The very happiest of birthdays to HearseHub! Five years ago, HearseHub was launched with less than 100 vehicles and less than 350 “hits” in its first month. Today we’re proud to average around 300 vehicles and over 8,000 hits a month!

  My company, Advanced Integration, created and manages HearseHub for Funeral Home & Cemetery News. Advanced Integration was started in 1994, and specialized in inventory control, utilizing bar code data collection. Over the years, we evolved into a company that employed inventory management for vehicle databases on the Internet. We also design and manage advertising websites that operate similarly to Autotrader. Groups of dealerships and publications like Funeral Home & Cemetery News utilize this technology to the fullest extent.

  Mullen Coach, one of the dealerships we support, allowed us to first come into contact with Funeral Home & Cemetery News. Intrigued with the paper, we contacted Peggy Rouzzo, Editor of Funeral Home & Cemetery News. We introduced an idea to create an Autotrader-style system for the funeral vehicle industry.

  Peggy realized the potential immediately and was quite enthusiastic about the concept. Without Peggy’s foresight, HearseHub would be just another homeless idea. I’ve been in sales most of my life, and have had the pleasure of managing Advanced Integration since conception. I quickly learned that bringing new ideas to market is often met with undue skepticism and derision. Everybody can, and will, tell you why your new idea won’t work. Sadly, many of these detractors just want to keep their heads down, trudging along as usual, never looking up, closed-off to innovation. Then there are people like Peggy, constantly surveying the market, fearlessly receptive to new concepts and new opportunities.

  We launched our site in July 2011. Far from smooth sailing, HearseHub was met with great clamoring storms of harsh criticism. Countless voices called us flash-in-the-pan, soon to be gone. Many of these detractors didn’t want this type of technology to exist and still don’t. According to them, visibility and competition in the forum is not always good for everyone.

  Here’s a story to illustrate my point. Years ago, I purchased an antique clock widely appreciated for its rarity and value. I was convinced that the value would increase the longer the clock was in my possession. Shortly thereafter, Ebay was established. Ebay allows individuals to advertise their personal items within a national buying market. When I first glanced a clock like mine on the site, the asking price was tremendous, and I soon found myself full of sublime validation by my earlier purchase. Quickly, however, my exuberance disappeared. Much to my dismay, I discovered that these clocks were not rare at all. So common are these clocks, that you the reader undoubtedly have one in your basement or attic or garage. Ebay became saturated with clocks like mine and the price plummeted. Mine now has the coveted honor of being a doorstop in my home. The point is, it just took an easy-to-use national marketing website to bring my attention to the limited value of my treasure. My story is just as common as my clock.

  HearseHub provides the same service by offering a national market for funeral vehicles. At our site, you’ll shop comfortably for the vehicle you need, while comparing competitive prices. You may even discover that the vehicle you are looking for is not as rare as you thought.