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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