Say hello to your new employee — your website!
A Frazer website is like an additional employee for your funeral home! Directly on your website, families can begin the funeral planning process, make the funeral payment, and so much more. R E A D O U R C A S E S T U DY TO S E E W H Y T H I S F U N E R A L H O M E LOV E S THEIR FRAZER WEBSITE!
frazerconsultants.com/tmf-DGLM
ISSUE 19
Table of Contents
to Change 07 How Before You Are Ready
Change can be hard, but it’s also essential. All businesses evolve, and the funeral profession is no different.
10
10 Steps for Writing a Blog Post for Your Funeral Home Do you want to write a blog post but don’t know where to start? This 10step guide can help!
15 Email Marketing for F E AT U R E A R T I C L E
Your Funeral Home
Email opens the door for many ways to find new client families and continue to serve current ones.
Your Funeral 25 How Home Can Keep
Ideas for the 38 Unique Perfect SummerThemed Funeral
Repeat Families
From releasing ceremonies to personalized décor, check out these summerthemed funeral ideas.
Today, families won’t stick to your funeral home just because they’ve worked with you in the past.
28 Employee Features
Meet two members of our Frazer family — Caden and John — and learn about their roles at Frazer and their hobbies.
to Show Your 31 Ways Funeral Home’s
Employees That You Appreciate Them When employees feel appreciated, they are more productive, happier, and tend to stick around longer.
35 Test Your Knowledge QUIZ
About Grief
Take this quiz to see how much you know about different types of grief.
Top Five 43 Our Facebook Tips for
Funeral Directors We know that staying active on Facebook can be overwhelming, so we’re sharing some tips!
Top Three 46 The Succession Planning Tips for Funeral Homes
For many businesses, succession planning isn’t a top priority, but it should be.
Letter from the Editor Dear readers, Welcome to The Meaningful Funeral magazine, an exclusive publication by Frazer Consultants. Our goal with this magazine is to be a resource for your funeral home and to help you learn new skills, keep up with funeral trends, and serve your current client families in more meaningful ways. In this issue, a few topics you will learn about are succession planning, keeping repeat families, and how to change before you’re ready. With the variety of topics covered, there’s something for everyone! Want to read The Meaningful Funeral on the go? Every issue is available for free on our website, all you have to do is visit frazerconsultants.com/meaningful and click the “magazine” tab. I hope you enjoy reading this issue of The Meaningful Funeral, and I look forward to hearing your feedback. If you have any suggestions for future magazine content, we would love to hear them — just email us at marketing@frazerconsultants.com. And if you really love our content, visit frazerconsultants.com/meaningful and sign up for our newsletter to have fresh content delivered to your inbox!
M AT T F R A Z E R P R E S I D E N T, F R A Z E R C O N S U LTA N T S
We’ve made life insurance assignments easier than ever.
We partner with Tribute Insurance Assignments, so your funeral home gets paid in as little as 24 hours. READ OUR TIA BROCHURE TO LEARN MORE!
frazerconsultants.com/ tmf-tia-brochure
06 | The Meaningful Funeral
How to Change Before You Are Ready Change can be hard, but it’s also essential. All businesses evolve, and the funeral profession is no different. While it’s historically changed at a slower rate than other professions, it looks like the rate of change is starting to speed up. Of course, we don’t have to tell you that. Many funeral directors are seeing changes first-hand. And the COVID-19 pandemic brought about even more changes to the way we conduct funerals. To help you stay successful despite whatever comes your way, let’s go over why it’s important to embrace change and how to do it. WHY FUNERAL PROFESSIONALS NEED TO EMBRACE CHANGE
Change is as much a part of life as death is. It’s inevitable. While the status quo may seem familiar and safe — it’s also dangerous. And the more a business resists change in favor of what’s familiar, the more they increase the risk of extinction. That’s because the status quo limits both growth and the potential for new opportunities for your funeral home. Your competitors’ products, services, and marketing approaches change. And — as we’re seeing today — families’ wants and needs from funeral professionals are changing.
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed what services families expect from your funeral home. Before the pandemic, there was already a shift happening to take the funeral planning process online, but the pandemic certainly made it happen more abruptly. Now more than ever, families want convenient, online options for making payments and arrangements. So, it’s important that your funeral home comes up with a long-term plan for virtual funeral planning. HOW TO EMBRACE CHANGE
Despite the dangers of resisting change, many still try to avoid it. Here are some ways to help push your funeral home forward — even if there are factors holding you back from change. T E L L Y O U R S TA F F W H AT Y O U WA N T A N D W H Y
If you see an opportunity for change or a chance to implement a new service — let others know and explain to them the purpose and benefits it will bring. It may help to have a dedicated space for presenting these ideas. For example, you can create a shared document for keeping track of them.
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ACKNOWLEDGE IDEAS AND BUILD ON THEM
If you’ve ever seen an improv comedy show, you’ve probably heard of “Yes, and…” It’s a process of moving ideas forward — in improv comedy and in business. Get your team together to brainstorm and build off their ideas for change with the “Yes, and…” technique. You’ll be surprised at what you can come up with. G E T FA M I LY F E E D B A C K
One of the best ways to know if change is needed is to ask the families your funeral home serves. Find out what families want, need, or expect from a funeral service. Use surveys, polls, or community forums as outlets to collect data and other input from families. Then take their feedback and put it into action. PA R T N E R W I T H I N N O VAT O R S
The easiest way to keep your funeral home ahead of coming trends and changes is to partner with the pioneers and innovators that are within the funeral profession. Industry innovators often have established traction within the field and can help bring your firm reliable, state-of-the-art services and products. Partnering with innovators also means your funeral home doesn’t have to go about adapting to change alone. S TA R T N O W
We'll leave you with this the Lemony Snicket quote, “If we wait until we’re ready, we’ll be waiting for the rest of our lives.” T O R E A D M O R E , V I S I T:
frazerconsultants.com/meaningful
08 | The Meaningful Funeral
TESTIMONIAL: WEBSITES
Our website is now easier to navigate. Google Analytics provides proof that upgrading our website has paid off.
We even had a family say that they chose our funeral home just because of our website.
ARCHER HARMON G E N E R A L M A N A G E R AT FA I R FA X MEMORIAL FUNERAL HOME
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10 Steps for Writing a Blog Post for Your Funeral Home Do you want to create a blog but don’t know where to start? To make writing a blog post easier, we’ve created this 10-step guide.
10 | The Meaningful Funeral
0 1 — C H O O S E YO U R TO P I C
Before you begin writing a blog post, the first step is to choose your topic. For funeral homes, there are many relevant topics for educating and engaging with your client families. If you need some topic inspiration, these are many ways to get ideas. One is to figure out what your most frequently asked questions are. You also can put yourself in your families’ shoes and ask yourself what you would want to know if you were funeral planning for the first time. Or just ask them yourself! Send out a survey to see what topics they’d be interested in learning more about. Once you choose a topic, you may want to choose a subtopic if it’s too broad. For example, if you’re writing about grief, you may want to create a blog series to go over different types of grief or different types of losses. You also can tease the upcoming blogs in the series to generate more interest. 0 2 — H AV E A K E Y W O R D I N M I N D
Now that you have a blog post topic, it’s time to choose a keyword! To put it simply, a keyword is what users type into a search engine to find an answer to their question. For instance, if you write a blog post about your funeral home’s natural burial options, your keyword could be “natural burial.” But before settling on a keyword, do some research. There are many free keyword research tools out there, such as Google Trends.
When adding your keyword to your content, it’s best to include it in your blog post title, at least one section heading, and a few times within your content — but don’t overdo it. There isn’t an exact number of times you need to include it but around five times is a good start. However, don’t worry about how many times you’ve used your keyword until after you’ve written a full draft. This way, you use your keyword naturally within the content. If you used it too many or too few times, you can make edits at the end. 0 3 — W R I T E YO U R T I T L E
By writing the title before the blog post content itself, it will help you better determine the direction your blog post will go in. Of course, you can always tweak your title later if the direction of your blog post ends up changing, but it helps to have a starting point. Like we mentioned above, make sure to include your keyword in your title. It’s best to have it toward the beginning of your title if possible, but don’t force it if it sounds awkward. When determining the structure of your title, your blog post’s topic may play a role. For instance, if your blog post will be a numbered list, it may look like this: “10 DIY Memorial Crafts for Honoring Your Grandparents.” Or if your blog post is a how-to guide, you could structure it as a question, like this: “What Should I Do When My Pet Passes Away?”
The Meaningful Funeral | 11
Whatever structure you choose, just make sure that it catches your readers’ attention and accurately shows what the blog post is about. 04 — DO A ROUGH OUTLINE
While some people may prefer to get right into writing and go back and edit later, here at Frazer we prefer to do a rough outline. It lets us get all our thoughts down on the document and explore all the ideas before we actually get into the writing process. When creating an outline, there are many ways that you can break it down. For example, you could break your outline down by the different sections of the blog post. Then, jot down all your ideas for each section, knowing that everything might not make the final cut.
form on your funeral home’s website for more information about your products and services. Whatever the action is, make sure that it’s clear to your readers. It can be a short and sweet sentence to conclude your blog post, such as “Download our free grief guide to learn more” or “Complete our preplanning form to start the funeral planning process.” 0 7 — E D I T, E D I T, E D I T
When editing your blog post, check your spelling, grammar, facts, and overall blog structure. Have at least one other person on your team edit it, as well. It also may help to not edit your blog post right after writing it. Take a break from it and come back to it later with a fresh set of eyes.
0 5 — W R I T E YO U R B LO G P O S T
0 8 — C H O O S E A P H OTO TO G O A LO N G W I T H YO U R B LO G P O S T
Now that you have an outline, it’s time to write your blog post! To get the most out of writing a blog post, make sure that your work environment is free of distractions. If you’re writing in a noisy area, listen to some music or wear noise-canceling headphones.
To make your blog post more visually appealing, choose a feature photo to go at the top. You can use your own photos if you have them, or there are plenty of free stock photo sites out there, like Unsplash.
If you’re feeling uninspired, take a break and come back to it later. Do something else on your to-do list or go for a walk to clear your head. Then, you can come back to your blog post with a fresh mind. After you’ve written your blog post, go through your content and add relevant links to your funeral home’s website, your other blog posts, and other reputable sources. 0 6 — C H O O S E Y O U R C A L L-T O - A C T I O N
Don’t forget about one of the most important parts of your blog post, the call-to-action. What action do you want people to complete after reading your blog post? Maybe it’s to download a free guide that goes into more detail on the blog post topic. Or maybe it’s to fill out a
12 | The Meaningful Funeral
0 9 — P U B L I S H YO U R B LO G P O S T O N YO U R WEBSITE
It’s time to publish your blog post on your website! Before publishing it, add it to any relevant blog categories. For example, you can create categories for Grief, Funeral Planning, Memorialization, and any other relevant topics. 1 0 — S H A R E YO U R B LO G P O S T O N YO U R F U N E R A L H O M E ’ S S O C I A L M E D I A PA G E S
Once you publish your blog post, you’re not done yet! To get more views, engagement, and traffic back to your website, share it on your funeral home’s social media pages, in your email newsletter, and any other relevant places. T O R E A D M O R E , V I S I T:
frazerconsultants.com/meaningful
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frazerconsultants.com/tmf-payments-ebook
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14 | The Meaningful Funeral
Email Marketing for Your Funeral Home There are many different types of emails that you can send, so it opens the door for ways to find new client families and continue to serve current ones. With more people searching for information online, digital marketing is important for small businesses like funeral homes. Specifically, we’re going to focus on email marketing. To help your funeral home get started, we’ll discuss some different email types and ideas for each of them.
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16 | The Meaningful Funeral
Newsletter An email newsletter is a great way to establish your funeral home as the go-to funeral resource for your community. It’s all about educating, not selling. In other words, the informational content you include in your newsletter should do the selling for you. By educating families about funerals and grief, they’ll be more likely to want to work with your funeral home for their funeral needs. They’ll appreciate you taking the time to educate them and show that you care about more than just running a business. C R E AT I N G T H E C O N T E N T
Your newsletter should have a main call-toaction (CTA). In other words, it’s the main action that you want subscribers to complete. For example, it could be to download a preplanning checklist or your grief guide. As for the rest of your newsletter content, your funeral home’s blog is a great resource for this! You can include links to your funeral home’s latest blog posts along with short descriptions of the content. Not sure what to write about? A few topic ideas are funeral etiquette tips, suggestions for honoring a loved one, and preplanning advice. Some other content ideas are current news articles, upcoming events, and educational videos. To create an educational video, film a member of your funeral home’s staff talking about a specific topic, such as healthy ways to grieve a loss. If you’re new to video, using the video function programmed into the camera on your phone will suffice. DESIGNING THE EMAIL
You also should put some thought into the design of your newsletter. Make sure it’s visually appealing and easy to read. Include things like images to spice it up a little bit. Additionally, make sure that the design and imagery match your funeral home’s brand.
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And don’t be afraid to have a little fun with it, such as adding an emoji in your subject line. Your subject line should grab readers’ attention and make them want to read your newsletter. Adding a fun emoji may be just the thing to make them click. SENDING THE EMAIL
Before sending your newsletter, have multiple people proofread it for any spelling, grammar, fact, and formatting errors. You also should send a test email to yourself before sending the final version. Make sure the formatting looks nice on desktop and mobile devices. Many email marketing platforms have tools for testing this, or you can view the test copy on your own devices. Depending on the email marketing platform you choose, you also can schedule the sending time of the email newsletter in advance. This way, you don’t have to worry about it. Many of them even have newsletter templates you can use. As for how frequently to send your newsletter, you can choose weekly, biweekly, or monthly. If you send it weekly, consider giving your subscribers the option to receive it less frequently if they don’t want an email each week. T R A C K I N G T H E R E S U LT S
Once you send the email, you’re not done yet! Don’t forget to track your results to see how families engage with your content. For example, use personalized URLs to track who clicked on the links from your newsletter. And by doing A/B tests, you can see what’s working and what isn’t in terms of email marketing.
18 | The Meaningful Funeral
NEWSLETTER
Show that you care about more than just running a business.
The Meaningful Funeral | 19
One-Off Emails One-off emails, also known as email blasts, are single emails that you send out to an email list. They're a great way to promote contests, new products or services, and upcoming events. Specifically for your funeral home, you can promote your upcoming holiday remembrance program and a chance to win a free holiday remembrance ornament. Or promote a new memorial product or service type, such as new urns or green funeral services. Like with an email newsletter, you always should consider the content and design, test before sending, and track the results for any type of email that your firm sends. But let’s go over a few specifics for one-off emails.
of urns? Put yourselves in your families’ shoes and ask yourself what they’d want to know about the subject. For example, let’s say the email is about your annual holiday remembrance program. Some key information families will want to know are the date, location, and time of the event. They’ll also want to know a general program agenda. So when writing your email content, make sure these points are covered right away. You also should aim to be informative, yet concise, so families aren’t overwhelmed with information. Then, you can provide a call-toaction for families to learn more about the event or RSVP. DESIGNING THE EMAIL
C R E AT I N G T H E C O N T E N T
When writing your one-off email content, keep the main reasoning for the email in mind. Is it to promote your funeral home’s annual holiday remembrance program? Or does your funeral home now offer a brand-new selection
20 | The Meaningful Funeral
No one wants to read an email that’s just a wall of text. To make things a little more visually appealing, add a relevant header image. For example, if the email’s about your holiday remembrance program, add an image of your holiday remembrance ornaments. If it’s about
ONE-OFF EMAILS
Put yourselves in your families’ shoes and ask yourself what they’d want to know.
your new urn collection, add an image of the urns on display in your funeral home.
about your new selection of urns, you could send it to preneed families who expressed an interest in cremation.
SENDING THE EMAIL
When sending one-off emails, you want to make sure that you’re sending it to your relevant target audience. For example, for an email about your holiday remembrance program, you’ll want to send the email to all the families you’ve served during the past year. For an email
T R A C K I N G T H E R E S U LT S
Like all emails your funeral home sends, you should always track the results. This way, you can see how your target audience interacts with the email content and adjust your content and sending list as needed.
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AUTORESPONDERS EMAILS
Nurture leads garnered during the lead generation process.
Autoresponder Emails Autoresponder emails are automatically sent out when someone completes a certain action. They're a great way to nurture leads garnered during the lead generation process. So when a potential client family shows interest in your content by completing an action, they can be sent an autoresponder email to follow up on the topic and move the lead further down the marketing funnel to becoming a customer. For funeral homes, there are several situations where sending an autoresponder email could be helpful. One is if someone downloads a free piece of content, such as a grief guide. Another is if they fill out a preplanning form on your funeral home’s website. Or it could be a thank-you email for subscribing to a newsletter or grief email subscription. Now that you have some examples, let’s go over some autoresponder email creation tips.
resources, such as blog posts, videos, other downloadable content, or a newsletter to learn even more about grief. DESIGNING THE EMAIL
Depending on your email marketing platform, see about customizing the email greeting with their name. Don’t forget to include some relevant imagery, as it makes the email more appealing rather than just having text. SENDING THE EMAIL
The best thing about autoresponder emails is that they’re automatic! It’s an easy way to engage with families through email marketing that involves little work for your funeral home’s staff. This saves your staff’s time for other important tasks since you just need to write the email content once. However, you should look them over and update them at least once a year to make sure the content is still relevant.
C R E AT I N G T H E C O N T E N T
T R A C K I N G T H E R E S U LT S
Depending on the reason for sending an autoresponder, you can thank them for downloading the resource and suggest some other useful content as well.
When you’re tracking your results, see how many people are opening the autoresponder emails and what links they’re clicking on. If some links aren’t getting a lot of clicks, you can replace them with different links.
For example, after filling out a preplanning form, you can send a follow-up email thanking them for preplanning with your funeral home. You also can repeat the importance and benefits of preplanning and say that a member of your funeral home’s staff will be reaching out to them shortly to discuss their preplanning options. Or let’s say they download your free grief guide. Your autoresponder email can thank them for downloading the guide and suggest some other
22 | The Meaningful Funeral
WA N T T O R E A D M O R E ?
Download the rest of our free eBook to learn more about email marketing!
frazerconsultants.com/tmfemail-marketing
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frazerconsultants.com/tmf-FM
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24 | The Meaningful Funeral
How Your Funeral Home Can Keep Repeat Client Families Today, your client families won’t just simply stick to your funeral home because they’ve worked with you in the past. Years ago, when finding answers wasn’t as simple as doing a quick Google search, this may have been the case. But now, with all the online resources available at their fingertips, they do research on all the funeral homes in their area. They’re looking at your website and your competitors’ websites to compare offerings, prices, and get an overall feel for your funeral home’s services.
experiences. One way to get some inspiration is to attend conventions and webinars to see what new ideas and trends are out there. You also can read industry-related news alerts and articles to learn about ideas that might be worth exploring for your funeral home. But you don’t have to just stop at the funeral profession! There’s a lot to learn from many other related industries, like marketing and event planning.
With all this information readily available to families online, it isn’t as easy to get them to continue to work with your funeral home as it was in the past. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible! By showing them that you’re committed to providing high-quality services, they’re more likely to keep working with your funeral home. So, how can you show your families that you’re committed to providing them with the best services possible? Let’s go over five ideas to get you started!
New ideas can be small, yet impactful changes or more large-scale projects. For example, to reach younger generations, create an Instagram account. Educate them about your services, post behind-the-scenes photos from events, and share adorable videos of your therapy dog. Or create an ash scattering garden to boost your cremation service offerings. Of course, always use your best judgment before trying out something new. Do your research and have a plan to make it happen. If it doesn’t end up working out, now you know and at least you tried out something different.
01 — DON’T BE AFRAID TO TRY SOMETHING NEW
0 2 — U P D AT E Y O U R F U N E R A L T E C H N O L O G Y SOLUTIONS
By trying out new ideas, it shows your client families that you’re continuing to grow and explore ways to give them meaningful funeral
To keep client families, you need to stay updated with the times. They don’t just want convenient, online solutions; they need them.
The Meaningful Funeral | 25
It’s no longer enough to just have a website. It needs to have tools for funeral planning online, like an online payment center to limit in-person meetings. Or a funeral flower ordering feature for earning extra revenue. By having the right tools, you can lessen your funeral home’s pain points. With a Frazer-powered website, your funeral home gets that and so much more.
to come. Whether that means volunteering at a community event or creating your own, there are many ways that you can get involved.
0 3 — B O O S T YO U R A F T E RC A R E E F F O RT S
If event planning is something new for your funeral home, you can start small and work your way up. Hosting an event like this may seem overwhelming, but you don’t have to do it alone! You can partner with local businesses to split up the tasks. Or consider hiring an event planning intern. It’s a win-win for everyone, as they get real-life work experience while you get help with planning your events.
Showing your families that they’re cared for is another way for you to establish long-lasting relationships with them. After all, the funeral profession is a relationship business. So, one way to do this is to continue to follow up with families after the funeral to see how they’re doing. This can be through a phone call, text, video chat, or whatever they prefer. To make sure you don’t miss any important follow ups, you can establish some set times for reaching out. For example, you can reach out shortly after the funeral, one month after, six months after, and one year after, along with any important dates and holidays. You also can take it a step further by creating care packages with non-perishable food and toiletries. This saves them a trip to the grocery store while they’re processing their loss. If the family has children, you can include a comforting toy for them, like a stuffed animal. And don’t forget to include some grief and memorialization resources! 0 4 — G E T I N V O LV E D I N Y O U R C O M M U N I T Y
Getting involved in your community is another way to earn your client families’ trust for years
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If you want to create your own event, it can be something educational about funeral planning and grief or a just-for-fun event. For example, your firm can host a webinar or seminar about preplanning or a cookout with yard games.
0 5 — S H O W Y O U R FA M I L I E S W H Y T H E Y S H O U L D C O N T I N U E TO W O R K W I T H YO U
By keeping families updated on all the things above, you can continue to show them how you’re growing and adapting to the times. Tell them about the new ideas you’re trying, the new technology you’ve implemented, your aftercare plan, and your community involvement. Along with those ideas, don’t be afraid to share your latest accomplishments. Just make sure that it doesn’t come off as bragging, but rather, keeping them updated on the new things you’re doing. Whether that’s an award your funeral home or an employee won, important milestones like employee work anniversaries and your funeral home’s history serving your community, or educational courses you’ve recently completed. It can be anything that
shows you’re committed to lifelong learning and providing the best services to your families as possible.
T O R E A D M O R E , V I S I T:
frazerconsultants.com/meaningful
Not only will this help you keep your current families, but it will also help you find new ones as they’ll spread the word about the amazing care they received for your team.
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Getting to Know Frazer Consultants Meet two members of our Frazer family — Caden and John — and learn about their roles at Frazer and what they like to do in their free time.
NAME
Caden YEARS
1.5 ROLE
Launch Specialist
W H AT I D O AT F R A Z E R
As a launch specialist at Frazer Consultants, I am in charge of doing the technical work that makes a funeral home’s new Frazer website appear online, or as we like to call it “Go Live!” Helping funeral directors with the more technical pieces of getting the website live is incredibly rewarding, and my favorite part of working in this role is having daily conversations with all of the great funeral directors across the country. Some of what I do in IT can be a little confusing, like working with domain name servers, email migrations, and domain authorization codes. Being the person that gets to talk through these things, and get them set up for our clients, is what I find most gratifying. Ensuring they know their website is in good hands with Frazer Consultants. My time at Frazer Consultants has moved very quickly, and I only had about two and a half months of working from the office until COVID-19 put us in the working from home environment. At first, I thought this would be a daunting task, as there were still many things I
28 | The Meaningful Funeral
needed to learn. I can proudly say the transition was smooth, and it is in large part because of the great team we have here at Frazer. The whole Frazer family is so knowledgeable and specialized in their field of work, and it is the main reason working here is so fun! HOW I SPEND MY FREE TIME
Outside of work, I enjoy being active playing soccer and volleyball, seeing friends and family - preferably on a patio with a drink or watching sports, and going on walks with my fiancée. I am very excited it is summer again, and I get to be back outside, still while keeping social distancing and safety measures in place. Another prominent activity I do outside of working with Frazer Consultants is building and remodeling projects. It is something my family has done for as long as I’ve been alive. My grandfather being a painter, and both my father and uncle being general contractors, there is always someone in my family or friend group that needs a new project done. While Wisconsin has been so cold, and I’ve largely been cooped up in my apartment, I have gotten back into reading. I love learning new things, so I read a lot of self-help books. Some of my favorites include “Blink” by Malcolm Gladwell and “Contagious” by Jonah Berger. I hope to stick with my renewed reading habit even as the weather here warms up and I spend more time outdoors!
NAME
John YEARS
4.5 ROLE
Account Executive
W H AT I D O AT F R A Z E R
Following twenty plus years helping thousands of people reach their health and fitness goals, I decided to pursue my passion for sales and marketing, and copywriting and communication exclusively; and that is what ultimately led me to Frazer Consultants more than four years ago. At Frazer, I have strategically put my unique talents to work as an account executive where I teach funeral directors and funeral homes how to leverage modern technology in ways that help them serve their local families and communities in important, meaningful, and effective ways. I am in constant pursuit of personal growth and how to combine modern technology with effective communication in ways that make us all more effective at what we do. I can help you tell your story more effectively and become much more effective with your small business marketing and sales efforts as a result. It is my sincere hope that in working with me as your account executive at Frazer Consultants, that you will grow smarter, stronger, fitter, and more powerful as a human being, and then take these improvements into your own mission,
work, and local spheres of influence so that we can all realize the benefits of practicing Kaizen or constant improvement. HOW I SPEND MY FREE TIME
I live with my wife of 26 years and two kids in Madison, Wisconsin. Though I am soon to be an empty-nester, as my son Carl heads off to live on his own while serving in the Wisconsin Air National Guard and attending the UW-Madison Business School; and my daughter finishes high school next year and decides what she would like to do next. In my spare time, when I’m not fishing or exploring the outdoors in the great state of Wisconsin in my canoe, I post regularly to my personal blog, the ash flash, on the topics of personal growth, sales, marketing, and copywriting, with the goal of inspiring you to be and accomplish MORE than you ever thought possible; inside both your personal and business life. My friends and close colleagues like to call me Johnny Renaissance, because I possess a truly unique professional background that includes a wide variety of expertise. For example, while running my own business in Madison, Wisconsin in the mid 2000s, I created and starred in a “Fitness Friday” television segment that ran for 10 years on the local NBC affiliate. At the heart of my persona and mission is a passionate and forward-thinking coach, video personality, salesman, marketing maniac, writer and copywriter, and fitness professional, who loves the opportunity for new challenges that call on these diverse talents.
“Helping funeral directors with the more technical pieces of getting the website live is incredibly rewarding, and my favorite part of working in this role is having daily conversations with all of the great funeral directors across the country.”
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Ways to Show Your Funeral Home’s Employees That You Appreciate Them When your employees feel appreciated, they are more productive, happier, and tend to stick around longer. If employee appreciation isn’t a vital part of your funeral home’s daily operations, it should be! Without a dedicated staff, your funeral home wouldn’t be able to give your client families the meaningful funeral experiences that they deserve. So to keep your employee morale high, you can try some of these suggestions!
to hear them out. This also promotes a more collaborative environment. The more you work together and share ideas, the more ways you can provide your families with the best experience possible working with your funeral home’s staff. T R E AT T H E M T O S O M E T H I N G S P E C I A L
ACKNOWLEDGE THEIR HARD WORK
Everyone likes to be reassured that they’re doing a good job. By simply taking a moment to tell your employees this or send them a quick message, it can make their whole day knowing that their hard work is noticed and appreciated. It also can give them the confidence boost they need to try something new or bring up an idea to you.
Giving your employees a special treat is another way to show that you appreciate them. Something as simple as providing healthy snacks or catering lunch can quickly boost morale. Afterall, everyone loves free food! Or even something like a personalized water bottle with their name on it or a small succulent plant for their desk can bring a smile to their face.
K E E P C O M M U N I C AT I O N O P E N
M A K E S U R E T H E I R W O R K S PA C E I S C O M F O R TA B L E
On that note, establishing open communication can help your employees feel heard. No one should ever be afraid to bring up a question or concern, so they’ll appreciate your willingness
Speaking of workspaces, you want to make sure your employees have a comfortable and inviting environment to work in. For example, someone like your accountant who works at
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the computer may appreciate a standing desk. Or updating the chairs in your arrangement conference rooms benefits both your funeral directors and the families you serve.
together, like volunteering at your local food bank or meeting up with your dogs at your local dog park. PROVIDE LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
INVEST TIME IN TEAM BUILDING
The thought of team building activities might make some people cringe, but they can actually be fun and a great way to learn more about each other. For example, one popular game is Two Truths and a Lie. For this game, everyone says three facts about themselves and everyone guesses which one is the lie. When you’re done playing, whoever guessed the most lies correctly could win a prize. Or instead of a game, you could do an activity
To help your employees thrive in their roles, they’ll appreciate opportunities to learn and grow. For example, attending annual funeral conventions, educational webinars, and courses about related fields are all great learning opportunities. For your new employees, having training sessions and documents at hand will be much appreciated for learning the ropes. T O R E A D M O R E , V I S I T:
frazerconsultants.com/meaningful
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Quiz: Test Your Knowledge About Grief Take this quiz to see how much you know about different types of grief. Or share it with your client families to help them better understand the types of grief that they may experience. To play, match each grief type with its definition. Place the correct letter by each grief type, and then turn the page to see how you did!
GRIEF TYPES:
1. Masked grief 2. Disenfranchised grief 3. Delayed grief 4. Secondary losses 5. Anticipatory grief 6. Cumulative grief
DEFINITIONS:
A. When family, friends, and other people don’t properly acknowledge your grief, like when grieving the loss of a non-immediate family member, it’s called this grief type. B. If someone experiences multiple losses at or around the same time, it’s called this grief type. C. These are all the other losses that are associated with a death, such as the loss of income or loss of your role as a spouse. D. If someone tries to avoid grief, sometimes consciously or unconsciously, it’s called this grief type. E. When the grieving process begins before the death occurs, like if someone has a terminal illness, it’s called this grief type. F. This type of grief occurs when someone doesn’t have the time to grieve normally, such as because they’re too busy caring for others around them.
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Answers D —
1. Masked grief
A —
2. Disenfranchised grief
F —
3. Delayed grief
C —
4. Secondary losses
E —
5. Anticipatory grief
B —
6. Cumulative grief
TO L E A R N M O R E A B O U T H E L P I N G YO U R FA M I L I E S C O P E W I T H G R I E F, V I S I T:
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Create one-of-a-kind mementos with a oneof-a-kind tool.
With Tribute Center, you can easily personalize memorial folders, prayer cards, thankyou cards, bookmarks, candles, and so much more with our collection of over 500 different themes. READ OUR EBOOK FOR FUNERAL P E R S O N A L I Z AT I O N I D E A S !
frazerconsultants.com/ tmf-personalization-ebook
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Unique Ideas for the Perfect Summer-Themed Funeral Whether the deceased was born during the summer or it was their favorite time of year, there are many creative ways to create a summer-themed funeral.
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From releasing ceremonies to personalized décor, these are some ideas for planning the perfect summer-themed funeral. Feel free to share these ideas with your client families to give them some funeral inspiration! L O C AT I O N
This season brings the opportunity for unique, outdoor service locations. Just remember to take precautions if it’s a particularly hot day. For example, keep funeral attendees cool with fans and provide a tent for shade. Also, have sunscreen and bug spray on hand if needed. A few outdoor service location ideas are a barn, the beach alongside the water, a community park with a shelter, a family member’s backyard, or a local garden. D E C O R AT I O N S
Even if it’s not summer outside, there are ways to bring it inside with décor. One way is to incorporate summer colors into the décor,
such as blue, red, orange, yellow, coral, and green. Just don’t go too extreme with bright colors, unless that’s what the family wants. This can be done through the flowers, or you can choose flowers that are typically in season during the summer, such as marigolds, daisies, and sunflowers. Another creative idea is to create a collage of the deceased’s favorite summer vacations. These can include photos, ticket stubs, their passport, souvenirs, and any other travel mementos. If the funeral service has a beach theme, you can decorate the memorial displays with the deceased’s go-to summer items, such as their sunglasses, towel, beach bag, and flip-flops. You also could place photos on a tray with sand and seashells. For collecting condolence messages, you could have funeral guests create messages in a bottle. They can simply write their name and thoughts on a piece of a paper and put it inside a bottle. Then, the family can read them all together after the funeral service.
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FUNERAL GIFTS
Funeral attendees can have a special funeral gift to remember their loved one by. To tie it into the summer theme, you could do something nature related, like a potted plant, bouquet of flowers, or packet of seeds. Or a few other ideas are the deceased’s favorite summertime recipe, their favorite summer snack, or a seashell with their initials. With Tribute Center, you can create funeral stationery mementos, such as bookmarks and prayer cards. There are more than 500 themes to choose from, so you’re bound to find something that fits both the summer theme and the deceased’s personality. RELEASING CEREMONIES
Summer is the perfect time of year to have a releasing ceremony in honor of a loved one. Whether their ashes are scattered or if the deceased is buried, releasing ceremonies allow families to say a final goodbye. A few environmentally friendly releasing ceremonies ideas are to scatter wildflower seeds along with a loved one’s ashes, release biodegradable lanterns at dusk, release butterflies, or capture lightning bugs in a jar and release them at night. If you want a more unique celebration of life, you could have a firework memorial display to honor a loved one. REFRESHMENTS
For the post-funeral luncheon, serve funeral attendees some popular summer food or the deceased’s favorite dishes. Some recipe ideas to complete the summertime feel of the funeral service are delicious pasta salads, fruit salads, fresh salsa, ice cream sundaes, and lemonade. T O R E A D M O R E , V I S I T:
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Our Top Five Facebook Tips for Funeral Directors We know that staying active on Facebook can be overwhelming, so we’re sharing some tips to help you engage with your community! You don’t need us to tell you that social media is a powerful tool for your funeral home. Per Pew Research Center’s 2021 Social Media Fact Sheet, about seven out of ten Americans use social media to stay connected with others. The same goes for your funeral home. Social media is a way for you to stay connected with your community 24/7. Since your current target audience Baby Boomers are prominently on Facebook, we’re focusing on that platform for this article. Our marketing team has come up with our top five tips for funeral directors to be successful on Facebook. Check them out! 0 1 — E X P LO R E V I D E O O P P O RT U N I T I E S
Continue to try out new ways to utilize video! Even before social distancing, video marketing was and still is on the rise. Facebook itself has several video tools, such as Facebook Live for live streaming funeral services or hosting webinars. There’s also Facebook Stories for sharing short, quickly digestible video clips, such as a funeral planning tip from one of your employees. Or you can even use video ads to grab your audience’s attention. 0 2 — T R E AT Y O U R FA C E B O O K PA G E L I K E Y O U R W E B S I T E
On your funeral home’s Facebook Page, you can add your contact information, what services you offer, and any other basic information about your business. Along with your funeral home’s website, people check Facebook Pages for this information as well, so it’s important to cover all your bases. You also can add your website link to your Facebook Page, so you can direct families there for more information.
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0 3 — H U M A N I Z E YO U R B R A N D
Humanize your brand with employee features, holiday posts, community involvement, and other content that shows them the people behind your funeral home. People want to work with people, not just a business, so it’s important that they get to know who you are. Then, when they do meet you for the first time, they may be more comfortable because they feel like they already know you. 04 — BOOST POSTS AND RUN ADS
Boost posts and run ads to ensure your content gets seen. Your time is precious, so don’t waste it coming up with content no one will get the chance to see. For just a few dollars, Facebook will show your funeral home’s posts to people in your community!
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This includes your funeral home’s blog. To get even more people to read your blog posts, share them on Facebook and boost the posts. Bonus, this also brings more traffic to your funeral home’s website! 0 5 — S H O W YO U R F U N E R A L H O M E B E H I N D THE-SCENES
Give your Facebook followers a behind-thescenes look at your funeral home. For example, you could tell your funeral home’s history, share staff profiles, give a tour of your facility, and show a glimpse at your service packages so families know what to expect when they work with your funeral home. T O R E A D M O R E , V I S I T:
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Showcase your products and services!
Did you know Frazer websites come with an online planner and quote builder? With this tool, families can conveniently begin the funeral planning process online. L E A R N H O W T O H E L P FA M I L I E S T E L L A LIFE STORY IN OUR FREE EBOOK!
frazerconsultants.com/tmf-story-ebook
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The Top Three Succession Planning Tips for Funeral Homes For many businesses, succession planning isn’t a top priority, but it should be.
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If your funeral home doesn’t have a succession plan, it creates more stress and problems down the road. Not only should you create a plan, but you should start succession planning years in advance. This way, you’re not in a rush to determine your funeral home’s fate. After all, you spent years building up your positive reputation and creating trusting relationships in your community. Not having a well-thought-out succession plan can quickly ruin your funeral home’s brand. To prevent this and other unnecessary stressful situations, let’s discuss a few succession planning tips for funeral homes. D E C I D E I F YO U ’ R E K E E P I N G O R S E L L I N G YO U R FUNERAL HOME
First off, decide whether you’re keeping your funeral home in the family or selling it. If you plan on selling it, you may want to consult a professional funeral home broker to find qualified buyers. They can help you prepare the necessary documentation needed, as well. You also can consider selling it to other reputable funeral homes in your area. If you’re keeping it in the family, you need to determine what your new role will be, if anything. After retiring as the owner, do you want to continue working at the funeral home or not be involved at all? Knowing this will make determining your successor much easier. D E T E R M I N E YO U R S U C C E S S O R
If you’re keeping it in the family, the next step is choosing which family member. This can be tricky, especially if more than one family member may want the job. That’s why it’s important to make an honest assessment of who is the most qualified. Before beginning the analysis, talk with your family members individually and see if they’re
interested. It also can help to come up with some questions to ask, so you can get a general idea of how they’d fit the role. Then, when determining who is the most qualified, avoid playing favorites and letting personal relationships persuade your decision. Instead, approach it like a job interview and consider their qualifications and skillsets. Once you’ve decided who you want your successor to be, it’s important to have an open discussion about it with your family. By doing this, you avoid potential conflicts and miscommunication. Everyone will be on the same page and know what the plan is. You may be wondering, what if your children aren’t interested in the family business? Then, you may want to consider a loyal long-term employee for the role instead. Or, even if your children are interested in the business, you shouldn’t rule out non-family employees from the running if they’re also qualified for the job. S TA R T S U C C E S S I O N P L A N N I N G Y E A R S I N A D VA N C E
Succession planning is a major decision that shouldn’t be rushed. In fact, the earlier you start, the better! Planning in advance allows time to properly train your successor. You can even do a test run to see how they do. Or, if you’re selling your business, it gives you time to negotiate a deal instead of settling. You also may want to consult a financial planner to determine your funeral home’s value. Doing this in advance allows you to find ways to increase your firm’s value before the time comes. Ultimately, succession planning makes the transition much smoother, so you’re not rushed and are confident in your decision. T O R E A D M O R E , V I S I T:
frazerconsultants.com/meaningful
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Keep your funeral home in control.
Our Tribute Crowdfunding program deposits the funds directly into your funeral home’s bank account. FOUR IN TEN AMERICANS CAN’T AFFORD AN UNEXPECTED E X P E N S E O F $ 4 0 0 .*
Find out how to help your families at frazerconsultants.com/tmfcrowdfunding-guide
Per this CNN article: https://money.cnn.com/2018/05/22/pf/emergency-expenses-household-finances/index.html
*
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Honor lives on every device.
The responsive design of Tribute Walls allows families to honor their loved ones no matter where they are — with photos, messages, virtual candles, flower orders, crowdfunding campaigns, donations, and so much more! LEARN MORE ABOUT RESPONSIVE DESIGN IN OUR FREE EBOOK!
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