Whether you were born into it, went to school for it, have an intense interest in death, or chose it because you didn’t know what else to do, we’re all a part of the magical land of funeral service.

We’re all here for a reason. And, we all stay here because of that one passion that gets us out of bed every morning.

So what’s your specialty? What’s your passion? Or better yet… what’s your superpower?

Read on to discover your inner funeral service superpower…

Empathy

This type of funeral director is extremely focused on making sure their families know they understand what they’re going through and truly care. You’re a people pleaser, and might spend some extra time to listen to your client families during the arrangement process,  truly recognizing their emotional needs and doing the best you can to deliver.

Your kryptonite: Clear boundaries and objective distance is key to being a successful empathetic funeral director. Also, doing work to resolve your personal losses will help create a healthy buffer.  Remember, it is very difficult to help others if you are dealing with your own loss.

Community Superstar

This man or woman usually works at a family-owned funeral home that has a longstanding relationship with the community. You’re the “face to the name” of your funeral home. Often, you’ll have to do a lot to maintain his reputation with the community, such as networking at community events, forming support groups, etc.

Your kryptonite: The community hero has big shoes to fill. Nobody’s perfect, and if everyone knows your name in your community, there’s bound to be challenging times in your life that draw negative attention to you. This can be avoided by making your personal issues a very private matter.

Superhero

This type of funeral director has a Type-A personality, and loves to swoop in and save the day everytime something goes wrong. They know their funeral home like the back of their hand, and everyone can count on them. To prevent things from going wrong, the super hero enjoys the adrenaline rush of putting the S on his or her chest and working overtime to insure everything at the funeral home runs smoothly.

Your kryptonite: Systems and delegation will be at the core of your relief from this syndrome.  However, there are many funeral professionals that enjoy this type of lifestyle and allow their business to reflect and support this.  So determine what’s more important to you, the personal gratification of saving the day or being in control of your life and stress levels.

Business-Savvy

This type of funeral professional is often highly organized, driven, goal-oriented and is great with time management. You intuitively know what your funeral firm needs financially and won’t stop until you get it. You spend a lot of your time in the merchandise room, and truly love the feeling you get when you can offer families a product that helps them memorialize their loved one.

Your kryptonite: Effectively educating your families on the available options is one thing, but great care must be taken not to slide into questionable techniques that sound like “This is the last thing you can do for your loved one,” or “I’m sure you want what’s best for your mother.”

Storytelling

Falling right between the business-savvy funeral director and the empathetic funeral director, the storyteller is an invaluable resource to any funeral firm. Also known as the educator, this type of funeral professional is great at explaining the options your funeral home has to offer, but even more, this person knows exactly how to show families why each option is valuable.

The storyteller is usually a veteran at a funeral home, and has a knack for reading the needs of people. You’re well known for your in-depth tours of your funeral home, and sharing stories of how your funeral home has helped families celebrate life in the past. You’re  “dream funeral director” and know how to drive sales and can balance that with creating a loyal relationship with your client relationships.

Your kryptonite: You are in a balance between selling to families and helping them, so you’ll have to fight to maintain this balance. You can do this by offering only services and merchandise that you truly think will help your families and not overtly “selling” to them.

Event Planning

The event planner is what I like to call the funeral professional of the future. At some funeral homes, they’re called “funeral planners” instead of funeral directors. They’re extremely resourceful, speedy, and will often leave you wondering how the heck they pulled that event off. This type of funeral professional is a true life celebrante and puts the “personal” in funeral personalization.

Leave it to the event planner to help families memorialize  their loved one’s life in the best possible way – whether it be a traditional send off or a BBQ-themed funeral complete with a BBQ sauce fountain.

Your kryptonite: This type of funeral professional has to take a lot of risks, and can possibly fall short on their promises to families. Others in the profession also see this type of funeral professional as “over the top” or cheesy.

Veteran

This type of funeral director is often a ol’ fashioned mortician who is incredibly wise and knows every nook and cranny of the funeral home. You know what has worked at your funeral home in the past, and because of that, you offer families an out-of-this-world level of service. You value tradition, and respect the values of your funeral home with the utmost of respect.

Your kryptonite: Knowing what has worked for so long at your funeral home sometimes keeps you from trying new things. If your funeral home has experienced a decline in call volume or revenue, remember Albert Einstein’s famous quote: “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

Unfortunately, this way of thinking won’t scale in the future of the funeral profession. This type of “traditional” funeral professional won’t know what to do when the families of tomorrow have arrived.

Embalming

The embalmer is often a true artist. Your passion is helping families overcome the shock of their loss by presenting their loved one’s body in the best way possible. You take pride in your skills, and often have a great (sometimes dark) sense of humor.

Your kryptonite: Let’s face it, embalmers get the worst rep in today’s media. And, the constant presence of people who aren’t alive sometimes makes it difficult for you to deal with those who are.

Workaholic

Ungodly long hours. 2am phone calls. The inability to NOT take work home. I can say with confidence that every single funeral professional who reads this can relate. Let’s put this one in here so we can all accept that we are, in fact, workaholics!

Your kryptonite: You and your profession have a love/hate relationship. You chose a profession that ISN’T easy, but gosh darn it, you can’t get enough of it!

So, where does your specialty lie? Do you have one superpower, or many? Even if we didn’t list it, share your superpower with us in the comments below!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Krystal Penrose is the content marketer and funeralOne blog manager. As content marketer, her role is to research the changing needs of today’s families, and present them to funeral professionals through educational content. Krystal also engages with thought leaders in the industry to help create an  online community for funeral professionals across the country. funeralOne’s solutions include:website design, aftercare, eCommerce, and personalization software. For more information about funeralOne, visit www.funeralOne.com.

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