May 2020

Page A6 MAY 2020 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS S ec t i on A 800-331-9093 For over thirty years Rick and Elizabeth Roberts have been supplying the funeral industry with superior quality handcrafted hardwood chapel furniture, still handcrafted by Rick & his craftsmen on a custom built to order basis. Large Baby Bier/Cremation Altar as the base of the Urn Carrier, offers multi-purpose functionality. Guaranteed 1 Unit in Stock on the 1 st of Each month! Urn Carrier Provincial Large Baby Bier/Cremation Altar RD/129 Cherry Queen Anne Formal Altar pictured with optional lighted Urn Riser Queen Anne Collection Introducing the Formal Altar New! Featured Products at robertsanddowney.com Pictured with Urn Carrier and Flag/Bible Holder By Christopher Kuhnen There’s More To It... Advance Funeral Planning Funeral Pre-Planning in the Age of COVID-19 We live in extraordinary times as the Coronavirus (COV- ID-19) pandemic sweeps the globe. This event has been a wake- up call for all of us. Everyone better understands the need to be prepared and properly plan ahead. Life circumstances can change in an instant. Around the world, and especially here in America, panic has gripped the nation. Supermarket shelves are being stripped bare of everyday essentials. Governors of many states have issued stay- at-home orders. Workplace telecommuting is how business gets done for many - including insurance companies. The lives and work habits of everyday working people, their employers, and business have been drastically altered, especially funeral service. Older adults and people who have underlyingmedical conditions are the most vulnerable among us. Everyone over age 60 is being re- quested to shelter themselves at home and limit social contact. So- cial distancing is the new buzz word. What age demographic is the largest attender of funeral services? Senior adults age 60+. As a result of these directives, visitation and funeral services are being significantly scaled back to “closest of immediate family members only” with “private burials” or “postponed until a later date”. Funeral home lounges in many states are closed. Funeral service webcasting has ramped up to unprecedented levels. It is not business as usual. Many senior adults have privately shared with me they can’t remember a time this frightening or uncertain in their lifetime. As COVID-19 marches on, we all must find it within ourselves to dig deeper, be stronger and more resilient. Let’s not forget to help those in need. We are all in this together. We are going to get through this together. Like everything else, this too shall pass. As we all adjust to what is now “the new normal”, keep in mind consumer interest in funeral pre-planning remains strong. This virus has people considering their own mortality and pre-plan- ning is increasingly top of mind right now. People still want to be in control of their final wishes. They still desire to make things easier on their loved ones. They still want to control their final expense costs, through pre-funding. Think no one will want to talk about pre-planning? No one needs to be sold on why it’s a good idea. COVID-19 brought the need for pre-planning into clear focus. Here’s what families want to know today: 1. What are my choices and options regarding services and mer- chandise? 2. How do I begin creating a plan? 3. How much will my plan cost? 4. What are all my pre-payment options? 5. How soon can I get started? Pre-planning is a two-step process. The most important part of pre-planning is creating a written plan with as much detail as possible. After the plan is created, pre-funding options can be dis- cussed and outlined. You can create a written plan with anyone us- ing the basic tools in my next paragraph. If your funeral home offers convenient package plans, in- corporate them into your presentation . Instead of offering the wide array of service and merchandise options you may normally offer, incorporate the funeral and/or cremation package plans your firm already offers. Make sure to keep them simple and affordable with merchandise flexibility built into the plan. For those individu- als who “ must see the casket, burial vault, or urn in person ” let them in- clude a budgeted amount in their prepaid plan today and come in to pick out the actual unit when gathering restrictions are lifted. Instruments of communication . Some people will not wish to meet with you in person. No worries. The primary tools for ongoing outreach and communication are your telephone and computer . Call all your current client prospects. Check in with them to see how they’re coping. Do they need anything you can assist with? Let them know you are here for them and can continue to serve them. Funeral Home and social media websites. Make sure ample information is posted and/or updated on all your social media plat- forms. Can more detailed information be added to the pre-plan- ning section of your website? If so, do it. Let families know you can meet with them through video conferencing or a telephone call. Video conferencing . If you don’t already have video conferenc- ing capabilities, get them. Companies like Skype, Cisco WebEx, Zoom, and Freeconferencecall.com are a few to explore. You will now be conducting more video conferences than you ever imag- ined. Don’t forget interactive video conferencing platforms such as Go-To-Meeting. Power point presentations, pictures, and most anything you would share in person can be shared on these plat- forms. You can complete almost all necessary paperwork, share gen- eral price lists, and gather information for goods and services con- tracts and insurance enrollment forms through such means. YouTube, Facebook, and Funeral Home website tutorial videos . Create and post video tutorials on topics like How to Make Funeral Prearrangement Plans , Choices and Options in Cremation Planning , How to Save Money on Your Final Expenses . Your videos should outline simple step by step processes viewers can understand and follow. Offer to e-mail all the tools and resources people need to work with you in creating their customized plan. Direct Mail . A direct mail or postcard campaign is a traditional way to reassure people all information about your preplanning pro- gram can be shared over the telephone, through a video con- ference call, e-mail, or standard mail. There is no need for a face-to-face conference. E-mail flexibility allows you to scan and transmit everything your prospective client needs to create their prearranged plan. The viewing of caskets, burial vaults, urns, flowers, prayer cards, etc., and other prearrangement de- tails can positively be handled via a telephone and computer video screen. Revisit those who have prearranged, but not prefund- ed . This change in day-to-day life may have caused them to shift their thinking about pre-funding. Those who have been temporarily laid off work will understandably want to hold onto their money. There are others who have the money to pre-fund. They may now wish to finalize their plans by secur- ing the prefunding option. Medicaid Assistance. COVID-19 or not, people still re- quire Medicaid assistance. That requires them to meet certain state eligibility guidelines. When families are in a spenddown mode they search for exempt assets. One way to create an ex- empt asset is to purchase an insurance policy specifically for your final expenses and then irrevocably assign it to a funeral home, funeral trust, or burial trust. If you prepay your funeral in accordance with Medicaid rules it is a lawful way to reduce your assets, a key part of making you eligible for Medicaid as- sistance. Make known this fact to your community, so families understand how you can help them. There is no need for your pre-planning program to stop . Your program merely needs to evolve to be able to ac- commodate individual needs in these challenging times. Keep reaching out to educate and inform people. Stay in touch and keep the lines of communication open. When we turn the cor- ner on this pandemic, you want to set yourself up to be the Pre- Need Planner people want to meet with. Christopher Kuhnen of Edgewood, Kentucky has been actively en- gaged in funeral service for over 34 years. As an insider into excel- lence, he is a trustworthy advisor to many funeral home and industry professionals. Kuhnen provides regular comprehensive consultation and support and additionally trains and bolsters leading death care professionals concerning profitability, management, pre-need sales and marketing, family service follow-up, and much more. Over the course of his professional career, he has presented nu- merous continuing educational seminars and workshops (on sales, marketing, pre-need, public relations, etc.) to a variety of national, state, and regional funeral associations. He is on the forefront of the industry and enjoys sharing his knowledge with others. Kuhnen is a Kentucky Licensed Funeral Director, Life Insurance Agent, and member in good standing with the Funeral Directors Association of Kentucky. Additionally, he is a Certified Marketing Specialist, as be- stowed by the National Marketing Academy and a Certified Funeral Celebrant as bestowed by the distinguished Insight Institute. He can be reached at cpkuhnen@gmail.com . FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS www.nomispublications.com Monthly Columns online at Continued from Page A4 ly important to them that those fu- neral homes show support for their medical professionals who are tire- lessly working to slow the spread. “Every day they step forward, ig- noring their personal feelings, to selflessly protect us,” said Robert Olthof , Regional Manager of New York and Pennsylvania for Rollings Funeral Service. He further men- tioned that these meal donations were just one small way in which we can show our support for the com- munity during these times. While it was important for Roll- ings Funeral Service to show sup- port for the medical professionals in their communities, they also want- ed to support their local restaurants that have been affected. “Whenever possible, we encouraged our funeral homes to use their local restaurants for their meal donations. A sense of community is more important now than it has ever been, and we want to raise our communities up in any way we can during this time,” said Greg Rollings. To check out all the good work the funeral homes of Rollings Funeral Service are doing, be sure to follow their new blog at www.rollingsfuneralservice.com/ who- we-are/blog With nearly 50 locations along the east coast, Rollings Funeral Service, Inc. is one of the largest private funer- al home owners in the eastern United States. With each of their firms be- ing operated on the local level, their managers work directly with Rollings to establish budgets, pricing, and best practices. Rollings prides them- selves on being a great alternative to selling to a publicly traded company and they continue to search for firms that will be a great fit for their grow- ing family of funeral homes. Rollings Funeral Service Time may be only a moment so keep a memory Necklace Urn Pendants for an Everlasting Keepsake. Urns hold a portion of the cremains. Sterling Silver and Gold pieces in stock. orders or catalog : www.cremationkeepsakes.com cremationkeepsakes@comcast.net 877-303-3144 CREMATION KEEPSAKES