Whenever I tell people what I do for a living (for those who don’t know, we make beautiful quilted covers for mortuary cots) they feel the need to share their own death story.
Not surprisingly, many of my fellow Floridians share that they didn’t have a funeral for their loved one because they were cremated.
So I take the opportunity to do a little education by asking:
Did you have any services or viewing for your mom before she was cremated?
Which is usually met with surprise or shock, as the person asks:
You can have a viewing with a cremation?
Funeral directors are so afraid that their families will choose cremation if they talk about it that they do little to dispell the common fallicies.
Unless you want to see all your possible cremation clients run to a direct disposer, you need to tell your community that cremation is more than a fast and cheap way to get rid of a “problem” or “inconvenience.”
Cremation isn’t just a cheap cardboard box.
Stop letting your price-conscious customers choose between either your high-priced burial or a no-frills rock-bottom cremation (with someone else).
Because the folks who see little value in the traditional burial you try to force on them are going to choose their only other option: cheap, direct cremation.
Give your community a choice. Educate them.
July 31, 2007 at 9:01 am
Will you folks be at the New York State FD Convention?
July 31, 2007 at 10:16 am
Hey Tim, I was tagged by a new friend of mine, Troy Bettinger of NotJobs, and couldn’t think of a better person to tag than you.
You can read all about it on my blog in the post:
8 things you’ll never need to know about me!. Enjoy. 🙂
July 31, 2007 at 11:19 am
Michelle:
Sadly, we can’t attend. Even though we make tons of cash from the sale of our quilted mortuary cot covers (that might be sarcasm, I can’t tell!) we can’t attend a lot of conventions.
Why? Because we charge a lot less than Ferno does for a more beautiful cover. So we don’t have as much expendable income as some bigger companies.
And while I’d love to meet and greet a lot more folks, it’s hard to go to a lot of conventions, considering the cost, time and travel involved.
However, look for us at the NFDA Convention in Las Vegas, October 7-10. We’ll have one of the cheap booths WAYYY in the back.
TIM
October 12, 2007 at 10:36 am
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