Homemade or Store Bought? - The ADDvantage Casket Company

While knowing better than to use the incorrect grammar ‘Store Bought’ I wanted to get readers attention using a term that many of us grew up with. Mostly the comparison was used with reference to food and especially sweet things like cookies and pastries.

Which was better: mom’s chocolate chip cookies or the little Keebler Elves who were promoting their product? That reminds me of a school class tour when I was in grade school of a cookie making factory. One of the group noticed an air machine blowing the chocolate on to the bare cookies on the assembly line. She yelled out “But that machine is blowing a lot of the chocolate off the cookie”. The tour guide/owner replied, “No, it is blowing the profit on.”

When we hire people to do what we can do ourselves it is costly in terms of both dollars and experience. If you want to know why a client family chose your firm over another firm in town you don’t have to hire a market research firm to find out.

Just ask

That’s right, during an appropriate time in the arrangement conference simply say “And how did your family come to select our firm for your (Mother, fathers, sister, brothers) arrangements?

They will be forthcoming in their answer which in turn will assist you in your decision on how best to promote your firm in the community. Answers vary: repeat business, they know a staff member, saw your prices on the Internet. You think you know why they called you but in so many cases you were completely wrong!

However, here’s the rub:

1) The arranging staff must ask the question EVERY TIME during the arrangements. This is serious and can’t be missed. In fact, at our funeral home, it was printed in one of the sections on the arrangement folders so it couldn’t be forgotten.

2) Then you must record the reasons given on a spread sheet once a month showing columns of 5-10 reasons so the owner can focus his marketing efforts. I can’t stress enough the value of this process. It saves resources of time and money when you have the actual/factual reason. And it works in every volume size funeral home. If you’re not ready or can’t quite afford the cost of a market study just yet, why not give this a try – I know you’ll be glad you did.