September always brings about a sense of renewal, of fresh starts and new beginnings. As memories of summer begin to blur, daily routine gradually reintroduces itself into our lives. Summer vacations have ended, the kids are back to school, and our attention shifts more intently towards our business, as we barrel towards another years end. In doing so, we look back at the year’s successes and look ahead at engaging our business practices with fresh and renewed approaches. During that evaluation, funeral home owners and operators will ultimately make a decision to do one of two things;
1) Effect necessary change in their operations practices (read: Be proactive) or;
2) Leave it to chance (read: Force reactivity, when required).
Change. Chance. Two words, with only a single letter to differentiate the two, yet each can yield results that are worlds apart.
Funeral Service as a profession has long sat idly by, expecting what we’ve always done, to always work. Many practitioners have realized that this simply doesn’t suffice anymore. Our customer is changing. For most of you reading this, there’s no ‘A-HA’ moment in either of these two facts. You’ve recognized already that like every business, the funeral profession will continue to face new challenges, as the families we deal with continue to evolve as consumers and that the way they engage with us, the way they buy, how they choose to inform themselves, etc., is something that you have to be attuned to more now, than ever.
Consider an Olympic athlete; years of training, dedication and passion all boil down to the mere moments in takes for them to compete. Forbes Magazine once reported that the average athlete trains 6-8 hours a day, 6 days a week. If your calculate that by the 4 year span between games, that means that the average Olympian spends nearly 1900 hours a year focused on improving their abilities, and being the best in the world. While much of this is routine repetition, it’s always with the intent to become better, each and every time. Undoubtedly, they’re experts at what they do – and they’re considered experts because of the dedication and investment they continually put towards their passion.
I have made many friends over the years in this fine profession of funeral service, who are all exemplary in providing the very best service to families. They’ve honed their craft and they continually improve not just by doing what they’ve always done, but hoping to – like the athlete – be the best there is. Like the athlete, they know that’s not enough. Pushing their limits, challenging the way they approach things and developing innovative strategies to always achieve even more excellence – these things that happen outside of their comfort zone – this, they know, is where the magic happens.
If we relate back to the example of the Olympian, the athlete who has proven their commitment to their sport and who demonstrates that passion through excellence – is the athlete a country will send to represent them.
As funeral professionals, ask yourself if the family you’re sitting with deserves to be dealing with an expert, or just someone who gets by – year after year – without investing in improving how they interact with and professionally serve them. When is the last time you entered an arrangement room, sat down at the table and said quietly to yourself, “I’m an expert at what I do, and this family needs me to guide them on this path, which I know better than most.”
Action breeds confidence, and confidence breeds' success. The action part is investing in being better and better at what you do. The confidence is the byproduct of time, energy and commitment; and success – well, that’s what families will benefit from when the Olympian of funeral service – you – sit across from them and help them navigate through uncharted waters.
My mentor in funeral service challenged me in the very first days of my career, and the analogy he used was in reference to how one might respond when asked, “How many years have you been licensed?” He warned of the funeral director who proudly responds with a lengthy term, perhaps for the sake of his analogy, 25 years. He cautioned to never fall into the trap of essentially being committed to what we do for 1 year, and then repeating that year 25 times. His challenge to me was to stay engaged, fresh, relevant and committed. In that vein, he suggested that when I might be asked that same question, and had reached that 25-year milestone, I could announce my tenure with pride and conviction.
So ask yourself honestly; how many years have you been licensed? Furthermore, challenge yourself and be the professional who chooses ‘change’? Change is evolutionary to some, and revolutionary to others.
Taking charge of ‘change’ never leaves your success to ‘chance’.
1) Effect necessary change in their operations practices (read: Be proactive) or;
2) Leave it to chance (read: Force reactivity, when required).
Change. Chance. Two words, with only a single letter to differentiate the two, yet each can yield results that are worlds apart.
Funeral Service as a profession has long sat idly by, expecting what we’ve always done, to always work. Many practitioners have realized that this simply doesn’t suffice anymore. Our customer is changing. For most of you reading this, there’s no ‘A-HA’ moment in either of these two facts. You’ve recognized already that like every business, the funeral profession will continue to face new challenges, as the families we deal with continue to evolve as consumers and that the way they engage with us, the way they buy, how they choose to inform themselves, etc., is something that you have to be attuned to more now, than ever.
Consider an Olympic athlete; years of training, dedication and passion all boil down to the mere moments in takes for them to compete. Forbes Magazine once reported that the average athlete trains 6-8 hours a day, 6 days a week. If your calculate that by the 4 year span between games, that means that the average Olympian spends nearly 1900 hours a year focused on improving their abilities, and being the best in the world. While much of this is routine repetition, it’s always with the intent to become better, each and every time. Undoubtedly, they’re experts at what they do – and they’re considered experts because of the dedication and investment they continually put towards their passion.
I have made many friends over the years in this fine profession of funeral service, who are all exemplary in providing the very best service to families. They’ve honed their craft and they continually improve not just by doing what they’ve always done, but hoping to – like the athlete – be the best there is. Like the athlete, they know that’s not enough. Pushing their limits, challenging the way they approach things and developing innovative strategies to always achieve even more excellence – these things that happen outside of their comfort zone – this, they know, is where the magic happens.
If we relate back to the example of the Olympian, the athlete who has proven their commitment to their sport and who demonstrates that passion through excellence – is the athlete a country will send to represent them.
As funeral professionals, ask yourself if the family you’re sitting with deserves to be dealing with an expert, or just someone who gets by – year after year – without investing in improving how they interact with and professionally serve them. When is the last time you entered an arrangement room, sat down at the table and said quietly to yourself, “I’m an expert at what I do, and this family needs me to guide them on this path, which I know better than most.”
Action breeds confidence, and confidence breeds' success. The action part is investing in being better and better at what you do. The confidence is the byproduct of time, energy and commitment; and success – well, that’s what families will benefit from when the Olympian of funeral service – you – sit across from them and help them navigate through uncharted waters.
My mentor in funeral service challenged me in the very first days of my career, and the analogy he used was in reference to how one might respond when asked, “How many years have you been licensed?” He warned of the funeral director who proudly responds with a lengthy term, perhaps for the sake of his analogy, 25 years. He cautioned to never fall into the trap of essentially being committed to what we do for 1 year, and then repeating that year 25 times. His challenge to me was to stay engaged, fresh, relevant and committed. In that vein, he suggested that when I might be asked that same question, and had reached that 25-year milestone, I could announce my tenure with pride and conviction.
So ask yourself honestly; how many years have you been licensed? Furthermore, challenge yourself and be the professional who chooses ‘change’? Change is evolutionary to some, and revolutionary to others.
Taking charge of ‘change’ never leaves your success to ‘chance’.
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