Hal Stevens  

 I was recently asked by several followers on Twitter whether I think pre-paid contracts to purchase funeral, burial, cremation, and the products and services that go with them is a good idea.

I’ve been doing a lot of research to make sure I could give an honest and informed answer. As I dug further into this I began to realize that the theory is excellent but the practice is flawed. There were just too many prominent cases of fraud in too many different states for me to feel comfortable recommending doing this.

In theory, you select a package of the services and products (i.e., casket) you want and pay a fee now which would cover the costs of this package if you died today.

The money is then put in a trust account where it is invested and in theory is protected and increases in value. The increase in value should offset any increase in the future value of these services and products. You lock in what you want at today’s costs and the Funeral Home locks in future business now. These plans are sold by Funeral Directors licensed to be agents for companies that hold and manage the trust funds. Think of this as being similar to the agent who sold you your life insurance policy. The principal company, that the Funeral Director is the agent of, gets to manage the funds and gets a cut as a management fee. Sounds fairly straightforward and simple; and it should be. It is, however, plagued by some very high profile cases of fraud. Now please realize that just like Bernie Madoff stole billions of dollars from investors these things can also happen in pre-paid funeral plans. And, just like you should not stop investing in stocks because of the Madoff fraud there is not overriding reason to stop buying pre-paid funeral plans.

I am concerned however that the premise of pay now and receive later, possibly much later, has some flaws in it. For example, the money in the trust fund should increase in value at a reasonable rate to cover increased costs. But what if it doesn’t? What if the cost of the casket you put into your contract goes up significantly because of a shortage of wood due to a construction boom. Or, what if the metal it is made out of is in short supply because it is needed for an international growth spurt in various products? What if the Funeral Director forgets or neglects to hand your money over to the company for which it is an agent so the funds are never invested (and he/she keeps the funds)?  What if you have chosen a casket with a particular material or specification and the Funeral home tells you it can not provide that and you refuse to take a different casket because you feel it is of inferior quality and that voids your pre-paid contract?

All of these things can happen and have happened. You see, the funeral home is in the business to make money and can not afford to take a loss on a customer. So the possibility exists that numerous things can go wrong that could cause a problem with your pre-paid funeral arrangement contract. An additional consideration is: if you move will the contract allow you to be buried in another state with equivalent services and products for the same amount of the contract or will any change in location cause your contract to be revised or voided?
A press release from the NY State Funeral Directors Assn has an explanation of the pre-need plans their members sell. I think this is great info but may not be enough to protect consumers.
Looking in the recent past to info provided by the Attorney General of Missouri we can see a myriad of problems that led to investigations and prosecutions. Unfortunately, similar situations have occurred in Ohio as recently as December 2008. In Texas in 2008 some of the pre-need providers backing these contracts were deemed to insolvent.
I realize that these are probably the exceptions and that most Funeral Directors who sell pre-need programs are honest and well meaning people. I just want everyone to be aware of what can happen if you don’t fully investigate the people you are dealing with and then investigate again after you have given them any money.

Another option that you might consider to help pay for funeral expenses is to buy additional term life insurance. It’s relative cheap and if you get between $10,000 and $15,000 worth of term life you should have the entire cost covered with extra left over. The only major drawback to this is that most term life policies terminate at age 70 or 75 so if you outlive your policy you won’t have the money to cover the funeral costs.

None of this is meant to be legal advice. Your lawyer may request that you set up a trust and move assets into it to cover any future funeral costs or, he/she may have some other better advice.

Good luck and if you have any questions, comments or suggestions that will help others please let us know.
 

Several years ago my mother died in Oklahoma and when I went to take care of her final arrangements I was not aware that I had no choice but to purchase her casket from the funeral home.  It was, and still is, actually against the law in that state to buy a casket from a discounter or from a source other than a licensed funeral director.

As I have studied more about end of life issues I continue to look back at the experience of exactly what happened when I went to hurriedly plan her funeral. You see she had Alzheimers disease and was living in a nearby nursing home. It was difficult seeing her deteriorate mentally and physically and, like most families, I was ill equipped to take care of her at home. I felt guilty for awhile that I could not afford the extended hour home nursing care and that after a long day or work I could not emotionally deal with my sick mom, wife, kids and other pressures of life. So, it was more convenient to have her with professional care and supervision in a facility near my home. It took many personal visits and interviews to find the right place and frankly I was not even totally comfortable with the one I picked. But, due to time, money, and family and work pressures I made a decision that she was going to this nursing home.

While she was there I visited but not often enough. Ok, I admit it was difficult seeing my mom in this condition and outta sight outta mind. Until that day when I received a call that mom had passed away. Well now that the end had arrived I had to scramble to get all of the details taken care of. For example, she died in Oklahoma and her burial plot was next to my dad’s in New Jersey. Just how do you make arrangements to get a dead body from one state to another/ Do I buy the casket and have the funeral here and then ship her off to New Jersey? Once the body is in New Jersey how does it get from the airport to the cemetery and is there a funeral ceremony at the gravesite. How do I coordinate this and get airline tickets now to make sure I can get on a flight if I don’t know when the burial will take place? There’s so much to do, so little time to think about it. And the first thing I need to do is get the body out of the nursing home after all they have already called me 3 times asking me what the arrangements are and asking when will she be removed.

At that time I figured since I had no idea what I was doing I called the closest funeral home to her nursing home and pleaded for help. In retrospect my lack of planning knowing that this day would come eventually probably made me look desperate. The funeral home representative told me to come to their facility immediately so we could get all of the necessary details arranged since there was a necessity to get mom out of the nursing home quickly.

I immediately drove over to that funeral home to get this done. There was no comparison shopping, no time to decide whether I liked or trusted the funeral home, and a million questions going through my mind that might never be asked or answered. There was just a panicky feeling and a need to get this done.

While talking to the funeral home representative I must say his demeanor was good. He was a true pro at this stuff. I explained the situation and he was calming and helpful about getting my mom’s body out of the nursing home and saying he would take care of the other arrangements. I was still in shock and not thinking clearly from the pressure of it all. Soon it was time for me to go to the show room and choose a casket. Now, we’ve all date with obnoxious car salesmen but at least we have a clear head and can sense the sales pitch geared to leading us toward a high profit transaction. But, dealing with a funeral is a totally different mindset. When I entered the show room I saw the shinny caskets with visually appealing trim. The insides were incredibly made and they all looked like beautiful museum pieces. The bait was cast and I was about to be reeled in to a huge dollar transaction that I could not afford and did not really need or want.

Fortunately my highly honed cheapness, which has taken years of saying no to wife, kids and other less close individuals, had kicked into high gear. I politely told him no with each casket we passed. Now, being the real pro that he was he gave me all of the reasons why my mother deserved the best, even in death. He explained the finer points of the excellent construction of these caskets and how some were made to better protect my mom’s body for a longer time. I listened carefully and amazed at how these glorified boxes were so well planned in their construction. And, how well trained the funeral home representative was.  But, these prices were not gonna happen on my budget.

I tactfully told him “NO WAY”. Well, maybe it wasn’t so tactfully, but he obviously got the message and after his shocked look took me into another room. This room was really drab and didn’t have the high quality decorations and look and feel of the first show room. This was obviously the “let me show you the cheap stuff, you tightwad’ room. I walked over to several of the caskets and one by one asked the prices. Unshaken, he told me the prices and very succinctly told me why each one was inferior to even the cheapest one in the other room. Undaunted, I smelled savings vs. the ones in the other room and was determined to pick one that was at the lower cost end but not so bad looking that anyone at the funeral would say “what was he thinking picking that.” In reality, even the prices of casket in the “cheap room” were a lot more than I wanted to spend. But, with time being of the essence I had no choice and couldn’t show. So, I held my breath, and pointed and said “I’ll take that one.” The deal was done. The pressure was off.  I signed some additional paperwork and off I went.

Recently I was reading that the markup on caskets at a funeral home can be 300 percent (300%). That means that it can sell for three times what the funeral home pays the manufacturer for the casket. Hmmm. That’s a huge markup in my book. I don’t mind paying extra for quality or convenience but this seems a little excessive. But, I’m a businessman also and I don’t begrudge anyone the opportunity to make a nice profit. What I do have a problem with is when the playing field isn’t level and when the consumer is put at a competitive disadvantage. It irks me when, like a crooked casino, when the game is fixed so you can’t possibly win. And that’s the situation in Oklahoma where my mom died. You see, in Oklahoma (and three other states), by law you can only buy a casket from a licensed funeral director. They have a legal monopoly on the sale of a product. In three states they have the equivalent of a “casket cartel.” They can fix prices, informally, because by law they have to publish a price list. So all of the other funeral homes can see the list and keep their prices artificially high because they only have to compete with other protected funeral homes. And, what makes it even worse, there is a huge trend towards consolidation in the funeral home industry. So, if a major corporation has bought out many of the funeral homes in a particular area their only real competition is other funeral homes owned by the same corporation. With their corporate size they can by at discounts that are big enough so that independent funeral homes can’t compete based on total funeral service pricing yet they can dictate prices and keep them artificially high.  And since most local independent funeral homes try and keep a lower profile so as not to get into a losing price war with a corporate entity that is many times their size they can only lower prices so much.

This situation is compounded by the fact that I can find caskets selling on the internet for a substantial discount to what the local funeral home will charge me; and that is even taking shipping charges into consideration. But, with the legal “casket cartel” protection that they legally enjoy within certain states I can’t buy a casket from a more competitive source and ship it to my local funeral home to use.  What ever happened to free trade and fair play? What ever happened to consumer rights and consumer protection? Obviously in Oklahoma and the other two states the lobbyists have convinced the local politicians and judges that free trade for the good of the consumer isn’t important.

You see, these large funeral service related corporations are getting even larger and buying funeral homes and cemeteries in many states. If the consolidation trend continues the current laws may not matter even in those states which currently allow for competition. The control of both funeral homes and cemeteries in a particular community will eliminate any competition and cause a general increase in consumer prices. 

So, in response, consumers in all states need to join local funeral consumer alliances or societies to negotiate as groups. It would be like trying to get health insurance as an individual vs. as a group. The group can obviously get more advantageous prices for its members. Take an opportunity to find and support your local funeral consumer alliance or society. The cost to join is usually minimal and the benefits in help with information, education and possible financial savings are well worth it.

 There is no denying the evidence that cremation is becoming a popular alternative to burial. And, more funeral homes and cemeteries are joining the trend of green burials which don’t use harmful chemicals in preparing the body. And many use biodegradable caskets. But which one of these is more environmentally friendly? The answer might surprise you.

The trend toward more green funerals and burials is rooted in being more environmentally friendly, as well as, lowering costs. For example, each year, 22,500 cemeteries across the United States bury approximately 827,060 gallons of embalming fluid which includes formaldehyde and other hazardous chemicals. Buried caskets contain 90,272 tons of steel, 2,700 tons of copper and bronze and 30-plus million board feet of hardwoods. Cremation and burial vaults contain 1,636,000 tons of reinforced concrete and 14,000 tons of steel. These statistics were complied from some very reliable sources which include: Casket and Funeral Association of America, Cremation Association of North America, Doric Inc., The Rainforest Action Network, and Mary Woodsen, Pre-Posthumous Society.

In addition, Casket manufacturers are listed on the EPA’s top 50 hazardous waste generators list due to chemicals such as methyl and xylene used in the protective finish sprayed on the caskets exterior. On a segment of a Fresh Air interview on NPR, Mark Harris, author of “Grave Matters: Journey Through the Modern Funeral Industry to a Natural Way of Burial” told host Terry Gross that the amount of wood from coffins located in a ten-acre cemetery is enough to build 40 houses and that there is enough concrete to build swimming pools for all of them.

On the surface cremation seems like a more friendly and convenient way to deal with the bodily remains of a loved one. But, let’s consider the impact of this truly industrial process. Like most modern, natural-gas devices, the technology is becoming more efficient and clean burning; however the amount of non-renewable fossil fuel needed to cremate bodies in North America is equivalent to a car making 84 trips to the Moon and back… each year.

There is also a growing body of research that indicates cremation has a significant impact on the environment. Cremations lead to emissions of nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, mercury, hydrogen fluoride (HF), hydrogen chloride (HCl), NMVOCs, and other heavy metals, in addition to Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP). The United Nations indicates that crematoria contribute 0.2% of the global emission of dioxins and furans.

Green burials in a green cemetery seem to be a viable alternative to both traditional burials and to cremations. Centennial Park Cemetery in the South Australian state capital of Adelaide said it had studied the carbon impact of burials and cremations. The Centennial Park Cemetery carries out more than 900 burials and around 3,300 cremations a year. Cemetery chief executive Bryan Elliott said that every cremation created around 160 kg (353 pounds) of carbon dioxide, compared to 39 kg of carbon dioxide for each burial. But when the cost of maintaining grave sites, mostly covered by lawns at Centennial Park, is taken into account, cremations came out 10 percent greener than burials. “This is because we must look after the gravesite for a number of years by watering and mowing the surrounding lawn area and maintaining the concrete beam on which the headstone is placed,” Elliott said. “Burial is a more labor and resource intensive process, consumes more fuels and produces larger quantities of waste than cremation” added Elliott.

Ok, so both cremation and traditional burials have both been found to be environmentally unfriendly. So what’s the best alternative? One thought is to use a nature preserve setting where funeral preparations and then burial is handled in a green”way. The pollution impact is minimized and the beautiful forest-like setting is used to create a natural environment that is aesthetically beautiful and multi-functional. It can serve as both a cemetery and park to celebrate the environment and, celebrate life.

So, which is really preferable? I am not suggesting cremation over burial, or vice versa; I am simply suggesting that whichever choice you make, make sure it is what the deceased wanted and that it is a most natural and beautiful celebration of that person’s life.

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Due out soon is new book by noted end of life author Hal Stevens entitled: “How To Plan Green Funerals: Your Guide To Eco-Friendly Green Funerals And Green Burials”. The book will be available on the entire family of CemeterySpot websites, as well as, on its own website: www.greenfuneralsbook.com. The target date, for both the website and book to go live, is March 1, 2009.  Hal Stevens can be contacted through this blog, on email at: hal@cemeteryspot.com; or on Twitter: @CemeterySpot.

I have been investigating how trade associations adopted certain days, events or holidays and made them a financial bonanza for their members. This action is for the good of all and does not naturally favor the large, prestigious or wealthiest members.

I really can’t remember a time when Christmas wasn’t a secular retail holiday. Or when Valentines Day wasn’t the guilt ridden must buy flowers, candy and/or restaurant holiday. Thanksgiving has always been a turkey and side item food related holiday mostly with grocery stores making the money vs. restaurants. Halloween was always a costume party with the candy manufacturers raking in the money because we had to give all those trick-or-treaters something. Of course, there must have been a simpler time when people spent less, felt less pressured to buy things that they couldn’t really afford, and that often were specific to this one time per year occasion.

Why mention all of this? Well, it seems that the Funeral Services Industry has been missing a great opportunity. Over the years the holiday of Halloween has provided a natural connection with the dead. In other countries, most notably China, there is a special holiday for honoring ancestors and remembering the dead. People flock to cemeteries and have a festive remembrance. So why has the Halloween holiday escaped the marketing efforts of the Funeral Services Industry?

In many ways the Funeral Services Industry has been brought kicking and screaming into this century. It has missed the marketing savvy of other industries and has been slow to adapt to the tools of the technological age. There is still a big vs. small mentality, a corporate vs. the independents struggle. There is and an undercurrent of jealousy and guardedness when dealing with each other. I am certain that some people from funeral services trade organizations will tell me all of the reasons that this isn’t so, but it only takes a few conversations with smaller, rural or independent funeral home operators, morticians or cemetery owners to get a more grass roots perspective.

I don’t bring this up to put a negative light on this industry. Although I am only a peripheral player in it I have a great respect for the people in it. I see a need to take an industry with overcapacity, relatively low wages, which typically doesn’t attract talent as a primary place of employment, and expose all of the great things it does for multiple communities. I see an opportunity to take this industry and increase its stature, and its revenue, so that more people enter schools with this as a well regarded career path.

So, suppose there was an industry generated 10 -20 year plan to adopt a holiday and promote it in a way that would allow for maximum marketing opportunities. Suppose the industry took the Halloween holiday and put a slightly different spin on it. Instead of being an all hallows eve with ghosts, goblins and bizarre costumes it became a holiday to respect and honor the dead. Over the 10-20 year plan a marketing campaign was designed to help change the perceptions and idea of what this holiday should be.

I can see funeral homes giving tours and having famous local authors doing book signings with corporate sponsored promotional gifts being raffled off. I see cemeteries having “honor your ancestor” day with selling special honorary candles made for the occasion. I see t-shirt sales to commemorate the day with a special design, the date/year and the name of the funeral home or cemetery on it. I see florists have special bouquets available made just for this holiday. And, speaking of holidays, I see a lobbying effort to have Halloween changed to “Honor Your Ancestor Day”. All sorts of artisans could develop special products to be left at the grave, columbaria, etc. And, for those who scattered cremains or have them in an urn at home a special service could be available at religious institutions to commemorate Honor Your Ancestor Day. Usually a special service would generate a special offering so churches, synagogues, etc. should be willing participants. And, why not, who could possibly be against honoring the memory of our ancestors. It’s not worshipping the dead, it’s honoring our ancestors.

The possibilities for remaking this holiday into both a way to honor our ancestors and an opportunity for the Funeral Services Industry to shine seem like a natural thing waiting to happen. So, why not? Who will step up and take the lead? It’s about time the Funeral Services Industry promoted itself in a very positive and public way.

With the cost of burials skyrocketing, cremations in the US approaching 40 percent, and  international figures much higher, the CemeterySpot book on cremation is timely and valuable.

How To Plan A Cremation: Your Guide To Cremation Facts, Choices And Decisions was written for the general public as a way to understand cremation from a practical viewpoint.  The How To Plan A Cremation book was written in a user-friendly and conversational style with self-contained topical chapters. This allows each reader to pick and choose areas to consult based on immediate need and interest. The book is 243 pages packed with information, advice, plans, cautions and stories.

According to funeral services industry consultant Bob Roberts, CEO of CemOps: “Having started in the funeral and cemetery profession in the mid 1960’s, it is refreshing to see someone write such a comprehensive book on choices, especially from outside the profession. This author has certainly done his homework, and not only should this book be considered by the consumer base, but by industry professionals, as well. Hal captures an essence in his writing that is of great value for not only the consumer looking for answers, but for a profession that is seeking better ways of communicating those offerings available during a most difficult time in someone’s life.  Congratulations Hal on such a useful and heartfelt book.”

With the publishing of How To Plan A Cremation: Your Guide To Cremation Facts, Choices And Decisions, Hal Stevens, author and president of CemeterySpot, assures that its mission of  providing high quality, user-friendly end-of-life products and services continues. The book contains an explanation of the cremation process, answers to your questions about cremation vs. burial, facts about cremation and the environment, a cremation Statement of Intent template, and a complete cremation planning outline guide.

This book is just one of six that Mr. Stevens has written on end-of-life subjects.
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For more information about How To Plan A Cremation: Your Guide To Cremation Facts, Choices And Decisions please visit http://www.cremationlinks.com, or any of the CemeterySpot family of web sites. For additional information or to schedule an interview, please call Hal Stevens at 405-210-4363 or email Hal at hal@cemeteryspot.com.

 In recent exchange of emails I had said that the future of the Funeral Service industry was based adopting and embracing many of the products and services that now seem ancillary. This was in response to a group email from a member who said that she was a Funeral Planner whose company thought her position was like being a low level Wedding Planner. Here is my reply:
You’re asking questions that require me to be a combo of Nostradamus & Edgar Casey. My crystal isn’t doing much good in the stock market these days; nevertheless, I’ll try and climb out on the limb.
 
It’s a fact that people’s attitudes towards burial and cremation are changing in a way that doesn’t bode well for the Funeral Industry unless some rethinking and changes take place.
 
I can remember that it was only about 10-15 years ago that the coffee industry was in trouble with sinking prices and sinking sales. It was standard thought at that time that anyone under 20 didn’t drink coffee and instead preferred soft drinks. It was presumed that the coffee business was dying and that the existing younger generation would be confirmed Coke/Pepsi/Dr. Pepper, etc. drinkers. Then came the rethinking and repositioning of the coffee industry thanks to Starbucks, and others, into a neuvo-cool drink. The “new” coffee culture centered around quality and product knowledge as espoused by the barristas (employees who were really taught about the products they were selling as a tool to up -sell), the value of the experience of having the coffee made fresh and to high standards and with a customer choice of mix/match ingredients, and an association of brand (Starbucks) with status.
 
The Funeral Service industry would be wise to study this as a basis toward developing new services and products with a view towards product positioning and marketing. And, studying this from the perspective of profiting when the economy is good and protecting it’s franchise when the economy turns bad (a situation the coffee industry - especially Starbucks is now faced with).
 
People are now following two main trends: cremation and green funerals/burials. Cremation is seen as a cheap alternative to traditional burial that is also easier to deal with. Green Funerals/Burials is seen as the socially responsible thing to do, as well, as being a more friendly way to visit the deceased. rather than fighting or finding fault with these trends we should recognize their positive aspects and sell into and around them.
 
One obvious thing is that traditional burials with a cemetery plot and monument costs more so it is being priced out for many people. So, why not make a modified traditional burial into a high quality experience with status attached to it. Make it something that is specifically targeted toward high net worth individuals. Make the experience into a party in honor of the deceased. Get the wedding party planners involved and make it a sign of status and connections to be invited to a funeral celebration. Make it an honor to sit at a dais and get to give a short eulogy; maybe one of a few short eulogies that are given in honor of the deceased; make it like a celebrity roast only more tactful. Have appropriate decorations and food. Make it a first class celebration with video and even a dj or songs played by a band that reflect the favorite songs of the deceased. Publish the written eulogies and a play list of the songs; add the names of invited guests to the playbill like handout. Add a light show to the gravesite ceremony. Have artisans make custom designed caskets or have existing casket manufacturers send the casket to a special quick retro-fit company to do this. Have cemeteries market special sections of their cemeteries to grand reserve clients only. Make it a situation like getting a loan or applying for country club membership to be able to buy a plot in some cemeteries or even certain sections of cemeteries. Do this as a first class highly restricted situation and you will create status and value and the middle class who aspires to be rich (which is almost everyone) will beat down your doors to do something that increases its status because they did something like the rich guys did. It’s keeping up with the Jones’s in a way that hasn’t been fully exploited.
 
Next, there are many services that are available by ancillary funeral service providers that funeral homes and cemeteries don’t market correctly. Many of these don’t need to be brought in house but rather sold on a commission basis as value added services. Live password protected video streaming of the funeral service/cremation (and/or burial), a “boardroom” quality extra large painting of the deceased for remembrance, assistance with setting up an online memorial (either on an existing site or on a new domain owned by the family/survivors), digital slide show of the entire funeral service (marketed like a wedding album only digital), guaranteed remembrance bouquet placed on the gravesite every anniversary of birth/death/anniversary/holidays, etc. and options to have different size, quality, themed and priced floral arrangements, have a local clothes designer available to do a quick manufacture of a special designer labeled memorial outfit for the ladies and or men, arrange for special memorial tours to be presented at the cemetery with playbill like brochures and an opportunity for businesses owned by survivors of the deceased to advertise their services in these (as well as other local businesses), for cemeteries have the ability to sell the naming rights for street signs in the cemetery named after someone who is buried in the cemetery (can be naming rights for 1 year to get additional yearly income or a large dollar donation for multiple years, etc., etc. These are all ancillary things that a funeral home or cemetery can do to generate value to their customers and generate additional income. They are all ancillary to the basic employee functions at a traditional funeral home or cemetery but will expand the products and services beyond the currently deteriorating sales and profits of this industry.
 
Anyone else have ideas? Let us know. They may seem crazy or too far fetched (especially for a rather unimaginative and slow to change industry) but go for it anyway and post them here as comments. In recent exchange of emails I had said that the future of the Funeral Service industry was based adopting and embracing many of the products and services that now seem ancillary. This was in response to a group email from a member who said that she was a Funeral Planner whose company thought her position was like being a low level Wedding Planner. Here is my reply:
You’re asking questions that require me to be a combo of Nostradamus & Edgar Casey. My crystal isn’t doing much good in the stock market these days; nevertheless, I’ll try and climb out on the limb.
 
It’s a fact that people’s attitudes towards burial and cremation are changing in a way that doesn’t bode well for the Funeral Industry unless some rethinking and changes take place.
 
I can remember that it was only about 10-15 years ago that the coffee industry was in trouble with sinking prices and sinking sales. It was standard thought at that time that anyone under 20 didn’t drink coffee and instead preferred soft drinks. It was presumed that the coffee business was dying and that the existing younger generation would be confirmed Coke/Pepsi/Dr. Pepper, etc. drinkers. Then came the rethinking and repositioning of the coffee industry thanks to Starbucks, and others, into a neuvo-cool drink. The “new” coffee culture centered around quality and product knowledge as espoused by the barristas (employees who were really taught about the products they were selling as a tool to up -sell), the value of the experience of having the coffee made fresh and to high standards and with a customer choice of mix/match ingredients, and an association of brand (Starbucks) with status.
 
The Funeral Service industry would be wise to study this as a basis toward developing new services and products with a view towards product positioning and marketing. And, studying this from the perspective of profiting when the economy is good and protecting it’s franchise when the economy turns bad (a situation the coffee industry - especially Starbucks is now faced with).
 
People are now following two main trends: cremation and green funerals/burials. Cremation is seen as a cheap alternative to traditional burial that is also easier to deal with. Green Funerals/Burials is seen as the socially responsible thing to do, as well, as being a more friendly way to visit the deceased. rather than fighting or finding fault with these trends we should recognize their positive aspects and sell into and around them.
 
One obvious thing is that traditional burials with a cemetery plot and monument costs more so it is being priced out for many people. So, why not make a modified traditional burial into a high quality experience with status attached to it. Make it something that is specifically targeted toward high net worth individuals. Make the experience into a party in honor of the deceased. Get the wedding party planners involved and make it a sign of status and connections to be invited to a funeral celebration. Make it an honor to sit at a dais and get to give a short eulogy; maybe one of a few short eulogies that are given in honor of the deceased; make it like a celebrity roast only more tactful. Have appropriate decorations and food. Make it a first class celebration with video and even a dj or songs played by a band that reflect the favorite songs of the deceased. Publish the written eulogies and a play list of the songs; add the names of invited guests to the playbill like handout. Add a light show to the gravesite ceremony. Have artisans make custom designed caskets or have existing casket manufacturers send the casket to a special quick retro-fit company to do this. Have cemeteries market special sections of their cemeteries to grand reserve clients only. Make it a situation like getting a loan or applying for country club membership to be able to buy a plot in some cemeteries or even certain sections of cemeteries. Do this as a first class highly restricted situation and you will create status and value and the middle class who aspires to be rich (which is almost everyone) will beat down your doors to do something that increases its status because they did something like the rich guys did. It’s keeping up with the Jones’s in a way that hasn’t been fully exploited.
 
Next, there are many services that are available by ancillary funeral service providers that funeral homes and cemeteries don’t market correctly. Many of these don’t need to be brought in house but rather sold on a commission basis as value added services. Live password protected video streaming of the funeral service/cremation (and/or burial), a “boardroom” quality extra large painting of the deceased for remembrance, assistance with setting up an online memorial (either on an existing site or on a new domain owned by the family/survivors), digital slide show of the entire funeral service (marketed like a wedding album only digital), guaranteed remembrance bouquet placed on the gravesite every anniversary of birth/death/anniversary/holidays, etc. and options to have different size, quality, themed and priced floral arrangements, have a local clothes designer available to do a quick manufacture of a special designer labeled memorial outfit for the ladies and or men, arrange for special memorial tours to be presented at the cemetery with playbill like brochures and an opportunity for businesses owned by survivors of the deceased to advertise their services in these (as well as other local businesses), for cemeteries have the ability to sell the naming rights for street signs in the cemetery named after someone who is buried in the cemetery (can be naming rights for 1 year to get additional yearly income or a large dollar donation for multiple years, etc., etc. These are all ancillary things that a funeral home or cemetery can do to generate value to their customers and generate additional income. They are all ancillary to the basic employee functions at a traditional funeral home or cemetery but will expand the products and services beyond the currently deteriorating sales and profits of this industry.
 
Anyone else have ideas? Let us know. They may seem crazy or too far fetched (especially for a rather unimaginative and slow to change industry) but go for it anyway and post them here as comments.