Bird is the word for funeral directors!
Bird-themed urns in the styles that your families want are on sale now!
Case pack only, will mix and match urn styles for your funeral home.
Call now!
Greetings to our friends in funeral service!
We have a select group of urns on sale that will appeal to the families you serve.
Preview Catalog Page: catalog0
These styles are family favorites, and include bird-themed cremation urns, Going Home, bronze and copper urns.
Available in case pack (4) only. Interested?
Call now!
Lately, funeral homes have received several blurbs in the press about the changing face of “death care”. Naturally, it’s all gloom and doom, the focus on burial vs. cremation and how the funeral homes are taking a hit.
We have funeral director friends in Arizona that say, “Welcome to our world!” Cremation has been 80% of their business for the last 25 years, and they’re doing just fine. Thanks for asking.
Deena Pulaski, knows all about the roller coaster ride of being a small business owner in LaPorte, Indiana .
Deena and her husband, Casmir Pulaski own the Lakeview Funeral Home, Midwest Crematorium Center and a retail web site, theurnstore.com. Casmir is a licensed funeral director and embalmer. Deena is a licensed pre-need insurance counselor and mother of two boys, in high school and 2nd grade.
After graduating from mortuary school, Casmir worked as a funeral director and quickly saw a business opportunity as a trade embalmer serving a 60 mile area that covers both Indiana and Michigan. He’s licensed in both states. After building on his contacts, he added a crematory in 2005.
When the Pulaski’s decided to offer direct cremation to the public for $895.00, it wasn’t well received with the local competition. La Porte is a bedroom community of approx. 22,000 with three long established funeral homes in town, and at least 15 more in the surrounding area. Operators were less than thrilled when a year later the Pulaski’s moved in to a vacant lawn and garden center building on the busiest county road in the state.
“We always knew that we’d own a funeral home, but imagined that we’d purchase an existing business, and it would be later than sooner!” said Deena
“We just didn’t expect it to happen so soon, but when this place became available, we felt like we had to do it. ” The two-story building has lots of natural light, a wide front porch with adjacent property that can handle future development. The Lakeview Funeral Home is the only funeral home in LaPorte with it’s own crematory.
“When the weather’s been nice, we’ve been able to have some nice military services outdoors. The families really seem to like the change of scenery.”
The location has been good for the Pulaski’s. Competing with 100 year old firms in the area, Deena expected that it would take several years to build the business. “By our second year anniversary we had already surpassed our projections.” Casmir still has travels, but has been able to reduce time on the road and even savor a rare long weekend.
As part of our ongoing “Women in Funeral Service” series, I recently had the pleasure to visit with Deena Pulaski. Deena and her husband, Casmir, just celebrated their two year anniversary at their new funeral home, Lakeview Funeral Home and Crematory in LaPorte, Indiana.
“We always knew that we’d own a funeral home, but imagined that we’d purchase an existing business, and it would be later than sooner.” said Deena
Deena was gracious enough to discuss take time out of her busy schedule to discuss some of the challenges of being being the new kid on the block in a small community of long established funeral homes, as well as some of the trends she sees with the families she serves.
For Funeral Directors that worry about competition from Costco, internet retailers, and maybe even Wal-Mart. Remember, it’s all been done before.
Vintage Sears Catalog:
click for bigness
An excellent cross-sell promotion for well-armed families.
More with Cheryl Thompson-Morrow of Thompson Funeral Home, Broadman, OH.
20 Years Later: “It’s been a good career choice, the initial transition was difficult, because many of the families insisted on working with my father, and weren’t accustomed to a female funeral director.
On Technology: “Technology has really freed our time up, in that in the old days, before we could forward calls, my dad would stay home all weekend to catch the phone.”
Cheryl is uncomfortable with casket retailing on the internet, and would like to educate her clients regarding funeral costs and the value of a funeral service. “I want to do more with our website, add educational content and market our services.”
On Cremation: “You know, when I started working at the funeral home, my dad had one urn, and it was in a dusty box. Unopened.” Despite being in a pretty traditional area, cremation is definitely on an upswing. “March’s services were all cremation.” Most of Thompson’s cremation families choose traditional viewing with casket rental at the funeral home. Cheryl usually discourages the scattering of ashes until a later date, to make sure the family is comfortable with the decision. It’s pretty mixed on families that choose burial, or to take the ashes home.
On Changes in the Industry: “Besides cremation, families are buying more keepsakes, and there’s more interest in pets.” It used to be that the funeral homes in our area were denomination specific, there’s more cross-over now. Besides more women in the funeral profession, I see a lot more women in the clergy. The other day, I realized that we were doing a service with a female funeral director, and two female funeral clergy…there was a time, that was unheard of!”
“We haven’t had a lot of requests for catering services or food.” Although, she did have a family from California that wanted to bring “snacks” in before the visitation, and wound up setting up a full buffet and bar. It was no problem she said, but the family took care of everything.
Cheryl sees funeral service as a life long career and says, “I’ll probably work until I die.” “My dad never got to retire, and in the my pre-kid days, I was at the funeral home ALL the time, even coming in on weekends I didn’t have to work, just to make sure everything was alright.” Cheryl and another funeral director trade weekends on call.
“Now, I realize life is too short! We have a cottage at the lake that’s only an hour away and I want to spend time with the kids, while they still want to!” Cheryl has two children, 11 and 12.
The red buds are peaking this week, and it smells sooo good outdoors. The Urn Garden is downwind of two monster lilac bushes that are so fragrant.
And that my friends is the problem. Or is it? There’s no separation between work and home. It’s getting better, but when you cross the threshold at my place, you immediately enter our World Headquarters. My messy desk and file cabinet, work and living space all rolled into one, it’s the first site you see when you hit the door. It’s aesthetics really, and can easily be solved. Lots of people would ignore the clutter and crossover just for the opportunity to work from home, but there has to be a more attractive and productive answer, to partition it off somehow, I feel inspiration coming.
Listen to Your Gut: Spoke with a colleague today who worked for a funeral supply company and had taken on a line of the Chinese caskets. She really wanted me to take on a territory and help move the product, she’s good at what she does, works hard, and it could be a “great opportunity”. A nice addition to my business. When someone says “Great Opportunity” my radar goes off. Call me lazy, but I didn’t want to travel, and I’ve got my own challenges with distribution without adding the bulk of crated caskets to the mix. Not to mention the YEARS it would take to establish relationships with the funeral homes that were locked up in long-term dealings with their suppliers. If ever there was a breakthrough….I just couldn’t see it.
Today she informed me that after a year or two of that back breaking business, she’s moved on to what she’s really good at. Selling pre-need.
Which reminds me, Candace has a great tip on estate planning.
Another Revelation: Since I left my old job four years ago, the position has turned over three times! Makes you think…was I nuts to stay there eleven years? Nah.
No not this kind.
St. Louis hotel 2005.
This Kind:
We’ve been successful attracting the hummingbirds and butterflies the last couple of years. Even with the hunters next door! According to the calender, the hummingbird scouts should be coming in the next week or so. So, why do I feel pressure?
Funeral Directors, depending on where you are…if you don’t have a hummingbird urn in your offerings, you might consider adding one.
Our cloisonne hummingbird urn is a family favorite. All of our cloisonne cremation urns can be personalized with engraving and are available as a double capacity urn. Together Forever.
For families that plan to keep the urn in the home, the cloisonne urn is a popular choice because it compliments the decor as a stand alone piece of art.
Tim had an interesting post on Final Embrace regarding internet shoppers and how they’ve affected the funeral industry. The internet has made a dent in the funeral director’s world. But the funeral director needs to look in the mirror.
Cue up Cher, “If I Could Turn Back Time”. On the local scene I’ve interviewed funeral directors that left me shaking my head. Several years ago, we (me, myself and I) surveyed the local market to determine what the cremation landscape was like. The numbers reflected growth, but were low compared to other parts of the country.
Frankly, what I saw was a market not being properly served. Insert disclaimer here: “We do not actively pursue sales in the state of Missouri.”
I was looking at the big picture, reading the trades, looking at the projections. I knew that the growth was there.
So the conversation on the local scene was a surprise, when these middle aged men admitted that:
While discussing sales numbers with an experienced gentleman who retired from the highest volume operation in SW MO, he was surprised at the number of urns I sold per month. Waaaay more then he imagined.
Another operator who morally despises cremation, admits that cremation is now 30% of his business, and continues to climb said, “If I was 20 years younger, I’d do things a lot different.”
Right. What are you doing today?
And the real kicker? The one that still makes me smile: “Buying an urn on the internet is undignified.”
Why? Is it because I’m not wearing a suit while I run the client’s credit card?
Some funeral directors have told me they have “exclusive” arrangements with their vendors and only carry what said vendor doles out. This usually comes from the director that just said the families aren’t buying an urn.
I understand about relationships with your vendors and I’m all about the service. But if the product is not working for you or your families… then maybe it’s time to look at options that DO serve your interests. I have years of experience dealing with sales weasels representatives and trust me, if you are a good customer, your “friend” will do what is necessary to keep your business.
Most of my clients are Boomers and X’rs. Most know what they want, many have been to the funeral home and didn’t find what they were looking for. And some, well, I’m doing the funeral directors a favor by shielding them from the frustration of the family that googles “cheap urn”.
Note to self: Add category for cheap urns.
As a consumer, I don’t want to spend a great deal for funeral goods. Most people I know feel the same way. Certain members of my family prefer burial and that wish will be honored with services likely to be held at the funeral home. Personally, I like one stop shopping. I don’t see myself shopping online for a casket. But if $5000 is the national average for a burial, it’s still more than I want to spend.
Today’s Thought for the Day: Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
Dali Lama
