February 2020

Page A18 FEBRUARY 2020 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS S ec t i on A ProfessionalMortuaryEquipment.com WINTER 2020 Hydraulic Foot Pump $3995 Steel/Battery $5395 Steel/Battery/Scale $5945 Aluminum/Battery $6895 Aluminum/Battery/Scale $7445 Crematory scissor lift Laminated body storage board $199 Casket Flag Bands (5) $39.95 single casket flag band $9.95 International Mortuary Shipping 1-800-604-9576 Mortuary stretcher $895 Oversized stretcher $1495 hydraulic embalming table $3495 Church trucks $425 slider board $99 Oversized $119 disaster body bag 5 pack $150 standard body bag 10 pack $73 By Mark Bowser Success Leaves Clues Last month in this column we discussed the Philosophy of the Vault . We talked about how all success is created symbolizing a formula similar to opening a locked safe. This month we want to back up just a little and talk about successful people themselves. What is it about the Super Successful? It is almost as if they at- tract success to them like a magnet to metal. What is it about them? No matter how successful you and I may already be – we can be more. So, how can we boost our results and join the Super Successful? How can you take your funeral home to the next level and become the best funeral home in your city, state, or region? Difficult you say? Some are even thinking impossible as they read those words. Think again. We know everything there is to know about the Super Success- ful. They have been studied for decades. I have studied themmy- self for many years. And, I have stood on the shoulders of the gi- ants who came before me who studied them too. We know how the Super Successful think. We know what they believe. We know their habits. We know the actions they have taken. We know what has worked for them and what has failed…and we have learned why…and so can you. Write this down. I want you to make yourself a note and carry it around with you for a week. This is what this whole concept boils down to. Are you ready? Here it is! Success Leaves Clues! Success Leaves Clues! If we do the things that the Super Suc- cessful have done then we are going to get similar if not identical results. If we learn to think the way they think and adopt their positive habits as our own then success is inevitable. So, if you don’t like where you are right now or the results you have been getting – then realize you aren’t stuck…unless you choose to be stuck. You can change. You can become better. You can reach your dreams. But, you have to change course. If your ship is in unfriendly territory then you need to steer the rudder The Foundations of Success for Funeral Directors towards favorable seas. It is all about your beliefs. And, your beliefs lead to your thoughts. And, your thoughts lead to your actions. Be- fore you know it, you will have adopted a success philosophy that has become a habit. One of the elements of being Super Successful is asking better questions. Lousy questions lead to lousy answers. The Super Suc- cessful ask better and better questions and that leads to the answers they need to win. One of my colleagues, Brian Tracy , used to tell a fascinating story about Albert Einstein. In 1942, Einstein was teaching a physics class at Oxford University. He had just given a final exam to the seniors in the physics program. He and his teaching assistant were walking across campus and Einstein could tell that something was bother- ing his assistant. Finally, the assistant burst out his quandary. “Dr. Einstein, I am confused. The exam that you just administered to the senior class – isn’t that the same exam you gave them a year ago?” “Yes, it was the same exam,” said Dr. Einstein. “Then, how do you give the same exam to the same students two years in a row?” “Oh, that is simple,” said Einstein. “The answers have changed.” What did Einstein mean that the answers had changed? We may not understand every nugget he was referring to – Einstein had a tendency to think on a different plane then most of us. But, his statement is applicable to us today. What concerns did you have a year ago? It isn’t the same concerns you have today, is it?The answers have changed. What goals did your funeral home have a year ago? Most of those goals are different today. The answers have changed. Where was the American economy a few years ago? It isn’t in the same place today. The answers have changed. In order for us to get better answers, we have to ask better ques- tions. My son is a sophomore in high school. It must have been when he was in fourth or fifth grade when I experienced the ‘New Math’ for the first time. If you haven’t experienced it as of yet – just let me say it is an eye opener. One night, I was helping Andrew with his homework in long divi- sion. Let me tell you, I can do long division. We’re not talking about rocket science. We’re talking about elementary school long division. As we were working, I corrected Andrew on his process. He stopped me and said, “Dad, my teacher doesn’t want me to do that way.” “What do you mean your teacher doesn’t want you to do it that way? That is how you do long division. How does she want you to do it?” Well, Andrew proceeded to showme how they were taught to calculate a long division problem. Remember how we were all taught. Let’s say we needed to divide 5,227 by 15. We would write down the 15, draw the line up and over and put 5,227 under the line. Then, we would ask ourselves, “Hmm, how many times does 15 go into the first two digits?” In this case it is howmany times does 15 go into 52. Oh, they don’t do it that way in the ‘New Math.’ They calculate – I mean guess – how many times 15 goes into the entire number of 5,227. It is supposed to develop their in depth thinking or some other mumbo jumbo. I was getting so frustrated that I actually said to Andrew, “What! That makes no sense. Your teacher and I could both have the same one hundred problems, we would get the same answer, but I would beat her speed wise every time!” My wife gasped, “You can’t say that to him.” Of course she was right, but my exasperation had gotten a hold of my tongue. So, what is my point here? If we want to go to the next level of success, we just can’t change the process and randomly call it new and improved. If we want better answers, then we need to ask better questions. Never ask lousy negative questions such as “I wonder if it is possible for us to do xyz?” Always ask pos- sibility questions such as “How can we accomplish xyz by June 1st?” The most powerful question you can ask is “How?” How – opens the doors. How – overcomes obstacles. How – reveals the success to come. What answers does your funeral home need this year? What challenges are you dealing with? Where do you want to be in a few months? To get the answers to questions like these and more – you need to look at things with fresh eyes. You do that by looking for the clues. Success Leaves Clues! See you next month. www.nomispublications.com Funeral Home & Cemetery News Contributors share insights and exchange ideas. Blogs To view a video on this topic from one of Mark Bowser’s live sem- inars then go to https://youtu.be/NXRBFB8cLvM Excerpted and adapted from Mark Bowser’s Seminar, The Foundation of Success for Funeral Directors. To schedule Mark Bowser as a speaker for your next event or conference then email mark@BrightCorporation.com or visit www.MarkBowser.com Mark Bowser is the Vice President at one of the funeral industries premier stationary publishers, the Bright Corporation, and one of the top Professional Business Speakers in the United States. He is the au- thor of several books including The 3 Pillars of Success for Funeral Directors and Sales Success with Zig Ziglar. He can be reached at 1-800-428-6424 or email mark@BrightCorporation.com. als at Sea LLC (NEBAS) has announced their newly up- dated ADA compliant website for 2020. White reports that 80 percent of their clients access their informative website NewEnglandBurialsAtSea.com via their favorite search engine. While most clients are senior and fairly computer savvy, they might have a hard time vi- sually seeing what is on screen and or hearing videos or dic- tated online prose. For that reason White said, “Let’s get ahead of the online challenges and make our website even easier to use and understand by becoming the first in the burial at sea industry to become website ADA Compliant.” In short, ADA website compliance means that a website must make the information it holds as accessible as possible to Americans with a range of disabilities. While the ADA it- self may not be very specific about web compliance the goal is clear: to reach the same level of accessibility online that people with disabilities are guaranteed by law offline. The Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990. Twenty years later, the United States Department of Justice released an update, the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design. These standards cover the design of physical spaces and have been interpreted to include web locations as well. “Bigger text with more contrast gives our users who may be visually, or hearing impaired an easier way to gather their fact-finding information while maintaining dignity due to the normal aging process. According to White’s brother and webmaster, Domi- nic White, “there are 38 published ADA requirements to maintain compliance with. I am currently working with the latest online vision technology for online eye care cen- ters from coast to coast, so it makes sense for NEBAS cus- tomers to have this technology on our website. We intend to be fully updated and compliant by first quarter 2020.” Some examples of compliance for the web include: text al- ternatives for non-text content; captions and other alterna- tives for multimedia; creating content that can be present- ed in different ways, including by assistive technologies, without losing meaning; having all functionality available from a keyboard; helping users to navigate and find con- tent, as well as text being readable and understandable. New England Burials at Sea becomes Online ADA Compliant MARSHFIELD,MA— Captain Brad White, founder of New England Buri- Continued on Page A19