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On the “think anew” level we can ask these 3 orienting questions in the face of each trend.

1. Is this trend an opportunity to profit, diversify, and/ or differentiate services in a way that will help my firm stand out?

2. What technology allows me to best embrace & profit from the trend?

3. Is there a way to efficiently outsource this, and perhaps, should I be an outsource partner to other firms who aren’t as well positioned to capitalize on the trend?

Once you have analyzed the trends as an opportunity and defined the necessary investments and ROIs, you are empowered to “act anew” with confidence and a high likelihood of success.

The following example highlights the confidence and ROI that can come from asking the 3 orienting questions and embracing the trends as an opportunity.

As a care-center designer and equipment supplier, Duncan Stuart Todd LTD (DST) was approached by a forward-thinking client wishing to remodel their care-center with a key remodel goal to reduce their staffing difficulties.

Faced with stiff competition in a somewhat geographically isolated city center, they and their competitors fought over a finite pool of licensed FDs and embalmers. The DST client decided they could differentiate from their competitors by investing in their back-ofhouse facilities and the daily experiences of their employees. Rather than fight to attract and keep employees on salary alone, they concluded that a bright, well-equipped care-center would help them be more efficient and stand out as a workplace versus the competition. After analyzing the opportunity, the client figured that if they could attract and keep the best local talent, AND offer the best technology, that the overall productivity would also increase, giving them an operational cost edge against the competitors.

The project was a great success and by the end of the renovation, the technological improvements included added lifts, cooler systems, and more efficient prep equipment, coupled with an improved care center layout. The resulting care-center reduced the number of staff necessary to handle the current and future caseloads and improved the day-today experience of the staff. This firm anticipates sustained ROI in the areas of reduced operational costs, less staff burn-out, increased recruiting success, and reduced risk of employee injury.

DST was able to ensure the spaces were OSHA compliant, and that the workstations were planned to allow for oversized tables and that all lifts were rated for obese decedents, thus protecting the employees, ensuring ease during transfers, and casketing. The firm can now confidently accept these cases and add appropriate charges in their GPL for obese handling. This is one of the direct ROIs they can achieve by embracing the trend towards obesity.

As the client has multiple funeral homes in the city area it is expected they will find that the new care-center throughput, and added efficiency could allow them to consolidate the prep from a couple of their smaller funeral homes to the recently renovated central facility. In doing so, they may further relieve the need to find and keep staff in the prep room at each outlying facility, allowing them to further save on operational costs, and focus their recruiting efforts towards staffing the central prep facility.

Or, as their efficiency builds, this firm may find themselves with enough extra capacity to begin offering outsourced prep services to their current competitors. Or they may be able to create a new revenue stream by dedicating some of the new capacity they achieve to serving the area’s historically underserved ethnic and religious communities that require special ritual preparation services.

Whatever this client chooses, it is apparent that embracing trends can have a compounded ROI. Let us approach trends with optimism, curiosity, and courage to act. FBS

Joel Soelberg is the Managing Director of Duncan Stuart Todd Ltd, a design and mortuary equipment firm that specializes in OSHA compliant Care Center renovations and new construction since 1992. He can be reached by email at info@duncanstuarttodd.com or call 720-583-1886.

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