Caring for families is what the funeral profession is all about. But as the industry evolves and the competition heats up, funeral firms need to up the ante in the level of care and services they provide, to meet their families’ expectations.

The biggest difficulty in that is that it’s hard to change your ways when you’re used to doing things the same way…every day. Let’s take a step back and look at this from a different angle. Think about how you might go above and beyond for your guests when hosting a dinner party—can you incorporate some of those same themes or ideas into the level of care you provide for your families?

Let’s see…

Invite Your Guests

• The first thing you do when planning a dinner party, is invite your guests. Your guest list will determine what method you use for spreading the word about your dinner party. If it’s for friends you might create an event on Facebook or some other social media website. If you’re inviting coworkers, you might go a more formal route and send personal invitations. And if it’s for family, you might just pick up the phone and call everyone individually.

• Use those same principles when determining the best methods for attracting your families. In the past, families were likely to select your funeral home based on a previous experience they had with your firm or by seeing your ad in the local newspaper or Yellow Pages. Today, 66% of Internet users are using local search to find local businesses. Just by optimizing your web presence, you’ll make it easier and more convenient for your families to find your funeral home website.

Entertain Your Guests

• Once your guest list is made, it’s time to start planning your dinner party. From food and cocktails, to music and decorations, you want all the elements of the evening to complement each other and keep your guests entertained.

• The same holds true for your funeral home website. It’s not just about attracting families to visit your website, you want them to be entertained! 75% of the visitors who come to your website to learn more, don’t end up contacting you. But if your families arrive on your homepage and see visually inviting videos explaining the difference between a burial and a cremation service, and the steps they need to take when planning a funeral service, you’ve personalized the information and engaged them!

Cater to Your Guests

• As the host of a dinner party, it’s your responsibility to cater to the needs of your guests. One might want wine to drink, another beer. One might be allergic to shell fish and another might be a vegetarian. In the end, you end up customizing the meal to fit their specific needs.

• Imagine the kind of effect that customization of care could have on your families. Take for instance grief support, each family deals with death in their own way and in their own time. By utilizing your funeral home website to offer personalized support services such as interactive grief videos and daily email affirmations, your families can customize their healing journey, based on the grief they are experiencing.

It might be a bit of a stretch to compare caring for your families to hosting a dinner party, but sometimes it helps to think of it in a different light—especially, when you’re looking for new ways of doing things!

What are some other things you do to try to personalize your services or increase the level of care for your families? Please share your comments below!

Kelly Murad

funeralOne

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