Building a strong foundation of great communication is the first step of successful funeral marketing, customer service, aftercare, and everything in between. We recently put a blog post into the world on creating great communication inside the funeral home, and got so much feedback from it, that we’ve decided to make a slide deck based […] The post How To Be A Better Communicator with Your Families [Slide Deck] appeared first on funeralOne Blog. How To Be A Better Communicator with Your Families [Slide Deck] published first on YouTube via Tumblr How To Be A Better Communicator with Your Families [Slide Deck]
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Ian Strang is the Founder of Beyond.Life, a UK-based funeral planning resource helping families make informed purchasing decisions for end-of-life planning. He recently made our list of 10 Visionary Death Care Entrepreneurs Revolutionizing How We Die for his progressive work in the UK death care space. In the U.S., we like to watch the UK death care space because they seem to be about 10 years ahead in adopting new trends and adjusting to the ripple effects of those trends. The UK cremation rate is at 76% and looking at how their industry is dealing with shifting business models as it continues to rise can be incredibly enlightening. Early in 2018 UK Dignity’s share price plummeted by 50% after announcing that their upcoming performance report was going to be below expectations. They blamed low-cost competitors and called for more regulation to protect customers from poor service, thereby avoiding responsibility and continuing on the failing protectionist path the funeral industry has become notorious for. One of the reasons that consumers are choosing lower cost (not necessarily lower quality) cremation services is Ian Strang’s Beyond.Life transparent price and service resource. In just three years the tool has become a leading digital funeral planning resource in the UK and their business is expanding to provide more tools and resources for families. Beyond.Life began as a content resource which is a common path seen in other successful digital death care startups like PartingPro and EverPlan. We were interested in how Strang got started and where he sees the future of Beyond.Life and the death care space at-large. Find out more in our interview with Ian Strang below! CD: What was your path to creating a business in the death care space? IS: It was an idea I first had back when I was doing an MBA at London Business School in 2009. I saw that the death care space had in many ways been left behind by many of the innovations that had revolutionised other industries. Things we take for granted in other areas, like price transparency, digital presence and service reviews, were practically unheard of. That lack of transparency, in particular, meant that some businesses couldn’t be held accountable when they perhaps weren’t acting in families’ best interests, while a lack of digital presence was helping larger chains to slowly push out smaller independent businesses, as well. It being such a sensitive industry, when people are perhaps more vulnerable than they might be when making practically any other purchase, meant that a service like Beyond’s funeral director comparison tool – which is what we started out with – could have a huge positive impact. So, we tested it at first, to see if there was any interest, and found that the website we’d quickly set up was seeing a lot of demand. We took it from there. CD: What problem did you set out to solve? IS: We wanted to put power back into consumers’ hands. When information isn’t freely available online, families often end up going to the nearest funeral director to them, who might charge twice as much as the funeral director down the road. They might not know how much it will cost until they feel like they’ve already made a commitment. We wanted to make it easier for families to make a fully informed decision about who they would like to arrange a funeral, without any obligation. At the same time, we wanted to give those small, independent funeral directors the digital tools to compete with the major chains, boosting their online presence and helping people find them. When you compare independents to, for example, Dignity Plc, they are about 123% less expensive, which is good for the families as well. Now that Beyond has grown, we’re branching out into other areas of afterlife care. We offer a free will writing service (why pay over £200 for a will, when it’s possible to make one yourself for free, and control the whole process?) and a fixed-price estate administration service as well (why not use a service that tells you the price up-front, and sticks to it?) It’s all part of the same mission of transparency and fairness. CD: In a couple of sentences, what is Beyond’s business model? IS: We provide an online marketplace that connects funeral directors and at-need customers. When someone chooses a funeral director after finding them on Beyond, then (and only then) do we take a commission from the funeral director, and at no cost to the family. CD: Where do you see your business in 5 years? IS: I would like to see us expanding the range of options we offer to families so that they can find more of the information and services they need in one place. I’d also like us to extend the territory we cover: the UK is not the only country that can benefit from the services we offer. CD: What changes to the funeral industry at-large do you envision for the next decade? IS: I think an overall move towards greater digitisation, and a more mobile-first approach: increasingly, the people who need our services will be very digitally savvy themselves, and they’ll expect businesses to be the same. I think price transparency will roll out across the board – already the larger chains are under pressure to be more open about their pricing. Finally, I think that (and this has already started) we’ll see a sea change in the way people view funerals, with the majority of families coming to see them as a way to celebrate a life, rather than mourn a loss. So, potentially more family involvement in the planning and more personal, unique and creative funerals as people move away from the traditional approach. Click to Visit Beyond.Life and Learn More!The post Learn How Beyond.Life is Empowering Customers in Our Interview with CEO Ian Strang appeared first on Connecting Directors. Learn How Beyond.Life is Empowering Customers in Our Interview with CEO Ian Strang published first on YouTube via Tumblr Learn How Beyond.Life is Empowering Customers in Our Interview with CEO Ian Strang BATESVILLE, IN., June 27, 2018 – As a leading partner to funeral homes, Batesville is committed to providing solutions to support funeral professionals in helping families honor their loved ones in as many ways as possible. Recognized for innovative product personalization, the company also offers enhanced capabilities on its website platform to allow families to add personal touches at every step of their journey, starting with the obituary. “Families find comfort in sharing the stories and relationships that made their loved one special, and themed obituaries do that by combining powerful imagery with photos that evoke memories and personal connections,” said Troy Turner, senior vice president, sales and marketing at Batesville. “The obituary becomes more than just an announcement; it starts to build the foundation for a truly personal experience for the family, friends and community.” Themed obituaries are available as a standard (no-cost) feature on Batesville’s Web Professional platform. Families can provide personal photos or choose from a gallery of more than 200 unique images, with a variety of themes, color schemes, styles, and designs to create a compelling backdrop for the individual’s life story. Response from families and funeral directors to the personalized obituaries has been tremendous. In the first six months, nearly 24,000 families have created themed obituaries using images from the gallery, or using their own personal photos. Similar to other forms of personalization, religion and patriotism are among the most popular themes, along with nature and flowers. The success was not surprising, according to Turner. “Photos and videos are the primary ways today’s social media-savvy consumers share what’s going on in their lives. Allowing families to tell their loved ones’ stories in this same way makes the experience more relatable.” “Batesville’s obituary themes are fast becoming one of the most popular website features,” said Scott Macy of Hultgren Funeral Home in Wheaton, Illinois. “Now, when discussing memorial themes with a family, the question is never IF they want to personalize their obituary page, but simply which photo they want to use. It’s just a natural outflow of what they are doing every day with their phones and computers.” A quick look at the statistics shows the power of the obituary – not just to the family, but to the funeral home as well. More than 98% of visitors to a funeral home’s website view an obituary. More than half of them are viewing the site from a mobile device, and another 13% are using a tablet. Responsive design principles, which are used by Batesville, allow you to provide the best experience for all visitors, regardless of their device. “We’re proud of the advancements we’ve made in providing highly functional websites that support the funeral home and the family, and excited to unveil new value-added features throughout the summer,” said Turner. The company is launching four new responsive designs this month, giving funeral homes additional choices to distinguish their websites, and has two major enhancements coming in July and August. To learn how you can offer families the benefits of personalized obituaries, call the Batesville Technology Solutions team at 877.287.8661 or send an email to [email protected]. ABOUT BATESVILLE Batesville (www.Batesville.com), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI), is the leader in the North American death care industry, offering a comprehensive portfolio of Burial Solutions, Cremation Options, Memorial Solutions and Technology Solutions. For more than 125 years, Batesville has been dedicated to helping families honor the lives of those they love®. Batesville’s innovation has changed the face of funeral service, from advancements in manufacturing and quality to patented features and memorialization offerings, technology and web-based solutions, and profit-enhancing merchandising systems. Our history of manufacturing excellence, product innovation, superior customer service and reliable delivery has helped Batesville become – and remain – a market leader. The post Themed Obituaries Help Provide Personalized Funeral Experiences for Families appeared first on Connecting Directors. Themed Obituaries Help Provide Personalized Funeral Experiences for Families published first on YouTube via Tumblr Themed Obituaries Help Provide Personalized Funeral Experiences for Families So many experts will tell you that strategy is going to improve your funeral marketing. In many ways, I agree. Strategy IS important But what I’ve found from personal experience is that when it comes to attracting families, it’s not so much about reaching out, than it is about becoming magnetic. Magnetic? Yes, magnetic. Meaning, […] The post 7 Questions That Will Start Attracting More Ideal Client Families appeared first on funeralOne Blog. 7 Questions That Will Start Attracting More Ideal Client Families published first on YouTube via Tumblr 7 Questions That Will Start Attracting More Ideal Client Families Are you afraid your funeral home is not reaching its full audience potential in your community? It’s possible… Your job is incredibly complex and marketing sometimes gets pushed to the side – families come first! DISRUT Media is here to help with a list of proven funeral home marketing strategies, tips, and techniques to try in your community. The strategies below have either worked for us personally with our clients or have worked with other funeral homes in the field. We believe that funeral homes are the cornerstone of communities, offering support in the hardest times, and we want to help you serve more families. The funeral home marketing techniques we have identified range from branding, to design, to specific advertising platforms, to community events. Implementing just a couple of these techniques that fit with your community can help you increase revenue, generate more positive reviews online, and get that phone ringing! 18 Funeral Home Marketing Ideas1. BloggingThe internet has fundamentally changed marketing practices and there is a radical new philosophy gaining popularity:
This may seem exaggerated, but its intended to drive home the idea that people online are turned off by advertisements and on by useful content. If you can provide useful tools, information, and resources for people then you gain their trust. In an industry built on trust it goes without saying that this strategy can be insanely valuable for funeral homes. On your blog you can educate your customers on the importance of pre-planning, services, insurance, estate planning, wills, and more. You can deliver the content on facebook and Instagram (organic or paid) and via email. When the decision is made to plan a funeral or organize pre-need options you will be the funeral director they choose to help them. 2. SEOAn important part of having on online presence is making sure people can find you. Search engine optimization (SEO) is an easy way for funeral homes to get their services in front of families in need. For most funeral homes that are located outside of densely populated urban areas ranking high on google is easy. We give you all the tools you need to be successful on SEO in our free 4-week funeral marketing eCourse. Sign up below! Want to learn simple tips to beat your competitors on Google? Click to sign up for our FREE Marketing eCourse. 3. TestimonialsIn the digital age, all marketers know that testimonials are an essential component of selling. The reason? Social proof. The second best thing to a direct friend referral is 5 strangers talking about what a great experience they had with your business. You can add these to your website and immediately begin to increase call volume. Below is a good example (and a completely shameless plug) of a testimonial from our homepage for our funeral home marketing services… 4. Website30 years ago, your families first impression was your physical funeral home – today its your website. Having a well designed website with a quality user experience is the physical-world equivalent of wearing your best suite and presenting to a family in an arrangement room that makes them feel comforted and confident. There are hundreds of thousands of Google searches for funeral homes in the U.S. each month which means customers are checking for the most trusted-feeling website in each community before picking up the phone. We recommend having your site designed by an industry development company like FuneralOne or hiring a local designer to give your funeral home a personalized face lift. 5. Offer Local Artist-Made PiecesFeaturing locally-made artisan urns in your memorial product showroom is a great way to increase revenue and get free press. Families want highly personalized memorials for the people and pets they loved and a one-of-a-kind piece by an artist they admire is often the perfect solution. The press will love the story of a local artist making deeply meaningful pieces for people in your community and your partnership with them will be highlighted and rewarded. In our funeral home marketing eCourse we’ve included a step-by-step guide to selling artist made pieces in your funeral home. Click to sign up for our FREE Funeral Home Marketing eCourse delivered via email. 6. Online ReviewsSome things in the Digital Age have stayed exactly the same as in the past. We still weigh heavily on the personal reviews of others to make our buying decisions. In fact. 75% of people report trusting online reviews as much as personal recommendations. This fact means that encouraging reviews should be a core component of your funeral home marketing strategy and you should respond to them online – both positive and negative. To learn more about how to manage online reviews for funeral homes read our article on Connecting Directors here. 7. Experience Redesign + BoozeAs the funeral industry landscape continues to change as a result of factors like ecommerce, cremation, and foreign imports, the brand of the quintessential funeral home is changing too. The industry is experimenting with new ways to generate revenue and, with each success, filling a small part of the growing hole in profits. Some funeral home’s, like Serenity Funeral Chapel in Twin Falls, ID, have found a brilliant new revenue stream in redesigning the funeral home experience to look more like an event venue, some even selling alcohol. This new model keeps customers who would have typically dropped thousands of dollars elsewhere, staying in-house. Transforming your space and experience to fit modern memorialization trends has immense word-of-mouth marketing potential as well – everyone will be telling their neighbor about the amazing experience they had at your funeral home. If you want to start to make the move, we recommend applying for a liquor license now because they can take years to obtain. To learn more, read this story about Serenity Funeral Chapel who has been gradually making the shift to look like an event center. 8. Paid Social MediaAt the core of Facebook advertising is their insanely sophisticated demographic targeting tools. I am going to guess that your primary pre-need clients are college-educated married women between the ages of 40-60 within a 30 mile radius of your business. Am I right? Facebook Ads allow you to put your brand and call-to-action in front of 90% of those people in our community in 1 week’s time for far less money than you spend on an entire year of newspaper ads which never got close to that kind of reach. Additionally, Facebook ads offer one-click actions making collecting new customer leads simple.
9. Share Positive ReviewsPositive reviews of funeral homes are often heartfelt and emotional expressing a level of gratitude rarely seem in other industries. This makes them perfect for engagement on social media. Sharing designed graphics of past reviews will build trust from new customers online and inspire previous customers to leave public reviews about their experience. We created the image below for Berardinelli Funeral Home using the free program called Canva.com in less than 10 minutes. This is quick-to-create quality content to share on social media and in online advertising. 10. Live VideoLive video is one of the newest trends in social media marketing and our DISRUPT Media clients have seen huge results from it. One video got viewed over 50,000 in the immediate town and surrounding communities – invaluable marketing. Our strategy put this this new funeral home on the map and helped lay the foundation to generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in pre-need sales. Want to learn how we did it? Sign up for a free demo of our social media marketing services here. 11. Educational SeminarsHolding free pre-need educational seminars is a step up from blogging free informational content. In fact, its probably a good idea to promote your free in-person seminars to the people who are reading your free blog content online. I know… this seems like a lot of FREE work you are doing in your funeral home markting strategy… but it will pay off. You are building an invaluable bond with people in your community. When they decide to plan their own funeral or the funeral of a loved one you will be the choice provider because they already know you by name. The average person plans only two funerals in their lifetime so your funeral home marketing strategy is for the long-term. 12. ContestsFuneral homes marketing on social media have a tough problem: How do you engage with people who dont want to think about death? A great way to engage with your community is to promote local causes and get your brand in front of people in your community without ever talking about your services or advertising. The goal is to get your brand top-of-mind in the time of need. One radically successful strategy we’ve run with our funeral home marketing clients is the Facebook contest. The idea is simple, find a local cause or common local hero (like a football team) and show your support by giving away something desirable to your community. This could be sporting event tickets, art by a local artist, an Easter basket, or a gift certificate to a local restaurant. 13. Eco-friendly OptionsWith increasing concerns of global warming and the environmental impact of our everyday decisions we have seen a massive social movement towards sustainable and environmentally friendly products. The ideology has impacted every industry including death care. Offering eco-friendly options like natural burial, tree-growing-urns, and wicker caskets is a great way to show your community you care and identify with the modern concerns of your families. We’ve put together a free ebook highlighting our favorite eco-friendly urns on the market which you can download HERE! 14. On-Site Live ChatAn analysis of more than 2,200 American companies found those who attempted to reach leads within an hour were nearly seven times more likely to have meaningful conversations with decision makers than those who waited even sixty minutes. The internet has provided an incredibly useful for you to reach leads fast – on-site chat boxes! These brilliant tools work by displaying a little box on every page of your website saying “Have a question? Chat with us!.” When a potential customer sends a message on your site it pops up instantly on your smartphone allowing you to answer leads instantly. This will increase conversions and increase revenue fast. The top tools for chats (ranging in price an features) are Tidio, ZenDesk Chat, Podium, Kayako. 15. Community EventsCommunity events can be incredible ways to shape your public image and grow awareness for your funeral home. These types of events need to be designed around the interests and event in your specific community. Funeral Gal reported on one of our favorites by Kenneth Cone of Cone Funeral Home in Bowling Green, Kentucky…
16. Therapy DogsThere has been increasing buzz about funeral homes adopting and training therapy dogs as members of their team. Therapy dogs have been proven to calm nerves in times of trauma and stress and they can be a beautiful service to provide for grieving families. An added benefit to therapy dogs is their ability to get get covered by the local and even national news when they help out in tragic times of community mourning. I want to be clear – you do not get a therapy dog for funeral home marketing purposes – you get them to help grieving families. The word-of-mouth marketing is just an added benefit. Learn the important differences between Companion Dogs, Emotional Support Animals (ESA), Therapy Dogs, and Service Dogs in our interview with funeral director Melissa Unfred. 17. Organic Social MediaAt the core of every good digital marketing practice lies organic social media. The benefits of a regular organic social media are huge and include: forming relationships with clients, growing your market share, becoming a visible brand for people in your community, forming camaraderie with your audience, and educating families on the value of services before they walk in the door. It also lays the groundwork for a successful paid ad campaign. The biggest challenge of an organic social media strategy is that it takes time. Extra time is something funeral directors dont typically have so passing this task onto your millennial intern might be a good idea, but this can be nerve-racking if they have never professionally managed a business page before and had to deal with public criticism, bad reviews, or the basics of growing an audience. Fortunately, there are many funeral home marketing companies, like our own DISRUPT Media, who have a proven track record of increasing call volume, growing revenue, and increasing your marketshare using social media like Facebook and Instagram. One of Disrupt Media’s clients shared their experience:
18. CrowdfundingCrowdfunding is not typically thought of as a marketing tool, but it can help shape the brand of your company and extend the reach of your message. Crowdfunding for funeral homes is relatively new but there are multiple platforms that focus specifically on raising money from friends and family online to cover funeral costs. These are brilliant tools for funeral homes because they have been proven to get you paid faster, get your funeral home name in front of each of the fund contributors, and they can help paint your public brand as the funeral home that helps families. In our FREE 4-week Funeral Home Marketing eCourse we share proven tips for a successful campaign and give you all the tools you need to easily get started using our favorite crowdfunding platform. Sign Up for the eCourse delivered via email here. What funeral home marketing strategies have worked for you? Let us know on Facebook!The post 18 Brilliant Funeral Home Marketing Ideas appeared first on Connecting Directors. 18 Brilliant Funeral Home Marketing Ideas published first on YouTube via Tumblr 18 Brilliant Funeral Home Marketing Ideas Jeff is back at his post and Ryan is beach living but still working! The boys discuss a video Ryan uploaded, which is a parody of ‘Mean Tweets’! They shine a light on some of the harsh words posted on social media towards Ryan by funeral directors and other Funeral professionals. The Funeral Profession can sling some hate but sometimes you just gotta push through and remember, “Someone took the time out of their day to call you a ‘Dingleberry’” It’s a red letter day y’all! The post $!#@ HATERS | FUNERAL nation 115 appeared first on Connecting Directors. $!#@ HATERS | FUNERAL nation 115 published first on YouTube via Tumblr $!#@ HATERS | FUNERAL nation 115 I have lived a long life and had many troubles, most of which never happened. —Mark Twain Ahhhhh, the feeling of overwhelm. A feeling I imagine you’ve felt before if you’re a funeral professional. If it’s here, allow it to take its shoes off. Welcome it in. Maybe you’re used to this feeling, or maybe […] The post 15 Questions Every Funeral Director Should Ask When You’re Overwhelmed appeared first on funeralOne Blog. 15 Questions Every Funeral Director Should Ask When You’re Overwhelmed published first on YouTube via Tumblr 15 Questions Every Funeral Director Should Ask When You’re Overwhelmed OGDEN, Utah – Tukios has introduced an innovative new keepsake with the recently released Video Book. At an affordable price, the video book creates a more modern way for families to cherish their tribute video for years to come, without the hassle of inserting a DVD. The Video Book is equipped with speakers and a 7” HD IPS screen allowing viewers to watch the video from any angle. This is consistent with the quality of screen consumers are used to on their smartphones. The rechargeable battery lasts for two hours of continuous video playback and begins playing the moment the book is opened. Curtis Funk, CEO of Tukios said, “I’m really excited about the Video Book. The world has been moving away from DVDs and we have released a few products and features to adapt to these changes. With the quality of this product and the large HD display, the initial feedback has been phenomenal!” Orders for video books can be fulfilled by Tukios, or in-house by the funeral home. Optional branding is available on the back and discounts are offered on bulk orders. Learn more about the Video Book at www.tukios.com/video-book. About Tukios The post Tukios Announces New HD Video Book Product appeared first on Connecting Directors. Tukios Announces New HD Video Book Product published first on YouTube via Tumblr Tukios Announces New HD Video Book Product Looking at the business that these 10 death care entrepreneurs have created, there is an overwhelming sense of certainty that this is the future. They are so obviously better than the status quo that it makes their old-model competitors look decades outdated. It’s true that the death care space has taken longer to see the effects of the digital revolution – longer than nearly every other industry – but we are finally reaching an exciting moment of change. Considering other industries that have been transformed by technology like music, taxis, hotels, travel and countless more, I’m beginning to wonder what the death care space will look like even just a decade from now. Additionally, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution are being rethought through the minds of industry immigrant entrepreneurs (people coming from outside the death care industry) who can look past the structures that have formed over the last centurty to find a better path forward. If people at this level of innovation and intellect continue to launch and succeed the death care industry will be unrecognizable in just a short time. A compelling variable in this death care innovation revolution is whether the inevitable change will come from within and strengthen the framework of the existing industry or if it will come from the outside and collapse the industry as we know it to rebuild. Below, I have divided the death care entrepreneurs and their companies to showcase where different types of innovation are coming from and how that might affect the future of the space. I defined “Inside Innovators” as companies using an existing framework or proven model to grow. These companies often focus on improving products, marketing, and or distribution methods – forging a new standard for success and quality. “Outside Innovators” have invented a new methodology or innovated on top of an existing framework. They operate from the outside often finding customers before the funeral homes and are mostly absent from industry trade shows. Below are 10 death care entrepreneurs revolutionizing how we die. Inside Innovators1. Sam Sieber | BioResponse SolutionsSam Sieber is the entrepreneur behind BioResponse Solutions, the leading Aquamation (alkaline hydrolysis) machine manufacturer in the United States. The company has installed 25 human Aquamation machines and over 100 machines for pets. Her patented technology allows for a limited-maintenance, high-efficiency machine at the lowest prices available. Aquamation is quickly growing in popularity with more environmentally conscious customers who desire a mental image of a natural water decomposition over a burning body. For customers, Aquamation offers peace-of-mind and it reflects in the statistics. Sieber tells Connecting Directors:
Contrary to popular belief, Seiber says that legislation is not holding Aquamation back from adoption of the technology. It is being legalized in each state as fast as the population has a desire to choose it. As it becomes more commonplace, funeral homes and crematories will be able to validate spending the $150,000 (for a 16 hour machine) and $250,000 (for a 6-hour machine) for a technology that needs minimal maintenance, never needs rebricked, is safe in residential areas, and is approved by the EPA with no emissions. Although 25 seems like a small number of human BioResponse machines in the U.S., she is leading the space and has installed more than any other company. The practice is just beginning to gain momentum thanks to Sieber who has been promoting and educating about Aquamation for more than 15 years. On her current status, Sieber tells us,
2. Joseph Ledinh | Able CasketsDesigner and entrepreneur Joseph Ledinh has brought a well designed casket to market and has revolutionized how the public and the funeral industry perceive aesthetic, quality and price. His caskets stand out at trade shows and funeral home showrooms, but not because they are “modern” as they are often described as by funeral professionals. Very few people buy “modern design” but Able Caskets has found a massive market. Ledinh focuses on producing beautiful, well-crafted, and affordable products that fit today’s interior design tastes. Able Casket designs are not risky for any industry but death care and the insular funeral space has been wrongly convinced that they operate with different rules from the rest of the world. Ledinh’s risk-averse competitors have not changed designs in more than 70 years (possibly longer than any other industry) and Ledinh has the vision, charm, work ethic, and design sensibility to bring pride, beauty, and taste to burial.
Ledinh is on a trajectory that could change our culture’s preference for casket design and bring death care industry aesthetics and quality standards up to par with today’s typical consumer products. Ledinh’s mission is deceptively simple, “Designing and constructing a modern casket of aesthetic sensibility in beauty with soul.” 3. Joe Joachim | FuneralOneJoe Joachim is an entrepreneur obsessed with design, data, and user experience. The funeral industry must have seemed like a giant playground when he launched FuneralOne in 2000 with the goal of updating the grossly outdated death space with supreme tools for funeral directors and outstanding products for families. Since the launch of FuneralOne Joachim has compiled a suite of tools offering funeral homes unmatched services for website design, tribute videos, tribute books, personalized printing, live streaming, aftercare, and more. It’s rare to find entrepreneurs that match his ruthless passion for improving death care and over the last 18 years he has gained the notoriety, resources, and success to rethink the infrastructure of funeral service building a better future for both director and consumer. 4. Fletcher Hassenfelt | Granville UrnsRetail Partners: 150+Fletcher Hassenfelt is the powerhouse co-founder and director of sales for Granville Urns, an urn and memorial accessory company bringing unmatched quality, design, and customer service to a space plagued with mediocrity. Her drive has launched Granville Urns into a notoriously difficult-to-penetrate industry growing to 150 retail partners in just 4 years. Granville Urns was launched by 5 sister co-founders including Fletcher Hassenfelt, Zanne Hassenfelt, Craig McIntosh, Louisa Hassenfelt, and Molly Hassenfelt. Fletcher told Connecting Directors how the business was born:
Granville Urns works exclusively though funeral home partners, providing them with samples of their urns and accessory pieces. Their hand-made products are personally engraved and can be delivered over-night. Granville Urns is satisfying the high-income families in every community filling a niche and creating a profitable new sales opportunity that many funeral homes didn’t even realize they had. Outside Innovators5. Tyler Yamasaki | PartingPro.comFunding: $500,000-$1MMTyler Yamasaki is co-founder and CEO of PartingPro, a tool aimed at helping consumers and businesses have a better death care experience. The tool has seen fast growth since launching in March 2017 and Yamasaki is just getting started. Parting Pro is helping cremation businesses offer a supreme customer experience while increasing revenue through the growing popularity of digital death planning. Parting Pro provides email marketing tools, ecommerce, easy digital forms, and verifications. It is a web-based logistics and growth platform for crematories who pay an affordable monthly fee for access to world-class tools. Yamasaki told Connecting Directors how he started:
First, the PartingPro team made-up of Yamasaki, Will Chang, Albert Chang, and Stephen Chen, tackled one of the biggest problems in the industry – price transparency. The tech entrepreneurs started by launching Parting.com and published a whopping 15,000 price lists online providing more information about funeral homes than had ever been made available in one place. In the midst of this major accomplishment there was a problem – funeral homes were not experiencing increased clients from the tool.
PartingPro was born from this observed funeral director-to-customer miscommunication. They redesigned their business model and launched PartingPro with a renewed passion.
6 + 7. Abby Schneiderman + Adam Seifer | Everplans.comFunding: $11,000,000Everplans led by Abby Schneiderman and Adam Seifer has proven itself a force in the end-of-life planning space by providing consumers with an easy-to-use, informational, and even fun planning experience. Everplans offers a consumer-accessible platform for storing important documents like wills, cemetery plans, life insurance, and even cryptocurrency, your favorite recipes, and any other important information that needs to live on after you die. The inspiration for Everplans came when Schneiderman was planning her wedding using popular online tools like The Knot and Martha Stewart to organize, plan, and schedule. She began to wonder what other major life events had easy-to-use tools online to simplify her life and she quickly discovered a major gap in the end-of-life planning space. With a background in tech startups, Schneiderman began work on a tool that would soon come to help millions of people each year with end-of-life questions. Schneiderman and Seifer originally launched Everplans as a content resource publishing 500 articles informing on common questions in death care like “how to organize end-of-life documents” or “what are the laws around estate planning.” The result was 4 million searches per year and a proven need for this type of information.
When reviewing the analytics of her content website, Schneiderman noticed something surprising, the viewer demographic was shockingly young – 25 to 34-year-olds. After fostering an audience of first-time end-of-life planners the team set out to build a safe place to store all the information that was being searched for on their website. The result was the current Everplans tool for educating, and securely storing important documents online. Another important part of their tool allows users to assign “deputies” allowing the user to indicate who has access and when they have it. This will go a long way in diminishing the unclaimed life insurance problem in the United States, which leaves billions of dollars in unclaimed funds each year due to families not knowing it exists. Everplans is growing fast with the help of $11 million in investment capital proving that the founders are not the only people who see a massive need for this type of tool. Everplans is growing through strategic partnerships with financial advisors, employers, and insurance companies and are currently expanding to partner with funeral preneed insurance companies. 8. Ian Strang | beyond.lifeThe funeral industry in the UK seems to be 5-10 years ahead of the United States and its volatile state is worrisome for many U.S. industry professionals. The news of Dignity’s share price plummeting by 50% in January was an icon of massive change to come. Dignity’s explanation for the price fall was customer’s choosing lower cremation prices by competing providers. Ian Strang has been democratizing transparent funeral prices in the UK since 2015 and his consumer education work may have catalyzed the recent restructuring of where consumers put their money. Strang’s company, Beyond.Life, provides the United Kingdom with price and information transparency for end of life planning. In just three years the tool has become a leading funeral planning resource in the UK and their business is expanding to provide more tools and resources for families. Strang told Connecting Directors about their mission and inspiration for Beyond.Life:
9+10. Adelle Archer + Garrett Ozar | EternevaYear-One Revenue: $280,000Like many startups, Adelle Archer and Garret Ozar have been on a path of pivots and spin-offs to arrive at their memorial diamond company Eterniva. In fact, they transitioned from one of the sexiest industries – diamonds – to the least sexy – death. This experience has positioned the team with a unique skill set allowing them to apply their expertise in craft, luxury, and supreme customer experience to the memorial product space. Additionally, they’ve reimagined distribution of memorial products for a 100% direct-to-consumer business model. After just one year in business, Archer and Ozar reported $280,000 in sales, project $2 Million for 2019, and got the the attention of Inc. Magazine which featured 27-year-old Archer on the cover for her company’s impressive growth.
This profound experience led to the launch of Eterneva, a direct-to-consumer memorial company that grows pristine lab diamonds from the ashes of passed loved ones and pets. These death care entrepreneurs have a hard-to-predict path ahead with one foot in two volatile industries. De Beers, a powerful force in the diamond market just shelled out $94 million for a new lab-growing diamond operation to produce the stones which costs 90% less than their organic mined counterparts. The value of diamonds is entirely based on consumer desire and scarcity and there could be major changes and opportunities ahead for the industry. The latter changes, paired with the funeral industry’s increasing cremation rate, increased e-commerce purchases, and hyper-personalized keepsakes could position Eterneva for massive market share in the growing memorial diamond space in the coming years.
The post 10 Visionary Death Care Entrepreneurs Revolutionizing How We Die appeared first on Connecting Directors. 10 Visionary Death Care Entrepreneurs Revolutionizing How We Die published first on YouTube via Tumblr 10 Visionary Death Care Entrepreneurs Revolutionizing How We Die We shine a light on some of the harsh words posted on social media towards DISRUPT Media’s CEO, Ryan Thogmartin. Funeral Profession peeps can sling the hate, sometimes. Dingleberry The post Mean Internet Comments – Funeral Edition appeared first on Connecting Directors. Mean Internet Comments – Funeral Edition published first on YouTube via Tumblr Mean Internet Comments – Funeral Edition |
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