H1-N1 ― Another Look
I just completed a blog entry on crisis situations and how the H1-N1 threat has raised a new level of awareness and opportunity for service by cemeteries and funeral homes.
My thoughts were that many had put aside concerns, because there had not been much alarming "news" about H1-N1. But, this afternoon, the AP released the following information:

• Swine flu has sickened about 22 million Americans since April.
• Nearly 4,000 have died, including 540 children, a quadrupling of previous death estimates.
• There is a shortage of vaccine to combat the illness.
• Not quite 42 million doses are currently available, a few million fewer than CDC had predicted last week.
• One in six parents has gotten at least some of their children vaccinated against swine flu since inoculations began last month. Another 14 percent of parents sought vaccine, but couldn't find any.( Three times as many adults have tried and failed to find vaccine for themselves, as have succeeded.
• The CDC has conservatively estimated that more than 1,000 deaths and "many millions" of new H1N1 infections have occurred.
• Some 98,000 people have been hospitalized from this new flu, or its complications, including 36,000 children, 53,000 adults younger than 65, and 9,000 older adults.
• Deaths could range from a low of 2,500 to as many as 6,100, depending on how the data is analyzed.
• Some 8 million children have become ill, as well as 12 million adults younger than 65, and 2 million older adults.

It might be very timely to get in touch with your lot holders and pre-arranged families, to let them know what you are doing about crisis preparation, and how you can help them.

Crisis Preparedness Service Excellence Opportunity

There has been a lot of press coverage in 2009 about H1N1 Flu, also referred to as Swine Flu. While early predictions about a pandemic have abated, real opportunity remains for cemeteries and funeral service providers to distinguish themselves in their preparation for unforeseen critical events.
Lot holders and those with funeral pre-arrangements can be encouraged to participate in these preparations and thereby gain added peace of mind from knowing these precautions have been taken. Those not having cemetery and funeral pre-arrangements will have an additional reason to address this important matter.
Let's look at one possible crisis situation. Assume 10% of the general population is affected by a debilitating event. This could be environmental, biological, or any hypothetical event causing 10% of the population some level of incapacity. Let's further assume a 10% short-term increase in number of deaths. The net effect of such a situation would be a crisis for cemeteries and funeral service providers, with a 10% increase in activity and only 90% of their normal human resources available.
Some ways you might prepare for such an overload include:

• Cross-training staff
• Updating lot records for future burial information and lot holder contact information
• Confirming details of pre-arranged funerals
• Backing up records to an offsite location with Internet access
• Arranging for outside help for backup
• Evaluating all processes, to determine what can be postponed in a crisis.
• Reviewing procedures to assure clarity and ease of understanding
• Keeping up-to-date on all critical support tasks and record management
• Develop some mock crisis situations and discussing how they would be handled among staff
• Communicating your contingency plans to local officials
• Collaborating with other service providers―including competitors

Communicating Your Message
If you decide to develop a crisis preparedness plan, you likely will be among the top 15% of providers who do so. Having distinguished yourself, you should share this with your constituents. Cemeteries and funeral homes could communicate their planning to lot holders and those with pre-arrangements with a newsletter, preparedness brochure, press releases, and workshops and other community meetings. Visiting nurses associations might be engaged to do free health screening, accompanied by information regarding crisis preparedness. You might conduct seminars at libraries, senior centers, town halls, and churches, to share what action steps you have taken and things the populace can do to protect themselves.
Johnson-Woodford Company
Management Consultants to the Deathcare Industry
Postscript
This post and others on the Johnson-Woodford Blog will be compiled into a Free, downloadable E-book, which will also be available in hard copy. A final thought: We can all learn from one another. Your thoughts, ideas, and sharing are important to us and others. Please send your notes and comments to blogger@johnson-woodford.com or log on to www.johnson-woodford.com.

80% of Advertising is Spent on Headlines

Headlines are read over five times more often than the ad copy. As a result, more than 80% of your ad dollars are spent on your headline. Great headlines attract readership. Are you using five times the effort creating your headline as you are the rest of the ad? Expressed differently, if your copy is great and the headline stinks, it really doesn't matter. This applies to all your printed material, especially booklets, brochures, and leaflets. Here's a test you can try. Stop at a visitor's center or motel lobby and observe the rack with travel and local interest brochures. Pick up five to ten brochures that attract your attention and look for how many key points mentioned here were considered by the advertiser.
Some key points to keep in mind:

• Use words and illustrations that attract buyers, but be careful not to scare off potential buyers. For example, women are key influencers of funeral and cemetery purchases, but men have a significant role, as well. If your headline looks like you're pitching to females, it's unlikely men will read your ad.
• Appeal to self-interest, and promise a benefit
• Appear to be newsworthy, current, and interesting
• Power words include:
  Free, New, How to, Suddenly, Now, Announcing, Introducing, Important Development, Amazing, Sensational, Remarkable, Revolutionary, Startling, Miracle, Magic, Offer, Quick, Easy, Wanted, Last Chance, Bargain, Advice to, The Truth About, Compare Add emotion: Love, Fear, Pride, Friendship, Security
• Be clear, not cute or tricky; no puns, don't try to entertain
• Use everyday language
• Don't print over pictures/illustrations
• Never use uppercase only, it's unreadable

Johnson-Woodford, management consultants to the deathcare industry
Postscript
This post and others on the Johnson-Woodford Blog will be compiled into a Free, downloadable E-book, which will also be available in hard copy. A final thought. We can all learn from one another. Your thoughts, ideas, and sharing are important to us and others. Please send your notes and comments to blogger@johnson-woodford.com or log on to www.johnson-woodford.com.

Is Your Funeral Arrangement Process Affecting the Perception of Your Overall Service Quality?

 The number of choices offered in funeral service can be a real Catch 22. Too many choices can be overwhelming, cause fatigue and stress, and prevent the family from focusing on developing meaningfulness regarding the tribute. Conversely, too few options can be experienced as inadequacy of choice, resulting in the perception of an overall lower quality of service.
Two studies, appearing to conflict in conclusion, highlight the problem funeral service providers face in determining an appropriate mix of products and services. An extensive study conducted by Dr. Kathleen D. Vohs at the University of Minnesota and published in the April 2008 issue of The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology concluded that the most important decision-making factor causing fatigue and inhibiting behavior was highly correlated to the number of decisions that had to be made. Less relevant in causing fatigue were both the difficulty and the consequence of the decisions.
An earlier behavioral study at Stanford showed that extensiveness of product lines correlated to perceived general value of the entire product line. Limited choice correlated to lower perceived value, and greater choice had the perception of higher quality. A significant challenge in optimizing the funeral service therefore is to establish a balance between a limited offering, with poorly perceived value, and an extensive offering requiring many decisions that could cause fatigue and shutdown.
Fatigue and shutdown during funeral arrangements
In funeral service, an example of complex decision making might involve selection of a casket. Choosing from many features, metal or wood, quality grade, hardware, cap panels, and personalization features, might feel overwhelming. These multiple decision choices, according to the research, would be more "draining" than a single choice between an all-inclusive $8,000 funeral package and one for $6,000.
Funeral arrangements are stress-laden to begin with. Adding the burden of having to make many decisions can quickly lead to fatigue. Eventually, the family becomes unwilling or unable to make further decisions. Fatigue caused by the arrangement process could also undermine discussion of important and significant items that could mean the difference between a truly meaningful service and one that is merely ordinary. As fatigue increases, the discussion regarding arrangements might even conclude prematurely.
Reducing fatigue, increasing value, arranging meaningful funerals
Accomplishing balance between many choices and limited choices can be achieved by combining products and services into package offerings. Packaging goods and services into levels of good, better and best, for example, can reduce the decision-making to one decision, as opposed to many. Allowing substitution within the package offering also serves to reduce the total number of decisions.
Another way to reduce the stress of decision-making is to streamline the arrangement process. This can be accomplished by following decision paths and eliminating irrelevant discussion. For example, if final disposition is discussed as a first step, a brief overview of various paths leading to that final point can be explained, enabling the family to move forward on a path most suitable to their needs. The arrangement process can also be streamlined by efficient information gathering. If the family is helped to prepare basic statistical information before arriving at the arrangement, time-consuming information collection can be reduced to verification.
Lastly, facilities and product displays can be arranged in a manner that eases the arrangement process. Casket displays, for example, could be limited to a few selected caskets and supplemented with additional choices shown in a kiosk or catalogue. The physical casket display could be eliminated altogether, substituting a well–organized, high-quality catalogue. Some leading service providers that have eliminated display rooms include Heffner (PA), Krause (MN), Bean (PA), and Farley (FL). Simplicity in display also applies to paper products, video and photo tributes, jewelry, flowers, outer burial containers, and catering.
Conclusion
The funeral arrangement process should be conducted in a manner that minimizes stress. Too many choices and decisions can lead to fatigue and process shutdown. Decision-making and complexity of the arrangement can be streamlined by assisting the family in their preparing for the arrangement, providing packaged product and service choices, simplifying and arranging merchandise displays in an orderly fashion, and offering guidance to simplify decision paths during the arrangement. When the arrangement process is streamlined, the family is afforded an environment in which they can demonstrate their love for the deceased by focusing on creation of a memorable and meaningful tribute.
Johnson-Woodford, management consultants to the deathcare industry
Postscript

This post and others on the Johnson-Woodford Blog will be compiled into a Free, downloadable E-book, which will also be available in hard copy.

A final thought. We can all learn from one another. Your thoughts, ideas, and sharing are important to us and others. Please send your notes and comments to blogger@johnson-woodford.com or log on to www.johnson-woodford.com.

Getting Your Message Read ─ 32 Time-Tested Tips

Following these simple, time-tested, ad copy guidelines will enhance your ability to capture consumer interest.
Printed material, traditional and electronic, plays a critical role in attracting consumer attention and communicating your message.
To be effective, your copy needs to grab attention, create interest and spur action. If your copy is uninteresting or difficult to read ─ let's just call that uninviting ─ your message will not be read, and your money and efforts will be wasted.
Here are some simple tips to raise interest, improve recall, getting people to take action, and increasing the overall effectiveness of your printed materials.
Headlines

1. Work five times as hard on your headline to be sure it grabs attention
2. Keep headlines very short -- try limiting them to ten words
3. Headlines following an illustration and before the copy get higher readership
4. Questions and quotes raise interest
5. Mention a benefit; name the product
6. Communicate the entire message of the ad in the headline
7. Include the name of the city, to attract attention
8. Use emotional words
9. Specifics win; generalizations lose readership
10. Avoid tricky phrases and double meanings

Copy

1. Opening paragraph: limit the length; give a compelling reason to read more
2. Make benefits clear and back up your statements
3. Where possible, start copy in print ads, brochures, and announcements with an enlarged first initial letter design
4. Use everyday conversational language
5. Write copy directed to the individual, not a group
6. Avoid unnecessary analogies, as they require extra thought
7. Celeb testimonials may result in recall of the celeb only
8. Use a call to action to measure results
9. When using a coupon, make it a mini ad that can stand alone, should it get cut out
10. Create urgency by limiting time and supply of the offer

General Appearance

1. Make copy easy to read by avoiding all caps, superimposed copy, and unusual fonts
2. Eleven-point body type is very efficient and readable
3. For clarity and when appropriate, use captions with selling points for every photo ─ this may be the only part that is read
4. Serif fonts for print media and sans-serif for electronic media make reading easier
5. Use photos to arouse attention
6. Never use reverse type on printed material and carefully use attractive and tasteful contrast in electronic media
7. Using sub-headings adds interest when copy is long and complex
8. Four-color increases memorability 100%
9. Keep columns manageable ─ 35-50 characters wide are most readable
10. Centered headings every two to three inches enhance interest
11. Use space between paragraphs to increase ease of reading
12. When photos using one or two people conveys your point, make this your choice, rather than group photos, which might distract or confuse
13. Know when and how to use professionals to improve your ads; if in doubt, get help

Postscript

This post and others on the Johnson-Woodford Blog will be compiled into a Free, downloadable E-book, which will also be available in hard copy.

A final thought. We can all learn from one another. Your thoughts, ideas, and sharing are important to us and others. Please send your notes and comments to blogger@johnson-woodford.com or log on to www.johnson-woodford.com.

Green Burial and Funeral Options ─ Where We Are in 2009

What We Know About the "Green" Movement

• The green movement is here to stay. The U.S. population had treated environmental issues like an unwelcome head cold until the awakening resulting from gasoline prices surpassing the $4 mark in the last couple of years. This is not to say there was no serious concern before, but the environment came to the forefront of concerns, when energy costs skyrocketed.
• 90% of consumers now say they are concerned about the environment.
• Green issues are pervasive. Since the energy price spurt, environmental issues have gained both greater attention and deeper general understanding. For example, consumers are not only aware of inefficiency in products they use, but also in production and transportation excess consumption of energy, even though the product itself is environmentally friendly.
• Consumers and investors, alike, are aware and interested in companies' efforts to optimize energy use in production, packaging, transportation, and recycling of used materials.
• There are many organizations that have evolved as a result of demand for information about energy efficiency. Organization focus includes advocacy, information resources, and research. A simple Google search on "green-friendly organizations" recently yielded over 8 million hits.

Deathcare's Role Related to the Environment

• Many consider use of embalming fluids, especially those that are toxic, to be unnecessary and wasteful.
• Many think use of wood, metal, and concrete in final disposition of human remains is wasteful. For example, Americans inter 30 million board feet of hardwoods, 1.6 million tons of concrete, 90,000 tons of steel, and more than 827,000 gallons of toxic embalming fluid every year.
• In spite of mercury pollution and high energy use, cremation appears to provide a sense of energy efficiency to the consumer, but unfortunately, as an alternative to traditional burial.
• Those consumers aware of green funeral and burial options are likely to see these green offerings as alternative to cremation.

Corporate Issues

• Not only can we expect increased government intervention, there is a wellspring of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as the Sierra Club, The Nature Conservancy, Good Guide, Social Investment Forum, Climate Counts, and Innovest Strategic Value Advisors that focus on products and corporate performance from an environmental perspective. Call it "Environmental Sarbanes-Oxley," if you will.
• It just makes good sense for companies, public and private, to polish their green image.
• A new field of study, examination, and intervention relates to environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. A Google search on "environmental, social and governance" yielded 8.2 million hits.
• National Grid, for example, is sidestepping another assault on executive pay by disclosing how it is linking executive pay to greenhouse gas reduction.

Implications for Deathcare Service Providers

• Some consumers are interested in green funerals and burials. An AARP study in 2007 found that 21% of Americans over the age of 50 preferred a green burial.
• The Green Burial Council predicts there will be 200 natural burial cemeteries within five years.
• There seems to be a lack of reliable data about the size of the market and consumers' genuine intent regarding green funeral and cemetery options. Nonetheless, the data taken as predictive or simply anecdotal indicates there is a significant segment of the population looking for green alternatives.
• Awareness of green funerals is 52% and green burial is 73%.
• While customers probably won't pay extra for the intangible benefit of helping the planet, they will pay for the value of direct benefits they receive. Therefore, direct customer benefits, including those of being green, need to be communicated in product/service value messages.
• Offering products at competitive prices, while helping the environment, gives providers a chance to add value for their customers and to increase market share. Total revenue should be comparable between green and non-green offerings.
• Having a green presence, cemetery or funeral home, expands market reach beyond the traditional geographic boundaries by giving interested consumers a reason to pass a dozen or more competitors to reach the green provider.
• According to Glenn Gould of MKJ Marketing, green disposition will more likely take away from cremation:
  

  	Disposition Preference
  	Burial/Mausoleum	Cremation
  	43%	30%
  Percent Who Would Consider a Green Alternative	40%	53%

• Green burial revenue may be additive by converting those who prefer cremation and are not now cemetery customers.
• The primary reason cited for choosing cremation is the environment, with 32% of consumers giving this as their principal reason.
• Having a green presence gives providers an additional forum for presenting their image and overall value proposition to a new constituency.
• Because of a general public interest in both green and death-related issues, the news media is eager to capture information about green cemeteries and funeral homes.
Bottom Line
• There is a sizeable, interested and viable market segment for green options.
• Offering green options will expand market share.
• Offering green options yields benefits to providers beyond just an additional revenue source.
• Investment to develop green options is relatively small and relatively low risk.
• First to the party not only gets the bigger piece of the cake but maybe the only piece, if they become market-dominant. What are you waiting for?

Johnson-Woodford, management consultants to the deathcare industry

Postscript

This post and others on the Johnson-Woodford Blog will be compiled into a Free, downloadable E-book, which will also be available in hard copy. A final thought. We can all learn from one another. Your thoughts, ideas, and sharing are important to us and others. Please send your notes and comments to blogger@johnson-woodford.com or log on to www.johnson-woodford.com.

Hidden Income for Cemeteries

Often overlooked sources of income for cemeteries includes charitable organizations. A charitable organization, as defined in the IRS tax code, has as its purpose, raising funds for the benefit of others. Your property or some portion thereof could be the beneficiary of a charity under the IRS code.
The code is very specific for charitable organizations created under Chapter 501C-3 of the code. These eligiblity requirements include:

• All monies raised in excess of expenses must be contributed
• For cemeteries, benefit cannot accrue to the lot owner

Johnson-Woodford, management consultants to the deathcare industry
Postscript
This post and others on the Johnson-Woodford Blog will be compiled into a Free, downloadable E-book, which will also be available in hard copy. A final thought. We can all learn from one another. Your thoughts, ideas, and sharing are important to us and others. Please send your notes and comments to blogger@johnson-woodford.com or log on to www.johnson-woodford.com.

Johnson-Woodford Announces Six Point Tune-up

Johnson-Woodford, management consultants to the deathcare industry, has announced a new service to help clients quickly achieve profit increases and assess their foundation for growth. Fees for the "Tune-up" depend on the size of your organization and will likely range from $5,000 to $15,000. However, Johnson-Woodford guarantees profit improvement of 300% of their fees.

This fresh-look review for immediate improvement opportunities answers the following questions:

• Vision, mission, and strategies - are these clear and aligned?
• Core values and beliefs - is everyone on the same page?
• Product line - is the depth and breadth meeting market and business needs?
• Communicating your value - is your message clear, getting return on your efforts, and making an impact?
• Sales and promotion - are sales opportunities being missed?
• Profitability - where are your blind spots?

Johnson-Woodford, management consultants to the deathcare industry

Postscript

This post and others on the Johnson-Woodford Blog will be compiled into a Free, downloadable E-book, which will also be available in hard copy. A final thought. We can all learn from one another. Your thoughts, ideas, and sharing are important to us and others. Please send your notes and comments to blogger@johnson-woodford.com or log on to www.johnson-woodford.com.

Guiding Principals ─ The Soul of the Organization

Every organization has a soul, which is made up of each employee’s character, the behavioral guidelines developed by leadership, and the integration of these two. Hopefully, we hire employees with these character traits in order that they quickly internalize the company mission and mores, and are easily integrated with fellow employees. The reason for putting the Guiding Principles in writing is to assure alignment of everyone in the organization.

Later in the process of developing your company task lists, objectives, and initiatives, the list of Guiding Principles serves as one of the company performance benchmarks. Shortcomings in behavior compared to principals likely will foster a new initiative for correction.

A process for developing your Guiding Principles might include:

• Gather input from employees, managers, and stakeholders; useing brainstorming
• Rank all statements of principle ─ high, medium, low ─ based on importance to your success and cultural goals
• Select fewer than twenty items and publish them
• Hold discussions among all employees to sharpen everyone’s understanding

Here’s a Starter List of 41 Core Values.

Add to it, take things away, rank your values, and communicate to everyone, including your customers and suppliers.

1. Be carbon neutral and be an environment steward
2. Be entrepreneurial; build the business
3. Answer phones and greet visitors cordially - like guests in your home
4. Be honest, open and act with integrity
5. Be strategic: steer and invest in actions that optimize use and creation of resources
6. Be willing to do any job, regardless of what it takes to accomplish the vision
7. Believe the whole is greater than the sum of the parts – collaborate, cooperate, share, support
8. Budgeting review focuses equally on excess and shortfall
9. Communicate--provide relevant information and take time to engage stakeholders; ensure all stakeholders become aware of changes and progress
10. Compare ourselves to best in class standards; seek excellence in hiring, training, organizing and developing human resources
11. Continuously improve in every aspect of the business
12. Create a culture of engagement: recognize the impact each individual makes; listen to and share ideas at all levels
13. Customers ─ focus on customer
14. Decide once; repeat successful action until conditions change
15. Do not repeat failure
16. Employee families come first ─ when there are issues at home, they are a priority
17. Emulate, duplicate, replicate success
18. Fix things ─ no one cares for excuses
19. Focus on funding output not input, and measure everything
20. Improve the work environment
21. Innovate — set guidelines, allow experimentation, manage risk and allow new processes and technology to develop new levels of performance
22. Issues and disagreements are resolved and forgotten; there is no room for anything but candor
23. Keep your promise
24. Lead by behavioral example
25. Lead or follow, but don’t get in the way
26. Leaders serve subordinates and go to bat for them
27. Leaders set goals and boundaries, and encourage subordinates to achieve mutual objectives
28. Leaders teach others what they know.
29. Listen; never punish the messenger
30. Mom Rule – if your mom could easily understand and agree with your action, it’s likely to be appropriate
31. No one is mistreated or disrespected
32. Our own families first, our customers and community next, fellow employees next, suppliers next, when a hierarchy is needed for deciding
33. Prevent and avoid rather than cure; act when things show up, not after they blow up
34. Recognition and rewards reinforce and make appropriate behavior visible
35. Seek consensus; do not settle for a majority rule
36. Acknowledge and learn from mistakes
37. Set, communicate, and enforce rules of behavior
38. Thrive on innovation and beating competitors to the next level of service
39. Treat suppliers like partners
40. Understand and adapt to the external environment
41. When everyone shares in the vision, this will be a great place to work

Johnson-Woodford, management consultants to the deathcare industry Postscript This post and others on the Johnson-Woodford Blog will be compiled into a Free downloadable E-book, which will also be available in hard copy. A final thought. We all can learn from each other. Your thoughts, ideas, and sharing are important to us and others. Please send your notes and comments to blogger@johnson-woodford.com or log on to www.johnson-woodford.com.