The Funeral Profession’s Top 5 Biggest Challenges
December 20th, 2017
This year at NFDA, we challenged everyone to be the change — starting with what THEY thought was their biggest challenge in funerals. Attendees were asked to drop their ball into the tube that represented their biggest challenge, and these were the results…
Now that we’ve identified our biggest pain points, it’s time to stop talking about what the future of funerals could look like and start taking action. Here’s how you can tackle the funeral profession’s top 5 biggest challenges right now…
1. Educating Families
When families understand the value of a funeral service, they choose products and services beyond the basic package. The key is to bridge the gap between what you know and what they know.
Click here to download 10 free valuable funeral resources that you can share with your families.
2. Marketing
Successful marketing is more than just creating a Facebook Business Page or buying a TV ad. It’s about connecting with families before they need your services.
3. Personalization
71% of today’s families don’t want a traditional funeral, and with Baby Boomers, Gen Xers and Millennials entering the market, the craving for funeral personalization will only continue to grow.
To get a free 30-day trial of our Hollywood-style Life Tribute video software, click here.
4. Cremation
Funeral professionals are quick to write off cremation as the enemy of the funeral profession… but it doesn’t have to be. With a 65.5% cremation rate that’s still growing, it’s time that you embraced it.
Want more tips? Read this next → How To Market Cremation In A Way That Will Change Your Business
5. Low-Cost Providers
Only 51.9% of families agree that funerals are an important tradition in life. If this trend remains, families will always go for the lowest cost… until funeral homes start proving their value.
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What is YOUR biggest challenge?!
We want to know which funeral profession challenge you want to tackle first. Take our poll below, and see how your answer stacks up against others in the funeral profession.
Were you surprised by the results?! Let us know in the comments below.
As a funeral assistant and as a certified celebrant, I observe funeral directors taking “no ceremony/service” as the final word and do not try to upsell the value of a service of remembrance. I believe this is because they do not often observe celebrations of life – they hover around the punch bowl waiting for the closing remarks. If they saw the satisfaction gained by a valued family that receives a personalized service, they might try harder. This is selling, marketing, planning, problem solving, all rolled into one.
This profession should just realize now that it is through so as to save expending good energy after bad energy. The consumer has spoken with his dollars. No amount of educating families or demonstration of the value of traditional service is going to save this profession. The family of today does not see that expensive ceremonies and merchandise are necessary to honor the dead. The family has the right to care for its dead as it did in life. The up coming generation is used to quick fixes and therefore that carries over into end of life rites. Quick, efficient and as cost effective as possible.
Hi Rilee,
I was at the convention and found the question and the statement kinda confusing. The question asked, ” what’s your biggest challenge”. Clearly i get the question. The statement or instruction is where the confusion comes. The funeral director is instructed to place a ball in the tube that identifies what he or she would most like to re imagine. For me, challenges are future focused and re imagining is past. Anyway, I’m sure if funeral directors could have a mulligan, since 1984, there are a lot who would change the way they educated their community. It’s never too late. Thanks for the article.
Hi Ron, thanks so much for sharing your feedback…We will consider this feedback for our next exhibit 🙂