If you operate a funeral home, crematory, cemetery, or other Death Care business you are approached with a lot of marketing opportunities.  Every business owner or manager has to look at the opportunities and weigh the cost of the particular marketing with the potential exposure available and the image it will bring to your Death Care brand.

One of the people that I have found to have a great deal of insight with marketing opportunities is Joe Weigel.  Joe has decades of experience in the Death Care public relations and marketing areas and espouses his wisdom twice a month in an email blast.

Recently I read one of his marketing emails and then asked him if I could publish the short message in Funeral Director Daily.  With Joe’s permission, here is a recent article of his titled, “Special Opportunities are often Not so Special”:  

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  When I read this marketing message from Joe Weigel the other day it immediately put two historical campaigns into my thoughts.  The following two marketing decisions turned out to have great benefit for the companies that promoted them and at the same time empowered employees to be able to make a difference in the communities they work in.

The Servant Attitude contribution —  I’ve shared in this space before that I feel a part of my spiritual belief is that of helping others, especially those whom I deem less fortunate than myself.  I continue with that belief today and it is not restricted to financial situations —  I’ve been more than blessed by offering my entrepreneurial and business experience services to several non-profit organizations.  And, I’ve really enjoyed mentoring young people when given the chance.

I’ve also lived in Minnesota which is where Target stores first appeared and the corporate headquarters of Target still remain.

At some point in the 1990’s I learned that the Target Corporation gave a percentage of their profits to charitable organizations.  I found that business extension to philanthropy a challenge to me and pondered how I should put our funeral home into that Target philanthropy category.  (You can read about Target’s philosophy here.)

After much thought in the 1990’s, what I decided to do was give a minimum of 1% of all top-line service revenue to charity over and above our marketing and charity budgets at the time.  At the time we probably did about $1.5 million in services revenue so 1% would equal about $15,000 annually.  I sent out quarterly business checks, with the total equal to that 1% of revenue we had decided on, to 501(c)3 organizations that my wife and I selected.

We did that for about 2 years and included a letter with the donation to the organization that requested that outside of who had to know, that the donation was to be anonymous.  Interestingly enough, word always got out about our donations anyway.

After about two years my wife and I realized that we were not knowledgeable about all the organizations that could use funds in our area.  At that point I instituted a policy that we would divide the donations by our number of full-time employees and each employee would be allowed to send the donation to the charity of their choice.  We had only a couple of rules — such as the receiving organization had to be an organization that was “helping people”.  So, places like Habitat for Humanity and the Red Cross qualified but such things as local sports booster clubs and the like didn’t.

Our employees took this charge serious and, in my opinion, were excited to be able to push philanthropic money over and above their own giving to organizations that they saw as desireable to our community’s well-being.  I also think it created a situation where they believed that “their opinions mattered” to management and that increased staff cohesiveness.

It turned out to be a great way to help fund various needed services in our community and a way to bring staff and employees together.

The Pay it Forward method —  One of the great success stories in our region is that of Bell Bank.  From modest beginnings it has grown from one family-owned bank in Fargo, North Dakota, to a bank company operating in many states with $14 billion in current assets and employee ownership.  It happens to be the bank where Funeral Director Daily banks at.

Bell Bank has a program titled “Pay it Forward” for all of its employees.  According to the company website about Pay it Forward, which you can access here, the program works like this, “Every year, each Bell Bank employee receives funds to give as they choose to individuals, families and organizations in need.”

So, there you have it.  Public relations and marketing guru Joe Weigel states that one way to get more for your buck is “establishing a committee to review opportunities”.  I agree and believe that it could even lead to better decisions and happier employees.

Finally, I would challenge all of you business owners and managers to find a way to increase your charitable giving.  I’m a big believer in “What goes around, comes around” and I would bet that the more you give, the better you will feel, and the more you will be blessed.

For More:  If you are interested in receiving twice monthly marketing ideas from Weigel Strategic Marketing you can take his advice that he gave me. . . .you can get on the mailing list to receive his bimonthly Morning Joe newsletter by sending him an email at

we**********************@gm***.com

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“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”

Central Co-op of Great Britain is an interesting company.  They are a company with a history of over 100 years and operate in the grocery, legal services, floral, and funeral business.  According to this Wikipedia page, the company operates over 1,000 funeral homes and is now the largest provider of Death Care services in the United Kingdom doing approximately a 16.5% market share of “at need” services in the country.

In comparison, in the United States it is estimated that Service Corporation International, North America’s largest Death Care operator conducts about 12% of United States deaths annually.  That’s about 1 out of every 8 deaths whereas Co-op Funeralcare conducts about 1 out of every 6 deaths in the UK.

Central Co-op, by being active in different businesses is in a unique position to tell us some things about trends in that country. . . trends, that in my way of thinking, may also relate to North America.  I regularly read articles from Funeral Service Times, a British death care publication, and just last week read a couple that started my mind working in “Big Picture” thought processes.

The first article came through the legal services division of Central Co-op and indicated that including provisions for charitable giving by individuals in last wills and testaments increased by 40% in 2023.  And, the amount of these gifts increased by Central Co-op legal clients to $89.8 million in U.S. dollar amounts.  That comes to a 27% yearly increase in the amount of charitable gifts that will eventually be distributed to beneficiaries.

Then in another article from the same publication I noticed that Co-op Legal Services is using the funeral branch of their company, Co-op Funeralcare,  to help consumers “understand the importance of later-life planning“.  In essence, Co-op Funeralcare branches will be promoting the will writing, and estate planning services through the the end of September.

In my opinion, this is a great leverage of “cross-selling” for the larger overall company.  And, while not even mentioning it in the promotion. . . it is pretty apparent that if a person is interested in a will then they should certainly be reminded of the value of pre-planning their own funeral during that time by either the funeral provider or the legal services provider. . . .which may lead to that “cross-sold” pre-need sale.

So, I would not be surprised if this promotion drives up the number of legal service clients and at the same time it may very easily drive up the number of pre-arrangements for Co-op Funeralcare.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  So, here’s where my “Big Picture” thinking comes into play.  More charitable giving considerations and more charitable giving monetary amounts indicate to me that the people doing this planning have more assets than ordinary.  I think that is a pretty simple assumption.

And, if that is the case in Great Britain it is probably also the case in North America.  In my way of thinking, because of that fact, if large churches, colleges, health care concerns, and other philanthropic organizations are not actively working on charitable planning with their older members, alumni, patients, and the like, then they are really missing an opportunity.

But. . . .what about funeral homes or cemeteries.   Well, I think large cemeteries should be in that same boat with some type of way to talk to lot owners or families of those already deceased in the cemetery about philanthropic ways that they could beautify or build revenue generating memorial features, such as columbaria or mausoleums, for the future benefit of the cemetery.

One thought that I have with private funeral homes. . . . . Why not, where legal and transferable, mention to those who are in their senior years and pre-arranging their funerals, to think about putting aside an amount of money in prepaid accounts for other loved ones, such as children and spouses?

Let’s just say a “Guaranteed Issue” product for a 45-year old costs a one-time premium of $9000 for $10,000 worth of Face Value coverage that grows at 2.5% annually.  If those people died at age 75, there should be about $21,000 worth of value for each available at the time of death.  So, over time, that $36,000 investment (4 policies x $9k each) by these parents could potentially produce $84,000 (4 policies at $21k death benefit 30 years later) of benefit to their children and spouses.

And, unlike other possible investments, it is a certainty that Death Care services will eventually be needed.  An opposing argument could be made that a 2.5% annual return for 30 years is pretty poor in relation to some other types of investments that these parents could make.  .  . . . . . However, a parental argument to that is that the money would be eventually spent on what it was meant for and not pulled out of an account for, what parents may consider, frivilous purposes.

Is it feasible that a couple making estate plans with two children would put away $36,000 extra at the time they are pre-planning their own funerals at age 75 for the two children and spouses who would be about 45 years of age?  Although non-tax deductible and despite a potential relative poor return, I think that there are many parents who have substantial assets who would do that for their children. . . .If so, it is an opportunity for a preneed advisor to turn 2 pre-arrangements into six pre-arrangements.

It’s probably true that those pre-arrangements for the 45-year olds would be transferred to another firm in another locality before they are exercised.  However, the initiating funeral home or preneed agency would receive the initial commission compensation on them today.  I once owned and operated a preneed agency so I know that commissions are the life-blood of operations in the current time period.  Maybe your agency and agents could use this extra commission today.

It’s just a thought I have. . . . I’m not 75 years of age yet, but I am a parent of two children who are building their way in life.  My wife and I are proud of their work ethic and making their way in their respective careers without our financial help, but we are also always interested in helping them out in ways that are practical. . . . .preneed accounts for them might be something we would consider.

For What it’s Worth:  Writing this article brought back memories to me of how one is always learning through things that they do.  For instance, I learned of the incredible value to a business of “cross-selling” when I served on a Wells Fargo Board during the term of Wells Fargo CEO Richard Kovacevich.  It was during his tenure that “cross-selling” in banking became a big thing. . . and, I’ve used his philosophy to turn “cross-selling” into a fixture of whatever business that I’ve ever been involved in  — it just makes sense. . . because you have a trusted customer for a specific need, they will generally trust you for another need before going to a stranger to do business with them. . . . . I would suggest to look for “cross-selling” opportunities wherever possible.

I’ve also had the opportunity to chair the board of Senior Living and Health Care company Knute Nelson and serve on the Board of Regents for the University of Minnesota and also the University of Minnesota Foundation.  In those situations I’ve witnessed first-hand what an active philanthropic arm of the organization can do for positive growth of the organization.  If I was operating a cemetery the first thing I would implement would be a non-profit philanthropic division in order to be able to receive donations from people who feel that your mission is critical to your community. . . . You might be surprised by those that do believe that and the amounts of money that they may have available for possible uses.

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“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”