Fortitude Research and Marketing Launches Guidant – the First Technology Platform to Enable Online Cemetery Property Sales

Patented platform goes live with Milestone Funeral Partners, marking a major step forward in the digital transformation of the deathcare profession

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif., Oct. 22, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Fortitude Research and Marketing today announced the launch of Guidant, a technology company pioneering digital commerce solutions for cemeteries and funeral homes. The patented platform enables families to purchase cemetery property and related services directly from cemeteries, completely online — a first for the deathcare profession.

While several companies have made it possible to arrange funerals and cremations online, Guidant is the first to bring direct cemetery property transactions — traditionally an offline, in-person process, requiring customers to meet with a sales professional — into a fully digital, secure, environment.

Guidant’s patented technology integrates interactive mapping, inventory management, and e-commerce functionality, allowing cemeteries to showcase available property, streamline purchasing, and enhance the consumer experience. According to industry research, thirty-five percent of consumers say they would purchase cemetery property online if they had the option.

“For too long, cemetery property sales have been one of the last major purchase categories still tied to a completely offline process,” said George Owens, Founder of Fortitude Research and Marketing which incubated Guidant. “Guidant changes that. Our platform brings the transparency, convenience, and accessibility that today’s consumers expect — while empowering cemetery operators to grow their business in a digital-first world.”

The company’s first live implementation launched at Brooklawn Memorial Park in Portland, Maine, a partner of Milestone Funeral Partners, a forward-thinking funeral, cemetery, and crematory company serving funeral homes and cemeteries across multiple states in the Northeast.

“We’re proud to be the first to bring Guidant’s technology to market,” said Mike Martel, President of Milestone Funeral Partners. “This platform makes it easier for families to make meaningful, informed decisions — and it gives our locations a new way to reach people where they are. Guidant represents the kind of innovation our profession has needed for years.”

Guidant’s technology is patented, with 11 additional partner locations currently in pre-launch. The company is now entering an active growth phase, seeking to add new locations to the platform as well as seedinvestment to accelerate deployment, expand its engineering team, and scale adoption across North America.

“This isn’t just a digital tool,” added Owens. “It’s the foundation for how the next generation of cemetery commerce will operate — built with respect for tradition, and the innovation needed for the future.”

About Guidant

Guidant is a technology company transforming the way cemeteries sell property and services. With a patented digital platform that enables families to browse, select, and purchase cemetery property online, Guidant empowers cemeteries to modernize their sales process and meet the expectations of today’s digital consumer.
Learn more at: OurGuidant.com

About Milestone Funeral Partners

Milestone Funeral Partners, led by experienced funeral directors Michael Martel and Timothy “TJ” Smart, focuses on supporting community-based Managing Partners and fostering entrepreneurship. With a dedication to people and local caregivers, the company ensures its businesses are led by the best caregivers in each community they serve.
Learn more at: Milestonefuneralpartners.com

An April cyberattack which you can read about here probably cost the parent company of Great Britain’s largest funeral home operator, Co-op Funeralcare, about a US$ 107 million profit swing but didn’t seem to affect the number of funeral plans sold by the company as they increased over 17% from the previous year.

One reason that funeral plans could be increasing in number, according to a survey by Co-op Funeralcare, is that the country is having legislative discussions about an “assisted dying bill” which has made the subject top of mind.

The cyberattack, which not only affected the funeral division of Co-op but other divisions as well, ” . . .highlighted many of our strengths. But more importantly, it also highlighted areas we need to focus on,” company CEO Shirine Khoury-Haq commented in the linked article.

As to the increase in funeral plans, “The group said the increase in funeral plan sales marked a “strong step forward” in performance, contributing to wider investment in services designed to support members at “moments that matter” according to an article in Funeral Service Times.

This article in Insurance Business magazine titled “Major UK retailer’s cyber breach offers lessons for U.S. businesses” is one article I would suggest you read as you think about increased Death Care business technology and the increased use of it by your client families.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  I can go back 50 years to a “Consumer Education” class in high school where I remember my teacher saying, “It’s always good to be behind in your insurance“.  He did not mean that it was good to be behind in your payments. . . .

What he meant and explained is that insurance is good to have and being behind in collecting on insurance claims is a “good thing”. . . . It’s a good thing to be “behind” because if you are collecting on auto insurance you’ve probably had an auto accident and if you are collecting on a claim on your home you’ve probably had an incident at your house, and on and on with health insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, etc.

Society moves on and new reasons for insurance pop up — such as insurance on the technology your business uses.  Here’s an excerpt from the above linked Insurance Business article as it pertains to the Co-op cyber attack:

“Co-op did not have dedicated cyber-insurance in place;” a spokesman told Insurance Business. “Instead of investing in insurance, they chose to invest in enhanced cyber security which ensured they were able to contain the threat and minimise the impact for our members and customers.”

As a result, most of the financial hit will not be recoverable through insurance.”

 

That same article concluded with this paragraph:

“As cyber threats continue to evolve, US companies – large and small – should reassess their own preparedness, balancing investments in technology, staff training, and insurance to mitigate the growing risks of cybercrime.”

I’m no insurance expert but this incident and the costs involved should prompt all funeral home owners and managers to have this “cybersecurity” insurance discussion with their providers.

Related — Here is the website for Co-op Funeralcare

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PlotBox Appoints Cindy Yates as Senior VP of Sales, North America

Tues Aug 26th, 2025, Boston: Leading deathtech solutions provider PlotBox today announced the appointment of Cindy Yates to a newly created role as Senior VP of Sales, North America.

Yates brings a wealth of experience to the role, having led teams within the EdTech, FinTech, GovTech, and non-profit sectors, and 20 years as an executive team member of multiple Private Equity-backed companies.

Yates said, “I’m delighted to join PlotBox in helping to spearhead our next phase of growth here in the US.  I’ll be applying my background in delivering growth and retention strategies for multimillion-dollar SaaS companies to put us in the best possible position as we scale the business, onboard new customers, and introduce new innovations to the marketplace.  We have an exceptional sales team here on the ground, and I’m looking forward to increasing our footprint and building upon the successes we’ve already achieved across North America.”

Yates’s appointment follows a recent strategic investment by Serent Capital, a growth-focused private equity firm, creating a partnership designed to help fuel PlotBox’s expansion, drive continued innovation, and enhance customer outcomes across North America, the UK, Ireland, and APAC.

PlotBox CCO Leona McAllister said, “I’m very pleased to welcome Cindy to the PlotBox commercial team. Cindy’s record of delivering fast, organic growth within SaaS business environments is second to none, making her the ideal person to bring more leadership to the region as we grow. That, in turn, will help us to continue to serve the complex needs of sophisticated, large-scale operators, with the scalability needed to support the needs of multi-location cemeteries, crematories, and funeral homes of all sizes.”

PlotBox is the innovative cloud-based deathcare management solution that helps cemeteries, crematories, and funeral homes to excel.  The intuitive, easy-to-use platform seamlessly places all essential deathcare management functions into one place. This enables customers to serve better, save time, increase revenue, reduce risk, and sustain long-term growth.

The 130-strong company is headquartered in Northern Ireland, with on-the-ground teams in the United States. This means the growing multidisciplinary team can consistently deliver exceptional levels of service, both globally and locally.PlotBox is more than a vendor. They are a dedicated partner focused on each customer’s success – and the families they serve.

If you read Funeral Director Daily and listen to me when I have a chance to be a guest on an industry podcast you know that I believe that there is a great, and growing, potential market in what I call the “Cremation Aftermarket”.  My take on the the “Cremation Aftermarket” is that many people who become the guardians of cremated remains don’t know what to do with those remains.

Because of that those remains end up in closets or on shelves in homes and as time passes the guardians of such remains question what they are going to do with them, but never get around to doing anything.

It’s because of that that I think a great opportunity that is available to funeral homes is to let these guardians know — during preneed, at need, and even well into post-need — that there are options to memorialize those remains and take the responsibility of being the guardian off of their shoulders.  It’s especially important when you realize that a funeral home can not only help a guardian make a decision but the funeral home may also profit off the sale of many of these cremation aftermarket products and memorials.

As a matter of fact, on this episode of Podcasket, I bring up the “Cremation Aftermarket” and the host, Tukios CEO Curtis Funk makes the comment about a built-in market for such when he comments, “. . you can market to (these guardians) and they want you to market to them. . . . .Reach-out again. . . (think of it as) Life-cycle marketing”.

Podcasket Episode #6:  Cremation Aftermarket discussion begins at the 39:06 mark and lasts for about six minutes.

With that comment CEO Funk is acknowledging the great amount of people who have cremated remains within their guardianship and probably are wondering how to relieve themselves of that responsibility of guardianship in a tasteful fashion.

Late last week I learned of a great promotion to do just that.  My friend Kelly Roberts, founder of funeral service alternative Sendoff, sent me an email about his upcoming “Ashes among the Oaks” event.

You can learn about the event here, but what it is is an opportunity to learn, in a gentle way, how to “let go” of those remains.  Roberts and the Minneapolis metropolitan-area based Sendoff have teamed with Better Place Forests of the St. Croix Valley for an afternoon in the local Better Place Forest.

My guess is that Roberts, Sendoff, and Better Place Forests hope to make some sales for Better Place Forests with this event, but reaching-out and giving these guardians an opportunity to realize that some type of memorialization can be probably should be done for the cremations remains that they brought home yesterday or decades ago is great public relations on its own.

Sendoff, which sub-titles itself “Funerals Reimagined” is, in my opinion on the right track to capture tomorrow’s Death Care consumer.  In a world where that consumer will make choices about Disposition, Celebration, and Memorialization, a company offering what Sendoff does, especially in the Celebration and Memorialization modes, may capture much of the business from consumers that traditional funeral homes no longer appeal to.

Take a look at this page from the Sendoff employee profiles and read the bios to get an idea of some of the celebrations that many might prefer for themselves.

Here is the website for Sendoff.

Related — “Lost in a sea of ash – When wildfire destroys a home – and a loved one’s urn – the search begins.  Los Angeles Times (CA)

Here is a short video from KARE TV – Channel 11 NBC Minneapolis about “Sendoff – Funerals Reimagined”

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DEAD Talks 2025 Delivers Groundbreaking Sales and Leadership Insights in Las Vegas

STERLING, Va. (March 17, 2025) – The ICCFA’s 2025 DEAD Talks Sales Conference, held February 4-6 at the Park MGM in Las Vegas, brought together 402 deathcare sales professionals—including 173 first-time attendees—from 40 states, Canada, and Guatemala. This marks the highest attendance recorded since 2012.

With an electric atmosphere and an agenda packed with actionable insights, this year’s eventcentered around the theme “Mindset Matters,” emphasizing the power of perspective in driving sales success. The conference featured a dynamic lineup of keynote speakers, peer-driven DEAD Talks presentations, and interactive workshops designed to equip attendees with innovative strategies for growth.

“This year’s DEAD Talks was truly the best I have ever attended in my 9+ years with ICCFA,” said Erin Creger of Security National Financial Corporation, echoing the excitement and enthusiasm that filled the conference.

The event kicked off with a compelling keynote from Matthew Pollard, who explored the power of storytelling in sales with “Invisible Persuasion: Building Trust and Profits Through Story.” His session provided attendees with actionable steps to replace outdated sales tactics with a fresh, emotionally resonant approach.

Day two began with an engaging keynote by Art Sarkissian, “Mindset of the Consumer,” which emphasized understanding family personas to create meaningful connections. Throughout the rest of the conference, attendees participated in 20 fast-paced DEAD Talks presentations covering a range of topics, including marketing, pre-need motivators, personal branding, leveraging technology, and more.

“This conference was fast-paced and packed with so many interesting, valuable tools to enhance my sales skills and really help me connect with families and increase sales,” said Terri DiFore, attendee and ICCFA Educational Foundation scholarship recipient. “I walked away with a wealth of information and a renewed passion to bring those tools back to my team. The speakers were engaging and motivated the audience. Great conference and looking forward to attending another.”

Reflecting on the success of his first DEAD Talks as Chairman of the ICCFA Sales & Marketing Committee, Mike Harens remarked, “This year’s DEAD Talks was an incredible opportunity to engage with top deathcare experts and gain insights that will directly impact our businesses. The energy, connections, and strategies shared made this year’s event truly unforgettable, and it was a fantastic way to kick off 2025.”

With its forward-thinking programming and collaborative environment, DEAD Talks reaffirmed its position as the premier sales conference in the profession. DEAD Talks will return to the Park MGM in Las Vegas on January 13-15, 2026. More details will be available soon at iccfa.com/sales.

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Founded in 1887, the International Cemetery, Cremation, and Funeral Association is the only international trade association representing all segments of the cemetery, cremation, funeral, and memorialization profession. The association is comprised of more than 10,000 members in the cemetery, funeral home, and crematory industries, as well as supplier and related businesses worldwide.

Suffice it to say that if you are in a C-Suite office at Matthews International you probably have a lot on your plate right now.  Amidst other items that we will report on later including a large shareholder’s discontent leading to Board member nominations, the sale process of the SGK Brand segment, and an on-going dispute with Tesla in the company’s Industrial Technologoy segment the company reported their Fiscal Year 2025 1st Quarter report last Thursday.

In general, total sales for Matthews International dropped 10.7% in comparison to the 1st Quarter of Fiscal Year 2024.  According to the press release of the company’s 1st Quarter, which you can access here, total sales for 1Q2025 came in at $401.8 million as compared $450.0 million in 1Q2024 — that’s a dollar volume drop of $48.2 million.

The company’s Memorialization segment registered sales of $190.5 million for the 1st Quarter of 2025 as compared to recorded sales of $208.1 million for the same period of FY2024 — a drop of about 8.5% for the segment.  It should also be noted that Matthews International operates on a Fiscal Year calendar in which their first quarter reports results of October thru December 2024.

The company was able to hold up their Memorialization segment EBITDA for 1Q25 as they registered an EBITDA of $36.6 million on those sales of $190.5 million which is a better percentage (19.2%) than that of 1Q2024 where they recorded an EBITDA of $36.7 million (17.6%) on Memorialization segment sales of $208.1 million.

In prepared statements in the press release about the Memorialization segment Matthews International CEO Joseph Bartolacci made these comments, “Adjusted EBITDA for the Memorialization segment was relatively unchanged compared to the first quarter last year. The segment reported lower sales compared to last year primarily reflecting the impact of lower U.S. deaths and the prior year included sales in connection with a reduction in backlog of granite memorials. However, the impact of these declines on adjusted EBITDA for the current quarter was mitigated by the benefits from ongoing productivity and cost reduction initiatives and improved price realization.”

Other company news from Matthews International:

February 6 — “Matthews International announces positive ruling in arbitration with Tesla”.  Press Release

February 3 — “Matthews highlights significant shareholder support and underscores Board’s commitment to Long-term value creation.”  Press Release

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While we cannot guarantee success with every idea, one of the reasons for reading Funeral Director Daily is that we endeavor to give ideas to Death Care professionals that can have a positive impact on the financial results of your funeral home, crematory, or cemetery.

And, with the continuing choice of cremation as a disposition option we all know that many families choose to permanently memorialize their loved one, if they do it at all, in a way other than a monument in a cemetery. . . . which has lead to less monument sales and less profits for funeral homes and cemeteries via those sales channels.

So, seemingly any way in which one can get someone’s remains, whole casketed body or cremated, to be buried in a cemetery would provide an opportunity for ancillary income through the sale of a monument.

That’s where our story comes in today where in this article from the Minnesota Tribune Two Rivers Monuments owner Julia Gusafson states, ““I tell people, ‘This is your story. We’re not all going to be written about in history books, but we can write your story in stone.’”

Gustafson goes on to tell potential customers that inscribing words like “Beloved”, “Devoted”, and the like are “only a small part of a person’s contributions to society, their interests, or the way they held a family together.”   Today, with improved engraving technology, much more can be put on a memorial marker. . . . . and Gustafson, and others inquire about potential clients life interests.  That’s led, believe it or not, to a small but growing movement that “a life story will inevitably reveal a favorite food.”

“Recipes” happen to be one of the growing individual choices that are being engraved on the monuments.  Candi L. Cann, a professor of Religion at Texas’ Baylor University has actually published a book on the subject titled “Dying to Eat“.  Cann states in the article, “It’s the best recipes, the signature dish that everyone brings to the community potluck or always to the family’s feasting. The ones everyone’s been waiting their whole lifetime to make.”

The article also says this of Cann and what she has witnessed,  “Cann has noticed gravestone recipes at cemeteries near her in Texas — and she’s not surprised. The tradition of honoring the deceased through food is ancient, from Roman times to Dia de los Muertos celebrations in Mexico to the Protestant communal repast.”

The article also points out that another book is in the works. . . by Rosie Grant and titled, “To Die For“.   According to the article Grant has “found 45 of them (Recipe monuments) worldwide, mostly in North America. Grant is writing a cookbook featuring headstone recipes which will be released in the fall of 2025.”

Here is the website for Two Rivers Monuments

And, here is the website for a national provider of monuments, Memorial Monuments

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:   This is seemingly unusual and certainly a small niche market for monuments.  However, I think that there is more to this story than meets the eye.

I think this type of story points out that most people do want to be remembered. . . . and funeral homes have not always spent the time to figure out what the deceased person wants to be remembered for.   That remembrance thought can probably be drawn out most easily during a pre-arrangement conference.  However, if there is no pre-arrangement conference it may be something that can be drawn out and made sense of by the family at the time of arrangements.

And, in the world of online pre-arrangements and arrangements, the growing technology of artificial intelligence (AI) may be able to help.  As a matter of fact, I saw a demonstration of a currently in use product from Prelude that is starting to use AI in pre-arrangements to allow for suggested ideas to the consumer. . . . and, I was impressed.

In a world that continues to move to simpler (and less revenue producing) human dispositions of the body such as direct cremation, I think the ability to be able to offer more products through a memorialization thought process can only be good for traditional funeral homes.

It may be a recipe for some while for others it may be college logo or Rotary Club membership logo.  Whatever it is, if you can get one to believe in permanent memorialization, the chance is there for a bevy of products to be sold.

Finally, I think that this illustration of what could happen points out that the “skill set” of your pre-arrangement counselors may make an incredible difference on sales going forward.  Visionary thinking and creativity may be much more important in the future than “sales closing” skills in raising revenue in this service that is of growing importance for death care providers.

That “skill set” of vision and creativity may make the difference between pre-arranged cremations with no services and pre-arranged cremation dispositions followed by an ever increasing spend on celebrations and memorializations.

And I think that is one area where Artificial Intelligence in pre-arrangement conferences, especially online, may make a big difference in the revenues and profits of funeral homes as we move into the next generation of death care sales culture.

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DEAD Talks 2025 Set to Inspire Innovation and Drive Sales Success in Las Vegas

STERLING, Va. (Dec. 16, 2024) – The International Cemetery, Cremation & Funeral Association (ICCFA) invites deathcare professionals to DEAD Talks 2025, an annual sales-focused conference offering cutting-edge insights into data-driven performance, technology integration, and artificial intelligence. The event will occur February 4-6, 2025, at the Park MGM Las Vegas.

This year’s conference features sessions to give attendees actionable knowledge to transform their sales and business growth approach.

Sessions include:

• Using Data to Drive Better Performance:
  • “Three Surprising Discoveries from Consumer Insights” – George Owens, Fortitude Research and Marketing, will explore unexpected insights into consumer behavior.
  • “Interactive Workshop: Leverage, Plan & Act on Current Industry Consumer Insights”—Dan Kientzel, Service Corporation International, will offer practical tools for harnessing data for better results.
• Ways to Leverage Technology in Your Sales Process:
  • “Un-Cremating Your Profits with Technology” – Eric Banks, Funeral 365, will explain how technology can unlock new revenue streams.
  • “Interactive Workshop” – Nick Timpe, CSE, webCemeteries, will provide hands-on guidance on incorporating technology into sales.
• Artificial Intelligence: The Future of Funerals:
  • “Artificial Intelligence 2.0”: Chuck Gallagher, American Funeral Financial, will discuss how AI advancements are transforming the profession.
  • “AI Impact on Funerals”—Aaron Avner, Tukios, will discuss AI’s practical applications in serving families.

The conference will close with a motivational wrap-up session, “Monday Morning Mindset,” featuring Shane Pudenz of Carriage Services and Erin Creger of Security National Family of Companies.

Registration information:
Early bird registration is available through Dec. 30, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. EST.

Online registration closes Jan. 29, 2025.

Hotel accommodations: Park MGM, located at 3770 S Las Vegas Blvd., is a smoke-free property on the Las Vegas Strip and offers discounted rates for attendees. The ICCFA room block closes on Jan. 3, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. EST. 

Why attend?
Attendees will gain expert insights, practical tools, and networking opportunities to drive sales success and stay ahead of deathcare trends. DEAD Talks 2025 is the must-attend event for deathcare professionals looking to grow their businesses and adopt innovative practices.

Learn more: For more information or to register, visit https://iccfa.com/sales/ or contact the ICCFA meetings department at 703-391-8400.

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Founded in 1887, the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association is the only international trade association representing all cemetery, cremation, funeral and memorialization segments. The association is comprised of more than 10,000 members in the cemetery, funeral home and crematory industries, supplier and related businesses worldwide.