July 2014

MAGAZI NE
J u l y 2 0 1 4
CEMETERY FUNERAL CREMATION
ICCFA 2014
Convention
& Expo
Coverage
ICCFA 2014
Convention
& Expo
Coverage
Funeral Call AD
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page 2 (C2)
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Blind Check AD
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page 3
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Regions Bank AD
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Progressive AD
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6 ICCFA Magazine Like the ICCFA on Facebook & friend ICCFA Staf
Scenes from the 2013 ICCFA Convention
& Expo in Tampa Bay, Florida: (1-8) F irst
time attendees 1. Holly Sutton (p. 24),
2. Octavio Del Toro (p. 40), 3. Tanya Bal-
lensky (p. 36) 4. Charles Bowman (p. 15),
5. Tracy Johnson (p. 40), 6. Robert Clarke
(p. 30) and 7. Melissa McDonald (p. 15).
8. Keynote speaker Archie Griffn with
the bronze football player at the Astral
booth. 9. ICCFA 2013-2014 President
Nancy Lohman and her husband, Lowell.
10. ICCFA 2014 Hall of Fame Award win-
ner David Shipper with his father, Irwin
Shipper, 2004 Hall of Fame Award winner.
11. Keynote speaker Stedman Graham.
12. Educational Foundation Chairman
Jim Price, center, with Inspiration Award
winners Gary OSullivan and Todd Van
Beck. 13. Attendees at a breakout ses-
sion. 14. ICCFA President Nancy Lohman
and ALPAR President Teresa Saavedra.
15. Pet Loss Professionals Alliance Co-
Chairs Coleen Ellis and Bill Remkus cut
a cake celebrating the PLPAs 5th anni-
versary. 16. The Wilbert Funeral Services
booth in the Expo Hall.
J U LY 2 0 1 4
International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association
Promoting consumer choices, prearrangement and open competition

14 CONVENTION OVERVIEW
Photos from the ICCFA 2014 Convention & Expo (more Expo photos pp. 52, 58,
67-71, 84 and 85)
15 First-timers (more frst-timers on pp. 24, 30, 36, and 40) Comments from
people attending their frst ICCFA Annual Convention
16 AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS
Elections add record number of women to ICCFA board
17 Hall of Fame Award recognizes David Shippers service to ICCFA
18 Regions Bank donates $75,000 to foundation for scholarships
Ten receive scholarships to ICCFA University
Education Foundations Inspiration Award
20 Half Century and Quarter Century awards
20 Certifed Pet Loss Professional certifcations awarded
21 ICCFA members earn professional certifcations
22 JUST FOR FUN
They didnt really say that, did they?
20 KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
24 Learn what it takes to be a lifelong champion
26 Know your message; Reach out to multicultural consumers;
Dont let others defne you
26 Really learn about, understand, the culture you want to serve
26 Offer Mexican-American families more direct participation
26 Treat gay and lesbian clients the same as everyone else
28 Create emotional branding to rise above simple awareness
28 Learn about feng shui cemetery design to serve the Asian market
30 Dont be afraid to fail
32 MANAGEMENT
32 Talk to younger consumers to fnd out what they want from you
32 Study data available from the census
33 Reconsider the price guarantee on preneed funeral contracts
33 Encourage preplanning in order to decrease the cremation rate
33 Create, manage your personal brand using social media tools
36 Run a progressive company if you want to attract millennials
36 Learn what millennials offer as employees, what training they need
38 Think about becoming a leader
38 Embalming: Use drainage to deal with edema
40 Learn what questions to ask to keep on top of trust performance
40 Handle your responsibilities when your company uses a trust
40 Avoid hiring based on love at frst sight reaction to candidate
42 JFDA: Learn the meaning of Jewish funeral and burial traditions
42 Remember that your infuence over costs goes down over time
42 Dont forget the many costs that are associated with a new building
46 GREEN SERVICES
46 Accept the choices people make
46 Make shades of green available, and dont judge peoples choices
48 Develop an integrated pest management plan
48 Realize the appeal of natural burial beyond the green market
10 Presidents Letter
Where our profession comes
together by Fred Lappin, CCE
12 Washington Report
ICCFA supports bill restoring small
business expensing to $500,000;
FL court: Cremated remains not
property by Robert M. Fells, Esq.
78 Update
78 Kensico Cemetery celebrating
125 years
82 Supply Line
84 Convention Speaker Information
85 Ad Index
85 Calendar
86 Classifieds
86 New Members
Providing exceptional education, networking and legislative guidance and support
to progressive cemetery, funeral and cremation professionals worldwide
1
2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9
10
11 12
13
14 15 16
Northstar AD
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page 7
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50 CEMETERY MANAGEMENT
50 Run a focus group so that you can hear the voice of the customer
50 Do something about dirt
50 Try to prevent sunken graves
50 Institute a documented daily mausoleum maintenance check
50 Make mausoleums easily accessible to family members
52 Develop a master plan
54 CREMATION
54 Get proof of identifcation when dealing with out-of-town clients
54 Ask the right questions and listen during the arrangement conference
56 Use an e-commerce site to expand without adding buildings
56 Undersstand that consumers are doing research before meeting you
58 Use words of value to discuss cremation options with families
58 Create a custom title for your cemetery cremation specialist
58 Plan how to respond when families toss out a verbal roadblock
60 SALES & MARKETING
60 Understand how grief can make it hard for people to make decisions
60 Do something for grieving kids
60 Help people let go
60 Get out of your building, off your own website to raise your visibility
61 Try creating an un-funeral home for people who are avoiding you
61 Adopt techniques to convert people into fans and subscribers
61 Create engaging posts so that your Facebook fans will see them
62 Use third-party events to draw in baby boomers who dont plan to die
64 PET SERVICES
64 Expect laws covering human and pet burial sections to change
64 Work with police to set up policy for handling services for K-9s
64 Involve several people in setting up a trust to care for your pets
65 Figure out what your average sale is, then plan your merchandising
65 Buying is based on emotion, so make an emotional connection
65 Display products on end tables, coffee tables and bookshelves
65 Wash your hands. Wash your hands. Wash your hands.
66 Use the PLPA due diligence tools
66 Learn to be comfortable with pauses and silence
T A B L E OF C ONT E NT S
ICCFA news
73 PLPA College adds new business
bootcamp day for 2014
74 Invest in yourself at ICCFA
University still time to register
Schmooze & Blues Next Generation event
at B.B. Kings Restaurant & Blues Club
74 New webcasting license allows you to
broadcast services worldwide
74 2015 ICCFA Annual Convention
session proposals due August 1
75 2014 ICCFA Member Satisfaction
Survey: Tell us what you think
77 Fall Management Conference
Rockefeller habits to ensure employee
engagement, solving industry issues and
consumer trends on the agenda for Fall
ICCFA calendar
2014 ICCFA University
July 18-23 Fogelman Conference Center,
Memphis, Tennessee
Chancellor: Ernie Heffner, CFuE, CC
2014 PLPA University
August 23-27 Hyatt French Quarter,
New Orleans, Louisiana
Cremation Arranger/
Crematory Operator Certification
September 10-11 Dallas Institute
of Funeral Service, Dallas, Texas
2014 Fall Management Conference
September 17-19 Ritz Carlton
Amelia Island, Amelia Island, Florida
Co-Chairs: Andrs Aguilar and
Michael Uselton, CCFE
2015 Wide World of Sales Conference
January 14-16 Ballys & Paris
Las Vegas Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada
Co-Chairs: Paul Goldstein and Wanda Sizemore
2015 Annual Convention & Exposition
April 8-11 Henry B. Gonzalez
Convention Center and The Grand Hyatt
San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas
Co-Chairs: Caressa Hughes and Daniel L. Villa
www.iccfa.com
Directories
www.iccfa.com/directories
Web Expo directory of suppliers and
professionals
Association directory
Industry event calendar
Cremation Coaching Center
www.iccfa.com/cremation
ICCFA Caf
Links to news and feature stories from
all over the world
Subscribe to ICCFA Magazine
rOne-year subscription (10 issues) for just $39.95*
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SRS AD
FULL PAGE
page 9
4-COLOR
nTo apply for ICCFA
membership:
Download an application
at www.iccfa.com, or
Call 1.800.645.7700
Where our profession comes together
lappinf@
sharonmemorial.com
Lappin is president
and CEO of Sharon
Memorial Park, Sharon,
Massachusetts and
Knollwood Memorial Park,
Canton, Massachusetts.
by ICCFA
2014-2015
President Fred
Lappin, CCE
I
am honored to serve as the president of
the ICCFA for 2014-15. It is a privilege
to represent our association and you, our
members.
The ICCFA is the only national association that
includes cemeteries, funeral homes and crematories,
and our annual convention offers a microcosm of
our profession and is truly a melting pot of end-
of-life services, education and products. Nowhere
else will you fnd this environment of inclusion and
collaboration that are such an important part of what
defne the ICCFA and set it apart as the premiere
trade association serving our profession.
We are all well aware of the challenges that
face our profession, and we are all looking for
ways to operate our businesses more successfully.
What better way to understand these challenges
and how to address them than to network and learn
from our colleagues so that we can understand all
of the components of our profession and the total
environment in which we do business?
This is what the ICCFA offers its members, and
this is what you will fnd at our annual convention
and our other meetings. So, if youre looking for
answers and information through inclusion and
collaboration, look to the ICCFA, the association
and the convention where our profession comes
together. r
Presidents Letter
f
Check us out on
Facebook!
Like us
and friend
ICCFA Staff.
Fred Lappin, CCE, with some of the many frst-time exhibitors at the ICCFA 2014 Convention &
Expo, which, as always, included all segments of the profession. Clockwise from top left, Urns of
Distincton, The Davey Tree Experts, Stories in Stone, Implement (caskets) and SunTrust Bank.

July 2014
VOLUME 74/NUMBER 6
ICCFA officers
Fred Lappin, CCE, president
Darin B. Drabing, president-elect
Jay D. Dodds, CFSP, vice president
Christine Toson Hentges, CCE,
vice president
Scott R. Sells, CCFE, vice president
Michael Uselton, CCFE, vice president
Jay Brammer, treasurer
Gary M. Freytag, CCFE, secretary
Robert M. Fells, Esq., executive director &
general counsel
Magazine staff
Susan Loving, managing editor
sloving@iccfa.com
Rick Platter, supplier relations manager
rplatter@iccfa.com; 1.800.645.7700, ext. 1213
Robert Treadway, director of
communications & member services
robt@iccfa.com; 1.800.645.7700, ext. 1224
Kirsten Kase, marketing manager
kase@iccfa.com; 1.800.645.7700, ext. 1221
Robert M. Fells, Esq., executive director &
publisher
rfells@iccfa.com ; 1.800.645.7700, ext. 1212
Brenda Clough, offce administrator
& association liaison
bclough@iccfa.com; 1.800.645.7700,
ext. 1214

0Daniel Osorio, subscription coordinator
(habla espaol)
danielo@iccfa.com; 1.800.645.7700, ext. 1215
ICCFA Magazine (ISSN 1936-2099) is pub-
lished by the International Cemetery, Crema-
tion and Funeral Association, 107 Carpenter
Drive, Suite 100, Sterling, VA 20164-4468;
703.391.8400; FAX 703.391.8416;
www.iccfa.com. Published 10 times per year,
with combined issues in March-April and
August-September. Periodicals postage paid
at Sterling, VA, and other offces. Copyright
2014 by the International Cemetery, Cremation
and Funeral Association. Subscription rates: In
the United States, $39.95; in Canada, $45.95;
overseas: $75.95. One subscription is included
in annual membership dues. POSTMASTER:
Send address changes to ICCFA Magazine,
107 Carpenter Drive, Suite 100, Sterling, VA
20164-4468. Individual written contributions,
commentary and advertisements appearing in
ICCFA Magazine do not necessarily refect
either the opinion or the endorsement of the
International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral
Association.
NGL AD
FULL PAGE
page 11
4-COLOR
rfells@iccfa.com
1.800.645.7700, ext. 1212
direct line: 703.391.8401
Fells is ICCFA execu-
tive director and general
counsel, responsible for
maintaining and improving
relationships with fed-
eral and state government
agencies, the news media, consumer or-
ganizations and related trade associations.
MORE RESOURCES
Wireless. ICCFA members, send us
your email address and well send you
our bi-weekly electronic newsletter full of
breaking news.
by ICCFA General Counsel
Robert M. Fells, Esq.
T
he ICCFA has joined an industry
coalition in strong support of H.R.
4457, the Americas Small Business
Tax Relief Act of 2014. This legislation
would restore the small business
expensingsometimes called Section 179
expensinglevel to $500,000, including
limited improvements to real property, and
permanently index the level to infation.
The coalition letter states, Small business
expensing allows business owners to
immediately deduct the cost of a qualifed
investment in the year that it is purchased,
rather than being forced to depreciate the
cost of the investment over time. Since
2003, Congress has steadily increased the
amount of investment that small businesses
can expense from $25,000 to $500,000.
Support for this expansion has been long-
standing, bipartisan and widespread.
Legislation expanding and/or extending
small business expensing has been enacted
eight times, across two presidential administ-
rations and six Congresses, under both
Democratic and Republican leadership. These
higher expensing limits were temporary,
however, and beginning in 2014 they reverted
back to $25,000 and will remain there unless
Congress acts. While expensing provides
important relief to small business owners, it
is not a tax cut or a tax loophole. Small
business expensing simply gives companies
the ability to recover the cost of investing in
their own businesses more quickly than if
they use depreciation. Expensing does not
lead to a loss of revenue to the government
over the lifetime of an investmentit is not
a matter of if revenue is collected, but when.
Additionally, small business expensing is
available to all small businesses that purchase
less than a specifed amount of equipment
each year.
Additionally, small business expensing
simplifes recordkeeping and paperwork.
Under standard depreciation, small business
owners must keep records of, and fle tax
paperwork associated with, their investments
for up to 40 years. According to a 2007
Internal Revenue Service study, each small
business devotes, on average, about 240
hours complying with the tax code, and
spends over $2,000 in tax compliance costs
each year. An overwhelming share of the time
burden is due to recordkeeping. Furthermore,
high tax compliance costs consistently rank
as a top concern of small business owners,
and act as a drag on investment, growth and
innovation. Small business expensing, as the
Joint Committee on Taxation notes, reduces
the compliance burden for many taxpayers,
freeing up time and resources to better devote
to their businesses.
At this writing, the legislation was
expected to be considered by the full House
of Representatives in June. The ICCFA has
been contacting key Congressional leaders
to encourage their support for H.R. 4457,
and individual ICCFA members are urged
to contact their Congressional delegation as
well. The text of the bill may be viewed at
www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-113hr4457rh/
pdf/BILLS-113hr4457rh.pdf. r
Model guidelines
ICCFA Government and Legal Affairs
Committees model guidelines for state
laws and regulations
Washington Report
Recent columns are available online
www.iccfa.com
ICCFA supports bill restoring small
business expensing to $500,000
Washington Report
I
n a case of frst impression, the Court of
Appeal of Florida, Fourth Circuit, ruled
in the case of Wilson v. Wilson that the
divorced parents of a decedent do not have
property rights in the cremated remains.
While the parents agreed on cremation, they
could not agree on the means of disposition.
Each wanted to inter the cremated remains in
a different location, so the father petitioned
the court to declare the remains property,
allowing for them to be divided between the
parents. The mother objected to dividing the
cremated remains.
The court denied the fathers motion,
stating that while the issue of dividing crema-
ted remains had not previously come before
the state court, historically these were treated
the same as bodily remains. In other words,
there exist no property rights in human
remains to permit the division of them.
The court concluded, Given the sensitive
nature of the subject matter, and the fact
that, historically, cremated remains have
been treated the same as a body, neither
constituting property, we decline to craft a
policy at odds with our history and precedent.
This is a matter best left to our legislature
should it decide to address this sensitive
policy issue. r
FL court: Cremated remains not property
Continental AD
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page 13
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I N T E R N A T I O N A L C E M E T E R Y , C R E M A T I O N A N D
1 Keynote speaker Archie Griffn signs
autographs at the ICCFA Welcome Lounge.
2 The Clark County Childrens Choir sings
during the Annual Memorial Service. 3
ICCFA Board Member Lauren Blevins with
Next Generation raffe winner Bethany
Tucker. 4 Jane Saxby of Canada meets grief
therapy dog Soloman Flynn. 5 New Eng-
landers George Milley, CCE; Sean ORegan
and Alan McKinnon, CCE, in the Expo Hall.
Convention numbers
Total cemetery, funeral home,
crematory and allied business
representatives: 966
193 international attendees
representing 26 countries
outside of the United States,
plus exhibitors from two
additional countries
Attendee percentages
The breakdown of 2014
attendance:
18 percent representing
combination cemetery-
funeral home operations
stand-alone cemeteries
stand-alone funeral homes
stand-alone pet loss providers
17 percent other, including
insurance agents, mortuary
school faculty, representatives
of industry associations
Attendee satisfaction
Attendees rated the event highly,
with 76 percent indicating their
overall convention experience
was excellent or very good
and 86 percent indicating they
defnitely or probably
will attend the next
ICCFA Convention & Expo,
April 8-11, 2015, at the
Henry B. Gonzalez
Convention Center and
The Grand Hyatt
San Antonio, Texas
Vegas All Stars
7
4
5
1
2 3
7 Some of the attendees from ALPAR, representing Central and South America, at the Closing Dinner.
6 ICCFA 2013-2014 President Nancy Lohman, CCFE, accepts a gift from Jisheng
Wang. The Year of the Horse print represents always moving forward.
6
Start every day at the ICCFA Caf at www.iccfa.com July 2014 15
F U N E R A L A S S O C I A T I O N 2 0 1 4 C O N V E N T I O N & E X P O
8 PLPA Co-Chair Coleen Ellis, CPLP,
in the audience at a PLPA session.
9 John Gouch, left, and Andrs Agui-
lar take notes on phone and computer
while Gary OSullivan, CCE, sticks to
pen and paper. 10 ICCFA 2013-2014
President Nancy Lohman, CCFE,
holds a Year of the Horse gift repre-
senting power and luck from Mongo-
lian attendees Endbavar Uchralzaya
and Idermaa Garavsuren, president of
the Mongolian association, which is
celebrating its 10th anniversary.
14
10
13
Melissa
McDonald
Oregon Metro,
Portland, Oregon
This is a great
convention
lots of great
people and inter-
esting topics.
Andrs Uribe
Funeral
International
Group, Rionegro,
Colombia
I liked it a lot.
Excellent
speak ers, great
exhibits and
very good food.
We were treated
very well.
Charles
Bowman,
CFuE, CFSP
Bowman Fu-
neral Consultants,
Washington, D.C.
Its awesome.
The spirit of the
entire conven-
tion and the
session about
diversity I very
much appreci-
ated. I just think
its an awesome
convention.
What did you
think of your
first ICCFA
convention?
8 9
11
12
14 Attendees listen to a speaker in the general session area, which is in the Expo Hall.
11 Keynote speaker Stedman Graham. 12 Ocker Gevaerts
and Luise Felipe Baeza of Parque del Mar, Chile, in the Expo
Hall. 13 At the Natural Legacy by Hainsworth booth.
I CCFA CONVENTI ON
ELECTI ON RESULTS
Elections add record number of women to ICCFA board
E
lections held at the 2014 ICCFA
Convention & Expo resulted in a
record number of women being
added to the associations board. Six of the
eight new board members are female, for a
total of 10 women on the 29-member board.
Elected board members serve three-year
terms and must wait a year before running
for another term.
Board of Directors, 2014-2015:
Stacy Adams, Serenity Meadows
Memorial Park Funeral Home & Crema-
tory, Riverview, Florida
Lauren Blevins, Williams Funeral
Home & Crematory, Columbia, Tennessee
Mindy Botbol, Shalom Memorial
Park & Shalom Memorial Funeral Home,
Arlington Heights, Illinois
Shawna de la Cruz, Forest Lawn
Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California
Allen L. Dave Jr., Allen Dave Funeral
Directors & Cremation Tribute Center,
Cypress, Texas
Darin B. Drabing, Forest Lawn
Memorial-Parks & Mortuaries, Glendale,
California
Greg J. Easley, CCE, Forest Lawn
Memorial Park, Omaha, Nebraska (Past
Presidents representative)
Coleen Ellis, CPLP, Two Hearts Pet
Loss Center, Greenwood, Indiana (Pet Loss
Professionals Alliance representative)
Paul M. Elvig, Everett, Washington
(Past Presidents representative)
Jennifer Frew, CCE, Green Hills
Memorial Park, Rancho Palos Verdes,
California
Ray Frew, CCFE, Green Hills
Memorial Park, Rancho Palos Verdes,
California (Past Presidents representative)
Paul Goldstein, Hillside Memorial Park
& Mortuary, Los Angeles, California
Christine Toson Hentges, CCE,
The Tribute Companies Inc., Hartland,
Wisconsin
Timothy J. Hoff, CFSP, Hoff Funeral
& Cremation Service, St. Charles,
Minnesota
Caressa Hughes, Service Corporation
International, Houston, Texas
Kennan L. Knopke, CCE, Curlew Hills
Memory Gardens, Palm Harbor, Florida
John T. McQueen, CFSP, Anderson-
McQueen Funeral Homes, Cemetery &
Crematory, St. Petersburg, Florida
Frederick W. Miller, CCE, Memorial
Business Systems, Brentwood, Tennessee
(IMSA representative)
Blair H. Nelsen, CFuE, CFSP, Service
Corporation International, Richmond,
Virginia
Marla J. Noel, CPA, Fairhaven
Memor ial Park & Mortuary, Santa Ana,
California
Robbie Pape, Service Corporation
International, Houston, Texas
James D. Price, CCFE, CCrE, Tampa,
Florida
Abigail Brammer Quiocho, Gibraltar
Remembrance Services, Indianapolis,
Indiana
M. Yfan Rodrique, Services Comme-
moratifs Celebris, Montreal, Quebec
Anthony Russo, Cypress Hills
Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York
James R. Starks, CFuE, CCrE,
J Starks Consulting, Lutz, Florida
G. Kenneth Stephens, Stewart
Enterprises Inc., Dallas, Texas
Gregg A. Strom, CCE, StoneMor
Partners, Bristol, Pennsylvania
Daniel L. Villa, Inglewood Park
Cemetery, Inglewood, California
Offcers, 2014-2015:
President I. Frederick Lappin, CCE,
Knollwood Cemetery Corp. and Sharon
Memorial Park, Sharon, Massachusetts
President-elect Darin B. Drabing
Vice PresidentEducation Michael
R. Uselton, CCFE, Gibraltar Remem-
brance Services, Palmetto, Florida
Vice PresidentMembership &
Marketing Jay Dodds, CFSP, Signature
Group, Houston, Texas
Vice PresidentInternal Affairs
Scott R. Sells, CCFE, Service Corporation
International, San Jose, California
Vice PresidentExternal Affairs
Christine Toson Hentges, CCE
Treasurer Gary M. Freytag, CCFE,
Spring Grove Cemetery & Arboretum,
Cincinnati, Ohio
Secretary Daniel L. Villa. r
From left, ICCFA 2014-2015 Presiden-elect Darin Drabing, newly elected board members Jim Starks, CFuE, CCrE, Shawna
de la Cruz, Mindy Botbol and Stacy Adams; 2014-2015 President Fred Lappin, CCE; newly elected board member Carissa
Hughes; ICCFA Executive Director Bob Fells, Esq.; and newly elected board members Jennifer Frew, CCE, and Paul Goldstein.
Missing from the photo is newly elected board member Robbie Pape.
I CCFA CONVENTI ON
AWARDS & RECOGNI TI ONS
David Shipper (left) receives the ICCFA
Hall of Fame Award from Jeff Kidwiler.
Hall of Fame Award recognizes
David Shippers service to ICCFA
P
ast President David Shippers
contributions to the profession and
the association were recognized with
the ICCFAs Hall of Fame Award during the
associations 2014 convention.
Our association today is exactly what
David thought of in 2000-2001, said
Past President Jeff Kidwiler, CCE, CSE,
as he praised Shippers leadership during
challenging times. The economic climate,
both in the cemetery and funeral profession
and in the country as a whole, meant diffcult
days for the association, with declining
attendance at educational programs, he said.
Shipper, who took over as president in
spring 2000, made a difference with the
force of his personality, Kidwiler said. He
walked up to people and asked them to be on
committees. Anybody who said, Im not sure
its going to work, David said, You go sit in
a corner; Ill fnd somebody else.
We needed somebody at that point to
do what he did. Recent past presidents like
myself have gotten to enjoy the great times
of our association. David Shipper was thrust
into an era that was not good. Im humbled
to stand up here and give David Shipper the
2014 Hall of Fame Award.
In receiving the award, Shipper said, No
matter how much you give this association,
you will always get back much more, and
called for his father, Past President Irwin
W. Shipper, CCE, who was inducted into
the Hall of Fame in 2004, to join him at the
podium for a round of applause.
David Shipper is president and CEO of
Futura Group, based in Ewing, New Jersey.
The company owns and operates 42 cemetery
and funeral home locations serving more than
12,000 families per year. Previously, Shipper
served as a vice president and director of
corporate development with Loewen Group
International. During his tenure, the company
closed nearly $1 billion in cemetery and
combination transactions. He has served
several terms on the ICCFA Board of
Directors and was recently chosen to serve a
three-year term on the ICCFA Service Bureua
Board of Directors.
The Hall of Fame award is the ICCFAs
highest honor. Since its creation in 1965, it
has been awarded to 33 individuals. r
Mortuary Lif AD
1/2 H
4-COLOR
I CCFA CONVENTI ON
I
CCFA University, to be held July
18-23 at the University of Memphis
in Memphis, Tennessee, is the only
school of its kind for cemetery, cremation
and funeral service professionals. The
ICCFA Educational Foundation awarded
the following scholarships to ICCFAU:
Phillip Lauriault, Smiths Funeral
Service, Burlington, Ontario, Canada
(made possible by Regions Bank).
Nora Murphy, Leete-Stevens Family
Funeral Homes & Crematory, Enfeld,
Connecticut (made possible by Live Oak
Bank).
Dennis Paulsen, Cedar Memorial
Park Cemetery, Cedar Rapids, Iowa (made
possible by the Memorial Classic Golf
Tournament).
Laurraine Piller, Town of Olds,
Alberta, Canada (made possible by Live
Oak Bank).
Lisa Vaeth, Jewish Federation of
Greater Hartfords Association of Jewish
Cemeteries, West Hartford, Connecticut
(made possible by Regions Bank).
The Central States Cemetery Associa-
tion made an endowment to the ICCFA
Educational Foundation in 2009 to
establish a scholarship to ICCFAU for
applicants from the states of Arkansas,
Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Okla-
homa and Wisconsin. A CSCA full-tuition
scholarship was awarded to:
Samantha Renner, Riverview
Cemetery, Jefferson City, Missouri.
ICCFA Next Generation Commit tee
scholarships was awarded to:
Zachary Carnley, Greenwood-
Mount Olivet-Arllngton Funeral Homes,
Arlington, Texas.
Becca Ehlert, Pinelawn Memorial
Park, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Heather Leigh, Greenhaven
Memorial Garden, Elgin, South Carolina.
In addition, the foundation awarded a
scholarship designated specifcally for an
active or veteran member of the armed
forces or military reserves. Recipient of
the 2014 Merendino Veterans Scholarship:
Michael Sanchez, Green Hills
Mortuary, Rancho Palos Verdes,
California. r
10 receive scholarships to ICCFA University
Regions Bank
donates $75,000
to foundation for
scholarships
At the ICCFA 2014 Convention &
Expo, Mark Milton of Regions Bank,
Houston, Texas, presents Education-
al Foundation Chairman Jim Price,
CCFE, CCrE, a check for $75,000 to
fund scholarships for continuing
education.
OSullivan, center, at the reception with Allen Dave, left, and
Scott Saltsgaver, both ICCFA University graduates.
The ICCFA Educational Foundation Inspiration Awards were presented at a reception at the
2014 ICCFA Convention in Las Vegas. Recipients were Gary OSullivan, CCFE, and Todd Van
Beck, CFuE. Foundation Chairman Jim Price, CCFE, CCrE, hopes to schedule the reception as an annual event not only to honor
the award recipients but also to raise money for scholarships for continuing education. In addition to scholarships for ICCFA Uni-
versity, offered each year in July at the University of Memphis, Tennessee, the foundation recently began awarding scholarships
for the ICCFA Wide World of Sales Conference in January, the professions premier event for preneed sales training.
Van Beck, center, at the reception with ICCFA 2014-2015
President Fred Lappin, CCE, and Vice President Scott Sells.
Inspiration Award
Gino Merendino,
an ICCFA Univer-
sity dean whose
company funds
a scholarship,
with Vivian Frew
and Ray Frew,
CCE, founding
chairman of
the Educational
Foundation.
Next Generation Committee members John Gouch, Abbie
Brammer Quiocho and Christie Toson Hentges, CCE, with
ICCFA 2014-2015 President-elect Darin Drabing. Hentges was
with the Central States Cemetery Association when it en-
dowed a scholarship for someone from its member states.
Hancy Blankfard of HSA Associates, Minnesota; Marla Noel of
Fairhaven Memorial Park & Mortuary, California; and John Mc-
Queen, CFSP, of Anderson-McQeen Funeral Homes, Florida.
Hamilton Jones, Miller-Jones Mortuary, California; ICCFA Treasur-
er Gary Freytag of Spring Grove Companies, Ohio; Corey Gaff-
ney, Gaffney Funeral Homes, Washington; and Kimberly Jones.
I CCFA CONVENTI ON
At the Educational Foundation reception
ASD AD
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Zontec AD
1/4 V
I CCFA CONVENTI ON
S
ixteen persons received the Certifed
Pet Loss Professional certifcation
from the Pet Loss Professionals
Alliance during the 2014 ICCFA
Convention & Expo.
The certifcation recognizes people
who have attained the highest level
of achievement within the pet loss
service profession. Those receiving the
certifcation:
Kathy Beard, Pets & Friends LLC,
Tyler, Texas.
Cherie Fry, Paws to Angels, Omaha,
Nebraska.
Donald Gleason, D.O. McComb and
Sons Funeral Home, Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Lorina R. Hiatt, Rainbow Bridge Pet
Crematorium, Loveland, Colorado.
Katie Koewler, Hearts Companion,
Reno, Nevada.
William G. Martini, Good Shepherd
Pet Services, Ridgeland, South Carolina.
Raeleen Neary, M&R Animal
Cremation, Red Bud, Illinois.
Sandra L. Reed, Ducro Funeral
Services & Crematory, Ashtabula, Ohio.
Kari Remkus, Hinsdale Animal
Cemetery & Crematory, Willowbrook,
Illinois.
Nancy Remkus, Hinsdale Animal
Cemetery & Crematory, Willowbrook,
Illinois.
Diane Ross, Clock Timeless Pets,
Muskegon, Michigan.
Marjene Schrader, Oakeys Pet Funeral
Home and Crematory, Roanoke, Virginia.
Michelle Shook, Oakeys Pet Funeral
Home and Crematory, Roanoke, Virginia.
JT Tomczak, PALS Inc., Phoenix,
Arizona.
Joanna Woronchak, Until We Meet
Again, North Vancouver, British Columbia,
Canada.
Dmitri Zaslausky, Family Pet
Memorial Inc., Colbert, Washington. r
From left, PLPA Co-Chair Coleen Ellis, CPLP, Certifed Pet Loss Professional certifcation recipients JT Tomczak, Diane Ross,
Raeleen Neary, Donald Gleason and Kathy Beard; PLPA Co-Chair Bill Remkus, CPLP; and ICCFA 2013-2014 President Nancy
Lohman, CCFE.
Certified Pet Loss Professional certifications awarded
Left, ICCFA 2014-2015 President Fred
Lappin, CCE, (left) congratulates Robert
Gordon Sr., CCFE, CCrE, CSE, Eternal
Hills Memorial Gardens & Funeral Home,
Klamath Falls, Oregon, on joining the
Half Century Club (for 50 years of ICCFA
membership) during the 2014 ICCFA con-
vention. Right, ICCFA 2013-2014 President
Nancy Lohman, CCFE, congratulates
Jonathan Pace, CCE, CCrE, CSE, Franklin
Memorial Park, North Brunswick, New Jer-
sey, for joining the Quarter Century Club
(for 25 years of ICCFA membership). Also
inducted were Kenneth Bell, Woodlawn
Memorial Gardens & Funeral Home, Nor-
folk, Virginia; and Jesse Mulvaney, Cedar
Memorial, Iowa Cremation and Compan-
ions for Life, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Awards for 50, 25
years of membership
T
he ICCFA honored a number
of members during the 2014
conven tion who have earned
certifcation designations. The
certifcation program recognizes
indivi duals who have demon strated a
high degree of competence and a high
level of cemetery, cremation, funeral
management and supplier experience
and skills. The ICCFA awarded the
following designations:
Charles F. Bowman, Bowman
Funeral Business Consultants,
Washington, DC, received his Certifed
Funeral Executive (CFuE) certifcation.
Kevin D. Brown, received his
Certifed Cemetery Executive (CCE)
and Certifed Cremation Executive (CCrE)
certifcations.
David O. Dahl, Milne Construction
Company, Portland, Oregon, received
his Certifed Supplier Executive (CSE)
certifcation.
Allen L. Dave, Allen Dave Funeral
Directors & Cremation Tribute Center,
Cypress, Texas, received his Certifed
Funeral Executive (CFuE) certifcation.
George Milley, Forest Hills
Cemetery, Crematory & Columbarium,
Boston, Massachusetts, received his
Certifed Cemetery Executive (CCE)
certifcation.
Kenneth G. Myers, Service
Corpor ation International, Houston,
Texas, re ceived his Certifed Cemetery
and Funeral Executive (CCFE) and
Certifed Cremation Executive (CCrE)
certifcations. r
Receiving their certifcation awards (above) from 2013-2014 ICCFA President Nancy Lohman, CCFE, and 2014-2015 President
Fred Lappin, CCE, are, from left, Charles Bowman, Allen Dave, David Dahl and Kenneth Myers, and (below) George Milley.
ICCFA members earn professional certifications
AC Furniture AD
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4-COLOR
I CCFA CONVENTI ON
I CCFA CONVENTI ON
THEY DI DN T REALLY SAY THAT, DI D THEY?
Check out my new urn:
What happens in Vegas
Stays in Vegas.
1. Ron LaVigne Sr. shows off the versatility of Polyguard & Co.s vaults. 2. Grief therapy dog Soloman
Flynns owner, Tom Flynn (right) of the Avenue of 444 Flags Foundation and Tom Comstock of Billion
Graves are just warming up the couch for Soloman, who recognized the ICCFA Welcome Lounges
nap potential. 3. Blaine Kitchen of Holsag Canada found an eye-catching way to call attention to the
strength of the companys furniture. 4. Dave Dahl of Milne Construction swore this was a skiing
accident ... or maybe he fell off a mausoleum or something ... but it was defnitely not a chair-related
incident. 5. Jim Hardy of Custom Air Trays is truly dedicated to his job. 6. Mark Elder of Starmark
Funeral Products takes advantage of one of the free massages offered in the Expo Hall. People must
think funeral directors, cemeterians and industry suppliers are really stressed, because there were
several booths selling massage products (and offering free massages) on the convention hall foor this
year. 7. Kim Andrews staffng the Flagpoles by Uncommon USA booth. 8. Doug Tobey of Mabrey Prod-
ucts holds the urn he made for the convention, which says in full: RIP What happens in Vegas stays in
Vegas, but this is ridiculous. 9. The statue of Pope John Paul II is by LP Bronze International.
1
I beg to disagree.
Im trying out for Cirque
de Soleil later.
Why does everyone keep
asking me if I fell off a
chair?
Next year were asking for a
booth next to this one.
I drew the short straw;
everyone else is at a food
station or getting beer.
Yes, I dress this way when I
fy. The TSA loves it.
The minute their backs are turned, Im hopping on that couch.
Vaults not only protect caskets,
they also keep snacks fresh.
2
4
3
5
6
7
8
9
Trigard AD
FULL PAGE
page 23
4-COLOR
I CCFA 2014 CONVENTI ON
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
rLearn what it takes to
be a lifelong champion
Archie Griffn,
Ohio State University
Im here today to talk about
something that cannot be
achieved in an hour, a day, a
week or a month. Im here
to talk about being a lifelong
champion, which is more of
a process than an event, more
of a mindset than it is a goal
with a fnish line. Just as there
are four quarters to a football
game, I have found that there
are four pillars to being a
lifelong champion. Pillar one is
values; pillar two is dedication;
pillar three is competitive spirit;
and pillar four is leadership.
When I think about the
importance of values, I travel
back in my minds eye to an
evening that occurred some
four decades ago during my
senior year in high school. It
was the frst time I spent an extended amount
of time with coach Woody Hayes.
We had dinner at his favorite restaurant in
Columbus and he was trying to recruit me to
come and play football him for him at Ohio
State University. I remember we had a very
pleasant dinner, but it wasnt quite what I had
expected.
When I came home that night, my father
asked me how the dinner went with Coach
Hayes. I said, Daddy, it was a nice dinner,
but I really dont think he wants me to play
football for him.
My father said, Why do you say that?
and I said, Because he never mentioned one
thing to me about football.
He said, What did he talk about?
I said, All evening all he talked about
was an education and how important it was
for me to get a good education.
Well, Ill never forget my father looked at
me kind of strangely, and he said, Dont you
think he cares about you more as a person
and not just somebody who can get on the
feld and run for a lot of yards for him?
Right then, I really didnt know, but later
I found out that my father was right. My
father was also clearly impressed with
Woodys interest in my future beyond foot-
ball, and saw it as a sincere expression of the
values with which he guided his program.
Woody knew that he ultimately was
in the business of serving families, giving
young men a chance to better
themselves whether they were
star players or on the bench.
Woody seemed to spend as
much time with the parents of
the recruits as he did with the
recruits themselves.
When you really think about
it, every one in this room is in
the same business: To serve
families. And how you exhibit
your values through a strong
work ethic, a commitment to
honesty and exemplary service
will go a long way toward
determining your reputation in
your community.
Disciplining yourself to
go the extra mile helps you
become a lifelong champion.
If you have a disciplined
approach, the families who
lean on you in their time of
great need will have confdence
in your ability. And perhaps
equally important, you will
have confdence in yourself because you were
disciplined enough to prepare.
But being a lifelong champion takes more
than strong values and discipline. You must
be ready to transform the work you have
done in preparation into a great competitive
spirit.
Like the football feld, the funeral industry
has become fercely competitive. You have
moments when you fumble the ball, and you
will have your share of critics. The key is to
stay focused on what you do well and never
doubt the rewards that your dedication will
bring you. Competition is never to be feared,
because when you are challenged, you are
forced to improve and become stronger. r
We all come across people who might be smarter than we are,
who might have more ability than we have, but if those people are
not willing to work the way youre willing to work, then I guarantee
you that they cant accomplish the things you can accomplish.
Its not the ability you have, its what you do with that ability that
really counts.Archie Griffn
Amanda
Gibson
(with self-
described
long-timer
Julie Hassett)
Desert Lawn
Funeral Home,
Mohave Valley,
Arizona
Its been a really great time. Ive learned so
much about the businessIve only been in
it for about a year. Ive learned a lot of useful
tools I can use for my job every day.
Devin Starnes
City of Santa
Monica,
California
Very interest-
ing; a ton of
information. A bit
excitingIm not
from the industry, so Im com-
ing here to see and learn. As of
today, the expo is the best part,
because I get to see all these
different areas and get a better
understanding of the industry.
Holly Sutton
Cremation
Society of
Georgia, Atlanta
Very informa-
tive. There
are a lot of
great people
here who are
providing good
information
for our indus-
try. Its very
engaging.
FI RST-TI MERS
Star Granite AD
FULL PAGE
page 25
4-COLOR
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
rKnow your message
Stedman Graham,
S. Graham & Associates
You have to take control of
your message today. What
is your message? It really
is about branding. Whats
your message? Youve got
15 seconds to give your
message; otherwise people
forget. So you have to be
clear on what your message
is.
rReach out
to multicultural
consumers
You have to care about
your consumer, you have to
care about your customer.
Studies have shown that multicultural
consumers are more likely to
purchase products and services
from companies they perceive as
caring about or reaching out to
them. What is your community
outreach program?
rDont let others define you
Most people are defned by the
world and dont know who they
are. When you dont know who
you are, the world says, OK, Ive
got you. You dont know who you
are, so Im going to defne who
you are. Im going to take control
of your life. And the world puts
you in a box and it defnes you
by your race and says you cant
make it because of the color of
your skin. And it creates socially
constructed messages that people buy into.
How many people around the world think
they cant make it because of the color
of their skin? Millions of people are told
theyre second class citizens.
And the world says to women, you
cant make it because its a mans world.
And women are put into that socially
constructed box. How many women
around the world buy into that?
And then the world says, Im going to
defne you by your family.
The world defnes you by your house
and your car, your religion and your
money and your job.
Whoever you let defne you will always
defne you as less than they are, so youve
got to be able to take your power back and
say, World, Im not going to give you that
much power to defne me. Im going to
defne myself in the 24 hours I have every
single day. r
If you change the
way you think about
yourself, theres
nothing you cannot
accomplish
Stedman Graham
rReally learn about, understand,
the cultures you want to serve
Elleanor DavisStarks, CFSP, CCA,
100 Black Women of Funeral Service
Diversity is about race, its about culture, its
about new perspectives, its about new ideas.
When you go home, if someone walks in and
asks you for a homegoing service for their
mother and you dont understand what that is,
then youre at a disadvantage.
If we want diversity as part of our esta-
blishments, we have to learn those cultures,
we have to be a part of that culture to
understand. Its not just about making money,
but about wanting to provide service.
Tradition is very important. Our roots are
in the church, therefore well pretty much
always have a funeral service because it
goes back to that: our faith is No. 1 and we
feel if we havent taken the families back
to the church were doing an injustice, and
most families feel that way because theyre
brought up in the church.
Look around, look in your funeral service
establishment. You should have someone
there who looks different than you; you need
that for the success of your business.
rOffer Mexican-American
families more direct participation
Anthony Guerra,
Guerra & Gutierrez Mortuary
Were a very close-knit community, Mexican-
Americans. Offer more family participation,
direct involvement. Let the family participate
in the Mass. Have the pallbearers place the
pall over the casket. Have the spouse or one
of the children hold the crucifx, guide the
casket down the aisle toward the altar.
Invite a family member to ride in the
coach to the cemetery. Pass by the residence
on the way to the cemetery. That means
planning for motorcycle escortsmention
that during the arrangement process.
One thing that has been very successful
is wrapping the rosary around the handle of
the casket throughout the entire ceremony,
the priest blesses it at gravesite and then we
present it to a family member.
When you do a removal at a residence,
what works really well is to play a favorite
song. There are two songs that mean a lot,
have beautiful words in Spanish: Nadie
es Eterno and Amor Eterno. As were
leaving the residence, the family gathers
around their loved one, maybe in the living
room or bedroom, and all stand in respect and
for a prayer and we play this music.
rTreat gay and lesbian clients
the same as everyone else
Gwen Mooney, CCFE,
Gwen Mooney Funeral Home
We have funeral homes located in each of
the areas in the greater Cincinnati area with
the highest concentration of lesbian and gay
residents. Spring Grove Cemetery is located
in the largest gay and lesbian community in
Cincinnati, which is full of retail business and
restaurants, so we frequent businesses owned
mostly by the gay and lesbian community.
The gay and lesbian community want to
From left, Kenneth
Varner, CCFE, of Cypress
Lawn Cemetery Association;
Gwen Mooney, CCFE, Gwen
Mooney Funeral Home and
Spring Grove Chapel;
Elleanor Davis Starks, CFSP,
CCA, 100 Black Women of
Funeral Service; and
Anthony Guerra, Guerra
& Gutierrez Mortuary.
Merendino AD
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page 27
4-COLOR
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
rCreate emotional branding
to rise above simple awareness
Scott Deming
The formula for personal and professional
sustainable success lies within our ability
to create. The most powerful, emotional,
meaningfulthis is the most important
partone-of-a-kind, unexpected brand.
Your ability to succeed in life at every
single level is directly related to your
ability to create a powerful emotional,
where-did-that-come-from?, nobody-else-
does-that brand.
I owned and operated a national
advertising agency for 20 years, and believe
me when I tell you, awareness alone
cannot build a powerful emotional brand.
Awareness is just thatawareness. Nothing
more, nothing less. Emotional branding
is the reason why your customers, your
community, evangelizes you.
A powerful, emotional, nobody-else-
does-it, unexpected brand will turn typical
customers and community members
into raving, lunatic evangelists for life.
Emotional branding boosts profts; it builds
your bottom line. You cant be successful
without it. I dont care what you sell, you
cannot have sustainable success without
the power of emotional branding.
Branding: The most misunderstood,
misused, misquoted topic in all the
corporate world.
Believe it or not, what you think you
do, and what you think youre selling, is
different from what customers would hope
you do.
Raise your hands if you are in the
funeral, burial, cemetery, cremation
business serving people. Thats not 100
percent correct. Heres the paradigm shift:
Youre not in the burial business, the
funeral business, the writing software for
web pages for burial businesses business
serving people. Youre in the people
business, offering the most unique, one-of-
a-kind experience.
We get so caught up in features and
benefts that it becomes our focus, and
anytime all that stuff comes before
relationship, you cant make a sustainable
brand.
Heres what I believe you sell: Trust,
reliability, relationships, knowledge,
comfort, security, better quality of life,
unique experiencesdisguised as funeral
and burial companies.
Let me tell you, this is what everyone
youre serving hopes you sell.
rAppeal to the emotional side of
the brain, not the data-drive side
The more you know about how the brain
works, the better equipped you are, the
better equipped you are to make meaningful
People dont choose rationally to listen to your message; they choose to listen to
your message because they have a feeling about it.Scott Deming
see that theyre accepted and that we care.
Theyre looking for options. In Spring Grove
Cemetery, for instance, we have a beautiful
rose garden, we have chapels on the grounds,
we have different areas where we allow
weddings; we have quite a few weddings
with gay and lesbian couples.
Our staff basically treats this community
like everyone else. Our staff is very diverse;
we have gay and lesbian staff.
The Cincinnati Pride Parade Event is
a huge event in Cincinnati. We get very
involved with that so that we can strengthen
our relationship. We enter a foat in the
parade. We make sure we advertise in some
of the newspapers and magazines followed
by a lot of gays and lesbians.
rLearn about feng shui cemetery
design to serve the Asian market
Ken Varner, CCFE,
Cypress Lawn Cemetery Association
In the Asian business, our relationship really
starts at the cemetery. The Asian community
prefers ground burial. In China, its 100
percent cremation, but when they come to
the United States, they would prefer to have
a full burial. So what they want is side-by-
side burial, premium vaults and upright
monuments. Thats our basic Asian package.
The key features in the cemetery are
adherence to the principles of feng shui.
Its not religious; its a design philosophy
that has to do with balance and symmetry,
it has to do with what the Chinese call the
management of the life force.
There are three critical elements that our
Chinese families are looking for, and if you
cant provide those three elements, theyre
not likely to buy your property. If theres
great feng shui in respect to your cemetery
property, they will pay more for that.
Sheltering chi is something thats
represented by a high backin our situation,
a mountain. Theres fowing chi, which is
represented by standing in the garden and
having unobstructed views. And resting
chi is represented by water, so in our new
cemetery, for instance, we have two lakes,
and its important where that water is placed.
The water is always placed at the foot of the
development. r
Matthews AD
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page 29
4-COLOR
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
rDont be afraid to fail
Dan Jansen
Theres a great saying that you
cannot discover new oceans
unless you have the courage to
lose sight of the shore. To me,
it means you cant be afraid
to fail if youre going to be
successful.
In your industry, changes
are happening all the time.
You cant be afraid to go with
the changes. Youve got to be
accepting, with open arms, and
fnd ways to do this.
If you are the best at what
you dowhatever it is you
doand you continue to do
what got you there, youre going to be good,
you might be good for a long time, but you
will not be the best very long. People will
do more, they will be more innovative, they
will do what it takes to be looking down at
you. Always be willing to make yourself
better.
The very frst step in setting any goal
before I tell you that, Ill tell you who is the
best at that, step No. 1kids. When my
youngest daughter was 10 years old, she
taught me this, that kids are best
at step No. 1, simply believing
that it is possible. You have
to believe that its possible, or
dont even begin the process.
One day we were cleaning
up in her room, and I found a note on her
bedside table, and I read it and it said,
Thank you very much, Im so proud, I
worked so hard for this. I felt bad, because
I didnt know what she had done, if she had
won something at school.
I said, What is this? She said, Thats
my acceptance speech for when I win
American Idol. I thought, this is a great
example of the way kids think. They think,
Why not? They have no fear. r
Its diffcult, if not
impossible, to lie to
yourself. You are truly the
only one who knows if you
gave everything you had
to be at your best, if you
prepared as much as you
could and then you did your
best. And to me, there is a
measure of success in that
alone, aside from whatever
happens.Dan Jansen
Dan Jansen greets fans after his talk at the ICCFA Convention.
Juanito De Asis
Solano Memorial Park,
Philippines
Its very pleasant, and
very educational, well
organized. The expo is
well set up.
Brittany Horton
Hoff Celebration of Life
Center, Goodview, Minnesota
I really loved seeing the
Expo Hall, all of the new
ideas, and visiting with
people Ive never met
before.
Robert Clarke
Clarkes Funeral Home,
Gladstone, Manitoba
Very interesting. Lots
of interesting displays,
good seminars.
FI RST-TI MERS
connections with other human beings. The
reptilian part of the brain evolved over
700 million years ago in fsh. This part of
the brain is responsible for survival; its
automatedyou dont have to think about
it. If you get tired, hungry, thirsty, whatever
it is, the reptilian part of the brain takes
care of it for us.
The next part of the brain, called limbic,
is 100 percent responsible for memory
and mostly emotion. Every desire, fear,
love, hate emotion you feel comes from
the limbic. It evolved about 300 million
years ago. I hear people all the time say,
Oh, man, I should have gone with my
gut! No, you should have gone with your
limbic. Your gut processes food, period.
The outside, the neocortex, evolved
only 3 million years ago and is 100 percent
responsible for processing language and
data.
Heres why Im showing you this: This
(linbic) is the part of the brain we use most.
We think its so important to give people
information; we dont realize thats not
helping their decision. This part of your
brain has very little to do with the decision-
making process. Over 90 percent of every
choice, purchase or relationship is based
on emotion.
Emotion trumps decision-making in
terms of facts, features, price.
rInnovate with service
I want you to understand something:
Innovation does not mean invention. Im
asking you to innovate with your service,
but check this out: Steve Jobs didnt invent
the computer; he didnt invent cell phones;
he didnt invent the tablet; he didnt invent
retail shopping. You know what he did?
Innovated how all those things enhanced,
transformed our lives.
Im not asking you to change what you
do; Im not asking you to change what you
say. Im asking you to change how you say
it. Innovate with service. r
FSI AD
FULL PAGE
page 31
4-COLOR
The generosity of sponsors helps the
ICCFA keep convention registration
costs low while providing outstanding
keynote speakers and giving attendees
coffee breaks and refreshments in the
Expo Hall. Thank you to 2014 sponsors:
Carriage Services
NGL Insurance Group
NorthStar Memorial Group
StoneMor Partners LP
Batesville Casket Co.
Matthews International Corp.
Service Corporation International
Physicans Mutual Insurance
Astral Industries
Forethought Financial Group
American Funeral Financial
Cedar Memorial Iowa Cremation
Coldspring
Cypress Lawn
Johnson Consulting Group
Live Oak Bank
NOMIS Publications
Precoa
Spring Grove Cemetery & Arboretum
Wilbert Funeral Services
Carrier Mausoleums Construction
Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks & Mortuaries
Guerra & Gutierrez Mortuary
Riviera Tailors Ltd.
The Signature Group
American Memorial Life Insurance Co.
Assurant Life of Canada
Funeral Directors Life Insurance Co.
International Memorialization Supply
Association
Madelyn Co.
Star Granite & Bronze
Starmark Funeral Products
Independence Trust Co.
Answering Service for Directors (ASD)
Eckco Products
French Funerals & Cremations/Sunset
Memorial Park
Aurora Casket Co.
Funeral Home Gifts
Krause Funeral Homes
Messenger Co.
Stone Orchard Software
All City Communications
Funeral Service Credit Union
Green Hills Memorial Park
Halo International Corp.
Milne Construction Co.
Citadel Management &
Dyanne Matzkevich
AlanCreedy.org
Inevitable Exodus
Disrupt Media
Global Recruiters of Cincinnati
Holman Howe Funeral Home
The Academy of Professional Funeral
Practice
The Gardens at Gethsemane
MANAGEMENT
rTalk to younger consumers
to find out what they want from you
Focus group facilitators Andrs Aguilar, Abigail
Brammer Quiocho and Christie Toson Hentges,
CCE, ICCFA Next Generation Committee
How do you want to be educated? Online? Would
you go to a seminar at a funeral home or cemetery,
or would you prefer it to be
offsite?
Offsite has better appeal.
When you say come to
the funeral home so we can
discuss people dying, I think
I would fnd something better
to do.
I think a big presence on
social media, because everybody lives a fast-paced
life, so nobody wants to go to a seminar, but many
people are on social media a lot.
Educational seminars through universities
or community colleges. You would be hitting a
younger demographic, but you also have faculty
and other employees on the campus.
How about partnering up with churches,
because I think it would be more powerful to think
about it in a church setting.
The frst image that comes to mind when you
think of cemeteries?
Final. ... Sad. ... Scary. ... Green grass, quietness.
... Freaky. ... Peaceful.... Peace and calmness. ...
Scary.
When I say funeral ceremony what is the one
word you think of immediately?
Sad. ... Sad. ... Sad. ... Clo-
sure. ... Beautifula celebra-
tion of somebodys life. ...
Stepping into another life. ...
Graduation into the afterlife.
... Making peace with God. ...
I said sad, but its also a way
of bringing peace between
you and your loved one. Im
sad, but you have moved on to a better place.
Would you make funeral arrangements online?
I wouldnt do everything online; I think it would
be lacking the human touch.
I think I would make a decision completely
online if I already knew about the facilities and
the person beforehand and it was just a matter of
convenience. But would I look up on Google, Oh,
theres a funeral home? Its like getting a surgeon
to do a heart transplant without any reference or
anyone whos worked with him before. r
There are about 35 of us in
the country who train people
on how to use the American
Community Survey through the
American Fact Finder, the main
search engine to mine for data.
You can do a specifc analysis,
you can look at a neighborhood,
or a city or zip codes. You can compare, pull
the data, and perhaps theres data you can
use in a marketing plan.Armando Mendoza
Above and below, some of the people who agreed to give their opinions on funeral and
cemetery services participate in a question-and-answer session planned and moderated by
the ICCFA Next Generation Committee.
rStudy data available from the census
Armando Mendoza, U.S. Census Bureau
Some projections, all the way to 2060: The
population is expected to grow much more slowly
over the next several decades compared to the
last set of projections we released in 2008-2009.
Thats because the projected levels of births and
international migrations are lower than in our
projections from our last report, refecting trends in
terms of fertility and international migration.
The older population, the population age 65 and
older, is expected to more than double between
2012 and 2060, from 43.1 million to 92 million.
The older population will represent just over one
in fve US residents by the end of the period, up
from one in seven today.
The increase in the number of the oldest will
be even more dramatic. Those 85 years and older
are projected to more than triple from 5.9 million
to 18.2 million, reaching 4.3 percent of the total
population. r
Paradise Pics AD
FULL PAGE
page 33
4-COLOR
MANAGEMENT
Marcia Williams and Greer Redden,
Independence Trust Co.
rReconsider the price guarantee
on preneed funeral contracts
Redden: Declining proft margins in
funeral servicethis is sobering. In 1980,
you were at or near 14
percent, and theres
been a consistent state
of decline since then.
Even now, were still
hovering around that 6
percent mark. Tighter
proft margins mean
you need to reevaluate
a lot of what may have
been done in the past
that stronger proft
margins obscured.
When you start getting lean, it uncovers a
lot of potential issues.
Reconsider the guarantee. Youre taking
on a lot of risk.
Consider offering the guarantee, but for
a price, a surcharge. What were talking
about is offering the surcharge for a
guarantee option, where the family has the
ability to choose it or not.
The guarantee surcharge is an additional
option; the additional cost is not something
that goes to reduce proft margins, which
is why it can be allowed from the Funeral
Rule standpoint. The additional premium
that would be charged or surcharged would
go into trust or would go toward the death
beneft, so its something that would be
available for the families at a later point,
at services, if theres a surplus. But most
important, help offset some of your
infation risk.
rEncourage preplanning in order
to decrease the cremation rate
Redden: Forty-one percent cremation rate
and the fact that its growing is a known
entity. However, based on some surveys
done by Homesteaders and other insurance
companies looking at preneed policies and
other types of preneed-driven sales, the
cremation rate among those who do preneed
planning is 34 percent, a pretty signifcant
drop.
Which shows that people who take the
time to work with their funeral homes, do
the preneed planning, are much less likely
to choose cremation, and certainly thats a
signifcant proft driver. And it shows that
when those people have time to think about it,
they choose cremation less often than they do
at need, or their families choose at need. r
Element 6
of effective
training
you know
what it is?
Repeat,
repeat,
repeat.
Dan
Kientzel
rCreate, manage your personal
brand using social media tools
Dan Kientzel,
Join the digital and social media age.
Its never been more important to do this.
How many of you are on LinkedIn and up-
to-date on that?
Life isnt about fnding yourself, life
is about creating yourself, creating your
brand.
The personal brand train has left the
station. We live in a world where people
make decisions on doing business with
you before they ever meet you. How many
of you know that to be true?
What people think of you will infuence
decisions to buy from you, spend time
with you, work for you or with you, listen
to you or even have a relationship with
you. And what is this all based on?
Well, your brand is out there, and its
important to recognize that your brand
preceeds your physical appearance, or
presence. Your personal
brand preceeds you.
Those of you who
are in a hiring position,
who hire people to join
your team, do you ever
research individuals who
are coming in for an
interview? Do you ever
look to see who they are
on social media? If theyre
on LinkedIn, on Facebook? Well, those
candidates are doing the same thing on you,
and theyre making a decision about if they
want to come work for you based on your
presence on social media.
Is your LinkedIn up-to-date? Are
you on Twitter? Do you have a good
reputation, a good professional reputation
where people recommend you and
people write blurbs about you and their
experience with you? Its important. To
remain relevant, you must proactively
manage your personal brand. You must.
Progressive sales leaders
use social media to recruit, to
sell, to build credibility as a
trusted advisor. To create new
opportunities. To speed up the
sales process. Follow me,
that should be what you say.
You should ask your family that
youre going to present to, Are
you on Twitter?
What about Google+? Whats
the importance of Google+? Well, Google+
is now competing with Facebook. They
want everyone to switch over, and the
word on the street is when anybody does a
Google search on something or someone,
Google will prefer, or push to the top,
somebody whos on Google+ over someone
whos not.
Even if youre on the right track, youll
get run over if you just sit there. This is
our present and changing situation, and
the line is constantly moving. r
Marcia
Williams,
right, hands
out materials
to attendees
at the
presentation
she and
Greer Red-
den did about
boosting
profts
through the
selection
of preneed
funding.
Greer Redden
talks about
preneed funeral
contracts.
Forethought AD
FULL PAGE
page 35
4-COLOR
MANAGEMENT
rRun a progressive company
if you want to attract millennials
Timothy Hoff and Brittany Horton,
Hoff Funeral and Cremation Service
Hoff: I have found in visits with young
people that the quality potential employee
seems to really want to work for a pro-
gres sive frm. Its very important to
them to know they can use the new tools
technologically to help them serve families
better.
Horton: When I was looking for a new
job right out of mortuary school, I basically
found the area where I wanted to be and
just made a few cold calls. I called Tim to
see if they were hiring, and the frst thing I
asked him was, Do you consider yourself
progressive? I wasnt so concerned with
anything other than that: How up-to-date are
you?
Hoff: Just the other day, Brittany and
our preneed counselor came up with a great
idea for preneed. They mass mailed a whole
town in an inexpensive format for a series of
preneed seminars called Pizza and Preneed
Planning. The frst one of the six events
took place with a great turnout and incredible
buzz. Most of the people there said, Were
coming back next time. That came out of
the ingenuity of Brittany and a coworker.
rLearn what millennials offer as
employees, what training they need
Timothy Kyle Nikola, Families First
Funeral Care & Cremation Center,
Coastal Empire Preplanning Services,
Bonaventure Funeral Home and Savannah
Family of Cemeteries
Nikola: The pros and cons of having
millennials work for youI am one, so I
am biased.
We want to make money, so were
going to work hard. Especially when
it comes to sales, specifcally, on the
cemetery side, its a commission-based job
and its a good thing to have somebody
whos hungry to make money and with
low initial income needs. A lot of times
when we hire people, we fnd, especially if
theyre older and have families, they need
to make money right away.
It is a blank slate, so there arent bad
habits. We dont have people coming in
who have been at this business or this
other company and had their way of doing
things. Theyre coming in as blank slates,
so we teach them the way we want things
to be done, the way our presentation is.
Being technologically savvy is
benefcial. And theyre energetic. We
want to get out there and do things like
prospecting that sometimes people arent
as apt to do.
On the cons, theres lack of experience,
and it comes down to a good training
program to gain that experience for them.
Maturity level is something you have to
watch out for.
Then theres the outside perception,
which I saw when I had just graduated
from college and gotten into the industry.
Youre going out into a persons home to
make funeral or cemetery arrangements
with them and theyre looking at you like
youre their grandchild.
If you can be educated and very well
versed in what youre talking about, you
can overcome that pretty quickly, but you
do need to take that time to learn those
things. r
People in my generation, the young
20-somethings, even the 30-some-
things, work best when theyre
networked together, group projects.
They thrive on instant gratifcation
and frequent rewards. They like to be
told theyre doing a good job all of the
time. Red tape and constant criticism
probably isnt going to work very well.
Brittany Horton
From left,
Timonth Hoff,
CFSP, Brittany
Horton and
Kyle Nikola
discuss hiring
and retaining
millenial
workers.
FI RST-TI MERS
Jane Saxby
City of Winnipeg,
Manitoba
Absolutely tons
of information to
take back. The
product displays,
in terms of the
number of displays and the in-
formation you can get from the
exhibitors area, is just phenom-
enal. I managed to make some
really good purchases.
Michael
Flannagan
Pleasant Valley
Cemetery District
Association,
Overland Park,
Kansas
I think this is
wonderful; I love it. There
is great information, great
people, great exhibits. Im
just kind of blown away by
the whole thing.
Willson
Acosta
Jardin
Memorial,
Santo
Domingo,
Dominican
Republic
Excellent; marvelous. An
experience that I will never
forget. It has been a lot for
me. I wasnt expecting so
muchit surprised me.
Tanya
Ballensky
Cremation
& Funeral
Gallery,
Billings,
Montana
Its been
wonderful; theres a lot
to see here.
Great Western AD
FULL PAGE
page 37
4-COLOR
MANAGEMENT
Embalming
rUse drainage to deal with edema
Shun Newbern,
Metropolitan Mortuary Jurupa Valley
Here you see edema all over the body. This
is a case where you had organ failure; organs
began to shut down, pancreas no longer
working, so you had all this fuid being built
up in the body.
One of the things Ive done is, while
youre embalming, those three points, you
can take your trocar and make some entry
points right in there, the lower portion of the
body, while youre embalming, and allow
the decedent to drain.
After youve got strong chemicals, you
can go right in there and trocar in there. Or,
you can go in and make a nice incision,
separate the tissue and put cotton in the area
to absorb the water out of there.
If you dont treat this area, what happens?
It later on begins to blister, begins to leak,
and youre forced to use a union-all. This is
where you have a horrible situation with a
ship-out or a casketed decedent. Even when
you use union-alls, you still have problems.
Reduce the swelling; remove as much
water as you possibly can. Thats what em-
balming isits actually dehydration of the
tissues. When youre removing the swelling,
youre simply restoring; its actually part of
reconstruction surgery.
In addition to your embalming authori-
zation, prepare a restorative art or restor-
ative surgery authorization. When youve
got a situation thats excessive, that youve
got to do a lot of work on, include this
procedure into what youre doing, and this
authorization. r
You
should
have
in your
embalm-
ing room
every
possible
size of
union-
alls. Garbage bags and wraps and
those types of things are not proper
professional supplies for a funeral
home.Shun Newbern
Jennifer Frew, CCE, moderator, panel on
women and leadership
rThink about becoming a leader
Nancy Lohman, CCFE,
StoneMor Partners
How many people think the
world is fair? No one, right?
I dont either. So if you were
asking me what keys to suc-
cess I think are important for
women, personally, I think
its pretty darn important what your seven-
second frst impression is.
It takes seven seconds to make a frst
impression with someone, so you need to be
engaging, you need to have good eye contact,
you need to have a great smile, you need to
dress appropriately and you need to be articu-
late. And if youre not sure you can do those
things, then work on them.
Can you recall a pointed lesson in leader-
ship that you learned along the way?
Caressa Hughes, Service
Corporation International
I was 25, I had just graduated
from college and I went to
work for a lobbying frm.
It was an administrative
job and my boss, who was the
head lobbyist, took me to a
reception. He didnt have a plan for me to do
anything, and I remember looking around the
room and thinking, Oh my gosh, Ive seen
all these people in my book, all the elected
offcials and the governor. I was just standing
there like a wallfower, and I thought, This
is my chance, I cannot just be standing here.
I was so scaredIm actually very shy, so it
was really hard for me.
So I just thought, Im going to do this;
this is my shot. I just sort of started work-
ing the room. I walked up to people, total
strangersit was so hardand I introduced
myself and said where I was working and
that I was excited to be in this profession.
And it worked. Later my boss said, You are
going to go meet with these legislators now.
That was a turning point in my life, and I
say: Be fearless, no matter what your age.
What were some of your peak experiences
on your leadership path?
Nicole Wiedeman,
Forethought Financial Group
No one died. I dont mean that
as a pun. In my younger life
I took myself too seriously.
Things would keep me up at
night and Id worry over the
stupidest thingsbut no one died.
I think I learned a lot from that. Ive
gone through seven mergers or acquisitions,
whether its my own company or the custom-
ers and clients I served. It was awful, but no-
body died. Ive had a few people say, Well,
you dont know that. But I stopped taking
myself too seriously, and when I can laugh, I
think that makes me be a better leader.
I may get fred. I may get sick. But I
bounce back. Things happen, but no one
died.
What is your defnition of
leadership?
Elleanor Davis Starks,
100 Black Women of Funeral
Service
Leadership is having someone
who possesses the ability to
accomplish a common goal, set a standard
for working together. Leadership is about
personality and skills, contributions and mo-
tivation, inspiration to others to get involved
and to become more than what they would
become without being involved with you.
Leadership has to be learned through ac-
tive participation and practice. Great leaders,
in my opinion, possess three fexible skills:
toughness, tenderness and the ability to know
when to use which.
What are a few resources you would rec-
ommend in gaining insight into becoming
a good leader?
Christine Hunsaker,
Stewart Enterprises
Something thats important to
becoming a good leader is be-
coming a good public speaker.
Many people are so frightened
to become a good speaker, but
in order to get your message across, youre
going to have to speak not only to the people
youre leading but to other groups.
You never want to pass up an opportunity
to be a public speaker, and I think its a skill
thats learned. r
Supernova AD
FULL PAGE
page 39
4-COLOR
MANAGEMENT
rAvoid hiring based on love at
first sight reaction to candidate
Mark Jorgensen,
Global Recruiters of Cincinnati
One of the risks we see in the recruiting pro-
cess is what Ill call love at frst sight. That
is, when you see that candidate or you have
that frst interview and you believe this is the
ideal person for the position you have at the
cemetery or the funeral organization.
I guess its just human nature that we
have a tendency to do this. It happens on the
candidates side sometimes, too, because the
candidate believes the position or the com-
pany meets some preconceived notions they
have about their ideal in the world of work.
The risk of this obviously is that there are
these unknowns, what we refer to as knock-
out dimensions with the candidate, so what
would seem to be the ideal candidate may
indeed be much less than that.
It is amazing, and more prevalent in this
profession than others, that people will come
to us and say, I really dont have a resume,
or, I really have never needed a resume,
somebodys always hired me based on my
reputation or where I worked elsewhere, or,
I have a resume, but its not been updated in
eight or 10 years.
It shouldnt necessarily be a knockout di-
mension, but it is a red fag, at the very least.
Our experience has been that if people dont
have a fairly detailed resume that accurately
refects their experiences, its something you
should be concerned about. After all, that
is a candidates primary interface with any
prospective employer.
Despite how hard it is, I would encour-
age you not to fall in love with a candidate
early in the process before you go through a
checklist of resumes and references, reloca-
tion ability, the background checks you care
to do and a thorough face-to-face interview. r
rLearn what questions to ask to
keep on top of trust performance
Bill Williams, Funeral Services Inc.
If you really want to know how your trust is
performing, you have got to be able to ask a
couple of questions of your trustee.
If you get a trust statement that shows
that weird number that says your contract
is worth this, you need to know if thats fair
market value reporting. Every contract in that
trust you participate in and your account in
that trust should be reported at fair market
value. Every single solitary time.
Fair market value is the cash value of all
investments if they were cashed in today or
yesterday or 10 days from now.
If youre getting a statement that shows
you a guaranteed value, you have no idea
what the trust is worth. But if its fair
market value accounting, you can look at
that and see what the actual returns in that
trust are, and then you have the ability to
go to the trustee or your investment advisor
or your association or whomever and say,
Lets talk about these investments; theyre
not performing very well.
If you suspect a problem in your trust,
two questions: Ask the trustee how much
money was put into this trust, and then ask
the trustee, Whats the current fair market
value of the trust? If the current fair market
value is greater than what was deposited,
youre OK. You may not be happy with the
total return, but the trust is still positive. But
if the fair market value is less than the mon-
ies deposited, youve got a serious problem
getting ready to happen to that trust.
rHandle your responsibilities
when your company uses a trust
Your responsibility is to develop the invest-
ment policy statement with the trustee. You
need to tell the trustee and/or investment
manager what your expectations are. Do
you want high risk/high reward investments,
moderate risk/moderate reward, low risk/low
reward investments? You have to tell them
that so they can design investment strategy to
meet that.
Your responsibility is to send the preneed
payments as required by law to the trustee in
time.
And you review your account statements
every single month. The most important
piece of that is to ask questions if theres
something you dont understand. r
Elements of a model program: Its got
to have an investment policy statement.
Its got to have a segregation of duties.
It must have fair market value reporting
for your monthly trust statement and
your preneed contractseverything.
Bill Williams
FI RST-TI MERS
Tracy Johnson
Wilson-St. Pierre,
Indianapolis, Indiana
Ive learned so
much. Ive been
in this industry
almost 25 years,
and its been a
great program, its
hit just about every aspect of
funeral and cemetery service.
Andrew Trafananko
Until We Meet Again
Pet Memorial Center,
North Vancouver,
British Columbia
Theres a lot of
information; Ive
learned a lot. Its
good to be here.
Octavio Del Toro
Inversiones El Paraiso Parque
Cementerio SA, Bogot, Colombia
Im very excited, because Im
new in the industry as a cemetery
CEO, so for me its very illuminat-
ing. I can see what you can offer
as an industry in the US, not only
technology but also ways of approaching the
funeral service, diversity and different kinds of
products and services. Im very well impressed.
What we often fnd
is the best reloca-
tions occur in
contiguous states.
People who are
within fve hours
of where you are
are probably a
safer relocation
than people who
are coming all the
way across the
country.
Mark Jorgensen
US Metalcraf AD
FULL PAGE
page 41
4-COLOR
MANAGEMENT
rLearn the meaning of Jewish
funeral and burial traditions
Gail Rubin, A Good Goodbye
One of the hallmarks of Jewish
funerals is burial within 24 hours,
traditionally. Why? Its a hot des-
ert culture. Theres no embalming,
theres no refrigeration. Within 24
hours, decomposition sets in.
Practically speaking, its why we
have that, but its also biblical. In
Deuteronomy 22 and 23: Thou shalt
bury him the same day and his body
should not remain all night. We dont
bury at night, but we want to bury
that body quickly. And it is a mitzvah,
a good deed, to bury the dead and to
comfort the mourner.
Think of all the things that have to be
done. You have to select a casket. If you
dont have a burial plot, securing a burial
plot. Figure out if youre going to have the
funeral at the funeral home, synagogue,
grave site, at the persons home. Meeting
with a celebrant or rabbi to talk about the
person and get background.
There are a lot of things that need to be
done, and because we have the 24-hour
rulewith refrigeration and air travel you
can go up to four days, but still you want
to take care of getting it scheduled and
done very quicklybecause the bibli-
cal tradition is that the mourners cannot
mourn while their dead lie before them.
The idea is to get that person in the ground
and then the family can mourn.
We are very careful to be respectful of
the body. We dont hand things over the
body. We dont stand at the head, because
thats supposed to be where the shanina,
the indwelling presence of God, is still
with the body.
We have readings from the Song
of Songs and different prayers as we
dress the body. When we dress the body
we place pottery shards on the eyes and
mouth to indicate these eyes will no longer
see, this mouth will no longer speak. And
we scatter earth from Israel over the body,
just a little bit, just for the resurrection on
judgment day, because being in contact
with earth from Israel is supposed to help
that process.
One of the other traditions: Throw-
ing dirt on the casket is another visceral
experience to help us get our emotions
expressed. Also, using the back of the
shovel is traditional, because it should be
a hard thing to bury a loved one, so youre
using the back of the shovel rather than
the front, which would make it easier.
Using your hands is another way of
placing earth on the gravejust grabbing
a handful or two. r
rRemember that your influence
over costs goes down over time
Kelly Terwisscha,
Terwisscha Construction Co.
One of the most important things to under-
stand when youre doing any construction
process is the cost-infuence curve. Early on,
when youre in conceptual planning, you
have the highest infuence on cost, before
youve spent a lot of money.
Once you start construction, your infu-
ence on costs is very low, and the only thing
you can do then is really just cut something
out of the project. So early in the process,
thats the time you need to spend the most
time on your project, in thinking about things
and working your way through it.
After construction starts, your infuence
on costs is really surprises. As in, Surprise,
we ran into a landfll under the surface of the
dirt. What do you want to do? At that point,
youre committed, so you start paying. If you
do all of your homework up front, you can
eliminate most of those surprises.
rDont forget the many costs that
are associated with a new building
A detailed project cost study is probably the
one step that trips people up the most. The
most common question I get asked is How
much does it cost per square foot to build a
funeral home? Well, thats one component.
Youve got construction hard costs
thats how much does it cost per square foot
to build a funeral home.
Youve got fnancing fees, interim fnanc-
ing. Depending on the project size, that can
be $80,000 to $100,000 just on the fnancing.
Furniture, fxtures and equipment.
Permitting fees, utility hook-up fees can
be huge surprises on projects, depending on
the municipality. Some municipalities are just
crazy on the sewer-water access fees.
Special assessments associated with a
project.
Work with someone who can help you
I dont care if its your bank, your contractor,
the architectmake sure that youre getting
all of the costs associated with the project.
The worst mistake we see happen is
youre 75 percent through construction, you
ran into a few things that were unforeseen, a
few of these fees came into play and youre
out of money, and if youve got a loan for X
amount, where do you go? r
Multipurpose space, fexible
spacethat is really the key
to design today. Were trying
to design facilities that are
very fexible and multipur-
pose so that we can change
as the industry changes.
Kelly Terwisscha
JFDA
One of the big differences between
Christian and Jewish traditions
is with gentile funerals, generally
youve got more of the activity and
interaction with the family leading up
to the funeral and then maybe have
lunch after the funeral and thats it.
In Judaism, the focus is on burying
quickly and then spending time with
the mourning family in their home in
a tradition called shiva, which is the
number seven. So for seven days,
the family retreats to their home to
receive the support of their commu-
nity.Gail Rubin
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GREEN SERVI CES
Film screening A Will for the Woods, a documentary about green burial choices,
was screened at the ICCFA 2014 Convention, followed by a question and answer ses-
sion. On the panel, from left, Green Burial Council President Brian Flowers; Dyanne
Matzkevich, Gethsemane Memorial Gardens, Zebulon, North Carolina; co-director and
director of photography Jeremy Kaplan; and co-director and producer Amy Browne.
rAccept the choices people make
Esmerelda Kent, Kinkaraco
You all know you have
families who want eternal
preservation, and there is
nothing you can do to try
to convince them to have a
green burial; it would just be
horrifying to them. And there
is nothing you can say to a family who
feels strongly that they want a shrouded
burial and to decompose right into the
ground. You couldnt convince them to
be put in a permaseal metal casket and be
walled up in a mausoleumit would be
horrifying.
Youre not going to convince anybody
who already knows what they want, but
you need to give people these options.
Its not converting the people you already
have, its about including a whole new
demographic. r
Women love cremation shrouds. We
sell as many silk shrouds for cremation
as we do burial shrouds. They feel that
they protect the body, they protect their
mother, their husband.
Esmerelda Kent
rMake shades of green available,
and dont judge peoples choices
Darren Crouch, Passages International
In looking at whos interested in green
funerals, you hear a lot that its the Whole
Foods crowd, its the people who buy and
drive hybrid vehicles. My argument to you
is that every consumer who walks in your
funeral home is potential customer for
some option of green. The reason for that is
that in every other aspect of our daily lives
were surrounded by green options.
When you check into your hotel room,
theyre going to say, If you want us to
replace your towels, leave them on the
foor. Otherwise, hang them up. When you
few with Continental, they had a program
called ecoskies. More and more people are
driving hybrid vehicles, not just the Prius.
Look at other industries. Snack food
compostable bags. Toilet paper companies
are not putting the cardboard in the middle.
Even pest control has greener options.
So everybody who walks through your
funeral home door may want to incorporate
some element of green into their funeral
process. That could be a very dark shade
of green or a very light shade of green, or
somewhere in between.
When I give these presentations, I prefer
to stay away from companies like Whole
Foods and Toyota that everybody knows
and look at a company like Wal-Mart. You
go to Wal-Mart, you can get organic baby
food, organic produce, concentrated liquid
detergents.
Wal-Marts goal is to create zero waste.
They want to work with vendors that are
sustainably producing their agriculture,
sourcing their fsh. They want to be 100
percent powered by renewable resources.
So the biggest retailer in the world thinks
this is important.
Its not usual for us to have our caskets
cremated, and its not usual for caskets like
this to go in a vault. Some of you are going
to say, That doesnt seem green. Ive had
embalmed bodies in these caskets.
It kind of goes back to my original
point, which is somebody might have
purchased two plots in a cemetery and
their grandfather died fve years ago.
Grandmother now dies and she wanted
something greener, but theyre not going
to sell that plot and exhume grandpa to put
them both in a green cemetery.
Theyre going to do what they can to
green the process. And if the cemetery
requires a vault, theyre going to use a
vault. If familys coming over a two-week
period and they need to embalm, theyre
going to embalm.
But they wanted to do something, and
a wicker casket was that something, and
that made them feel good. I think whats
important is that we dont judge people on
how green they want to be, on how green
they actually are. r
We had a lady from Hawaii
who bought 100 keepsake
urns. She booked a whale-
watching cruise, invited
all of her friends and
all of the people on the
boat wrote on one of the
urns and then they threw
them in the water. That
may not be what youre thinking about
as a green funeral, but to them, the
process of cremation is green, buying a
biodegradable urn was green, placing it
in the ocean was green.Darren Crouch
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The Green Burial Council held a board meeting and open house at the convention. Above left, Brian Flowers presides over the
meeting. Above right, Amy Cunningham, Greenwood Heights Funeral & Cremation Services, Brooklyn, New York, talks during
the session. Among attendees were Kimberley (second from left) and Dr. Billy Campbell (next to his wife) of Ramsey Creek
Preserve, South Carolina, the frst green burial ground in the United States.
rDevelop an integrated pest
management plan
Brian Flowers, Moles Farewell Tributes;
president of the Green Burial Council
A natural burial ground has to have an
integrated pest management plan in place.
The professional who helps you with the
biological assessment can help you with the
integrated pest management plan.
An integrated pest management plan or
PM is a way to help you minimize the use
of pesticides and manage invasive species. It
doesnt call for eradication of pesticides, but
a very judicious use of it.
We learned that in The Meadow,
we have a large Himalayan blackberry
population, which if youve ever been to
the Northwest is no surprise whatsoever. It
is taking over; its like kudzu in the South.
We love it about a month a year when it
produces wonderful fruit.
We have common tansy, a little bit of
Scotch broom and pasture grasses.
Our integrated pest management plan
calls for mowing the tansy four times a year
and never allowing it to go to seed. Thats
going to start reducing its vitality and will
slowly eradicate it over time.
The Scotch broom was small enough that
we were able to get in there by hand and
dig it out. We utilized eighth-graders doing
their community service learning project,
volunteering for. I tell you what, its really
fun to give eighth-grade boys pickaxes and
shovels and point them at a plant and say,
Get rid of that!
Our blackberry is a bit of a challenge.
Were looking at bringing goats to help us
keep the vegetation down. King County,
where Seattle is, has used goats for
vegetation control to great success. They are
less expensive than crews, they can get into
areas that people cant get into and theyre
great PR. Having goats in your cemetery
to manage invasive species is a great
opportunity to get the media out, get some
photographs and talk about what youre
doing. And they do a very good job of it.
There is an area of The Meadow that has
blackberry thats just a very manageable
patch, that most of the year we keep it
whacked down with loppers. But we get the
eighth-graders in there to help us dig out
the root balls and then we spray judiciously
the new growth that comes up the last of
September or the frst two weeks of October,
when the plants are transferring moisture
down to the roots, so that were not just
burning foliage, were killing the actual
plant. Its working very successfully for us.
rRealize the appeal of natural
burial beyond the green market
We had a Puerto Rican family that had
purchased traditional lots at Green Acres.
They had chosen a bronze memorial. They
had chosen a sealed and protected casket.
Then they started talking about how they
were going to plant a tree over the grave and
how Puerto Rican grave culture demands that
they tend the grass at the grave and clip it.
And the family service director said,
Whoa, whoa, whoa; you cant do that where
youve chosen this lot. However, we do have
another option where you can engage in your
cultural necessities, where you can plant and
tend the grave.
So they scrapped the sealed and protected
casket and they traded the lots they had
purchased and their marker for a river rock
marker. And Ill tell you, that is the best-
tended grave in The Meadow. r
Most
people who
choose
burial
in The
Meadow
choose the
option of
closing the
grave them-
selves.
Some
of them
approach
it with
trepidation;
none of
them have
ever done
it before.
But they come away from it amazed. Ive
had people come back to us and say, We
went out to lunch afterwards and it was all
anybody could talk about, how wonderful
it was to close the grave.Brian Flowers
GREEN SERVI CES
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rRun a focus group so that you
can hear the voice of the customer
Gino Merendino,
Merendino Cemetery Care
One of the things we do when we work
in a new market is run a focus group,
because every area is different. We did
about three focus groups in the Midwest
when we started work out there, and the
stuff we heard was interesting.
Focus groups are not scientifc studies,
but what it really does is give you the
voice of the customer. It lets you see how
mad people are and lets your people who
handle the gate at your cemetery know
how mad they are because they werent
able to get in after hours.
Some of the feedback: A big thing that
came back is the cemetery offce is closed
on Sunday. I know many of you have
staff there on Sunday because its a great
opportunity to solicit sales, but cemeteries
that have their offce closed, by gosh,
thats when everybodys coming to visit.
And if they have a complaint or concern,
it allows them to voice that complaint.
So opening up your offce on Sunday is
important.
Cemetery closed earlyanother area
of real concern. A lot of cemeteries in the
Northeast close their gates after 4 oclock
and its pretty tough for families to visit. A
lot of homes have two working people.
Some of our best customers have
automatic gates. So if somebody comes in,
if the gates closed they wont be locked
in, and they dont have to worry about
staffng the gates.
One of the things we found out in
our focus groups is some customers get
very offended if the casket is lowered
too quickly, and other family members
get offended if the caskets not lowered
quickly enough. So how do you please
everybody?
One of the things we thought was its
not that these family members are upset
for lowering too fast or too slow, they
just felt the staff who was there at the
cemetery didnt care.
So one of the best practices weve seen
is when the folks working the committal
service pause just before lowering the
casket, look at the family member or the
funeral director, and after a nod of the
head then lower the casket. Just as a form
of respect and a way of acknowledging
somethings about to happen, were not in
a rush to get to the next job.
rDo something about dirt
Another thing that came out of
the focus group is that family
members were very upset
about seeing dirtdirt in the
roadway, dirt on the monument
even dirt on the grave.
One of the neatest
things Ive seen was at St.
Hedgwigs in Michigan. All
their committal services are
performed inside their chapel
mausoleum. Its just amazing.
Through a lot of effort, theyve
changed the values and the
views of the community to
accept a chapel committal
service and afterward they bring the
remains over to the grave and do a burial.
It hasnt been a bad thing for
mausoleum sales, either. And it really
gives families a good experienceits
climate controlled, and it just makes their
day go a lot better.
I hate the word dirt, I use earth.
But even earth we like to mask and cover.
We had a terrible winter in the Midwest
and East this year, but one of the things
that really helps families adjust is using
hay to mask the earth. We use the same
technique that hydroseeders use. We just
take hay and spread it out and it looks
much better.
rTry to prevent sunken graves
A concept we took from Spring Grove
Cemetery in Cincinnati is the importance
of compacting graves. Spring Groves a
rInstitute a documented daily
mausoleum maintenance check
David Yearsley, Ensure-A-Seal
Routine maintenance: If you have an existing
building, you want to have somebody walk
through the building on a daily basis.
Notice if there are any changes, notice if
there are any fuid stains. Any decomposition
odors present. If theres infestation around
the windows.
If youre in a garden building outside,
look for any fuid stains anywhere and just
make sure that the buildings are clean.
Have a document that the employee signs
off on that says that he was there there that
day, early in the morning, walked through the
building, made sure that it was satisfactory.
Maintenance and routine observation
of the mausoleum allows you to gather
information periodically to have a record of
building conditions over time.
rMake mausoleums easily
accessible to family members
I get frustrated when I got to a cemetery
and I go to the mausoleum and the doors
locked, and I look around and theres not
a sign, a call note, theres no access to the
building.
If Im a family member wanting to get
into the building and I dont have a key
or have a keypad number, I have to go
to the offce to fnd that out. I think with
the technology today, you can handle that
concern by having video there, having a
way for them to access the building. r
If you survived the
winter hereyou all
know about the polar
vortex coming down
from the north. Extreme
changes in temperature
also involves how we
maintain our funeral
home and cemetery
properties. Im sure if
you live in the East and
your snow budget was
for $X, you passed that
this past winter. Changes
in weather patterns
can impact ordinary maintenance
challenges.David Yearsley
CEMETERY MANAGEMENT
One of the things
we learned early on
is the guys who are
working outside,
theyre kinesthetic
learners. Anytime
we do any lecturing
in a presentation
for these guys, they
have a hard time
staying in tune with
what were saying.
A lot of our training processes are developed
around kinesthetic learning. Building puzzles.
Workshops that have them communicating with
each other.Gino Merendino
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CEMETERY MANAGEMENT
rDevelop a master plan
Ron Gjerde, Lakewood
Cemetery Association
We embarked on our frst master
plan back in 1968. The report
said cremation, being about 4
percent or less of total deaths in
the United Statesand half that
in Minnesota, near 2 percent
would not increase signifcantly. Whoa, did
we miss that one. Right now in Minnesota
cremation is more than 50 percent of the
deaths, and in the county in which we serve,
its approaching 65 percent.
Our 2003 master plan ultimately led to the
design, development and construction of our
new mausoleum. Only our second project
in 50 years, it is primarily geared toward
cremation, with 4, 620 niches and only 879
cryptsand only 735 of those crypts are in
the building; the other 144 are outside in the
garden.
We take cremation very seriously in our
planning process. We have had great success
with our new project, as well as with many
other projects, and we embrace cremation.
Theres still a lot the cemetery needs to do
to maintain relevance in our changing world
by encouraging and educating those who
choose cremation to fnd value in permanent
memorialization within a cemetery.
Craig Halvorson, Halvorson
Design Partnership
What makes a good
cemetery master plan? Ive
seen master plans end up
on the shelf collecting dust.
What makes a master plan
that works?
In terms of process,
two key things in my mind are listening
listening to whats going on between all
partiesand developing team chemistry. Its
a participatory process, thats what eventually
makes a master plan work.
Also, exploring each cemeterys unique
characteristics and brands. Cemeteries
are like people; they have very different
personalities.
Joan Sorrano, HGA Inc.
We had Halvorsons 2003 master plan to
guide us from the start. I want to talk about a
couple of goals within that master plan that
actually had a huge impact on the design of
this mausoleum.
Goal No. 2: Develop a mausoleum
that provides service to the community.
Obviously the main focus of the mausoleum
were the crypt and columbarium rooms.
But we also looked for ways this project
could connect well to the community. At the
entry level, its organized around a large,
fexible community space that can be used
for lectures, educational programming and
especially receptions after memorial services.
This project has attracted so many
people that wouldnt necessarily step into
a cemetery. People like students, artists,
a photographer, flmmakers, tourists,
neighbors, all drawn not only to Lakewoods
beauty and tranquility, but also because of the
architecture. r
Two of the big museums
in Minneapolis, the
Walker Art Center and
the Wiesman Art Center,
held art mobs in the
mausoleum. Again,
people are visiting this
cemetery that would
have no connection to
it whatsoever specifcally to see this
building and the landscape that we
created.Joan Sorrano
There was a time when you could say that
things changed more slowly in what we
do, but today change is defnitely more
rapid than ever before. An analysis of your
business and development of a master
planand a strategic planwill help
you deal more effectively with imminent
change.Ron Gjerde
very busy cemetery, and they realized that
a lot of the complaints that were coming in
were sunken graves.
So they did two things: They use bank
run, kind of a sandy, stony soil, to backfll
adjacent to their vaults, and they compact
the graves.
The extra time they spend doing this
offset having to go back and refll a grave
over time, and it just created a better
experience for that family member.
When you or I look at a sunken grave,
we might think, Oh, it rained. But one
of the things a family member might
think is, Did the casket collapse? Is that
something you want family members to be
thinking? r
Kinkaraco
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Keith M Merrick
Merendino from page 50
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CREMATI ON
rGet proof of identification when
dealing with out-of-town clients
Poul Lemasters, Lemasters Consulting
This is what happened: The son comes in,
his father had just died and he had to make
arrangements. He said, we want to do a
memorial service on Saturday, so I need
to get everything done. My sisters not
available, shes out of town, and I want to
get him cremated, get the cremated remains
back and have the memorial service.
The funeral director says, Heres the
problem. Im going to need both of you to
sign an authorization form.
And of course he says, She cant
come; shes out of town.
Is there any way to talk to her?
Yeh, we can get her on the phone and
you can talk to her.
And he said, Maybe we can fax it to
her, as well.
So they called her up, she said that
would be fne, they faxed the authorization
form, she signed it and it came back. They
go ahead with the cremation.
Fast forward about a week. All of a
sudden, the daughter calls. Whats going
on with my fathers funeral service?
We did cremation. Your brother took
the cremated remains, and I believe you
did a memorial service back home. What
do you need?
Ive never been contacted.
Well, wait a second. I talked to you
myself on the telephone. We faxed you the
authorization form and you signed it.
No, Ive never been contacted.
The brother knew his sister did not
want to have crematon and would refuse.
The woman the funeral director spoke
with, guess who that was? His girlfriend.
But now we had a daughter who
wanted to be involved and wanted to see
her dad. We ended up settling the lawsuit
for about $40,000.
There are probably a lot of people
thinking, Wait a minute. If he lied and the
girlfriend lied, thats fraud, and theyve
got to be responsible.
Youre right; they were.
And how this works is, when the son
signed a cremation authorization form, he
said this: I state that all these facts are
true, and if theyre not, Im going to hold
you harmless and indemnify you. Thats
wonderful. The problem is, what did the
daughter sign? She didnt sign anything.
So guess what, shes still allowed to sue.
Now, after we lost that lawsuit, we
were able to go back to the brother and
say, Hey, $40,000fork it over. Do you
think we got $40,000? Nope. We got a
judgment. Somedaymaybe.
The point is this: When youre dealing
with out-of-town people, youve got
to make sure youre dealing with the
right people. A faxed signature is fne.
Federal and state law both say electronic
signatures are acceptable, enforceable.
If its the right persons signature.
They dont tell you what you have
to do to make sure you have the right
Staff training is the
absolute most important
thing that you can do to
promote your cremation
program. You have to
communicate what your
plan is to your staff. You
have to be on the same
pageMichael Devaney
rAsk the right questions and listen
during the arrangement conference
Michael Devaney,
Wilbert Funeral Services
The arrangement conference is really a
chance to serve. Collecting the story: A
family comes in; youre sitting with them in
the arrangements conference. You have only
one opportunity to do this, and you need to
collect the story.
What this does is it tells the family
you are meeting their emotional needs by
talking about the life that person lived and
the importance of understanding that there
are different types of services based on what
that person really desired. Thats why its
important to ask them to bring in artifacts,
photos, memorabilia that were important
to them and that personbefore they even
come into the funeral home.
Well only have the opportunity to
arrange services for your wife one time. I
want to make sure that we do everything
exactly as you desire and that we do not
look back in a week or a month or years
from now and wish we had done something
differently.
It takes a little bit of courage for that
funeral professional to say that to a family,
but doesnt that show transparency to the
family?
Try not to ask yes or no questions when
youre collecting that story, because if you
do, what are you going to get? Yes or no
answers. Do you want a service? No.
Do you want to buy an urn? No. Thats
A lot of states now say that after one month, six months, 90 days, whatever, the
crematory or funeral home can dispose of unclaimed cremated remainssome of
them even allow you to scatter. I will tell you this: never scatter unclaimed cremated
remains, even if the law allows it. I promise you, if on Monday you scatter cremated
remains you have had for a year, on Tuesday, somebody will knock on your door
and say, You know what, we decided to come get Mom.Poul Lemasters
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CREMATI ON
James Price, CCFE, CCrE
Blair Nesen, CFuE, CCrE, CFSP,
Beth Cavanaugh, Batesville Casket
rUse an e-commerce site to
expand without adding buildings
Nelsen: Why e-commerce? We were looking
for ways to grow our business, and I wanted
to be able to do that in such a way that we
could grow the business without necessarily
incurring a lot of capital expense such as new
buildings. We wanted to use it to identify
new markets. We also wanted to be able to
leverage our staff.
The Internet allowed us to grow our
business by serving more clients without
physical expansion. We were able to use the
Internet to completely plan cremation, sell
cremation, do everything online. No physical
interaction with the families except when
absolutely necessary.
So that drove the utilization of our faci-
li ties way up. It also increased our staff
utilization. We had funeral
directors who, instead of
sitting for hours, were
working. It allowed us to
increase the utilization so
much that we had funeral
directors seeing 300-400
families each per year.
It also helped us
identify new markets. We
found that families were contacting us from
as far as 100 miles away, unlike the funeral
home, where most people are going to go to
the closest funeral home.
By analyzing the sales by zip code, we
were able to identify markets we could move
into and continue to expand and grow our
business.
We were located in Richmond and
noticed we were getting a lot of business out
of the Charlottesville area, about 70 miles
west, so we very quickly identifed that as
a market where we wanted to expand. We
opened a facility there and within a year and
a half we were serving 300 families.
Our experience with the Cremation
Society of Virginia e-commerce site was
that we had to constantly tweak the site.
Every time we thought we had gotten the
site just the way we wanted it, we found a
consumer asking us some question or trying
to do something that we would have to help
them understand. So we found that we just
couldnt dumb down the website enough.
rUnderstand that consumers are
doing research before meeting you
Cavanaugh: We also realized that consu-
mers are trying to understand their choices.
Many of you realized that when your
families are coming in, theyre indicating
that theyve already done some research.
We did some research and found that in
many cases the funeral home is touchpoint
fve. Theyre using the Internet, fnding lots
of different information. Not necessarily
always the most credible information, but its
there.
Theyre reaching out to family and
friends and coming to you with some
knowledge. r
My biggest concern is a lot
of free-standing cemeteries
have a sense that they can
just have a niche bank and
partial graves for cremation.
There are really, really
tough times ahead if they
dont fnd a way to offer
other options.James Price
Whether it be in face-
to-face meetings in the
arrangement rooms,
certainly on the website,
having consistency at
every touchpoint where the
consumer gets information
from you is absolutely
critical.Beth Cavanaugh
E-commerce is fne for a
cremation society. We had
a full e-commerce site for
the funeral home, and in
the four years we had it
active, we made three or
four sales. People are not
going to online and buy
an $8,000 or $10,000 funeral, but they
will go online and buy a lower-cost
cremation.Blair Nelsen
signature. So what do you do? A lot
of people will immediately say, Lets
get that thing notarized. No, a notary
by itself is not enough. The notarys
signature just says, I saw him sign. I
dont know who he is.
So you want that document to say
something like this: I hereby notarize
the signature of Jane Smith and
have verifed her ID by the attached
identifcation. And then youre going
to have the notary take a copy of the
ID and put it on that form and sign off.
That will protect you. Thats what you
need to handle out-of-town casesat a
minimum.
Its not the only way; its probably
one of the easiest ways. But you need
to verify they are who they say. Im
sorry to break the news to you, but
people will lie to get what they want. r
not the approach to make.
You need to ask open-ended questions
that get a family to start thinking about
whats important to them. How about this:
I unfortunately did not have the privilege of
knowing her, so Id like to spend a little time
getting to know her better through you. This
will help me make suggestions as we arrange
services. Is that all right?
What does that tell a family? You care.
You care about them, you care about the
person who has died. Youre taking the time
to understand whats important to them.
How did that person live their life? Is there
a particular period in your mothers life that
was especially meaningful to her? What
made that period of her life so special?
Again, youre opening up that emotional
need for the family to start talking about the
loved one. What made them special? What
was really important in their life? As you
remember their mother, can you hear her say
anything that was especially typical of her?
Well, Moms life centered around her
garden, and her love of fowers. That is what
she was most proud of.
How about: We can display some of
her plants during the service and provide
printed materials that perhaps will have
images of the fowers shes grown in her
garden. Youre starting to talk about
suggestions, providing answers, moving
the family toward a personalized service.
How about, Maybe the grandkids
would like to take a petal from each one
of the fowers that were displaying at
the funeral and put it in a keepsake or
cremation jewelry?
How about developing a memorial
service folder that looks like this, with
shots of her fowers in her garden?
Little examples like this personalize the
service for that family. r
Lemasters from page 54 Devaney from page 54
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rUse words of value to discuss
cremation options with families
Lacy Robinson, Aurora Casket Co.
Always use words of value. You want to drive
value to the type of event you want to help
this family plan. Instead of cremains or
ashes, use the phrase cremated remains.
And there are going to be plenty of times that
you dont want to use the phrase cremated
remains.
For example, Have you given thought
to a fnal resting place for your mother?
Theres no need to say cremated remains
at the end of that. Help them build that
emotional connection to the fnal resting
place by simply saying, for your mother.
I want you to use the phrase bring your
mother into our care instead of transfer,
removal or holding facility.
Instead of rental casket or rental unit,
use the phrase ceremonial casket.
Instead of direct, simple, basic or
immediate cremation, use the phrase non-
ceremonial cremation.
Use the words tribute, honor, tell the
life story or celebrate the memories of your
husbands life. Its the language that works.
And if that family comes to you with the
language of direct cremation or immediate
cremation, respectfully correct them. A
direct cremation is what we refer to as a non-
ceremonial cremation. Has anyone taken the
time to explain what is included with that?
Do you see how you change the language
for the family, to help them understand
exactly what that is and what it means at your
funeral home?
Look to the mission state of your funeral
home for inspiration. Incorporate its language
at the beginning, middle or end of that
discussion with the family. Draw from that.
rCreate a custom title for your
cemetery cremation specialist
Here are two dialogue suggestions for
cemetery sales professionals. The frst one is
for when perhaps the call is being transferred,
or perhaps theyve called directly to you,
theyve left a message and youre calling
them back. This is some language that you
can incorporate in any of those situations:
Id be pleased to share that information
with you. I frst want to introduce myself.
Im a family service adviser and cremation
memorialization specialist with Spring Lake
Cemetery. May I ask whom Im speaking
with? I want you to focus on permanent
memorialization for that family. That is the
focus for most cemeteries. Think about that
and create a custom title thats going to work.
In giving that price range for that family:
To frst answer your question, cremation
memorialization choices range from $6,500
to $1,500. Doris, has anyone taken the time
to explain what permanent memorialization
is and the different choices available to your
family?
rPlan how to respond when
families toss out a verbal roadblock
Families are going to give you a huge road
block at the beginning, middle or end of that
phone conversation. Theyre going to stop
you with a very closed-ended statement thats
going to make very challenging for you to
keep that conversation moving forward.
It could be they say to you, Were
shopping around, just getting prices, thats
all. You may say to the family, I appreciate
you taking the time to gather information and
research and making the very best decision
for your loved one. When you call different
funeral homes or cremation companies, I
want you to ask these three questions: Ask if
they have cremation specialists on staff. Ask
if they own their own crematory. Ask how
you are assured that the cremated remains
you receive are in fact your loved ones.
If you dont give the caller three questions
to ask, what question are they going to ask
on that next phone call? How much is
cremation?
Those three questions are just examples.
I want you to use three questions that refect
the differentiating factors of your funeral
home. And of course be prepared to explain
your own answers to those questions. If
youre giving them to the consumer, you
need to be prepared to incorporate that into
discussion about how your funeral home has
those three things in place. r
I want you to ask for
the familys email
address and have
your cremation
packages or brochure
available in a pdf
ready to attach to
an email in that very
moment. Some people
are more comfortable
talking about this
and asking more
questions through
email than over the
phone.
Lacy Robinson
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SALES & MARKETI NG
rUnderstand how grief can make it
hard for people to make decisions
Denise Hall Brown Rollins
My husband passed away suddenly. He had
sickle cell anemia all his life, was told he
wouldnt make it till 19; he was 49, so that
was a blessing. But I couldnt see that the
day he went to the intensive care room and
never came out. All I could see was what
had been taken from me, and I truly lost my
bearings.
In the businesses we have, we see
people all the time who we want to make
a simple decision and they cant, because
they dont know who they are in that
moment.
rDo something for grieving kids
We do a lot in our area for kids because we
dont always understand kids, and kids grieve
differently than we do. I tell you, if you want
to build a relationship with someone where
theyll come back to you, do something for
their kids.
rHelp people let go
The last piece of the aconomyn CPR (Care,
Peace, Restoration) is restoration, release.
Sometimes, weve just got to let it go. I
would be mad when I saw people with
their mother or their aunt or their child. I
remember thinking so many times, Why
me?
But there was a day when I changed that
to Use me, because I couldnt change the
fact that it happened to me. Now, what was
I going to do about it?
I think we have to help people let it go.
On Memorial Day, bring people together
and let them let go a balloon in honor of
their loved ones. r
rGet out of your building, off your
own website to raise your visibility
Paul Seyler, Competitive Resources
Imagine if you had a pop-up display
that was permanently branded with your
stuff and you had a static cling or Velcro
attachment or some kind of a temporary
poster that you could affx to it that
had the details about the deceasedhis
biography, details from his life story,
the timely of his life, something that
was relevant. And it carried permanent
branding for your frm and information
about the deceased that people would want
to have up and you brought that up to
every off-site service. Would it raise your
visibility?
Thats the kind of thing its important
to consider, because you are no longer
a facility as much as you are a service
provider in most metropolitan areas.
And other facilities get called in to an
increasing degree.
About websites: One of the things you
can do is take advantage of third-party
websites that feature your content, that
will host your content. Your own website
is an extension of your facility, and when
you talk about taking things off-site, you
take it outside the physical facility, you
take it outside the virtual facility.
Contribute to other peoples blogs. Post
content onto other peoples social media.
Take your brand outside of your own
proprietary branded channels and reach
out, because the traffc inside proprietary
channels is declining.
Be a guest commentator in blogs.
Approach the local newspaper, now
a digital organ, and make blog posts
there. Reach offsite to create content and
generate visibility.
And we need different content. The
idea of saying, Were happy to have
been entrusted with the care of Paul John
Seylernot the content we need. We
need stuff about the gatherings we created,
the celebrations, the memories that have
been shared.
If theres somebody who has a cool
story, get permission to put the cool story
in your social media feed. Locate that
persons friends and relatives who by
and large live in your area or within your
geographic reach. Get them to share it,
linking back to you. Put some effort into
social media content so you have the
visually rich version of that story so that
anybody who wants to link to it is going to
link back to your site or through your feed.
So the content you have isnt about
death, its about the life that preceeded the
death, or the celebration that celebrated
the life. r
Denise Hall Brown Rollins, center, poses with some fans after her presentation.
Regulation is no longer
going to be a driving
force driving business to
us, despite Mr. Heffners
setback in Pennsylvania.
Regulation is going to be
challenged, and the worst
thing that can happen is
the regulators reassert ironclad control.
Historically, as an industry we relied on
regulation to prevent competition. You
cant change what people want with
regulation, you can only change their
choice of providers.Paul Seyler
SALES & MARKETI NG
rAdopt techniques to convert
people into fans and subscribers
Zach Garbow, Funeral Innovations
The average company that blogs generates
97 percent more inbound links. Thats the
foundation of your SEO, because in the eyes
of Google and Bing and the other search
engines, the more inbound links you have,
the more popular your website is. As a result,
theyre going to show your pages higher
in the search results. So when someone
searches on Google for something related to
your business, you have a better chance of
ranking near the top.
The risk is, as people come to your blog
posts and fnd you using Google and other
methods, if they simply leave, you might
never have another chance to connect with
them.
Your website is pull marketing. You
pull people in, you have their attention when
they come to you, but then you dont have
their attention again until they come to you
again. So you want to move these visitors
down your funnel into engagement channels
where you can push to them, where you
can reach them whenever you want.
The way you do that is by moving them
down the funnel to become Facebook fans
or sign up for your email marketing. You can
do that on your blog page. Add a button for
your Facebook page. At the end of the blog
post: Did you like this blog post? You can
fnd more on our Facebook page; become a
fan now.
Encourage them to become an email
subscriber for your email list. Did you like
this post? Why dont you subscribe for more?
Well deliver it for free right to your inbox.
You can increase your conversion rate
by running contests and give-aways. Heres
a company, Raffecopter, that provides you
with a free widget you can put on your blog
post to run a giveaway. So maybe youre
offering tickets to a local event, or a gift card
to a local restaurant, and in return, people
either like your Facebook page or sign up for
your email list. This increases conversions
dramatically.
rCreate engaging posts so that
your Facebook fans will see them
Heres the thing about Facebook. When
you post something to your Facebook
page, only about 5 percent of your fans,
on average, see that post. The reason is,
today on Facebook, every fan has so many
rTry creating an un-funeral home
for people who are avoiding you
Jodi Clock, CPLP,
Clock Life Story Funeral Home
We decided we wanted to be the un-funeral
home. What does that mean or look like?
Im really not sure, but I know its not what
were doing now. So we started to listen to
other people in our community. Why did
they not want to have a service?
Ironically enough, it wasnt money.
When they went in, they just always felt
that we were the people who were going
to take their money, and they felt like they
were being interviewed when they came
in. What we wanted to do is make that frst
part when they came in the building not
what they were used to.
So as silly as this sounds, and we threw
out all the no coffee beyond this point
and no water over here rules. We put
food in the reception areas. In the at-need
areas, we put all kinds of protein. People
are tired; theyve been up all night. We
have to run the vacuum moreso what?
We started serving water, coffee, juice
whatever it is, we have it there.
In watching the behavior of people at
visitations, we realized they need to plug
out, they need to charge down. We took
one of our big rooms that nobody liked to
go into anyhow and now its a coffee bar, it
has wireless.
Even though our whole facility is
wireless, what do you do about the new
area? You advertise a wireless caf. What
happens? People run over, they get online,
they do their homework. A lot of time
families are disjointed, they have their
laptop, theyre working, theyre taking their
calls, and they feel kind of normal.
We threw away the guest books. Unless
people ask for guest books, the paper kind,
we dont use them. Everything is kiosk-
based. Why? Well, people like high-tech,
high-touch, and a kiosk is an easy thing,
and then you can print things if you want
to. You can load up videos, you can do all
kinds of things.
And we went mobile early. Right now,
if you cant pull something up on your
cell phone and see your website, the guest
books, those types of things, you need to
think about that.
And, everyplace you look are big
screens. We have them as kiosks. We have
them for people who have kids who need to
be busy, in the reception area. When there
are playlists, we have the familys pictures
with it.
The other thing we had to do in creating
a new frst impression was throw out those
drapes. I always laugh, its not about the
couch. You go into funeral homes and you
see beautiful furniture. Well, a byproduct
of beautiful furniture is also probably an
We threw aftercare out the window
and went with the new buzzword we
call transitional care. People have
anticipatory hype about visiting with
you after the service. They either feel
that youre going to try to sell them
something or that youre going to tell
them how to grieve. So our whole
goal is to give them a list of things to
do to get to the next phase of life, to
transition.Jodi Clock
to page 63
to page 62
Fifty percent of
people read their
emails on a mobile
device, and out of
those, 80 percent
simply delete it
if it doesnt look
good on their
smartphone. So you
need to employ a
responsive design.
Responsive design
describes design
that responds to the
size of the device
thats reading it.
Zach Garbow
SALES & MARKETI NG
Robert Quist,
Memorial Cemeteries & Mortuaries
rUse third-party events to draw in
baby boomers who dont plan to die
Future customershow do you get these
guys out? People who are going to live
forever. They tend to be younger. If theyre
in the baby boomer demographic, theyre
feeling pretty healthy; the last place we
want to go to is the cemetery or the funeral
home or crematory. Were in denial of our
mortality.
We all know that youll never get a person
walking into your property asking to see the
latest fall colors in caskets. So how do you
get them there?
We use third-party events. A third party is
a group or organization looking for a place to
hold an event or willing to partner with you
for an event. And they will host the event.
Charities. Community service organizations.
Sporting organiza tions. Performing groups.
Movies and television. All are looking for
a place, and they will organize, advertise
and pay for an event. This is an example.
We have a water feature that runs through
the cemetery; people like water. We hold a
rubber ducky race.
They do the advertising; we provide the
prize money and the ducks. The winning
duck gets about $500 cash prize. We spend
about $1,500 on prize money. We get 300 to
500 individuals, depending on the size of the
charity.
We provide the ducks and the website
where people can purchase ducks, and we
ask our suppliers, our casket company, our
granite company, our monument company,
kind of sidle up to them and say, How do
feel about (whatever the charity is)? All I
want is $500-$600 donation. Well give you
credit. Theyll do it.
Community service events: We were
approached by a law frm. We frst thought
theyre kind of an accident lawyer frmwe
thought there had been a slip and fall and
they were coming after us. But it turns out
they have an endowment and had teamed
up with the local police department K-9
unit and were looking for a place to put on a
demonstration of the departments dogs.
We happened to have a pet cemetery on
one of our properties, we had service animals
from the police department honorarily
buried, so we were kind of a natural ft for
them. They put on an exhibition complete
with a helicopter.
If you want to get your neighborhood
involved with your cemetery, have a police
copter fy over it, ropes drop out and SWAT
teams slide down complete with their dogs
and then go around looking for bad guys.
Again, its sponsored by a law frm that
does all the advertising and handles all the
costs, including the ice cream at the end. We
have about 250 people year in and year out.
Our cost is zero; we just set up the tents.
Sporting events. We got approached by
a company about running a race through our
park. Im thinking, How does that help us?
Turns out it does quite well. They needed a
large open space and so they give us thanks
in their advertising. Its an obstacle course
race and they just needed a place where they
could build their obstacles. They cover all
liabilities; we were signed onto their liability
policyyou want to make sure that happens.
They had 768 participants, more than half
of whom were under the age of 40, which is
not generally the demographic we go after.
So, we put this into their race packet: Whos
going to pay for your parents funeral?
Us baby boomers, were notorious for
putting things off to the endour children
know this. Theyre kind of concerned about
our spending habits. The kids will in fact
encourage their parents to do this; this has
turned out well for us.
Our costs? They paid us $75 to dig a pit
for a water feature, use of the backhoe. No
costs. r
We do what is called a remembrance
event. Eight times a year we invite our
customers to come into the cemetery
and to pick up a complementary item.
For Fathers Day, we pass out these little
printed sports pennants. The fourth of
July, we give them little pinwheels and
a little lapel pin as well.Robert Quist
friends and so many brands that they
liked, that they get way more updates than
they can possibly be shown.
So Facebook has the task of fguring out
which ones to show to the person. The way
they fgure that out is they show the most
engaging posts. So the way you can make
sure people see your posts is by getting
more engagement. By engagement, I mean
people click like on it, they comment on
the post or they share your post.
Posts about grief and healing are
successful.
Another post that works well is showing
your local involvement. Heres a funeral
home in Oklahoma City. When Moore,
Oklahoma, was hit by a tornado, they
posted about how they were donating their
products and services free of charge for
the victims of this tornado, and Ive never
seen a post go as viral as this one. Three
thousand likes, over 2,000 shares and
hundreds of comments.
You can post testimonials. When
you post testimonials, other people
start chiming in and posting their own
experience, and thats powerful press and
marketing.
Inspirational photos and stories are
also effective. This is good for your brand,
because youre not just about death, youre
about celebrating life. People come on
Facebook because they want to be uplifted.
They dont want to hear about morbid
topics. Thats the best way to get them to
leave your Facebook page.
You can post unique tributes that you
offer, unique services.
You can post humormake sure its
PC.
As you post content like this, that gets
engagement, whats going to happen is
youre going to build up that brand so
theyre going to remember who you are,
youre going to have that top-of-mind
awareness. Youre going to build up
loyalty. r
Garbow from page 61
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expensive pricetag. So what we wanted
to do is let people know we dont care if
the kids run aroundobviously within
reasonbut we dont care if they run
around or play games on the foor. We dont
care if they sit down and have a drink.
We took the wallpaper down and
repainted everything. All of the art was
either taken by someone at our funeral
home or is by a local artist. Its all specifc
to our city.
All of our furniturewe went to Ikea.
That was hard for my husband to swallow,
but it worked very well. Sometimes they
breakits very replaceable. But what Im
going to tell you is that people liked it
they felt comfortable. People would move
chairs and form circles. And all of a sudden
people were congregatingthey werent
having receiving lines. They werent being
proper; they were being at home.
We are no longer three locations. Right
before 2015, what youre going to see is,
were going to have Clock Funeral Home,
which is the mother ship and still has the
carriage trade, in downtown Muskegon. As
for our other two facilities, their prep rooms
are already out.
We demolished one of them, brought
it back to the studs, and are redecorating
the other one. Its all high-tech and high-
touch. Were having a coffee lounge; were
not having arrangement rooms, were not
having pews, were not having a selection
room. Our name isnt even on it.
So weve got a great place that comfor-
tably seats X number of people, you can
have that service on your own, you can
be in charge of it, you can be your own
caterers, or we can help you with it.
Our goal is, when we sit down with
people, everythings on the Thinkpad.
Would you like it set up awards-style,
would you like it set up with bistro tables,
would you like it set up church style? Tell
me what you like.
Whats the other byproduct of that? If
theres no prep room, youre no longer
licensed as a funeral home, so were no
longer beholden. r
SALES & MARKETI NG
We are no longer three locations.
Right before 2015, were going to have
Clock Funeral Home, which is the
mother ship and still has the carriage
trade, in downtown Muskegon. As
for our other two facilities, their prep
rooms are already out.Jodi Clock
from page 61
PET SERVI CES
rExpect laws covering human and
pet burial sections to change
Poul Lemasters, Lemasters Consulting
There is a need for revenue in any cemetery,
and theres also a need for pet parents to
have opportunities in some local cemeteries.
A couple of states that have addressed
this recentlyand I think youre going to
continue to see more of thiswere New
York and Virginia.
In Virginia, the old law did not allow a
human cemetery to allow any pet or animal
burials. Now the only regulation in Virginia
is that its got to be a segregated area. So the
idea would be that they can open up a new
section and that section can be for pet and
human burial together.
New York is a little different. New York
had a law that said you are allowed to bury
human cremains at a pet cemetery. The
understanding was that youre allowed to
bury human cremainscremains onlyat a
pet cemetery, and they did that.
Well, all of a sudden, they said, no youre
not allowed to do that anymore. Then this
case came up. A gentleman died and he had
wanted to have his cremated remains buried
at a pet cemetery, and they said were not
allowed to do that.
His wife had already been cremated,
and was in the pet cemetery. So New York
readdressed it and said, OK, were going to
allow it again, but were going to make some
exceptions. Youre not allowed to advertise
it, and youre not allowed to charge for it. I
think youre going to see some changes to
that.
The point is this: This is another
expanding area. I think a lot of states, a lot
of cemeteries, have just never addressed it.
So I think youre going to see things like in
Virginia with some very simple legislation to
allow these human cemeteries to open up to
pet burials.
A side story: I had a cemetery that wanted
to have a pet day. They did not allow pet
burials at their cemetery, but they wanted to
have a pet fair, a walk through the cemetery.
They were working through the local animal
shelter.
They put all this information out. Do you
know what happened? Some of the people
who had loved ones in the cemetery were
outraged. They got all this bad press. It was
very few people, but they made a lot of noise.
Heres my caveat: Its happening, its
changing, but there is turmoil in change. You
are going to get backlash from both sides.
In that case, they had to move the event. My
suggestion is to choose the side you want to
be on and be prepared to talk about it. r
If you were stranded on a
desert island, who do you
want as a companion? Fifty
seven percent of people
said they wanted their pet
as their sole companion.
So, Angelena Jolie and
Brad Pittforget it. Fluffy
and Fido, thats who we
want.Peggy Hoyt
rInvolve several people in setting
up a trust to care for your pets
Peggy Hoyt, Esq.
Here was part of the problem with the
enforceability of pet trusts: If we left money
to a trust for the beneft of a pet, who was
going to enforce that trust if something went
wrong? Fidos not going to call up their
attorney and say, Hey, Steves not giving
me the money I need to buy the appropriate
kibble. There needs to be a person with the
authority to enforce the terms of that trust.
Youll fnd that when Im talking about
pet trusts, there are usually about three
roles: Theres the pet caregiver, the person
whos responsible for the day-to-day care
of that pet. Theres the trustee, the person
whos responsible for the administration,
investment and distribution
of those trust assets. And then
there might be what I call an
animal care panel, which is a
checks and balance system.
Somebody to watch the pet
caregiver, somebody to watch the trustee.
This might be somebody who doesnt want
either one of those other jobs, but still could
be really helpful in the process.
Do I let my clients choose just one pet
caregiver? No, because what if that person
cant do it for some reason? There has to be
a backup. And I want a backup to the backup.
Trust companies will sometimes be
trustees for pet trusts, but heres the problem.
I have a client in New York City who wants
to leave $4 million to a trust for the beneft
of their pets. They have two Manhattan
penthouses that are stuck together, and
there are a lot of banks that want that $4
million to manage, but they do not want the
responsibility for overseeing the day-to-day
care of those pets. So fnding people who
are willing to do that becomes a real big
challenge. r
Defnitions, especially
when you get into
comingling, need to be
clear. Heres what you
really need to keep in mind:
It doesnt matter what we
believe it is, its whats
portrayed to the consumer
and then what consu mers
understand it to be. If they
have a problem down the
road, thats the defnition
we will be held accountable
to. Make sure consumers
understand exactly what
you do.Poul Lemasters
rWork with police to set up policy
for handling services for K-9s
Sgt. Tony Knox, Indiana State Police
Its so important that you
preplan or partner with your
local law enforcement for
how to handle services for
K-9s.
Involve the protocol with
the departments SOPs. If
you can fnd what that agency has currently
for their canine SOPs, for their honor guard
system for a fallen offcer, you can blend
this is a concept rather than trying to do it
separately. Find those individuals who will
help you and guide you through that.
Writing the policy: You need input
from your department head, from the legal
section; you want input from your K9
handlers and your pet loss professionals.
The biggest thing is you have to take
your time to make sure you do it right and
be non-specifc about whats going to be
included. If you try to be too specifc, you
will turn people off.
What should be in the policy? When
Kilo was killed, I made one call; everything
was in place. The policy, the procedure.
Everything we needed done was done that
night. r
PET SERVI CES
Brandi Combs, Chateau Urns
Bob Jenkins, Let Your Love Grow
Jeremiah Neville, Terrybear Urns
Toni Noel, Memory Vessels, moderator
rFigure out what your average sale
is, then plan your merchandising
Jenkins: You can merchan-
dise your room using land-
marks. Do a little research on
your products. Go back 12
months, look at what product
you sold, what the wholesale
average is. At the same time,
look at your average retail for
that past 12 months. Take all your retails and
divide it by the number of services you had
and you get an average retail. That will tell
you what the people in your community are
willing to spend to memorialize their pet.
Once you fnd that core number, the
average retail and the average wholesale,
make your display where you explain your
products a group of displays and maybe
have a spread of $25 to $50 in price points.
When you explain your merchandise, say, I
want to walk you into our area to show you
where a lot of the people in our community
purchase products.
And in that grouping, you can have
maybe a very nice metal urn selection,
a marble selection, an organic selection,
different pieces that ft that price point.
Research shows most consumers want to
be at least average or above. Youve already
told them whats average. Then you can tell
them, We have products that go a lot higher
than thisand point maybe to an artistic
urn, and we have some products here
and maybe pull out a sheet bronze urnthat
are a lot less less expensive than this. We
have a wide range to meet all the needs of
our community.
Youve defused the idea that youre trying
to sell them anything and let them know you
have price points to meet all needs. Now
let them spend some time looking. What
youll fnd is, most families will want to be
somewhere right in the middle, but a lot of
them think their pets better than average,
and they may buy a step or two higher.
When they do this, making the selection of
their own volition, theyre better satisfed
customers, better paying customers.
r Buying is based on emotion,
so make an emotional connection
Combs: Its important
to establish an emotional
connection because 50 percent
of every buying decision is
based on emotion. Everything
we do on a day-to-day basis is
based on emotion, whether we
see it or not.
Emotionally engaged customers are three
times more likely to repurchase, three times
more likely to recommend, much less price
sensitive and less likely to shop around. So
when trying to connect more with customers,
its always important to establish that emo-
tional connection.
Think about some of the big brands:
Coke, Pepsi, American Express. American
Express is amazing, because they have been
able to develop an emotional connection with
a cheap plastic card. All it is is a cheap plastic
card, but it gives people a sense of safety,
security. And they have awesome customer
service. With those emotional connections,
customer service is always a big deal.
rDisplay products on end tables,
coffee tables and bookshelves
Neville: One of the things everyones doing
is esta blishing a merchandising display. This
provides visual inspiration for
clients and helps them make
decisions on what kind of
memorial products they want.
It helps pet parents visualize
products in their homes.
Some pet loss centers
have things on an end table,
a bookshelf, maybe a coffee table, so people
can really get a feel for, Oh, OK, thats
where I can put things.
You can help pet parents visualize
a package of memorial products. Put a
package together, a little vignette with an
urn, a jewelry piece, an outdoor memorial
and some other memento item. Keep your
product displays simple; you dont want
to overwhelm your clients with 100 little
vignettes all squished together in your
showroom so they cant tell one thing from
another.
But if you display your urns and then
throughout your showroom you have little
settings where people can see what items are
supposed to look like together in the home, it
really helps clients make a decision. r
rWash your hands. Wash your
hands. Wash your hands.
Dr. Richard Hobart, DMV
The frst thing to realize is that although we
veterinarians like to think were right, were
not always right. A veterinarian may tell you,
I think it died from parvovirus, but he or
she may be absolutely wrong, didnt get to do
the tests and is assuming that youre perfectly
safe, and you may not be.
Dont assume. Every pet should be
handled in a careful manner every time;
that way, you wont bring anything home.
There are a lot of different ways to
pick up diseases from pets, just like with
people. Body fuids, which were all
familiar with, direct contact, and if youre
handling them and youre not wearing
gloves, you may inadvertently injest
something and get sick
from that.
Washing the hands
should almost be an un-
conscious habit for anyone
who handles animals.
Hand sanitizers are not as
effective as hand-washing.
Theyre a good second
choice when you cant
wash your hands, but dont
think that in using a hand
sanitizer youve done a
great job; youve got a
second-best job.
I have special tips for those of us
in pet aftercare. I call them Hobarts
Handwashing Health Tips. These you better
commit to memory if you dont want to go
home sick someday:
Wash your hands every
time after leaving the
cremation foor.
time after unloading the
animals.
time you take off gloves,
and dont assume that your
gloves are going to protect
you. Sometimes gloves get
little holes in them.
Wash you hands every
single time after you fnish
the work day.
Handwashing is probably one of the
strongest defenses you have in preventing
yourself from picking something up. r
The No. 1
reported zoo-
notic disease
from across the
United States
and Canada:
Ringworm. Its
from handling
young animals
infected with
ringworm. Its
not a worm;
its a fungus,
and its spread by direct
contact.Dr. Richard Hobart
PET SERVI CES
John Remkus, CPLP, Hinsdale Animal
Cemetery & Crematory
Sky Stevens, CPLP, Homeward Bound Pet
Cremation Services
rUse the PLPA due diligence tools
Remkus: We have been
working on due diligence tools
for our membership to help
you differentiate yourself from
the compe tition.
The frst component is
an accreditation checklist
you can hand to your clinics
and encourage them to go out and visit the
crematory business theyre currently using. It
goes through what they should look for.
Second is a RACE-certifed Power Point
presentation on pet cremation for veterinary
professionals. Many of you have discussed
cremation options with your veterinary
accounts and found they dont know a whole
lot about it. This will help explain the process
from start to fnish. Once they have at least
some cursory background on how the process
works, its easier for you to justify why you do
what you do, as members of the PLPA.
Stevens: Weve tried to
condense it down as much as
possible to make it easy for
the general public as well as
veterinarians to be able to go
through the checklist quickly.
What do you really need
to know when youre going to
pick an after-care service for your pet?
First of all, who owns the crematory?
How long have they owned it? What kind
of training or certifcation do staff members
have? Are they participating with trade
organizations?
You want to be able to inspect the equip-
ment and the facilities. Are they clean,
organized? What kind of equipment do they
have? Theres a big difference between some
equipment, incinerators versus true retorts.
You want to fnd out what kind of
cremations a business performs. Totally
private, one animal in the retort at a time? A
lot of people really want that, because they
want the assurance that their pet is going to be
the only pet and they will receive only their
pets ashes.
How long does it take for you to get the
pets ashes returned to you? Is it only a couple
of days, or is it taking three to four weeks? If it
takes a long period of time, a lot of people are
very uncertain that theyre actually receiving
their pet backand with good reason. r
Dr. Jane Shaw, DMV, Argus Institute
rLearn to be comfortable
with pauses and silence
We like to talk, and we feel uncomfortable
with silence. In your work, why is silence so
important? Youre listening. You cant listen
if youre talking.
Why else is it important? Its not about us,
its about them, so we need to give them the
space for it to be about them.
Why else is pause and silence important?
It gives people a chance to absorb what you
are saying. If they are feeling guilty, angry,
sad, vulnerable, scared, how well do you
think theyre processing information? Their
processor is moving like molasses.
Your clients probably havent slept,
because either something happened the night
before that kept them up all night and thats
why theyre with you, or their animals been
at the clinic for fve days in a row and they
havent slept or theyve been caring for them
and nursing them. So often, your clients are
not only emotional but exhausted by the time
they come to you.
And, might I add, its time for you to
think and refect and go, OK, where am I
going to go next? What am I going to offer
next? What am I sensing in how theyre
responding to this? So its refection time for
you as well.
The other thing thats really important
about this is when we interrupt, 72 percent of
people do not complete their responses. So
when you dont let someone fnish, you may
miss an opportunity to serve them and fnd
out something that they need or want because
you didnt hear the whole thing.
In my profession, that data makes a
diagnosis. In your profession, that data drives
your options and what youre going to offer
to those clients. r
People can hear
in your voice
whether youre
compassionate
or not; its going
to come through
in your tone.
When that person
walks in the door,
do they hear in
your voice, Oh my god, Im really busy right now and I dont have time for you,
or do they hear in your voice, Welcome; Im going to sit with you and Im going to
give you the time you need.Dr. Jane Shaw
Film screening Furever, a documentary about pet loss, was screened at the
ICCFA 2014 Convention, followed by a question and answer session. On the panel,
from left, PLPA Co-Chair Coleen Ellis, CPLP; Poul Lemasters, Esq.; Bob Jenkins,
Let Your Love Grow; and director-producer Amy Finkel.
I C C F A 2 0 1 4 C O N V E N T I O N
S C E N E S F R O M T H E E X P O H A L L
FDLIC
Star Service Alliance
KMI Columbaria
National Mortuary Shipping
American Funeral & Cemetery Trust Services Armbruster-Stageway
Uono
Ferno
Washington
Roberts &
Downey
Abbey
Press
Care Notes
B
e
g
i
n

B
r
o
n
z
e
InSight Books
American Cemetery
& Funeral Supplies
Elegante Brass
Stories in Stone
Wilbert/Pierce
Bass-Mollett
ThermoDigital
Alexander Studio FusionCast
Coldspring
Messenger
Triple H
Carrier
Mausoleum
Construction
Urns of Distinction Homesteaders Foresight
Matthews International
Osiris Implant Recycling
Precoa
Precious Memories; Glass Remembrance
iSeniorSolutions McCleskey Mausoleums Holy Land Stone
US Metalcraft Zontec Axiom Eagles Wings Air
The Outlook Group, Physicians Mutul
Tree of Life
Memorial Business Systems
Facultatieve
webCemeteries.com
SNL
MKJ Marketing
Trigard
Eckels and Co.
SVE
Live Oak Bank
Tukios
T Industries; Family Bronze
Jack C. Goodnoe;
Sustainable Cemetery Studies
Continental Computer
US Cremation Equipment
Eagle Granite
Sinosource; Frigid Fluid
Flowers for Cemeteries Kryprotek
Trust 100
Pete Rose signing autographs at the Funeral One booth
Federal Coach raffes off a one-year vehicle lease
J. Stuart Todd Inc.
Riviera Tailors
Johnson Consulting Progressive Environmental Services
MelPax Cosmetics Heritage Flower; Destiny Casket
A Simple Thank You
Mortech
Regions Bank Doric
Southwest Cargo
Cedar Valley Box Co.
C
h
a
te
a
u
U
rn
s
A
l
f
r
e
d

I
n
t
e
r
n
a
t
i
o
n
a
l
Farewell
Remembrance Frame
R
K

P
r
o
d
u
c
t
i
o
n
s
The Davie W
hitehall
T
r
i
g
a
r
d
Randolph Rose
Collecton
T
r
e
e

o
f

L
i
f
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C
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What Friends Do
IMSA AD
FULL PAGE
page 72
4-COLOR
I C C FA NE WS
N
ew Orleans will play host to the Pet
Loss Professionals Alliances 4th
Annual PLPA College, August
24-26 at the Hyatt French Quarter Hotel.
This years program will begin with
a new, optional Pet Loss Business
Bootcamp day on Sunday, August 24, that
will detail how to set up your business for
operational success. The day will feature
great tips for entrepreneurs just starting
out, as well as seasoned veterans. Speakers
include:
Beginning Business Planning:
Dr. Sherif Ebrahim, Tulane
University adjunct professor and
co-creator of several Small Business
Administration programs, will review
the fundamentals of what everyone
needs to know and do when starting a
business. Some points include setting
general business goals, evaluating
the methods to reach them, deciding
on appropriate metrics to measure
your achievements and determining
the resources needed to achieve
those goals. Ebrahim will also give
a second presentation on Monday
where he will expand on all of his key
points. You will walk away from his
sessions with a basic framework for
a business plan and the confdence to
know the resources you need and how
to obtain them.
Hiring & HR Best Practices: Hiring
and keeping great employees in our
profession can be diffcult. In this
session, Mark Jorgensen, president of
Global Recruiters of Cincinnati, will
give real-world examples for setting
up proven human resource systems.
Youll learn to identify, attract and
retain top talent who can help assure
your companys continued success.
Lining Things Up Legally: From
selecting the correct legal structure for
your business to insurance and bonding
to employee manuals, attorney and
funeral director Poul Lemasters, Esq.,
principal of Lemasters Consulting, will
share what you need to know to start
your business off on the right foot and
how to stay out of legal hot water.
How to Create a Productive
Relationship With Your Local Vet
Clinic: Veterinarian Brian Mellius will
share ideas of what a valuable
relationship might look
like from the veterinarians
perspective, how to emphasize
your value to a clinic, what
materials to bring and what to
do when you get in front of
the decision maker.
Pet Cremation 101: The
Remkus family, owners
of Hinsdale Animal
Cemetery and Crematory
in Willowbrook, Illinois,
will explain exactly what
cremation is, what it entails
and what you need to know to
give articulate explanations to
your customers.
The general sessions of the conference
on Monday and Tuesday (August 25-
26) will provide two days of how to
training on how to offer comprehensive,
compassionate and quality service to pet
parents and families. Educational courses
will cover a wide array of topics such as
ethics, social media, merchandising, estate
planning, legal issues and more, including:
Merchandising and Marketing
Secrets, PLPA Supplier Committee
Ethics in the Workplace and in the
Field, Ken Whittaker
Mastering Social Media, Kate Wilder
Estate Planning and Pet Trusts,
Peggy Hoyt
Search Engine Secrets You Need to
Know, Ashley Montroy
Creating Your General Price List
and Understanding Why It Is a
Valuable Marketing Tool, Poul
Lemasters, Esq.
Lessons Learned From Hurricane
Katrina and Other Disasters, Doug
Gober, Roberta Knauf, CPLP, Kate
Moore, CPLP, and Ginnie Baumann
from Animal Rescue New Orleans
PLPA College is a required component
for industry professionals applying for
their initial Certifed Pet Loss Professional
certifcation. For CPLP designees, this
event counts towards the fve hours of
continuing education credit required for
annual renewal.
This years closing event will be a
parade through the French Quarter going
from restaurant to restaurantsampling
food and drink along the waythat are
big supporters of pet-related charities. The
parade will fnish at historic Pat OBriens.
There will be numerous opportunities
to meet fellow pet loss care providers from
across North America, including built-in
breaks and nightly informal receptions at
nearby local restaurants and lounges.
As usual, suppliers and sponsors will
have tabletop displays inside the classroom
and there are several breaks built into the
schedule for you to visit with them. You
are encouraged to take advantage of this
chance to ask questions and learn more
about the latest products and services you
may offer to your clients.
This years registration fee is $399 for
the Sunday Welcome Reception through
Tuesday nights closing events. There is an
additional fee for attending the optional Pet
Loss Business Bootcamp Day on Sunday,.
The hotel room rate is $115 per night
(down from $159 last year).
You may also want to extend your
trip to enhance your learning experience.
The ICCFA presents a brand-new Pet
Cremation Certifcation program on
Wednesday, August 27, at the same hotel.
This will cover aspects of crematory
operations, arrangements, legal issues and
marketing as they pertain specifcally to
the pet loss profession. Also, Two Hearts
Pet Loss Center will hold its Pet Loss &
Grief Companioning Certifcation Course
Thursday, August 21, through Saturday,
August 23, at the same hotel.
Full program details and registration is
now available at www.myplpa.com. q
PLPA College adds new business bootcamp day for 2014
I C C FA NE WS
I
CCFA University is designed
for anyone who wants to be
inspired. You will learn from
top cemetery, cremation and
funeral service professionals as
well as business and economics
faculty from the University of
Memphis, meet people who share your
passions, and prepare for a future that
continues to grow with each course you
take and each new connection you make.
Theres still time to register to attend
ICCFA University, which takes place on
July 18-23, at the Fogelman Executive
Center at the University of Memphis in
Memphis, Tennessee. Walk-ins are always
welcome, space permitting.
ICCFAU is considered by many to
offer the most comprehensive funeral
service education outside of attending a
mortuary school.
There are seven colleges and two
Invest in yourself at ICCFA Universitystill time to register
New webcasting license allows you to broadcast services worldwide
T
he ICCFA is now offering webcasting licenses that will allow you to broadcast funeral or memorial services over the Internet
worldwide for just $48 per property per year. The webcasting license must be purchased in addition to a music license.
YOU MUST HAVE A MUSIC LICENSE BEFORE YOU MAY PURCHASE A WEBCASTING LICENSE.
Sometimes it isnt possible for family and friends to attend a funeral in person due to illness or distance. When that happens,
webcasting is the perfect solution. It allows them to share in a friend or family members funeral services that they may otherwise
miss. If you offer a webcasting service to your customers, you will want to purchase ICCFAs supplemental webcasting music license.
Both the music and webcasting licenses are with ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. Music licenses are only $270 per property. You
may add on an additional $48 per property for a webcasting license. There are no membership requirements, which makes these the
LOWEST PRICES available in the industry!
Licensing directly with the agencies this year would cost nearly $600 per location. In addition, music licensing is the law, and
failure to obtain a license where one is required can be costly. Copyright law provides for damages similar to fnes of up to $30,000
for each song that is infringed. If your company, regardless of size, hosts performances of copyrighted musicwhether the music is
performed live or played from recordingsmusic copyright owners say you are legally required to pay an annual licensing fee.
Licenses may be purchased by any company in the cemetery and funeral service industry in the United States.
You may purchase your licenses online at www.iccfa.com/music or by calling 1.800.645.7700. q
graduate programs to choose
from, each with courses that
combine proven business theory
with practical operational
instruction.
Register today at
www.iccfa.com/university or
call 800. 645.7700 to ensure your spot in
the college of your choice as class sizes
are limited! q

*Please note the following College of
Land Management & Grounds Operations
program changes: Raymond Miller,
cemetery director of the Memphis, Little
Rock and Corinth national cemeteries,
will lead the session on Heroes Serving
Heroes. Also, Dave Gressley, director
of horticulture at Spring Grove Cemetery
and Arboretum in Cincinnati, Ohio,
will join Gino Merendino to address
Arboretum/Cemetery Sustainability.
2015 ICCFA Annual Convention session proposals due August 1
S
ession proposals are due to the ICCFA by August 1 for the
ICCFA 2015 Annual Convention & Exposition, April
8-11, in San Antonio, Texas. Guidelines are as follows:
1. Include all of your contact information.
2. Include a description of your session (approximately 100
words). Session descriptions should name at least two
or three specifc skills, techniques or ideas the attendee
will take away from the session. We are most interested
in sessions that share concrete, proven techniques and
programs, as opposed to theory or opinion.
3. Include a brief bio regarding your experience and
qualifcations.
4. Tell us which areas of our profession are the intended
audience (i.e., funeral, cemetery, cremation, preneed, etc.).
5. Indicate what types of audio/visual aids you will use, if any.
6. Include a list of anticipated handouts.
Any requests for compensation must be included in your
proposal.
We typically receive many more proposals than we can ft
into the program, so please be sure to follow the guidelines and
clearly explain the value proposition for attendees (No. 2 above).
Submit your proposal by August 1 to Molly Jin at molly@
iccfa.com (preferred) or via fax to 703.391.8416. Questions? Call
1.800.645.7700. q
Join the ICCFA Next Generation for the
inaugural "Schmooze & Blues" event at B.B.
Kings Restaurant & Blues Club on Sunday,
July 20. Cost: $20, includes entry fee,
your first drink, hors d'oeuvres and a small
donation to the Next Gen scholarship fund.
Buy your tickets on-site at the University.
Shuttle service provided from the Fogelman
at 7:30 p.m., and back from B.B. King's at 10
p.m. This is an opportunity to meet fellow
industry professionals who may not be in your
class in a fun and social setting. Sponsored by
Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY.
I C C FA NE WS
2014 ICCFA Member Satisfaction Survey: Tell us what you think
Please check all categories that most apply to your company
o Corporate o Independent o Pet loss services o Funeral home o Cemetery o Crematory o Combo
Number of locations your company operates
o 1 o 2 o 3-5 o 6-8 o 9-12 o 13-20 o 21-30 o 31+
Total number of employees
o 0-5 o 5-10 o 11-20 o 21-30 o 31-50 o 51-100 o 101-150 o 151-200 o 201+
Total number of families served per year by your company
o < 50 o 50-100 o 101-150 o 151-200 o 201-300 o 301-400 o 401-500 o 501-600 o 601-700 o 700+
What benefts are you seeking from your trade association?
What are the top three (3) issues facing your business today?
1.
2.
3.
Maintaining and promoting ethics and standards:
o 0 o 1 o 2 o 3 o 4 o 5 o 6 o 7 o 8 o 9 o 10
Providing guidelines that support quality operations:
o 0 o 1 o 2 o 3 o 4 o 5 o 6 o 7 o 8 o 9 o 10
Infuencing federal legislation/regulations:
o 0 o 1 o 2 o 3 o 4 o 5 o 6 o 7 o 8 o 9 o 10
Promoting positive public awareness of the profession:
o 0 o 1 o 2 o 3 o 4 o 5 o 6 o 7 o 8 o 9 o 10
Representing the profession within the media:
o 0 o 1 o 2 o 3 o 4 o 5 o 6 o 7 o 8 o 9 o 10
Conducting research on signifcant issues afecting the
profession:
o 0 o 1 o 2 o 3 o 4 o 5 o 6 o 7 o 8 o 9 o 10
Gathering, analyzing and publishing data on trends relating to
the profession:
o 0 o 1 o 2 o 3 o 4 o 5 o 6 o 7 o 8 o 9 o 10
Promoting entry into the profession as a potential career:
o 0 o 1 o 2 o 3 o 4 o 5 o 6 o 7 o 8 o 9 o 10
Providing recognition and awards for excellence within the
profession:
o 0 o 1 o 2 o 3 o 4 o 5 o 6 o 7 o 8 o 9 o 10
Providing member contact information to the public (e.g., via
web consumer directory):
o 0 o 1 o 2 o 3 o 4 o 5 o 6 o 7 o 8 o 9 o 10
Providing members with opportunities for certifcation:
o 0 o 1 o 2 o 3 o 4 o 5 o 6 o 7 o 8 o 9 o 10
Providing education and training opportunities for members:
o 0 o 1 o 2 o 3 o 4 o 5 o 6 o 7 o 8 o 9 o 10
Providing timely news and information to members:
o 0 o 1 o 2 o 3 o 4 o 5 o 6 o 7 o 8 o 9 o 10
Providing information on best practices within the profession:
o 0 o 1 o 2 o 3 o 4 o 5 o 6 o 7 o 8 o 9 o 10
Helping members make connections and network:
o 0 o 1 o 2 o 3 o 4 o 5 o 6 o 7 o 8 o 9 o 10
Ofering members an opportunity to participate and give back
to their profession:
o 0 o 1 o 2 o 3 o 4 o 5 o 6 o 7 o 8 o 9 o 10
Providing members with access to legal/business expertise
(e.g., HR and tax attorney retainer programs):
o 0 o 1 o 2 o 3 o 4 o 5 o 6 o 7 o 8 o 9 o 10
Diversifying membership options to include growth markets
(e.g., PLPA, JFDA):
o 0 o 1 o 2 o 3 o 4 o 5 o 6 o 7 o 8 o 9 o 10
Responding to national events and news stories:
o 0 o 1 o 2 o 3 o 4 o 5 o 6 o 7 o 8 o 9 o 10
How efective is ICCFA at performing each of the following?
(Rate with 0 being not at all efective and 10 being extremely
efective)
This is YOUR association.
Let your voice be heard.
Please return to ICCFA by August 15 by fax
(703.391.8416), mail or e-mail (robt@iccfa.
com). Thank you!
to page 76
ICCFA University
o 0 o 1 o 2 o 3 o 4 o 5 o 6 o 7 o 8 o 9 o 10
Fall Management Conference
o 0 o 1 o 2 o 3 o 4 o 5 o 6 o 7 o 8 o 9 o 10
Wide World of Sales
o 0 o 1 o 2 o 3 o 4 o 5 o 6 o 7 o 8 o 9 o 10
Annual Convention & Expo
o 0 o 1 o 2 o 3 o 4 o 5 o 6 o 7 o 8 o 9 o 10
Music license program
o 0 o 1 o 2 o 3 o 4 o 5 o 6 o 7 o 8 o 9 o 10
Value of membership
o 0 o 1 o 2 o 3 o 4 o 5 o 6 o 7 o 8 o 9 o 10
ICCFA Magazine
o 0 o 1 o 2 o 3 o 4 o 5 o 6 o 7 o 8 o 9 o 10
Biweekly Wireless e-newsletter
o 0 o 1 o 2 o 3 o 4 o 5 o 6 o 7 o 8 o 9 o 10
Website
o 0 o 1 o 2 o 3 o 4 o 5 o 6 o 7 o 8 o 9 o 10
What are some topics that you would like to learn more about at future educational events?
o Cremation o Best Practices o Marketing o Aftercare o Preneed sales
o Embalming o Research o Pet loss services o Managing trusts o Business management
o Green burial services o Legal issue o New products o Succession planning o Stress management

Other:
Have you ever served on the board or a committee?
o Yes o No o No, but Id like to in the future
Do you attend association events? o Yes o No
If yes, which ones?
o Annual Conference & Expo o Wide World of Sales o PLPA College o ICCFA University
o Fall Management Conference o Cremation Certifcation o Member Webinars o Celebrant Training
What member benefts have you used from the list below?
o Music Licensing
o Funeral Service Credit Union
o Freight Savings Plan
o Payment Acceptance Program
o ICCFA Magazine
o ICCFA Wireless e-newsletter
o ICCFA Website Materials
o Buyers Guide & Membership Directory
o Discounts on goods & services from other ICCFA members
o Certifcation Programs (i.e., CCE, CCrE, CSE.,etc.)
o Prepaid Telephone Consultations (tax attorney; labor law
attorney; cremation counsel; forensic accountant, and
investigator)
o Complimentary Funeral Rule Compliance Review
o Model Contracts and Forms
o Legal and Management Strategies
o Cremation Training
o Cremation Hotline
o Forums on the ICCFA website
o Obtaining info from ICCFA Facebook or Twitter accounts
Are there any benefts you would like to see added that ICCFA
is not already providing? Please list them below:
How do you like to be communicated with?
o Via Social Media o Text o Email o Regular mail o Phone o Fax
for completing this invaluable member survey. To be entered to win a $250 Apple gift card,
please provide us with your contact information.
Name: Company: Email:
Thank You
Please rank the following ICCFA services. (Rate with 0 being the worst in the industry and 10 being the best)
I C C FA NE WS
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o Very satisfed o Somewhat satisfed o Neutral o Somewhat dissatisfed o Very dissatisfed
from page 75
H
ow do you inspire your employees to give their all every
day? Do you have a strategic plan for growth leading
your company into the future? Do you know how you
will attract prospective customers in the years to come?
If the answer to any of these questions gives you pause,
then set time aside on your calendar to attend the ICCFA Fall
Management Conference this September 17-19. Andrs
Aguilar and Michael Uselton, CCFE, co-chairs of the
conference, invite you to join them at The Ritz-Carlton,
Amelia Island, to enjoy leadership, management and
marketing sessions designed for owners, executives and
high-level managers like you. The conference will feature four
distinct workshops on hot topics that every manager, owner and
senior executive needs to know about, including:
Rockefeller Habits: Four Decisions to Ensure
Proftable Growth: After researching the life,
strategies and routines of business magnate John D.
Rockefeller and the companies he built, Gazelles
International Coaching Association has created
the Rockefeller Habits, a series of proven
company habits that ensure optimization of the
Four Decisions to ensure proftable growth in a
vibrant, learning culture.
Keith Cupp, CEO of Gazelles, will explain that the vital Four
Decisions which will assure your companys growth lie in the
areas of people (culture), strategy (topline revenue), execution
(getting work done) and cash (fuel for growth). In Cupps session,
you will learn about the Four Decisions principles, see them in
action in real companies (case studies), and then apply them to
your business by doing four to six practical working exercises.
Youll leave the session with a one-page strategic plan. A free
two-hour assessment and coaching session with Gazelles is
available to attendees after the conference.
Shark Tank Challenge: Based on the hit ABC television
show Shark Tank, this will be a fun and interactive
brainstorming session. Attendees will be divided into groups
that will each tackle a different dilemma business owners and
managers are experiencing in the current market. Each group
will work together to develop a feasible solution to their assigned
issue. A spokesman from each group will try to sell their ideas
to the shark panel. The question is, will the sharks bite, or will
they chew you up and spit you out? The sharks will include:
Jay Brammer, president, Gibraltar Remembrance Services,
Indianapolis, Indiana

Shawna de la Cruz, vice president-Hollywood Hills, Forest
Lawn Memorial-Parks & Mortuaries, Glendale, California
Ray Frew, CCE, president/CEO, Green Hills Memorial Park,
Ranchos Palos Verdes, California
Gary OSullivan, CCFE, president, Gary OSullivan Co.,
Winter Garden, Florida
Jim Price, CCFE, CCrE, CEO, Midwest
Memorial Group, Valrico, Florida
Inside the Mind of the Consumer: Have you
ever wondered what the potential customer on
the telephone or standing in front of you is really
looking for? The obvious, of course, is that they
need what you sell. But what if they dont have an
immediate need? What if they are just testing the
waters to see if you stack up for when the need
truly arises?
Testing the waterslooking at businesses through the eyes of
the consumeris what consumer anthropologists Rich Kizer and
Georganne Bender do every day. They also go undercover and
conduct mystery shopping in the funeral industry. By doing this,
they are able to fnd out whats lacking in the funeral arrangement
experience and what customers really want and need.
The Fire Within: Igniting Passion for Ritz-
Carlton Performance ExcellenceLearn from
The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Centers corporate
director of culture transformation, Joseph Quitoni,
the importance of cascading the strategic plan
to every employee in your organization. This
program is designed for leaders who want to
ignite the passion in their employees. It involves
allowing each of them to be in the planning of the
work that affects them and that they will carry out. Quitoni will
focus on how you may paint a picture for your employees to
help them understand their function vs. purpose, and tap into their
emotional intelligence. This is vital to your companys success
and will ignite and sustain your employees passion for service
excellence.
Additional conference highlights include the Fall
Management Golf Tournament on Wednesday, September
17, from 1 to 5 p.m. at The Golf Club of Amelia Island. The
tournament will feature a $50,000 hole-in-one contest, along
with a hole-in-one competition on any Par 3 hole, with the prizes
being your choice of an LCD television, Callaway golf irons or
airline tickets to anywhere in the continental U.S.
Friday morning will begin with a Government and Legal
Affairs breakfast, featuring a presentation by Irwin Shipper,
CCE, and moderated by ICCFA executive director and legal
counsel, Robert Fells, Esq. And there will also be nightly
networking receptions (extended to 1.5 hours each this year)
that will give you the opportunity to share ideas from the day,
catch up with old friends, or make a few new ones.
Complete hotel details and registration materials can be found
at www.iccfa.com. q
I C C FA NE WS
Rockefeller habits to assure, employee engagement, solving
industry issues and consumer trends on the agenda for Fall
FALL MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE ThE RITZ-CARLTON AMELIA ISLAND, FLORIDA SEpTEMbER 17-19, 2014
Cupp
Brammer de la Cruz Frew OSullivan Price
Kizer &
Bender
Quitoni
Update
Send in news about your cemetery, funeral home, crematory or association to sloving@iccfa.com. If you publish a newsletter,
please email a copy to sloving@iccfa.com or mail to: Susan Loving, ICCFA, 107 Carpenter Drive, Suite 100, Sterling, VA 20164.
T
his year Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla,
New York, celebrates its 125th
anniversary (1889-2014). The
kickoff for the celebration took place at the
annual meeting last October with festive
decorations at the lunch tables, tote bags,
chocolate bars in Kensico wrappers, the
annual report, 125 Reasons to Celebrate,
a 2014 celebration calendar and the
presentation of a remembrance wreath
with 125 carnations.
A 14-foot blue-and-white banner that
read Kensico Cemetery Celebrating 125
Years! greeted the 350 lot owners and their
guests in attendance. Mini-cupcakes that
spelled out 125 were served at the end of
the meeting.
To mark the actual anniversary date on
Sunday, January 19, front ofce staf wore
corsages, and a hospitality table with cofee,
cookies, fowers and free calendars was set
up in the main waiting area. A pizza party for
all employees had been held at
lunchtime the previous Friday.
Supplies of the annual report
and 2014 calendar have been set
up in the front ofce and wait-
ing areas of the cemetery. Fu-
neral directors, lot owners and
guests are encouraged to take
copies when visiting Kensico.
Other events and activities
are on the schedule for the year
to celebrate the 125th anni-
versary with the community,
including trolley tours held in
June highlighting the landscape
and history and an Entertain-
ers Tour visiting the gravesites
of performers. A time capsule
is being prepared with items
capturing the spirit of todays
Kensico. Te founding fathers
will be honored in a special
ceremony and a concert is
scheduled in November with
the Westchester Symphonic
Winds playing pieces with a
Kensico theme.
A Candle Commemorative
continues throughout the year
in which a candle to symbol-
ize remembrance and hope is
placed every week in one of the windows of
the administration building. By the conclu-
sion of the anniversary year in January 2015,
52 windows of the building will be lit.
Says Kensico President Chet Day, Tis
anniversary year is an exciting opportunity
to celebrate our role in the history of West-
chester as a welcoming place of remem-
brance, peace and beauty. r
Kensico Cemeterys administration building today
(inset) and many years ago.
Kensicos 125th anniversary calendar focuses on the all-season beauty of the historic cemeterys grounds.
Kensico President Chester Day speaks
at the annual meeting.
Kensico Cemetery celebrating 125 years
Kensicos give-aways have included
candy bars with custom wrappers.
U P DAT E
nALLEGHENY CEMETERY, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, held its 106th Memo-
rial Day celebration this year. Te citys
parade marched through town and into the
cemetery, a tradition that began in 1909
with a parade led by Civil War veterans. Te
service at the cemeterys soldiers memorial
included bagpipers, a 21-gun salute, a dove
release, a military fyover, a wreath-laying
ceremony and words from local veterans.
Te service was followed by a picnic hosted
by the Allegheny Cemetery Historical As-
sociation, featuring music, food trucks, a
classic and antique car show, face painting,
massages, living history presentations, dem-
onstrations by the Pittsburgh bomb squad
and rafes and prize giveaways.
nWEST LAUREL HILL CEMETERY,
Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, recently hosted
its 2nd Annual Kentucky Derby Party. At-
tendees watched the race on the big screen,
enjoyed casino entertainment and had the
chance to win prizes at the event. Te new
attraction for this year was horse and carriage
rides through the cemetery grounds. Te
person who correctly predicted California
Chrome as the winner of the Kentucky Derby
won a bottle of John B. Stetson bourbon and
another attendee won the door prize of two
tickets to the Gravediggers Ball. Proceeds
Civil War veterans leading an early
20th century Memorial Day parade into
Allegheny Cemetery.
Carriage rides through the cemetery
grounds were offered at this years Ken-
tucky Derby Part at West Laurel Hill.
Mortuary Financial AD
1/4 H
Milne AD
1/4 H
4-COLOR
U P DAT E
raised from the event will go to Chamou-
nix Equestrian Center. Te cemetery also
kicked of this years Concert Under the
Stars series with an evening of Cuban-
American jazz, featuring Venissa Sangi and
her three-piece band.
nTHE GARDENS AT GETHSEMANE,
Boston, Massachusetts, held its 46th An-
nual Memorial Day Service this year. Te
Unite States Air Force Heritage of America
Band performed and the West Roxbury
VFW Post 2902 conducted a ceremony at
the memorial cannon from the USS Con-
stitution. Guest speakers included Boston
Mayor Martin Walsh; Steve Kerrigan, pres-
ident of the Massachusetts Military Heroes
Fund; Cheryl Poppe, deputy secretary of
the Veterans Services for the state; State
Sen. Mike Rush, who chairs the committee
on Veterans and Federal Afairs; Francisco
Urena, commissioner of Veterans Services
for Boston; and Steven Grossman, state
treasurer. Te cemetery provided breakfast.
nMOUNT AUBURN CEMETERY,
Cambridge, Massachusetts, recently held
a Death Cafe. Peg Lorenze of Peaceful
Passage at Home acted as facilitator for the
meeting, which was held in the cemeterys
Bigelow Chapel. Death Cafes were devel-
oped by Jon Undersood to give people
an opportunity to eat cake, drink tea and
discuss death with a view to helping them
make the most of their lives.
nTe Dallas Institute of Funeral Service,
Dallas, Texas, recently graduated its spring
2013-2014 Chi Delta class. Tose commenc-
West Laurel Hill
Cemetery held a
wreath laying cer-
emony to kickoff
Armed Forces Week-
end and Memorial
Day Weekend. The
ceremony was the
8th annual event in
honor of all veterans
and servicemen and
women. Attendees
included Rep. Pamela
DeLissio and mem-
bers of American
Legion Post #355.
nRESURRECTION CEMETERY,
Clinton Township, Michigan, recently
dedicated its First Responders Memorial
before more than 100 people. Represen-
tatives from many area sherifs depart-
ments, police and fre departments and
EMS units were represented, as was the
Michigan State Police.
Cemetery Director Bob Schrage began
the formal dedication, which included a
blessing from Father Michael Cooney, a
priest who frequently works with public
safety groups around metro Detroit. Te
First Responders Section at the 51-year-
old cemetery was established in 2009
and is open to qualifed frst responders,
spouses and dependent children.
With more than 320 acres, Resurrec-
tion Cemetery is a part of the Mt. Elliott
Cemetery Association, which includes
fve traditional and one certifed green
cemetery in Southeastern Michigan. Te
association has been in existence since
1841. r
Above, Resurrection Cemetery Director
Bob Schrage opens the dedication of
the First Responders Memorial. Right,
the memorial, designed by Inch Memo-
rials and made from Barre (Vermont)
and Jet Black (India). It weighs 5,600
pounds. Below, the First Responders
section of the cemetery.
Gupton-Jones
valedictorian
Laura Phipps
and salutatorian
Alvin Glen Jr..
Gary L. Mills received
the Bill Pierce Award
at the Dallas Insti-
tute, presented to the
student who best
exemplifes the char-
acteristics of a funeral
service professional
as determined by a
vote of fellow class-
mates.
ing with an associates degree in funeral
service included valedictorian Kaitlyn Flynn
Voss, Centertown, Missouri, and salutato-
rian Julie Dawn Brister, Lafayette, Louisiana.
Others who earned the Academic Achieve-
ment Award, all from Texas, were Patrick
James Bartle, Wichita Falls; Brenda Marie
Batman-Daley, Dallas; Taylor Morgan
Calloway, Edgewood; Tyler Craig Johnson,
Wichita Falls; Gary L. Mills, Arlington, who
received the Bill Pierce Award; Jon Richard
Parton, Waco; and Domanik Raquel Phillips,
Galveston. Among those graduating with
a diploma in the funeral directors program
was Jill M. Johansen, Kaufman, Texas, who
earned the Academic Achievement Award.
nGupton-Jones
College of Funeral
Service, Atlanta,
Georgia, recently
held graduation,
presenting associ-
ates degrees to 42
students. Speaker
was J. Collins
of J. Collins Funeral Home, Villa Rica,
Georgia, who received the Distinguished
Service Award from college President Patty
S. Hutcheson. Valedictorian was Laura Faye
Phipps, Palmetto, Georgia, and salutatorian
was Alvin B. Glen Jr., Dorchester, South
Carolina. Te Bill Pierce Award, presented
to the graduate who, by vote of the mem-
bers of the graduating class, best represents
the funeral service profession in terms of
professionalism, was given to JacKel Shakur
Brown, Lake City, South Carolina. Te Dan-
iel E. Buchanan Award was given to Cachet
Nicole Hammond, Atlanta, Georgia. Receiv-
ing Mu Sigma Alpha Awards for being in
the top 10 percent of the graduating class
were Phipps; Glen; Shelesceyah McConnell,
Stockbridge, Georgia; and Sue Ann Zim-
merman, Gainesville, Georgia. r
U P DAT E
Grever & Ward AD
1/4 H
Madelyn AD
1/4 H
4-COLOR
SEP AD
1/6 H
Supply Line
nTRIGARD, Danville, Illinois, recently
helped recreate an emblem for the Battle
of Normandy monument on Omaha
Beach in Normandy. Hall of Fame Plaques
and Signs by Trigard joined forces with
Regimental Sign Co. in Washington, D.C.,
to accomplish the task. Te bronze emblem
created was to honor the 348th Engineer-
ing Combat Battalion who fought to take
control of the beach in 1944. In 1950, the
monument was erected on top of a Ger-
man bunker, but the bronze emblem on
the monument has been stolen twice and
had been missing for at least 15 to 20 years.
Te bronze for the emblem was donated by
Marble Machine Inc.
1.800.637.1992; www.trigard.com
nWILBERT FUNERAL SERVICES,
Broadview, Illinois, has reintroduced its
Wilbert Updater newsletter in a digital
format. Te Updater was started in 1976
and discontinued in 2006, when escalat-
ing printing and postage costs rendered its
production cost-prohibitive. Te new digital
version is being distributed via email.
1.888.WILBERT; www.wilbert.com
nA GOOD GOODBYE, Albuquerque,
New Mexico, is ofering funeral websites
and blogs the chance to earn revenue by
generating sales of A Good Goodbyes
products. Te free afliate program involves
putting information and a link on their web-
sites so that people can buy materials such
as a television interview series, a funeral
planning book and Te Newly-Dead Game.
505.265.7215; www.AGoodGoodbye.com
nSOUTHWEST AIRLINES CARGO,
Dallas, Texas, has hired Michael Basoco
as director of cargo sales. He comes from
Saudi Arabian Arlines Cargo, where he
spent three years leading its Americas
region. Prior to that, he served as director of
Global Cargo Sales for Continental Airlines,
where he spent 18 years. www.swacargo.com
nUNE BELLE VIE MEMORIAL URNS,
Denver, Colorado, has expanded to a lar ger
space in order to handle increased sales.
Te company also has started selling through
amazon.com and partnered with iMortuary.
1.877.249.7735; http://decorative-urns.com
nFRIGID FLUID, Northlake, Illinois,
has hired Steve Becker as a sales account
manager. Becker has more than 20 years
of funeral industry sales experience, most
recently with Aurora Casket Co. and the
former Deaton-Kennedy Co.
www.FrigidFluidCo.com
nWoody Wilson of ASTRAL INDUS-
TRIES, Lynn, Indiana, has been elected to
a two-year term on the Onio Embalmers
Association Advisory Board. Wilson is a
salesman for the southwest-
ern Ohio region. Te board
arranges for continuing edu-
cation conferences for Ohio
funeral directors and awards
scholarships to students from
Te Cincinnati College of
Mortuary Science, Ohio, and
the Pittsburgh Institute of
Mortuary Science, Pennsylvania.
1.800.278.7252; sales@astralindustries.com
www.astralindustries.com
nHOMESTEADERS, Des
Moines, Iowa, has named
Steve Byhre as an account
executive. He will serve cus-
tomers in Minnesota. Prior to
joining Homesteaders, Byhre
was a Minnesota/Wisconsin
sales representative for Aurora
Casket Co. He has a bachelors
degree from Eastern Kentucky
University and acquired a Minnesota Life &
Health license in 2010.
1.800.477.3633; www.homesteaderslife.com
nPIERCE CHEMICAL,
Broadview, Illinois, has named
Lance Ray as COO. Ray has
served as executive vice-pres-
ident of sales at Pierce since
December 2012 when Wilbert
Funeral Services Inc. acquired
the Dallas-based frm, which
now operates autonomously
under the WFSI umbrella. Ray is an alumnus
of Dallas Institute of Funeral Service, a Pierce
Mortuary Colleges institution, as well as a
licensed funeral director and embalmer.
1.800.527.6419; www.piercechemical.com
nDW MCCOMB GROUP, Fort Wayne,
Indiana, has named Frank Kaiser as presi-
dent. Kaiser has served as president and CEO
of Eagles Wings Air since its founding in
2007, and will continue to lead that company,
as well as Inman Shipping Worldwide,
which DW McComb Group recently
acquired. Both companies will continue to
operate as separate, independent entities. DW
McComb Group CEO David W. McComb, a
fourth-generation co-owner of D.O. Mc-
Comb & Sons Funeral Homes in Fort Wayne,
launched the new holding company in May.
Robert J. Inman, chairman of Inman Ship-
ping, and Marilyn Nixon-Inman, the com-
panys president, both retired upon selling
the company, which Inman founded in 1978.
1.866.550.1392; www.eagleswingsair.com
1.800.321.0566;
www.inmanshippingworldwide.com
nDIRECTORS CHOICE, St. John, New
Brunswick, has been named on the Best
Places to Work in Atlantic Canada. Te list
READERS: To fnd the products and ser-
vices you need online, go to www.iccfa.com
and select directory to fnd the ICCFAs:
Directory of Providers. Search by category
or type in the name of a specifc company
to fnd contact information and a link to the
companys Web site.
Web Expo Directory of Suppliers and Pro-
fessionals, another way to fnd suppliers,
listed by category.
Supply Link Search
Engine, the fastest way
to fnd the products and
services you need at your
funeral home, cemetery or
crematory.
SUPPLIERS: Send your press releases
about your new products and services,
and about awards, personnel changes and
other news to sloving@iccfa.com
for inclusion in Supply Line.
Byhre
Ray
The emblem Trigard recreated for a
WWII memorial in Normandy.
The
Wilbert
Updater,
recently
revived
in a
digital
format.
Wilson
includes 31 companies, which were evaluated
on workplace policies, practices and demo-
graphics and on the results of an employee
survey. 1.888.920.1900;
askus@dchoice.com; www.dchoice.com
nOUTLOOK GROUP, Franklin, Ohio,
is taking applications for the Christian
Chambes Mortuary Science Scholarship
Award. Applications are due by July 31. Te
scholarship provides $2,000 to a student in a
mortuary science program accredited by the
American Board of Funeral Service Educa-
tion. 1.800.331.6270;
www.theoutlookgroup.com
n THE CENTER
FOR LOSS AND
LIFE TRANSI-
TION, Fort Collins,
Colorado, has an-
nounced that Te
Mourners Book
of Faith, written
by Dr. Alan Wolfelt
and published by its
Companion Press,
was awarded frst
place in the spiritual
category in the 2014
Eric Hofer Book
Awards. Te award honors the memory
of American philosopher Eric Hofer. A
hardcover gif book, Te Mourners Book
of Faith: 30 Days of Enlightenment, guides
people struggling with the death of someone
loved through a one-day-at-a-time series of
teachings, afrmations, and quotations.
970.226.6050; www.centerforloss.com
n THE DODGE CO., Billerica, Massachu-
setts, has named Dr. Jacquie Taylor as gen-
eral manager and Sally Belanger, CCFSP,
as community relations liaison. Taylor
has nearly 40 years experience as a licensed
funeral service practitioner and educator. Te
former executive director of the New England
Institute at Mount Ida College and president
of the San Francisco College of Mortuary Sci-
ence has acted in numerous capacities at the
national level, including terms as president
of the American Board of Funeral Service
Education and service on the Board of Direc-
tors of Te Conference of Funeral Service
Examining Boards. Belanger is a licensed
funeral service practitioner and served as ex-
ecutive director of three state funeral directors
associations over the course of 30 years.
978.600.2099; www.dodgeco.com
nKUBOTA, Torrance, California, has
introduced a new member to its Z300 Series
zero-turn mower feet. Te ZD326H has a
72-inch wide, 6-inch deep mower deck engi-
neered to handle large jobs.
1.888.458.2682, ext. 900; www.kubota.com
nPASSAGES INTERNATIONAL, Lake
Orion, Michigan, has introduced a
viewing lid for its eco-friendly
woven caskets. Te lid is avail-
able for the Willow and Seagrass
adult caskets. Te viewing lid cov-
ers three-quarters of the body, from
the feet to the chest. Lids are available
for both 20-inch and 24-inch wide caskets.
1.888.480.6400;
amwehr@passagesinternationalcom;
www.PassagesInternational.com
nPHYSICIANS MUTU-
AL, Omaha, Nebraska, has
been awarded the Promise
to the Earth Award from
the Arbor Day Founda-
tion. Te award recognizes
the sustained commitment
and leadership by a cor-
poration partnering with
the foundation on special
projects. Physicians Mutual
has helped plant more than
250,000 trees over the past
10 years in its partnership
with the Arbor Day Foundation, including
in such sites as the Ocala National Forest in
Florida, the Huron-Manistee National Forests
in Michigan and Bastrop State Park in Texas.
Trough the Arbor Day Foundations Trees
in Memory program, Physicians Mutual
helps plant a tree in memory of customers
at the time of their death. And through the
Trees in Celebration program, Physicians
Mutual helps plant a tree in honor of a cus-
tomers birthday.
To celebrate its 10-year partnership with
the foundation, Physicians Mutual recently
announced the Plant One, Celebrate Many
campaign, inviting the Facebook community
to join in a 10,000 tree pledge. Visitors to the
page can designate a tree to be planted in
honor of a friend or loved one and include a
personal note. Te 10,000 trees will help to
restore Oglala National Grasslands, which
was badly damaged by wildfre in 2012.
www.PhysiciansMutual.com
nCOOPERATIVE FUNERAL FUND,
Madison, Connecticut, has launched a new
website as part of its 25th anniversary cele-
bration. Te website boasts a modern, simple
design that is divided into three sections:
funeral homes, cemeterians and consumers.
Te website still ofers quick and easy access
to essential information for CFF clientele,
such as customized preneed documents, 24/7
account viewing and payout amounts, as well
as the ability to print claim forms, trust detail
reports and client balance letters, view current
and past statements and access preneed con-
sumer marketing materials. It is optimized to
Passages new casket with a viewing
lid.
S U P P LY L I NE
From left, Chris Johnson and Kim
Holzapfel of Physicians Mutual; John
Rosenow of the Arbor Day Foundation;
and Deb Walton and Bob Gunia of Phy-
sicians Mutual with the Promise to the
Earth Award the company received.
The Mourners
Book of Faith,
which recently won
an award.
nDan Isard, president of THE FORE-
SIGHT COMPANIES, Phoenix, Arizona,
has announced updated fgures for the
funeral service infation rate for 2013. Te
year showed a number of totally unpredict-
able trends, Isard said. We observed a 1.66
percent increase in spending, on par with
recent fgures, though low compared to the
1980s and 1990s, Isard reported. Casket
costs increased 1.57 percent. Since whole-
sale casket prices increased about 5 percent,
Isard said, there are more rental caskets and
more 20-gauge and lower cost caskets being
purchased. Tere was a slight decline, 0.33
percent, in overhead costs.
Tis is the frst time since 1980 that he
has seen a decrease in the dollar amount of
overhead costs, Isard said. Proft margins
increased for the fourth year in a row, to
7.96 percent, the highest since 2001. Judging
from his client group of several hundred
funeral home owners, Isard said, this is due
to controlling overhead rather than revenue.
1.800.426.0165; danisard@f4sight.com;
www.f4sight.com r
view properly on smartphones.
1.800.336.1102;
www.CooperativeFuneralFund.com r
C ONV E NT I ON S P E A K E R C ONT A C T I NF OR MAT I ON
Aguilar, Andrs (p 32), Los Parques,
Guatemala City, Guatemala,
andres.aguilar@senoriales.com
Cavanaugh, Beth, (p 56), Batesville, Bates-
ville, Indiana, Beth.Cavanaugh#Batesville.com
Clock, Jodi (p 61), Clock Funeral Home,
Muskegon, Michigan,
jodiclock@clockfunealhome.com
Combs, Brandi (p 65), Chateau Urns, Boca
Raton, Florida, courtney@chateauurns.com
Crouch, Darren (p 46), Passages Interna-
tional, Albuquerque, New Mexico,
passagesdarren@gmail.com
Deming, Scott (p 28), Demic RCI, Syracuse,
New York, info@scottdeming.com
Devaney, Michael (p 54), Wilbert Funeral
Services, Broadview, Illinois,
MDevaney@wilbert.com
Finkel, Amy, (p 66), Brooklyn, New York,
amy@sailorbeware.com
Flowers, Brian (p 48), Moles Farewell
Tributes, Ferndale, Washington,
brianf@farewelltributes.com
Frew, Jennifer (p 38), Green HIlls Memorial
Park, Rancho Palos Verdes, California,
JFrew@ghmp.com
Garbow, Zachary, (p 61), Funeral Innnova-
tions, zack@funeralinnovations.com
Gjerde, Ron (p 52), Lakewood Cemetery
Association, Minneapolis, Minnesota,
rong@lakewoodcemetery.com
Guerra, Anthony (p 26), Guerra & Gutier-
rez Mortuary, Los Angeles, California,
anthony@guerragutierrez.com
Halvorson, Craig (p 52), Halvorson Design
Partnership Inc., Boston, Massachusetts,
craig@halvorsondesign.com
Hentges, Christie Toson (p 32), Te Tribtue
Companies, Hartland, Wisconsin
christieh@tributeinc.com
Hobart, Dr. Richard, (p 65), Veterinary
Referral Services, Penbroke, Ontario,
dr.hobart@pemah.com
Hof, Timothy (p 36), Hof Funeral & Cre-
mation Service, Saint Charles, Minnesota,
tim@hoffuneral.com
Hoyt, Peggy (p 64), Oviedo, Florida,
Peggy@hoytbryan.com
Hughes, Caressa (p 38), Service Corpora-
tion International, Houston, Texas, caress.
hughes@sci-us.com
Jenkins, Bob (p 65), Let Your
Love Grow, Wildwood, Missouri,
info@letyourlovegrow.com
Jorgensen, Mark (p 40), Global Recruiters
of Batesville, Batesville, Indiana
mjorgensen@grnbatesville.com
Kent, Esmerelda (p 46), Kinkaraco
Shrouds, San Francisco, California,
info@kinkaraco.com
Kientzel, Dan (p 34), SCI, Roswell, Georgia,
Daniel.Kientzel@sci-us.com
Knox, Sgt. Tony (p 64), Indiana State Police,
TKnox@isp.IN.gov
Lemasters, Poul (pp 54, 64), Te Poul
Lemasters Co., Cincinnati, Ohio,
poul@lemastersconsulting.com
Lohman, Nancy (p 38), StoneMor
Partners LP, Ormond Beach, Florida,
nlohm@stonemor.com
Merendino, Gino (p 50), Merendino
Cemetery Care, Linden, New Jersey,
1776gino@gmail.com
Mooney, Gwen (p 26), Gen Mooney
Funeral Home and Spring Grove Chapel, Cin-
cinnati, Ohio, gmooney@springgrove.org
Nelsen, Blair (p 56), Service Corporation
International, Richmond, Virginia,
bhnelsen@gmail.com
Neville, Jeremiah, (p 65), Terrybear Urns
and Memorials, Saint Paul, Minnesota,
jeremiah@terrybear.com
Newbern, Shun, (p 38), Metropolitan Mor-
tuary Jurapa Valley, Riverside, California,
shunnewbern@aol.com
Nikola, Kyle (p 36), Families First Funeral
Care & Cemation Center, Savannah, Georgia,
knikola@familiesfrstcare.com
Noel, Tony, (p 65), Memory Vessels, Denver,
Coorado, toni@memoryvessels.com
Price, James (p 56), Valrico, Florida,
jpricefd@gmail.com
Quiocho, Abbie Branner (p 32), Gibraltar
Remembrance, Indianapolis, Indiana,
aquiocho@gpiproperties.com
Quist, Robert (p 62), Memorial Cemeteries
and Mortuaries, Salt Lake City, Utah,
robert.quist@securitynational.com
Redden, Greer (p 34), Independence Trust
Co., Franklin, Tennessee, 615.591.0044
Remkus, Jon (p 66), Hinsdale Animal Cem-
etery and Crematory, Willowbrook, Illinois,
jremkus@gmail.com
Robinson, Lacy (p 58), Aurora Casket, Au-
rora, Indiana, lrobinson@auroracasket.com
Rollins, Denise Hall Brown (p 60), Freder-
ick, Maryland, glrfuneralhome@yahoo.com
Rubin, Gail (p 42), A Good Goodbye, Albu-
querque, New Mexico, Gail@AGoodGoodbye.
com
Seyler, Paul (p 60), Competitive Resources,
New Orleans, Louisiana,
pseyler@competitiveresources.com
Shaw, Dr. Jane (p 66), Argus Institute,
Colorado Springs, Colorado,
Jane.Shaw@ColoState.edu
Sorrano, Joan (p 52), HGA Architects and
Engineers, Minneapolis, Minnesota,
JSoranno@hga.com
Starks, Elleanor Davis (pp 26, 38), Long-
wood, Florida, hundrdbwfs@aol.com
Stevens, Sky, (p 66), Homeward Bound
Pet Cremation Services, Colorado Springs,
Colorado, skyemstevens@msn.com
Terwisscha, Kelly (p 42), TerWisscha
Construction Inc., Willmar, Minnesota,
ldonner@twcinc.com
Varner, Ken (p 28), Cypress Lawn
Cemetery Association, Colma, California,
kvarner@cypresslawn.com
Wiedeman, Nicole (p 38), Forethought
Financial Services, Batesville, Indiana,
Nicole.Wiedeman@forethought.com
Williams, Bill (p 40), Funeral Services Inc.,
Tallahassee, Florida,
Bill.Williams@fsitrust.com
Williams, Marcia (p 34), Independence
Trust Co., Franklin, Tennessee,
mwilliams@independencetrust.com
Yearsley, David (p 50), Ensure-A-Seal, Ex-
port, Pennsylvania, day1@ensure-a-seal.com r
F R OM T HE E X P O HA L L
NGL Carrier Mausoleums Construction FrontRunner Trees in Memory
Calendar
E-mail calendar listings and additions or
corrections to Association Pipeline to
bclough@iccfa.com
For continually updated meeting listings
and direct links to websites for professional
associations, go to www.iccfa.com; select
Directory, then Industry Association Directory.
To see all industry conventions and meetings
for a particular month, go to www.iccfa.com;
select Directory, then Industry Calendar.
July 18-23: ICCFA University, Fogelman Center,
University of Memphis, Tennessee. www.iccfa.com
July 17-24: MKJ Seminars A Marketing
Adventure: Exploring New Ideas, Alaskan cruise.
www.mkjmarketing.com
July 18-19: Associated Cemeteries of Missouri
Annual Convention, The Resort at Port Arrowhead,
Lake Ozark. westbydale@sbcgloba.net
July 20-22: South Carolina Funeral Directors
Assn. 116th Annual Summer Convention,
Charleston Place Hotel. www.scfda.org
July 24-27: Florida Cemetery, Cremation &
Funeral Assn. Annual Convention, Orlando.
www.thefccfa.com
July 27-30: Southern Cemetery, Cremation &
Funeral Assn. Annual Convention, Imperial Palace
Hotel & Casino, Biloxi, Mississippi. www.sccfa.info
August 2-7: National Funeral Directors &
Morticians Assn. 77th Annual Convention, Hotel
Anatole, Dallas, Texas. www.nfdma.com
August 3-6: Independent Funeral Directors of
Georgia Annual Conf., Jekyll Island Club.
www.ifdf.org
August 4-6: Ohio Cemetery Assn. Annual
Convention, Celebrant Training August 6-8,
Cincinnati Marriott North, West Chester.
www.ohiocemeteryassociation.com
August 5-9: Cremation Assn. of North America
Annual Convention, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
www.cremationassociation.org
53 Abbott & Hast
21 A.C. Furniture Co.
49 Adfnity
63 American Cemetery/Mortuary
Consultants
47 American Columbarium
55 American Funeral Financial
19 ASDAnswering Service
for Directors
88 Astral Industries
3 BlindCheck
13 Continental Computer Corp.
47 Custom Air Trays
57 Duncan Stuart Todd
53 Ensure-A-Seal
59 Flowers for Cemeteries
35 Forethought Life Insuranc
Companies
53 Forever Pets Inc.
2 Funeral Call
31 Funeral Services Inc.
37 Great Western Insurance Co.
55 Holland Supply
72 IMSA
51 Kryprotek
43 Live Oak Bank
51 Love Urns LLC
49 LP Bronze International
81 Madelyn Co.
29 Matthews International
27 Merendino Cemetery Care
63 Messenger
79 Milne Construction Co.
79 Mortuary Financial Services
17 Mortuary Lift Co.
11 National Guardian Life Insurance Co.
57 Nomis Publications
7 NorthStar Memorial Group
79 Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell &
Hippel
33 Paradise Pictures
57 Pontem Software
5 Progressive Environmental Services
4 Regions Funeral & Cemetery Trust
Services
44 SCI North America
45 SCI North America
81 SEP Technologies
9 SRS Computing
25 Star Granite & Bronze
39 SuperNova International
59 Supply Link
53 SVE Portable Roadway Systems
59 The Tribute Companies
23 Trigard
41 U.S. Metalcraft
57 VKM International
47 WithumSmith + Brown
87 Worsham College
19 Zontec Ozone r
to page 86
EDA SRS Computing Intera
A D I NDE X
F R OM T HE E X P O HA L L
American Funeral Financial
Rock of Ages Funeral Call American Funeral Consultants Nomis
|800|426
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5973
www.PremierColumbaria.com
Highest Quality Memorials, Lowest Delivered Price.
GUARANTEED.
CAST ALUMINUM LOT MARKERS
3, 4, 5 X 5
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CALL TODAY FOR A FREE BROCHURE!
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634 Berkley Street
Berkley, MA 02779
TEL: (508) 822-3127
FAX: (508) 824-5895
VISIT OUR WEB SITE/WWW.ADOVERMARKER.COM
Classifeds
Check the classifed announcements at www.iccfa.com/employment.htm
To place a classifed, contact Rick Platter, rplatter@iccfa.com
Sales manager sought
Once-in-a-lifetime opportunities
dont come around very often,
but 2014 has the potential to be
game changer for select sales
management. NorthStar has over
70 locations, many the fagships
of their markets, located in some
of the most dynamic cities in the
world. Our markets have growing
populations, diversity, excitement
and tremendous quality of life.
Now in our 10th year, we are
experiencing explosive acquisition
growth and have multiple six-
fgure income opportunities for
experienced sales leaders living
in or willing to relocate to the
following markets:
California
Dallas
Houston
Florida
Hawaii
Is this you?
I am an experienced sales
manager (preferably with no less
than fve years experience in a
supervisory role).
I am willing to work as hard
and long as it takes to get the job
done right.
I am a sales manager who
leads by exampleI can prospect,
sell and close deals!
I have a proven track record
of building a team of sales
professionals
I am coachable, open-minded,
willing to learn and possess a
competitive spirit.
I think and act like an
entrepreneur.
If you answered yes, we can
offer you the following:
Overrides, graduated
overrides, longevity bonuses,
consistency bonuses, awards,
contests, enthusiasm and respect
for sales and salespeople.
Lucrative income potential
we have no caps on income!
Strong 401K with generous
company match.
Comprehensive beneft
package including: medical,
dental, vision, wellness incentives,
and PTO.
Paid training for new
counselors.
Strong lead procurement and
marketing budget.
Contest and incentive trips to
exotic locations around the world
A place to growwe promote
from within whenever possible
If you are a sales management
professional tired of having your
compensation plan changed every
quarter, have a proven record, a
desire to improve your quality of
life and know youre ready for
a change, email your resume to
NSMGRecruiting@NSMG.com
Attention: Donna Wagner and
Detlef Taylor or call 1-832-308-
2722. All inquiries will be handled
with strict confdentiality.
NorthStar Memorial Group LLC
is an Equal Opportunity Employer
Sales job wanted
Experienced sales
directors/sales
manager in the
Central Florida
region, 32 years
industry experience,
is seeking new
opportunity in the
Central Florida market, preferably
The Villages/Ocala/Leesburg area,
with trust-funded funeral/cremation
plan.
Dedicated and hard working
ethical team leader, proven track
record and award winning top gun
manager, consistently met and
exceeded all goals and revenue
targets. Ability to recruit, train,
develop and motivate sales teams,
manage multiple locations and sales
managers.
Contact David LeMay,
850.570.0423.
A more detailed resume is
available upon email request at
DLemay5085@aol.com. r
MEMBERSHIP APPLICATIONS Admission to ICCFA membership
normally requires a majority vote of those present and voting at any
meeting of the executive committee. The names of all applicants must be
published in this magazine. ICCFA members objecting to an application
must do so in writing to the ICCFA executive director within 45 days of
publication. In the event of an objection, the executive committee will con-
duct an inquiry. If an applicant is rejected, they will be granted an appeal
upon written request. The decision of the Board of Directors shall be fnal.
Providing exceptional education, networking and
legislative guidance and support to progressive cemetery,
funeral and cremation professionals worldwide
New Members
Regular
Mechanicsburg Cemetery
Association
Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania
Professionals: Pet loss services
Allain & Son Inc.
Danvers, Massachusetts
Peaceful Pets LLC
Hartford, Wisconsin r
August 10-13: Dan Isard of The
Foresight Companies program on
Aftercare & Outreach programming,
Scottsdale Resort & Conf. Center,
Arizona. 1.800.426.0165
August 10-13: New York State
Funeral Directors Assn. Annual
Convention, Turning Stone Resort &
Casino, Verona. www.nysfda.org
August 21-23: Washington
Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral
Assn. and Washington State Funeral
Directors Assn. Joint Convention.
info@wccfa.ur
August 26-27: South Africa Funeral
Expo, Sandton Convention Center,
Johannesburg.
www.sbs.co.za/safexpo2014
September 9-11: Western Canada
Cemetery Assn. Convention,
Fantasyland Hotel, Edmonton,
Alberta. www.westerncemetery.com
September 10: ICCFA Cremation
Arranger Certifcation Program,
Dallas Institute of Funeral Service,
Dallas, Texas. www.iccfa.com
September 11: ICCFA Crematory
Operator Certifcation Program,
Dallas Institute of Funeral Service,
Dallas, Texas. www.iccfa.com
September 13: PIMS 75th
Anniversary Reunion, Sheraton
Station Square, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. www.pims.edu
September 17-19: ICCFA Fall
Management Conf., Ritz Carlton
Amelia Island, Florida.
www.iccfa.com r
C A L E NDA R
from page 85
Worsham AD
FULL PAGE
page 87
4-COLOR
Astral AD
FULL PAGE
page 88 (C4)
4-COLOR

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