Creating Unique Experiences for Families
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Cover photo: Memorial service at White Point, Royal Palms State Beach, San Pedro, CA, arranged by July-August 2015 Rice Mortuary. See page 4 Creating Unique Experiences for Families ALSO IN THIS ISSUE Responsive Design Registration Now Open Family Follow-Up Upgrades Websites for 97th Annual Meeting Survey Program Results for Mobile Users -12 In New Orleans -14 Announced -16 Board of Directors R. Bradley Speaks, President Independence, MO, Group 4 816-252-7900 [email protected] James H. Busch, Secretary-Treasurer July-August 2015 Cleveland, OH, Group 2 216-741-7700 [email protected] Mark T. Higgins, President-Elect Creating Unique Experiences for Families Durham, NC, Group 3 919-688-6387 2 Christy Taylor Chaney: A Fresh Look at Personalization [email protected] 4 John Kirk, Jean Mathis: Providing Unique Off-Site Services J Mitchell, Secretary-Treasurer-Elect 5 Dale Clock: In-House Printing of Photo Collages Kilgore, TX, Group 5 2 903-984-2525 6 Transforming Families’ Words into Songs [email protected] 10 Discovering the Pathways to Sensory Experiences Ann Ciccarelli Saugus, MA, Group 1 4 781-233-0300 [email protected] 11 Lisa Baue and Chip Billow Named to Board of Directors Neil P. O’Connor 11 Patty Neuswanger Joins Selected as Marketing Manager Laguna Hills, CA, Group 6 949-581-4300 5 12 Superior Online Experiences for Mobile Device Users [email protected] 14 Registration Now Open for 2015 Annual Meeting Lance C. Larkin, Ex Officio Salt Lake City, UT, Group 6 14 Calendar of Upcoming Selected Meetings 801-363-5781 15 15 Photo Highlights of 2015 Spring Management Summit [email protected] 15 Selected Leadership Academy: New Graduates, New Class Executive Director 16 Family Follow-Up Survey Program Reveals Latest Trends Robert J. Paterkiewicz 18 Sarah Pojanowski: FTC Sweeps Find Disclosure Failures Deerfield, IL 18 800-323-4219 19 Why Should You Contribute to The Educational Trust? [email protected] The Bulletin Our Members Volume 98, Number 4 22 Member Profile: rankF Smith selected-bulletin.org The Bulletin (ISSN 1533-7197) 24 Remembering Our Colleagues, Welcome New Members, is published bimonthly by Educational Trust Contributors Selected Independent Funeral Homes 22 500 Lake Cook Rd., Suite 205 Deerfield, IL 60015 Periodical postage paid at Deerfield, IL Our Preferred Partners Toll-Free: 800-323-4219 20 Federated Insurance 20 Messenger LLC Local: 847-236-9401 Fax: 847-236-9968 21 Johnson Consulting Group 25 C&J Financial LLC Back Cover SRS Computing POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Bulletin, Selected Independent Funeral Homes, 500 Lake Cook Rd., Suite 205, Deerfield, IL 60015. Contributions relative to the funeral service profession and to the activities of the members of this organization are solicited. Address all correspondence to the above address or to ©2015 Selected Independent Funeral Homes [email protected]. SELECTED VIEWS Is Your Firm a Contender? By Denise Zoephel, Assistant Executive Director Our newest programs, Selected’s Leadership Academy and Selected Study Groups, offer Okay, I admit it. I am a Chicago Cubs fan. Each and participating members a powerful experience every year I wonder out loud, maybe, just maybe, including meaningful exchanges that foster personal this will be “the year.” It’s not easy being a fan of a and business growth. The Selected Leadership franchise with more than a century of losing. Over the Academy offers a unique and rewarding opportunity years, the players and personnel have changed. There for members interested in further developing have been some exciting moments, but in the end, leadership skills. This program will encourage and always the same outcome. No World Series title since challenge you to overcome barriers standing between 1908. Yet, things feel different these days. Why? you and where you want to be. The Chicago Cubs ownership decided it was The Selected Study Group program allows you to time. They could no longer continue to simply apply work collaboratively with your fellow members to paint on a cracking frame. So what did they do? gain new perspectives, break down walls and work on They overhauled their business. They created a plan your business in creative ways. Participants not only which looked at each and every component of their share best practices but they help each other solve operations. Then, they embarked on the short and problems, assess opportunities and risks and work on long-term changes that were needed to put them in a an assortment of strategic and operational issues. position to compete and create a perennial contender. They have put strong, confident leaders in place who These programs are a commitment, but I assure are taking risks, engaging their fans, showing the effort you that the benefits they provide can significantly and, most importantly, making each move count. enhance your personal and professional growth and They are doing what they need to do to modernize help you improve your business. and thrive. And, yes, they have stumbled a few times In addition to the above programs, know that there but that hasn’t stopped them from working their plan. are many opportunities available as a result of your As a result, everything appears to be lining up for an membership in Selected. Whether your firm is taking organization that really couldn’t afford to “wait until a step-forward or a huge leap, I encourage you to next year.” reach out to me, contact our staff team, go online to As you work on your business, know that Selected Selected’s website or talk with fellow members in order strives to offer opportunities to help you with the to make the most of your membership investment. It problems you are trying to solve, the needs you are will make a difference in you and your business. I look trying to meet and the outcomes you are trying to forward to seeing you at a future Selected event or at achieve. We listen, we learn and we care. We co- the ballpark! s create with members to make sure that each benefit, educational program, product and service has value and is a solid resource for you, your firm and those you serve. 1 CREATING UNIQUE EXPERIENCES Selected Leadership Academy Capstone Presentation Offers a Fresh Look at Creativity and Personalization Christy Taylor Chaney is a I’ve always had strong interest I wondered what we could fifth-generation funeral director in creativity, so it was natural for create for client families that they at Glenn Funeral Home and me to earn a Bachelor’s degree were not expecting, that would Crematory, Owensboro, KY. She in art. But my cost us little or no money, that graduated in 2014 from the plan was always they would appreciate and would inaugural class of Selected’s to come home add value. I wanted to go beyond Leadership Academy. Her capstone and work at the the conventional concept of presentation was voted by her family funeral grandpa’s favorite candy in a bowl peers to be the best. The following home. My first during visitations. are excerpts from her presentation. role was as a I believe when a family walks secretary at the Christy Taylor Chaney into your visitation room, it When I was twelve, I decided front desk, but can either be your best or worst I wanted to be a funeral director, my first creative moment came moment, depending upon how just like my grandmother, when I realized our register books welcomed and loved they feel. Lucy Glenn Taylor, and my dad, were out-of-date. I knew families And I realized that by designing Glenn Taylor. I spent endless wanted more, and I was given the the space for that first viewing hours with my grandmother, task of putting together a program moment, we can improve the watching her meet with people to offer a variety of new books. outcome of any service. and cultivate relationships. I know it’s not rocket science, What I learned is that funeral but at that moment at my firm, So we started staging the room services are relationships—that in my little hometown, I was a just like you would stage a house they need to be captured and creative genius, and I wanted to for sale—arranging the flowers, maintained creatively. take it further! Concludes on next page 2 furniture, displays—in fact, there’s “...personalization is not creativity... creativity is so nothing in my facility that I cannot much more. It requires you to open your mind turn into something else for interior design purposes. to the possibility of what can be and not let the Now, we all use the word magnitude of that get you down.” personalization and try to incorporate it into funerals. But I relationships with florists, event permission to make your families want to clarify that personalization planners, caterers, costume shops, feel good. Set a budget but be is not creativity. A design on a everyone. I always have a plan and flexible. And live the example corner of a casket or a picture in a a backup because, as Mike Tyson yourself by treating your staff frame are just that. But creativity is said, “Everyone has a plan until creatively. You must be the so much more. It requires you to they get punched in the face.” change you want to see in your open your mind to the possibility funeral home. To be innovative, you must be of what can be and not let the prepared to get punched in the Perhaps most importantly, magnitude of that get you down. face. So think beyond the box, not you need to support your team’s So how do we cultivate outside of the box.