Business Consultant and life-long Elvis Presley fan Lacy Robinson attended Lisa Marie Presley’s memorial service in Memphis, TN at the Graceland Mansion. Team member Michaela O’Leary sat down with Lacy to share her experience of attending this special event.

 

You’ve mentioned you were a lifelong Elvis fan..Can you expand a little more on that?

For as long as I can remember I have been an Elvis Presley fan. I share this passion with my best friend, Lauren. We bonded over Elvis in elementary school and he truly is the foundation of our friendship. 30 years ago, Lauren and I hosted an Elvis memorial at a local park. I had cups, plates, and napkins with Johnson Funeral Home printed on them which were left over from my grandfather’s funeral. We marked out Johnson and Home wrote Elvis before Funeral. Honoring the life and legacy of Elvis was something we were always into. Both of us have been to Graceland multiple times throughout our lives and this was our first time going together.

What can you tell us about Lisa Marie’s legacy and the legacy she left on Memphis?

Following the life of Elvis natural led to following the life of Lisa Marie. For Elvis fans its more than his music. Lisa Marie was a fierce protector of her father’s legacy. Her desire to stay connected to fans is her legacy. In the days following her death I read an Instagram post from David Kessler’s, who had been helping Lisa Marie through her grief after her son’s death. Kessler shared that Lisa Marie opened her home to other bereaved parents to co-lead grief support meetings. Lisa Marie never shied away from connecting with people on a deeply personal level when the opportunity was presented.

 

What service highlights stood out to you the most?

Walking up to Graceland and taking our place on the front Lauren and I knew this was going to be a memorable tribute. Elvis hymns played during the two hours leading up to the memorial starting and the entire time we were in the procession for Mediation Garden. The performances of Jason Clark & The Tennessee Mass Choir and The Blackwood Brothers Quartet were outstanding. I really appreciated Billy Blackwood recalling the time when Elvis introduced his baby girl Lisa Marie to both him and his father, James Blackwood, Sr.. He also shared that his father sang at the funeral for Elvis’ mother Gladys and the quartet performed at Elvis’ funeral. The Blackwood Brothers Quartet was truly honored to perform Elvis’ favorite hymn, “How Great Thou Art” and “Sweet, Sweet Spirit” at Lisa Marie’s service.

Jerry Schilling, one of Elvis’ closest friends and confidant to Lisa Marie, delivered a beautiful eulogy. He shared details about Lisa Marie being the first baby he had ever held and his nickname for Lisa Marie was “Memphis”. The poem written by one of Lisa Marie’s twin daughters was read by Priscilla Presley. It was poignant and heartbreaking. Priscilla’s final words were, “But the old soul is always with me. She doesn’t drift above.’ That says it all and thank you all for being here. Our heart is broken. Lisa, we all love you.” The letter written by Lisa Marie’s daughter Riley which was read by her husband, Ben-Smith-Peterson was incredibly moving. In it Riley wrote, “I hope I can love my daughter the way you loved me, the way you loved my brother and my sisters”. That was the first time it was made public that Lisa Marie was a grandmother. It was a very stirring moment during the memorial.

We had a direct view of family members and celebrity guests arriving to the memorial and walking to their seats under the tent. I immediately recognized Austin Butler and his girlfriend Kaia Gerber who arrived and took their seats about an hour before the memorial started. We recognized Baz Luhrmann, director of the movie Elvis and Linda Ramone when they arrived as well.

How did the service differ from other services you’ve attended?

I had this same conversation with Ed Defort of NFDA because there were noticeable differences that him and I picked up on. There was a depth to the service that was certainly unique. The combination of live performances, poems, a letter, and eulogies gave the entire tribute layers. There was seamless flow to the order of service. I especially like the Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York message was titled “A Tribute to the Children”. Speaking directly to Lisa Marie’s children offering hope and support was one of the most special parts of the service.

 

Where did you stay when you traveled to the service? Did the place you stayed do anything special for the service?

Lauren and I decided to make the drive down to Memphis the minute memorial plans were made public. I immediately clicked on my Marriott app to secure a room at the Courtyard Marriot less than three miles from Graceland. The location of the Courtyard Marriot was perfect. But it was the hospitality from this hotel that impressed me the most. There was a beautifully written tribute from the general manager honoring the life of Lisa Marie with an invitation to have peanut butter banana sandwiches and wine in the lobby. The hotel also offered a complimentary shuttle to and from Graceland for guests. It was evident that the city of Memphis truly loved and cared about Lisa Marie. I left a glowing review for this hotel when I returned home. The General Manager emailed me after reading the review and acknowledging Lisa Marie’s service and thanked me for choosing that hotel.

This was the procession line which extended from Elvis Presley Blvd all the way to Meditation Garden. Lauren and I stood in this line for two hours. The night before we picked up a dozen pink roses to lay on the final resting places of Elvis, Lisa Marie and her son Benjamin.

Any additional comments/ takeaways from the service?

NBC Nightly News approached me for an interview. I was grateful for the opportunity to share my thoughts about Lisa Marie. Of course the journalist who asked me had no idea my connection to the funeral profession and the value I place on end-of-life tributes, but I hope the Presley family felt the love and support from everyone in attendance.

I remember on Sunday, while standing in line at 5:30AM with thousands of people, feeling very appreciative and grateful.  Lisa Marie’s family could have decided not to have a public memorial. For them to plan a beautiful tribute on the front lawn of Graceland and invite the general public meant a lot to everyone.   It was an event we will never forget. It was truly an event that demonstrated the value for funeral traditions is still very much alive.

The post Lisa Marie Presley: An Inside Look At Her Service at the Graceland Mansion appeared first on Johnson Consulting Group.

In the early 1950s, the original owner retired and sold the firm to a new owner who has continued to be part of this special community providing guidance and actively serving families ever since.

The Situation

This owner knew selling was in his future, but also knew there were a few things that needed to be taken care of before he went down that road, the first being getting his finances on track and organized. His initial engagement was with JCG’s accounting services where he worked with their experts to help manage his expenses.

This owner also had some issues internally that required addressing before he could sell. He used J3Tech’s Performance Tracker X to get a true look at his business so he could clearly see what areas needed improvement.

When it was time to start down the path of selling, the owner reached out to JCG for their brokerage services. It was important that whoever the new buyer was would understand the role they played in their community and would continue that legacy. They also of course wanted top dollar for their business, and needed a team that would negotiate professionally and advocate for their best interest at all costs.

After learning all of this critical information about the owner, firm and community, it was time for the JCG team to determine the full valuation for their firm.

The initial valuation of this firm was between 4.4M – 4.8M before working with JCG in 2019.

To determine Starting Value, JCG used the following criteria:

• Thorough analysis of their past, present and projected sales
• Detailed market assessment including demographic trends
• Detailed study of historical death trends for their market
• Analysis of all critical and non-critical assets
• Thorough review of minimizing taxes
• A thorough study of their payroll, compared to profession standards
• A review of purchase structures before going to market
• Review of their financial statements to determine future projected cash flow
• Inventory and excess acreage needs for their businesses
• Consideration and discussion of life after the deal
• Review to ensure successful retirement.

By the end of 2021 after working with JCG’s business consultants and accounting team, this firm’s value increased to between $6-$6.5M.

The Solution

This firm got the benefits of working with JCG’s experienced brokerage team. This meant having a custom marketing package put together with the exact information that would get buyers attention and interest to maximize value that is above and beyond what a seller could achieve on their own.

JCG worked to get this firm in front of multiple buyers under a structured and confidential process. The result of this process combined with the prior work generated an extraordinary offer well above their initial valuation.

Final Purchase Price: $7.3 Million Dollars

The Results = Increased Value

This client was able to increase their profitability with the help of JCG’s experienced consultants, accounting team, as well as utilizing the Performance Tracker X software. This allowed the client to be set up to get top dollar when they were ready to sell.

By taking the needed steps guided by JCG, this client was able to get an offer that was over $3 million over their initial valuation in a final purchase offer!

Learn More

The post How A Family-Owned Funeral Home Got 3 Million Over Initial Valuation Using JCG’s Brokerage Team appeared first on Johnson Consulting Group.

History

In 1982, the Funeral Rule was introduced to the Federal Trade Commission and went into effect the following April. It had two original goals, to lower barriers to competition regarding pricing in the funeral market and encourage informed consumer choice. It basically ensures that consumers have access to information, aren’t required by law to make a purchase, and that no misrepresentation happens to inform their decision making.  

All of those above points are important, and it’s our job as funeral professionals to guide our families in the right direction. However, the FTC has started to realize that technology and our society is changing at a rapid pace. They’re looking to potentially make amendments to the rule to keep up with today’s consumer.  

The Dilemma 

It’s no secret the profession is evolving with today’s family, which is why we need to be at the forefront of knowing what today’s family needs. A study done by the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and the Funeral Consumers Alliance (FCA) found that only 16% of funeral homes were posting their general price list online. Just four years later, the FTC conducted their own study and found that number now lives at around 40%. Although that number has grown and has become more widely accepted by those in our profession, is it enough? 

The original rule requires funeral homes to provide anyone seeking services with an itemized price information list. However, this rule doesn’t require pricing information to be available online or through any digital channel. 

This rule was created over 40 years ago, before the internet was used on a daily basis by consumers. Our way of life has changed, and everyone is doing their shopping online. In fact, just in 2022 alone, here are some statistics to prove just how much consumers are shopping online: 

• 25% of Americans make a purchase online once per month. 
• 88% of customers want detailed product pages to help their purchasing decisions
• 65% of shoppers compare pricing online before walking into a location

Bottom line: consumers expect visible pricing. 

Steps to Modernize

The Federal Trade Commission is exploring how they can make changes to the rule to better align it with the use of consumer technology. Here are a few suggestions they are considering: 

1. Requiring Funeral Providers to display their General Price List or have a direct link to it present. 
2. Requiring Funeral Providers to Display their CPLs/OBCPLs on their website or have a direct link to it present. 
3. Requiring Funeral Providers to maintain their websites and add a section where there’s an option for consumers to request price list(s). 
4. Requiring Funeral Providers to use social media pages or electronic communication methods to link to pricing. 
5. Requiring Funeral Providers to send their GPLs, CPLs, or OBCPLs electronically to anyone who might ask within a certain timeframe when a consumer provides their information. 
6. Requiring Funeral Providers to give electronic copies of their GPLs a the beginning of any arrangement. 
7. If electronic distribution is required, ensuring that Funeral Providers update their GPLs within a certain time period. 
8. Requiring Funeral Providers to more timely access to the total cost of funeral arrangements and costs at the beginning of an engagement when arrangements are made online or over the phone. 

To learn more about the details within these suggested changes, visit https://www.regulations.gov/document/FTC-2022-0067-0001.

Jake Johnson’s Take on the Matter

We believe in transparency combined with technology. The world has heavily adapted to this technological shift, and people are used to having information shared and readily available, especially upcoming generations. In fact, they really won’t know life without it.  The only way companies can have continued success is to adapt to the future. The more transparent and the more you share the more you are trusted. 

Funeral businesses are unfortunately known for being behind in the trends when it comes to customer expectations. A real wake up moment for us was during the rise of technology and the pressure applied to using it through covid. It left some funeral businesses with no choice but to adapt.  

The bottom line is, pricing is not everything – consumers understand that as well. However, if you aren’t making your pricing readily available and easy to access, that’s a strike against you if your competition has it. How it’s displayed on your website and how you describe your services matters are more important than ever as we head towards this change. 

About FRM

Funeral Results Marketing provides solutions to help you with your digital presence. FRM is the premiere funeral home and arrangement website developer along with Google Ads management.  

The post FTC Funeral Rule: Everything You Need to Know appeared first on Johnson Consulting Group.

As we reach the back end of 2022 and fall back into pre-pandemic norms, it’s time to focus on some crucial components of your funeral home.

Meet With Employees

One of the best ways to keep quality talent in your funeral home is to regularly check in with team members. During this time, you can gauge their satisfaction and course-correct if good employees are feeling burnt out or they can’t picture a future at your business.

While official reviews provide a great opportunity to give feedback to team members, it’s important to treat these meetings as a dialogue. Rather than rattle off a list of what a person did well and what needs improvement, take some time to see how they feel about their workplace and set some tangible goals for the latter part of the year.

Check on Goals

Whether you’re hoping to increase preneed sales, obtain a certain valuation, or expand into cremation services, the middle of the year offers the opportunity to measure your progress. 

For example, if one of your 2022 goals was to introduce an incentive compensation program, you’ll want to check in on how this has affected your business. Have employees been engaging with this program? Based on your rate of return, does the extra payroll expenditure seem to be worth it? Are there any changes that you’d like to make going forward? 

If everything is going as you’d like, then you might consider doubling down on your efforts. If something seems amiss, it’s a good time to reset.

Review the Budget

While you’re hopefully meeting with your accountant on a more regular basis than twice per year, mid-year financial reporting can go one step deeper. 

In addition to pulling cash flow, net income, and the other usual suspects, you might also consider conducting a valuation. This is especially useful if you set ambitious growth goals for 2022.

Analyze Feedback

In the death care profession, it’s essential that you know how each of your families feels about their funeral services. 

Because of this, you’ll want to take a closer look at any in-house surveys that you give to families. Take note of any trends. For example, you might find that many families praise your immaculate facilities while others routinely point out dissatisfaction with the planning process. 

Online reviews from social media and Google can also come into play here.

If your funeral home lacks sufficient data to observe feedback trends, then now is the time to increase your efforts. By administering digital surveys to families, you can ensure higher rates of compliance, as well as detailed tracking mechanisms.

Ensuring You’re On The Right Track

If you’re not sure where to begin examining your funeral home, or you notice issues but don’t know how to fix them, then it might be time to call in some expert guidance. Not only are most funeral directors busy, but they’re also so enmeshed with day-to-day processes making it difficult to gain objective expertise. This is where consultants come into play.

At Johnson Consulting Group, our team of death care consultants has more than a century of collective experience in various death care roles, owning, managing, and selling funeral businesses throughout the country. By partnering with your funeral business, our team can advise you of the most up-to-date best practices in the industry and help you integrate them. 

Although the pandemic has waned, a recession appears to be on the horizon. To help ensure that your funeral home is prepared, you’ll need careful planning. The best place to start is with the experts at Johnson Consulting Group. 

GET ON TRACK

The post We are Halfway Through 2022… Here’s What You Should Be Focusing On In Your Funeral Business appeared first on Johnson Consulting Group.

According to Forbes, more than half the workforce wants training to perform better in their current roles. With the great resignation continuing to pose a threat, as well as labor shortages,  keeping quality talent in your doors is more important than ever. Investing in their long term education is a great way to keep them engaged.

At JCG we are big believers in lifelong learning in funeral service. We are constantly staying on top of trends so we can bring out clients the latest and greatest strategies geared specifically towards the profession. We’ve created additional learning courses for those in funeral service looking to step up their game and grow. Here’s everything you need to know about what we offer.

Leadership and Management

This program is specifically designed for up-and-coming leaders and managers within a funeral home or cemetery. It will give individuals the tools they need to be successful in the next phase of their career. 

Each workshop is followed up with three weeks of one-on-one coaching sessions with JCG’s experienced business consultants to further your learning through our team’s operational experience in leading funeral homes, cemeteries, large care centers, successful pre-need programs, and more.

Objective 

This course takes place in two sessions that are both two days long. The first session focused heavily on Leadership. We will dive into what kind of leader you are right now, and how you can grow to reach your full potential. 

We explore questions such as:  

• What does it mean to be an effective leader within a funeral home or cemetery business?
•  How does one effectively communicate with their team and motivate them toward higher levels of performance?

Our second session shifts to Management, where we dive into the fundamentals of revenue and expenses at funeral home businesses. After walking through this session students will be provided with tools for budgeting and good financial stewardship that they can apply to their own finances and operations. 

Method

Participate in a unique boardroom experience with a peer group of professionals who are furthering their career in funeral and/or cemetery management and have similar goals and experiences. We have specifically designed this class to be smaller ( 8 students max) to create an in-depth, personalized learning experience for each student. 

We have found there are many shared experiences among the participants, making the group discussions an incredibly valuable learning atmosphere. Participants are also able to build their professional network which are resources for them and their firms in the future.

Workshop Details

Upcoming Opportunities: 

• Next Available Dates: March 6-7, 2024 (Leadership Development Session) & May 15-16, 2024 (Business Development Session)
  • Custom Engagements are also available upon request
• Where: Scottsdale, Arizona

All meals are provided during the course as well as group rates are negotiated at the Scottsdale McCormick Ranch Resort. Travel accommodations are not included.

Curious to learn more?

JCG has existed since the early 90s and has a staff equipped with consultants who have owned and operated funeral homes and cemeteries themselves. A lot has changed throughout the decades, however, the customer experience will always remain the most important part of what we do. 

That’s why we’ve developed a program to challenge your team to not just satisfy customers, but go above-and-beyond. Together with JCG’s team, we’ll establish what a customized personal experience looks like coming from your business and staff.  

Customer Experience Program

This all together is a 90-day journey to create a world class Customer Experience for your families and employees.. Together you and your team will map out exactly what you want your customer experience to be from beginning to end. 

Your team will be able to answer the following questions with confidence: 

• What do you want your families to feel when interacting with your employees? 
• What are the standards for each interaction? 
• How can our team surpass expectations and create brand ambassadors?

Objective 

By the end of our journey together, you will have an improved and strengthened company culture, and the tools to equip your staff to create peak moments that will leave your families with an impression that will last and keep them loyal to your business.

You will also assemble a steering committee, which should be a good cross-section of the team and represent all stages of the family’s journey

As a result of taking this course, our goal for your team is: 

• Improved customer service levels.
• Higher customer loyalty.
• Increased at-need and pre-need referrals.
• Improved and strengthened communication and culture of your associates.
• More online reviews showing how your team goes above and beyond. 

Method

Our team will travel to your team to ensure that this experience is as personal as possible. We will distribute materials beforehand, including the Customer Experience Revolution book by John R. Dijulius which will guide most of our conversation. 

Upcoming Opportunities

As this is one of our most popular courses, we are limited in how many we can do per year. We are starting to plan out our next sessions and are now accepting reservations!

The post Everything You Need to Know About JCG’s Workshop and Training Options appeared first on Johnson Consulting Group.

The post The Do’s and Don’ts: Funeral Business Acquisition Loans and Refinancing appeared first on Johnson Consulting Group.

Refinancing your funeral home’s debt to a lower rate can help free up cash flow, increase your financial flexibility, and secure you a more favorable agreement with your lender; however, beyond interest rates, there are some key factors you’ll want to consider before deciding to move forward.

1. Have you reviewed your interest rates and amortization (loan terms)?

Interest rates are higher than they have been recently however they are still historically low. For some, current interest rates may be lower and for others it may be higher than what they currently have…The magic occurs in renegotiating the amortization. As you know, the loan payments do not decrease as we pay off the principal. Therefore for some, even if the interest rate is higher, it will result in a lower monthly payment, which in return benefits the business with additional cash flow. Just be sure to consider the closing costs of securing a new loan––origination fees, underwriting fees, and even SBA guarantee fees––which generally add up to about 3% to 6% of the total loan amount.

2. Has Your Credit Significantly Improved?

When a small business is just getting off the ground, in many cases, obtaining financing is difficult, leaving the owner to accept whatever loans they qualify for. However, as your funeral home grows and establishes a lengthy transaction history, it will build up substantial business credit. 

If this is the case for your business, then refinancing could help you secure more favorable loan terms. Business credit factors heavily into determining the interest rates you qualify for. Generally speaking, the higher your business credit, the lower your interest rates. Additionally, higher credit scores will allow you to take out larger loans for expansion purposes.

3. Do You Have Equity in Your Funeral Home?

After years of making your payments on time, you’ll likely begin to put a dent in your loan and establish substantial equity in your funeral home. 

When you’ve built up equity in your business, you can use refinancing as a tool to convert this equity into liquid cash. While this won’t necessarily help you pay down your debts, it can certainly be a helpful way to pay for emergency expenses.

4. Has Your Funeral Home Grown?

In addition to looking at your business credit and requested loan amount, a lender will also consider the financial history of your business. This puts newer funeral homes at a disadvantage, as they don’t have a demonstrated history of financial success. As your funeral home grows, however, lenders will be more likely to offer you favorable refinancing rates. 

In most cases, once your funeral home’s revenue enters the realm of six figures, whether from extensive growth or an acquisition of another business, lenders will likely offer you lower interest rates on a refinanced loan. Alternatively, once your funeral home has been operating for two years, you can expect further decreased interest rates. 

If you consider this from the perspective of the lender, it only makes sense. When a business is just starting, a lender will have little evidence to support the idea that you’ll be able to repay your loan, but once you can demonstrate a proven track record of financial success, lenders feel a greater assurance that their loan will get repaid.

5. Is Your Funeral Home Beginning to Plateau?

Alternatively, if your funeral home’s growth has slowed or stagnated, refinancing can provide you access to the capital needed to get back on track to growth. 

The rising popularity of cremations has adversely affected revenue for many funeral homes. To address this state of affairs, a funeral home owner might consider refinancing an existing loan into a larger one in order to invest back into their business. 

Additionally, depending on other factors such as credit, equity, and interest rates, this type of refinancing could also result in more favorable repayment terms.

6. Do You Have Multiple Smaller Loans?

Most funeral homes require multiple loans––commercial mortgages, equipment financing, and SBA loans––to finance their creation and operation. Naturally, simultaneously navigating the terms of multiple loans can become complicated and a bigger drain on cash, making it worthwhile to consider consolidation. 

If managing multiple loans becomes difficult, you should look into refinancing smaller loans into one larger loan. Not only will this streamline the repayment process, but it may also offer you more favorable interest rates and free up some cash flow.

Know the Right Moves

Whether you’re looking to secure a better interest rate or free up some cash for expansion, refinancing business loans can be a difficult task. To determine if refinancing is the right move, you’ll have to consider interest rates, terms, your business’s history, and how it stands to perform in the future. Before you pull the trigger on a refinancing operation, it’s best to talk to the experts. 

At Johnson Consulting Group, our team of funeral home consultants and accountants can help you understand how a refinanced loan can stand to help your business. With years of experience in the death care industry, we have a proven track record of helping funeral directors secure more favorable financing, as well as helping them strategically use any freed-up cash. 

While interest rates are climbing for all types of loans, they’re still at historic lows. To help determine if refinancing is right for your funeral home, consider reaching out to JCG’s team. We’ll walk you through the options that best suit the continued needs of your business. 

The post Is It Time to Refinance? 6 Questions To Ask Yourself appeared first on Johnson Consulting Group.

In many cases, funeral professionals turn to accounting software, and while these solutions are a great place to start more effectively recording payments and monitoring expenses, they can’t offer you the expertise of an in-person accountant, one who can help you make sense of your finances and advise accordingly. More importantly, no software can provide you with the best practices for death care industry accounting and financial management. 

At Johnson Consulting Group, our Accounting and Financial Management Team specializes in the unique needs of the funeral business. Armed with industry-specific knowledge, one of our accountants can help you get a clearer picture of your funeral home’s financial health and help you create strategic initiatives to meet your goals. 

What the JCG Accounting Department is Working On

With any client, JCG Accounting Managers and Controllers will prepare financial reports, ensure IRS compliance, and evaluate the financial operations of your funeral business. Beyond these standard processes, however, JCG has structured our team in a way that provides deeper analytics, allowing you to not only understand where your funeral home currently stands but also drive future success. 

As the JCG Accounting and Financial Management Team  work to implement budgeting processes for clients, we’ll conduct a thorough budget to actual variance analysis, utilizing past years’ information to forecast both threats and opportunities in the future. This analysis will take a holistic examination of both your funeral home’s performance and industry trends and will allow you to make strategic decisions that account for seasonality and other trends in death care. 

A Focus on Valuations

Central to JCG’s accounting methodology are our valuation services. Whether you’re looking to expand your business, prepare for a sale, or more thoroughly understand your market position, a valuation provides an integral baseline for strategic planning. 

If your funeral home has recently acquired additional businesses, your business might be worth more than the sum of its parts. For example, acquiring another local funeral home likely cuts down on your competition, disproportionately increasing your valuation. 

In line with valuation, our team will also utilize accounting and expense management analyses to understand what your enterprise is worth as a whole. If any variables are hurting your valuation, we’ll be able to provide the insight needed to address these issues. 

Accounting FAQs

How quickly can I get my financials?

If your funeral business has gone for months without financial reporting, we can immediately help you get back on track. While certain processes (valuations, for example) take a bit more time to complete, we can quickly help you monitor revenue, expenses, payroll, taxes, and balance sheets.

What are JCG clients the most grateful for?

Our clients always appreciate the depth and scope of financial data we provide. For both emerging and established funeral businesses, we can obtain and track a breadth of financial metrics that provide a clear picture of your funeral home’s performance.

Does JCG work with QuickBooks desktop?

If your business currently works with the desktop version of QuickBooks, we can help you migrate your financials to the online software. By going online, you’ll be able to collaborate more effectively with our teams. 

Understanding the Value of Funeral Home Accountants

While a traditional accountant can help you nail down the basics, only a team with funeral industry experience can properly advise you beyond the numbers. Naturally, the JCG team will help you drill down the data, but we also provide strategic guidance that allows you to project into the future. To accomplish this, we call on our team of death care experts. In addition to understanding the financial intricacies of running a business, we also understand how your business fits into the greater marketplace. 

Free Consultations

To better understand how your funeral home can work with JCG’s Accounting and Financial Management Team , we will provide a free consultation, during which time we’ll review your financials and begin to offer guidance. And with tax season over, summer is the ideal time to explore a new accounting partnership.

At the end of the day, anybody can close your books, but few can offer the level of death care expertise as JCG. Our team shares a collective 600 years of experience in the funeral business, giving us the ability to not only meet your current needs but rise to the challenges of the death care industry. 

The post Investing in Funeral Home Accounting Services appeared first on Johnson Consulting Group.

Still, a valuation is just data, albeit a complex and thorough sequence of data. What matters most is how you leverage this data to optimize the operations of your funeral home. 

Here’s where you can start.

Create a SWOT Analysis 

Used by businesses across a variety of industries,  a SWOT analyses provides you with a top-level view of your company’s market positioning and consists of examining four pieces of internal and external data:

• Strengths: This refers to anything your funeral home currently excels at. This could be  a loyal customer base, unique services not offered by competitors, or even a high valuation. 

• Weaknesses: Weaknesses refer to internal factors that currently hinder your performance. For funeral homes, this might include high employee turnover, high levels of debt, or a low valuation. 

• Opportunities: Opportunities refer to favorable external factors that may benefit your business. For example, a growing population would present an opportunity. 
• Threats: Conversely, threats represent external factors that could serve to harm your business. For many funeral businesses, a declining interest in traditional burials has presented a threat. 

A professional, in-depth SWOT analysis can take months to complete; however, by taking the time to brainstorm the SWOT categories with your team, you can quickly identify areas to focus on, whether this means addressing a threat or seizing upon an opportunity.

Make Operational Adjustments

A valuation is an unbiased, quantitative look at what your funeral home is worth, and the results may be much lower than what you desire. In these cases, a valuation presents the hard truths, allowing you to look at core areas in need of attention. These may include:

• Preneed sales: Few strategies will increase the value of your funeral home as much as fleshing out your preneed backlog. By selling pre-arranged services, you’ll not only get some immediate cash flow, but you’ll also ensure continued business in the future.

• Funeral home aesthetics: Depending on the scope of the project, renovations can be costly and time-consuming. However, replacing outdated lighting fixtures, carpeting, and finishes can be a budget-friendly way to increase the value of your funeral home and appeal to more families. 

• Accounting: A dedicated accounting manager can help you examine expense management across your funeral home. By figuring out where most of your expenses go and where most of your revenue comes from, you can more effectively understand how your funeral home produces value.
• Service offerings: If you notice a growing market interest in innovative services like virtual memorials or green burials, then it might be time to expand your services.

Reevaluate Your Goals

If you plan to expand your funeral business, refinance loans, or sell your business––in the near or distant future––the results of an evaluation will prove integral to planning your next steps. For example, an exceptionally high valuation, combined with optimal market conditions, might make you consider selling your business earlier than expected. Conversely, a lower valuation may indicate that you’ll need to execute some strategic initiatives before selling. 

No matter how long you plan to own your funeral business, it’s important to remember that you’ll likely have to sell it or pass it on to the next generation. Because of this, from the day you begin operating your business, you’ll want to have an exit strategy, however loosely defined. 

As the years go by, annual valuations will serve as a key benchmark of success for your funeral home, allowing you to track your progress in relation to your eventual exit.

The Right Direction

Annual valuations function like a yearly check-up for your funeral home, providing the quantitative data needed to measure the progress toward your business goals––whether this is to increase value for a sale or pass the business down to a family member. Conducting a valuation, however, is more than simply adding up revenue and assets. To conduct a professional, unbiased evaluation of your funeral home, you’ll need the help of accounting and financial management professionals. 

At Johnson Consulting Group, our team of experts has the death care experience and resources to establish exactly how much your business is worth. By analyzing past, present, and projected sales, as well as examining trends in the broader market, our team can provide you with the accurate numbers you need to plan for the future. 

Whether your evaluation meets, exceeds, or fails to live up to your goals, our team will advise you of your next steps. With our consulting and brokerage expertise, we can help funeral businesses at any stage of growth. 

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With that said, it’s not always obvious when your services fall short of such lofty goals, making it essential to develop metrics to measure your client experience. A simple yet effective way to do this is determining your NPS score. 

What is an NPS Score?

A net promoter score (NPS) allows you to measure the loyalty of customers to your funeral home. Developed by Bain and Company, NPS is widely viewed as the standard metric of customer (or family) experience.   

To find your NPS, you’ll start by asking families a single question. Based on their responses, you can begin to gauge how they perceive your funeral home.

The Question

Widely used in customer satisfaction surveys, NPS consists of one sole question: How likely are you to recommend [funeral home name or service] to a friend or colleague. 

Families should answer this question on a scale from 0 (not at all likely) to 10 (incredibly likely).  

The Equation

Once you’ve gathered a decent sample size of responses, you can calculate your NPS by subtracting the percentage of families who respond with a 6 or lower from the percentage of those who answer with a 9 or 10. The score can range anywhere from -100 to 100.

For example, let’s say you’ve obtained 30 responses to your question. You have 20 responses of a 9 or greater (66%) and 8 responses of a 6 or lower (26%). This would give you an NPS of 40.

The Results

Based on individual scores, the NPS framework divides families into three different categories: 

• Detractors (Score of 0-6): A family that scored your funeral home in this manner won’t likely recommend your services to others. In fact, they might even actively discourage others from seeking your services.

• Passives (Score of 7-8): While they do not pose a threat to your funeral home, those in the passive group are unlikely to recommend your services. Most importantly, these people could be converted to promoters with a bit of effort, making it important to learn what held them back from scoring your business more favorably.
• Promoters: (Score of 9-10): Fully happy with the experience provided by your funeral home, promoters will not only remain loyal to your business, but they’ll also boost your reputation through word of mouth. 

By calculating your funeral home’s NPS, you can begin to understand how families feel about your services. By inquiring further as to the nature of their responses, you can also draft initiatives to create more enthusiastic families. 

How to Get Your NPS Score

To obtain an NPS for your funeral home, you can add the NPS question to your existing feedback survey. Alternatively, you might even consider sending out an email that only contains the NPS question. For example, with J3Tech Solutions Performance Tracker X, you could send emails directly to families and monitor the results on your computer. 

Why Does Your NPS Score Matter

An NPS provides a comprehensive way to examine the satisfaction of your families. When targeted toward particular services (cremation, for example), you can even use it to find more granular insights regarding particular facets of your funeral home. 

This metric also serves as a useful launch point for more thoroughly understanding your families. While a low NPS provides little in terms of tangible, constructive criticism, it can certainly provide you the basis for a conversation with detractors and passives, both of whom can ideally be converted to more enthusiastic clients. 

When measured over time, an NPS allows you to track your funeral home’s performance and progress. A steadily increasing score will let you know that your strategic growth efforts are working, while a declining score can alert you of deeper issues. 

How to Handle the Results

Unless your funeral home miraculously scores a 100, your NPS will undoubtedly illustrate that there’s room for improvement. In many cases, you’ll want to focus heavily on families that fall into the passive group and figure out how you can provide them with more fulfilling services. To help plan these types of initiatives, you might also enlist the help of consultants.

At Johnson Consulting Group, our team of death care professionals has decades of experience working with funeral directors to provide a better experience for families. Not only can we help you obtain the necessary data for an NPS, but we can also leverage this metric to make lasting improvements to your funeral home business. 

The bottom line is an NPS is useless without corresponding action. With the help of JCG consultants, you can make data-driven strategic decisions that create more enthusiastic and loyal families. 

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