Making decisions isn’t always easy, especially when it comes to major business decisions for your funeral home.

I look around and see many businesses that are leading the way making decisions based on all the wrong reasons such short term profit, stakeholder’s desires and simple greed.

Since many of the big businesses out there aren’t showing us how to make informed decisions for the best of everyone, we thought we’d offer 5 questions to ask yourself before making any major decisions in your funeral business.

We recommend truly answering these questions, in order, as you read along. Try it, have fun, and let us know how it goes!

Question #1: Will this decision improve the experience of our client families?

Behind every decision SHOULD be (and I really hate to “should” you) based on your client families’ happiness. That means your current and future client families. If it’s not for their happiness and the improvement of their journey with you, what is it for truly? This is always my FIRST question I ask myself before I even move on to the next ones. So ask yourself honestly, is this for your client families?

Question #2: Would you make this same decision if there wasn’t so much at stake?

Pressure is real. Once the ball is rolling in your funeral business, momentum is hard to stop. Funeral businesses, just like any businesses, tend to take on their own identity after a few years. And surely after a few decades (most funeral homes are generational). When this happens, we forget the beginner’s mindset. We forget what it would feel like to make a decision free from pressure from the team, the family, the stakeholders… the list goes on.  

Imagine for a moment that you were just starting your funeral business, and you had all the freedom you needed to create the biz of your dreams. Is this a decision you’d still make for this dream biz? If not, consider a no instead of a yes. Integrity is key in any business, especially the funeral biz.

Question #3: How will this decision impact your funeral business’ journey?

It’s hard not to avoid the pitfalls of making decisions solely based on short-term outcomes. When it comes down to the wire, we can make mistakes. To avoid this common pitfall, I like to imagine my business 1 year, 5 years, or even 10 years from now, based on this single decision. How will the journey of your team, your client families, your business be affected? Sure, some decisions may seem like a bad idea in the short term, but will have a huge positive impact on the long term health of your funeral business. This might not be a groundbreaking question, but it sure is an important one.

Question #4: What’s the worst that can happen from this decision?

When I get caffeinated enough or excited enough about something, it’s hard to stop and consider the worst case scenario of all decisions we make. Even if they seem like the obvious next step for the business. This is why having a team that can help you stay grounded when exciting news, deals and trends make their way into your world. We’re not trying to be pessimists here. It’s just good to have an honest look at how every decision can affect you, positively or negatively.

Question #5: Is this decision helping us to achieve our original goal?

Remember Simon Sinek’s famous Ted Talk from over a decade ago, called “Start with Why?”. If not, take a moment and watch it below. Once you’re done, it’s time to ask yourself: “How is this decision helping our team reach our goal?” or even “Does this decision align with our original WHY of our funeral business?”. These are equally important questions that shouldn’t lead you astray in your business, or life. 

We hope these 5 questions guided your decision making process in a way that supports your funeral business in a big way. Did these questions help you out? Let us know in the comments below!

Krystal Penrose

More Posts - Website