“It’s not what I wanted to hear, but what I needed to know.”  

– Terri Clark, country singer

I imagine you’ve looked at your own financial reports and forecasts and made a grim discovery. You aren’t depending on me for the news, are you? Traditional burials are down. Direct cremations are up. Average revenue per service is declining.

But you might want to know, through some broad-brush generalizations, why this is all happening. Let’s agree not to quibble about exceptions – I know there are exceptions. Instead, let’s focus on major “2 x 4-upside-the-head” trends.

So, the following reasons lay it out there for you — what the hell happened to get us where we are? And, more importantly: what’s next and what can I do about it?

The market has changed, but we haven’t.

Although the market has changed, there’s still been no significant change in funeral service in the last 150 years. The only exception to this is moving death out of the residence and into commercial buildings (ie. nursing homes, long term care, and funeral homes).

And screaming “Hey, you, Mr. Market, stop changing now!” isn’t going to make anything better. You need to close your mouth, open your ears, and LET THE MARKET EDUCATE YOU. Take a lesson from the technology industry – build what the market wants, not what you want to build for them.

There are too many people fighting for a slice of a fixed pie.

The funeral services market is oversaturated with suppliers. There used to be two, maybe three funeral homes in an average-sized community. Now there are two dozen, seemingly on every corner. Communities can only support so much brick and mortar, and as requirements simplify and the market consolidates, even less so.

My prediction is that the market will probably go back to two or three funeral homes per community and a couple of regional “super crematories”. These super crematories will be perfectly EPA compliant, with ten retorts each running 24/7. These facilities will serve both the industry and consumers directly — at a much lower cost than you [$495, complete, in South Florida]. The opportunity for any “blocking strategy” to prevent this from happening is long past, as is the option of welcoming cremation’s arrival with a hero’s celebration. It was viewed as the enemy — and it won.

We have no appropriate research to learn from.

Unless being kept on “double secret probation” (as Dean Wormer did to the Deltas in Animal House) – or locked in the recesses of an off-limits filing cabinet – there’s no marketing research, science or intelligence using the proper methodology to deliver accurate, actionable results to the funeral service industry.

Instead, the industry uses finance and accounting to manage operations, and that only goes so far. In fact, this could explain the fix we’re in. From my observations, there has only been little repetitive cookie cutter research done – primarily benefiting the cookie cutter industry, not funeral service. So if that appropriate research exists, let’s apply it, complete a half dozen case studies, and stack them up against other consumer product categories, just to benchmark our performance.

The cavalry is coming, and riding right past your front door.

Yes, the Baby Boomers are here, and they don’t want embalming, caskets, your chapel or even you. I remember a poster with a black and white photo of an older business executive scowling with the following caption: “You don’t know me, I’ve never seen you before and I don’t understand what you’re saying…now what is it you’re wanting to sell me?” That poster should hang in every manager’s office in America. But the harsh reality is this: we may have run out of time.

The industry wants to sell buggy whips — it likes buggy whips, is good at them and they’ve been profitable. But the market wants cars, and if you don’t provide them,  others (including consumers themselves) will build them.

We’re working against each other, not together.

How can funeral professionals collaborate, discover and share? They’re too busy hating each other.  It may be due to fierce competition, burn-out, over-saturation, stress, amount of downtime or a combination of everything.

There is no united front — not even the professional organizations, whose primary job (like any professional association) is government lobbying. Even discussions on LinkedIn are spotty, lack involvement, spread thin and often dissolve into sniping rather than healthy conversation or debate. Until we start putting our minds together, we’ll only lose them trying to find the answers alone.

Churches have changed.

Churches are gone, but spiritualism is up. According to Pew Research, the only growing denomination is “unaffiliated.” In synagogues, membership is often accompanied by initiation fees and monthly dues, like a country club, driving prospective new members away.

And the most significant remnant of the Church is a very qualified, integrated and hungry direct competitor to the funeral industry. This includes laity planning, columbariums, cemeteries, visitations, and services paid for with tax deductible dollars, from patrons who usually feel good about supporting them. Churches have now become a coined word popular these days: “Frenemies.”

Our families are more mobile than ever.

We used to stay in the same community and inherit family businesses. But nowadays, people move to follow opportunities, not stay put where the “clan is buried”. This is making it much harder for cemetery owners to count on “loyal” families.

As time puts us farther away from traditions and space puts distance between us and our ancestral “homes,” cemeteries become less relevant. And, with rising spiritualism, people are discovering the ability to “connect” with loved ones without “devices,” such as a tombstone or statuary.

Cremation is in, again.

Cremation is an old technology, popularized by the Vikings. Like returning home, the pendulum has swung back to this low-cost method of disposition. We blew the opportunity to embrace cremation or properly price and locate the service. Successful operators are in industrial parks which contribute to low, low costs — and consumers seem OK with it.

Cremated remains are a utility (come on, admit it, how much different are the contents of one box over another?) and your gentle, caring approach and plush surroundings aren’t much of a differentiator. The REAL differentiator comes after the cremation is complete — with the service.

What I think funeral service will look like in 20 years…

Now that we know the times are changing, here are my predictions for funeral service over the next 20 years.

A true service.

Driven by remembrance, education (about grief and death), entertainment and healing.

Consumers will soon be able to avoid feeling bad and leave the service feeling good, or at least, better.

A new look and feel.

Instead of a drab, old funeral home, how about  a community center, built from the ground-up, unaffiliated with death? This community center will be a quiet, private place with lots of glass, atriums, trees and beautiful landscaping. And when not used for a service, other functions flock there without trying to “force fit” them.

An industry that welcomes women.

Sadly, industry data indicates that women only last three years in the profession. I predict (and hope) that this will change. Women and men work well together as complementary energies, and their empathy and intuition is a perfect fit with the new model. Perhaps this will lead us towards a “kinder and gentler” profession, away from the testosterone-fueled competition of the past.

An industry that’s growing younger.

Younger folks are open, progressive and technologically savvy. And as long as they understand that you need to appreciate the organic market and use technology to serve it efficiently, these youngsters will be successful in funeral service. But proceed with caution: don’t throw technology at the market just to see if it “sticks”.

A different mortuary school curriculum.

When a market changes, education needs retooling. If mortuary school curriculum survives, we need to teach our mortuary students about marketing, technology, creativity, thanatology and grief counseling (grief isn’t just for counselors or clergymen).

More emphasis on aftercare.

The industry of the future should recognize the importance of “aftercare” efforts. They’ll embrace aftercare as a combination of sincere efforts and opportunity for repeat customer touch-points (a form of Customer Relationship Management or CRM). This will be hard, because while you’re working to develop a CRM relationship, your consumers are simultaneously developing alternates to you, requiring more resources (in a deck stacked against you) for you to win.

My last thoughts

Darwinism is at work here. For many, it’s probably too late to change, or you’re not equipped to change, or you don’t want to change (which all three legitimate reasons to go out of business, by the way).

For those who aren’t ready for change (or those who can’t financially handle a consolidating industry): save your license renewal fees, demolish your buildings, sell your land and find something new to do with your capital.

If you continue hooking your wagon to the need for traditional services, your phone will ring less, and less and then stop one day. You’ll call the phone company and see if your line is working and they’ll report it’s fine.

For survivors and new entrants: keep focused on families and the market – they’re the reason you survived.

Don’t get me wrong: there are opportunities and the need for committed professionals. It’s just going to be different. If some of this report resonates with you, feel free to contact me to explore the possibilities further.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

F. Todd Winninger has been in Funeral Service for twelve years, and is currently a Licensed Funeral Director with Aden Funeral Home, in Tampa, Florida. Prior to funeral service he was in marketing and sales for 25 years. He is the founder of “Funeral Shows,” an alternative to traditional services. Details: www.linkedin.com/in/funeralshows/

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