During the pandemic, funeral businesses deployed extraordinary measures to stay afloat. We adapted to virtual gatherings, embraced the rising popularity of cremation, and––for many––weathered the storm of staffing shortages.
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.