process as well. Accommodating religious or cultural preferences in your aftercare program will allow you to reach different communities, broadening your funeral home’s reach. This is the time to think outside of the box (Answering Service for Directors [ASD], 2017). Some examples include hosting a social event for seniors, holding talent competitions, sponsoring essay contests for youth and adults, having clothing or food drives, supporting local community institutions such as art museums, hosting educational workshops for seniors surrounding complicated end-of-life concerns, honoring loved ones during holiday seasons, and fundraising for local charities. Whatever engages the family of the deceased and the wider community is probably a good idea for an aftercare program! The smallest group programming activities are boutique ones, which are designed with small groups in mind, for example, hosing a grieving education workshop at the funeral home for groups of 20 or fewer people. These allow the funeral professional to bring together a more intimate program to address specific needs the community might have. Finally, the smallest type of programming is one-on-one programming. This is when staff members work with one person at a time. A good example of this is the funeral follow-up counselor, who can work with survivors to complete paperwork that might be difficult or confusing for them. It might sometimes be the case that families adopt local businesses as a part of the grieving process. This is known as reverse programming. One example of this is a special veteran’s memorial program. Veterans may have memorabilia they would like to display in the funeral home. The funeral home might choose to display this memorabilia as a part of their local exhibit
Another aftercare service that funeral homes can provide is the creation of permanent online memorials . Most funeral homes today offer memorial video tributes to the family of the deceased. Some also reserve a place on their website to house the video, which allows extended family and friends to take part in the process, even if they were not able to travel to the funeral in person. Mourners can go online and look at the pictures, upload photos of their own, and leave comments and stories, creating a digital memorial that anyone in the world can take part in. Many families have particular religious or cultural customs that they may want to observe throughout the grieving process. Funeral providers should be aware of and sensitive to these concerns during not just the funeral but throughout the aftercare Levels of aftercare There are several levels of aftercare based on the size of the particular program (Canadian Funeral News, 2015). At the top is global programming, which includes aftercare events that are unlimited in their scope of influence. An example of this might be a staff member writing an article on survivor’s benefits and posting it on the funeral home’s website. This article can be read by anyone around the world, making its reach truly global. The next level is large programming, which involve a large group participating in one event at the same time. Examples of this might include hosting remembrance days and organizing a cemetery clean-up day with a local youth group. These events bring together large groups of people for the purpose of grieving as a community. The next step down is mid-sized programming, which includes events that involve medium-sized groups participating in one event at the same time. These are typically groups of survivors of a certain disease, participating in events such as sponsored runs for breast cancer or other illnesses.
HOW DOES AFTERCARE HELP A BUSINESS GROW?
body. Since these services are standard, funeral homes need to differentiate themselves by offering different kinds of services and products on top of the standard. How can they add to the value of their services offered? One way is through aftercare. Aftercare is considered a value-added service. There is no charge for aftercare services, but these services create value by maintaining a relationship with the families year-round, thus increasing the likelihood of repeat business. Aftercare services offer support to everyone, not just the immediate family of the deceased. The needs of the immediate family are not the same as those of friends or more distant relatives. Everyone grieves differently and at different a different pace. Everyone who interacts with the funeral home will need the support of the funeral professional in different ways. This support can come in a number of different forms, including offering information on grieving, holding classes on topics like car repair or navigating health insurance, or helping to fill out forms. Finally, aftercare programs give funeral professionals the chance to provide continuity of care. A relationship forms between the family and the funeral director/funeral home throughout the course of the funeral process, from first contact to final internment. Since there might be years in between services for the same customer, aftercare can help fill in the gaps in this relationship. Aftercare helps the customer remember the funeral home long after the service, thus increasing brand loyalty. When a customer feels respected and that they matter to the funeral home, they will pass this information on to others, creating powerful word of mouth advertising, which is one of the least expensive forms of advertising you can get. Even implementing simple aftercare programs in your funeral home creates brand loyalty while also helping the funeral home stay connected with the families and communities they serve.
According to industry experts, aftercare programs can be considered long-term investments, even if their results are often difficult to track. If done correctly, aftercare programs can help your funeral home build a strong reputation in your community. The book Understanding Dying Death and Bereavement (2011) states: Presently the majority of funeral homes providing extensive systematic aftercare are owned by individuals rather than large corporations. Funeral homes with local ownership have much more control over budget priorities and tend to be more responsive to community needs for involvement. These locally-owned funeral homes also recognize that aftercare services attract more business and therefore can be good for “the bottom line,” even though aftercare is not directly responsible for revenue enhancement. (p. 396) Since there is no charge for aftercare services, funeral professionals might consider them a risky investment. However, the benefits of creating aftercare programs prove that they are useful for growing your business and increasing brand loyalty. In its blog, Homesteaders Life Company (2015) suggests the following ways an aftercare program can help build a funeral home’s business. The first is that successful aftercare programs will increase brand loyalty for your funeral home. As all funeral professionals know, branding is vital in growing your business. According to Merriam- Webster’s dictionary, branding is “The promoting of a product or service by identifying it with a particular brand.” Branding helps customers associate a certain product with a certain name. In the funeral business, this can be particularly difficult, as most things are pretty standard across businesses. The funeral home gets a call and goes to pick up the deceased. Then they prepare the body for viewing. Next, they either cremate or bury the
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