Welcome to Kates-Boylston White Papers. As a service to our customers, we provide this web site as a free education and research tool. It will aid your quest for solutions to current or approaching business problems or needs. To search the site, simply scan the White Papers listed below or enter a key word or phrase in the search window above.
Strategies to Expand Your Market ShareI recently was having lunch with a colleague at our favorite Chinese restaurant. I was consulting with him about how to expand his market share, and addressing the ever present goal of all my clients, “how do I expand my business?” I am hoping my job won’t be replaced by a simple fortune cookie fortune, but I found it ironic that on this particular lunch meeting the Chinese proverb read: “A dream is just a dream. A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline.” The cookie was right - everything starts with a plan. However, great plans start with targets and measurements so you will know where to prioritize and focus. In relation to the deadline, how about getting started today? Here’s how… Read more...
The Evolution of the ObituaryTributes.com is changing the way funeral directors handle one of the most fundamental elements of their service offerings……obituaries. Tributes.com provides funeral directors with the technology needed to enhance their obituary program with better and more cost-effective products, while simultaneously allowing them to drive more traffic to their websites and create new revenue streams. Since the launch of Tributes.com in the fall of 2009, over 1000 funeral homes now rely on the Tributes obituary platform in direct partnership with Tributes or via strategic Tributes partners such as Aurora Casket, FuneralNet, MKJ Marketing and Stewart Enterprises. Over 50 television and radio stations across the U.S. have new obituary sections on their websites powered by Tributes.com and more than half a million consumers (and growing) visit Tributes.com and the Tributes Network of media partners each month for obituary news. Download Tributes White Paper – The Evolution of the Obituary – to learn more. Read more...
Urn Carriers Enhance Cremation Options and Hearse UtilizationUrn carriers give funeral homes an opportunity to raise cremation services to the level of traditional funeral services while increasing the use of coaches or hearses and limousines. Urn carriers help enhance the dignity of many aspects of cremation cases by permitting use of pallbearers, and adding ceremony to viewings, memorial services, church services, processions and graveside burials and columbarium interments. (Urn carriers also improve the carrying and display of infant caskets.) Funeral home owners and funeral directors share their experiences using the Funeral Ark by North Urn, the Accubuilt Commemorative Carriage and the Eagle Coach Urn Enclave – and describe families’ positive reactions to these urn carriers. Informal survey data are included on hearse utilization, average hearse charges, average revenues and return on investment (ROI) tied to urn carriers. 12 pages. Read more...
Guidelines for Offering Funeral PackagesFuneral packages fell out of favor with introduction of the Federal Trade Commission’s “Funeral Rule” in 1984 requiring use of an itemized General Price List (GPL). Now funeral homes seek to simplify purchase decisions for consumers and once again offer packages. Learn how to comply with FTC rules while creating packages that will appeal to a broad array of consumers. Veteran funeral services attorney T. Scott Gilligan walks you through what kinds of packages can be offered and features to include and exclude under the FTC Final Rule and state laws. You learn whether package items or packages themselves must appear on the GPL, how to list the package on the Statement of Funeral Goods and Services Selected, whether a funeral home must include a casket and/or a vault in a package funeral, and much more. Three sample packages are provided plus a discounted package with disclaimer language. 8 pages. Read more...
Pet Deathcare: A New Way to Serve Your CommunityPet urns, photo keepsakes, caskets, headstones, keepsake jewelry, markers and plaques. Funeral directors, as compassionate, progressive and full-service deathcare providers, should seize the opportunity to broaden their community outreach, raise their firm’s profile and increase their business revenues by presenting their clientele unique products and specialized services in response to the death of dogs, cats and other pets. Many predict increasing numbers of funeral homes will begin offering pet memorialization items in recognition of the huge number of pet owners. Learn more about this growing market and the public’s acceptance of pet remembrance products when sold by funeral homes. Includes statistics and experiences of funeral home owners who already have entered the pet deathcare market. 5 pages. Read more...