In the course of funeral service, it becomes necessary for funeral directors to dissolve the line of thinking which has connected them with their past, and to assume the professional success which the Laws of Nature entitle them.  They should declare the causes which impel them to think differently.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that the customers of today are not created equal to the ones we have served in the past. They are endowed by their mindset with certain Unalienable Rights. Among these are Hope, Choice and the Pursuit of Happiness.

To secure these rights, families have pursued options in the form of cremation, alternative services and lower prices.

That whenever a line of thinking becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of funeral directors to abolish it and to institute a new way of thinking.

To prove this let facts be submitted to a candid world:

Conventional thinking…

… has prevented the profession from quickly and clearly recognizing the changes that are the result of a new type of family in need of funeral service.

… has refused to recognize a new set of dominant needs based upon the emotional needs that families are presenting.

… has called together new pricing structures and merchandising tactics that change the status quo and overlook the core fundamental issue.

… slowed down the creation and development of new services and products that might address such grievances. We’ve fostered the notion that clinging to old tactics and offerings will eventually carry the day.

…caused us to view the short term perspective, as the governing one for actions that have long term impacts.

… reduced our motivation for change, allowing us to ignore the promise of new technologies.

… caused us to embrace the past – at the expense of our future,  keeping us from letting go of those things that are no longer valuable to our future success.

… has turned our noble desire to honor our past into a rationalization for changing too slowly.

We, therefore, in the name of progressive thinking funeral directors, solemnly publish and declare our intentions to let go of what is no longer relevant.

We pledge to pursue thinking that allows us to clearly see our reality and the enormous future potential. And for the support of this Declaration, we mutually pledge our commitment to new thoughts and deeds in pursuit of our noble goal – creating experiences that efficiently and effectively support the emotional needs of the families we served.

Join us and sign below.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Lajos Szabo, a licensed funeral director in Ohio and Architect by training, has been involved in funeral service since 1988. His portfolio of work includes, PMP Rooms, Cut Caskets, Meaningful Memories, Funeral of the Future research and several US patents specific to our industry. Currently, Lajos is the President of Funeral Operations at funeralOne. He uses his industry perspective to provide organizational leadership and develop several key projects in pursuit of his personal mission: changing funeral service to more effectively meet the needs of people touched by death. funeralOne’s solutions include: website design, aftercare, eCommerce, and personalization software. For more information about funeralOne, visit www.funeralOne.com.

Lajos Szabo

funeralOne

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