offering unique options, and providing quality service.
Families are generally uneducated about what to do when a death occurs and need an
expert to tell them what to do. They also need someone to take care of legal documents filed
when a death occurs as well as help planning out services. The greatest asset a director can have
is knowledge. If a director seems uneducated about their job, families will not trust them.
It is so important to educate families thoroughly about social security, death certificates,
and the processes of embalming and cremation during the arrangement conference. Families
often think they know what they want for services when they walk in the door. It is important
that as funeral directors, we educate families on all of the options prior to their final decision.
After all, we are the experts. This is particularly important for unexpected deaths when a viewing
may be vital for grieving family and friends. Families often don’t realize the importance of a
viewing, but it is my job to stress that.
Besides not finding value in funeral services anymore, another reason families are opting
out of traditional services is because they are not as religious as their parents were. It is often not
helpful for families to have services in a church for an individual that didn’t even go to church.
Maintaining a strong funeral business involves reinventing and creating new traditions for the
industry to match the families’ needs. These families need alternative options for ceremonies.
Increasingly, they’ll take place at a bar, restaurant, park, boat, or anywhere for that matter and
will be led by a celebrant instead of clergy. Non-traditional services are already shown in today’s
media. The movie P.S. I love You, for example, shows a memorial celebration service in a bar
where loved ones gather to drink and tell stories about their beloved friend. The urn, made by his
wife, was personalized with studs and leather.
While working at a funeral home, I’ve seen first-hand that people prefer not to buy a
standard, funerary urn. They want non-traditional and/or highly affordable options, either having
a friend build an urn or simply driving to a store to find a covered container (like a decorative
cookie jar) under $50 to use as an urn. As a profession, we can do better than offering standard
products. One way I want to impact the change in funeral products is by offering families the
options of finding one-of-a-kind urns or keepsake items beyond what is listed in a convenient
catalog. There are several artists in the United States that do specialty work with ashes
in glass sculptures and preserving memorial flowers. The options families have to preserve
memories with keepsakes are extensive and families need to be informed of their options. Putting
in the extra effort and paying attention to details will shed a more positive light on funeral
service and emphasize the value of having a director with the knowledge of these options and the
ability to handle these details.
I want to approach funeral service with a fresh, flexible, and innovative perspective. It’s
important to demonstrate to families that when they make arrangements for the care of their
loved ones, they’re also purchasing the quality service that comes with it. Focusing on strong
customer service is vital because people want to feel valued and well taken care of.
Being a funeral director is about handling everything with care while providing superb
service that people can trust. This is done by pampering families with niceties that surpass
expectation, being flexible by handling unique requests for services, and maintaining strong
social connections with customers to create family loyalty. Offering families a variety of
options they didn’t even know they had (i.e. holding services at a local park or other unique
venue, choosing unique artisan urns, or having a celebrant instead of clergy) will showcase my
knowledge of planning meaningful services and solidify me as their go-to person for everything
related to planning the service. It's time for the standard ideas of what a funeral consists of to be thrown out the window.
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