As a funeral home, you probably put a lot of your focus on creating bonds with your current families and customers. But have you considered external ways to connect with families in your community? Building community ties can solidify your reputation as a business and can attract more potential customers.
When potential customers shop around for funeral arrangements, some may choose your funeral home, based on your ties to the community, service projects, or special recognition you pay to area non-profits or causes. Even if your funeral home has been around for over one hundred years, there are always new ways you can support your community as a business.
Not sure where to start? We’ve listed some ways you can strengthen your community relationship.
Determine What Causes are Important to Your Staff It’s difficult to rally an entire staff of people around a cause they aren’t excited about. Have a conversation with your staff about what kinds of volunteer opportunities they would be interested in, and what organizations around your area offer those services. Also, think about your funeral home brand in the conversation – what organizations would align with our mission as a funeral home? For example, a funeral home specializing in green burials could plant trees for Arbor Day. A full list of national charities and non-profits can be found on the IRS website.
Think Outside the Box When choosing a cause, you don’t have to go the traditional non-profit or charity route. You can cultivate a culture of service within your funeral home through small projects throughout the year, not tied to any one organization. Volunteering at an animal shelter, running a holiday toy drive, or supporting larger community events are great ways to get involved in multiple aspects of the community. Putting your service time to multiple causes also allows your business to get in front of a larger audience.
Partnering with Other Area Businesses Along with choosing a cause for your funeral home to support, partnering with another area business to serve that cause can create even more community bonds. And collaborating with other businesses and organizations to support a cause can also connect you to more potential customers while establishing yourselves as thought leaders in the funeral profession.
Our top priority at eFuneral is to generate more opportunities for your funeral home to serve families in your community, as we’ve seen our partners do, across the country. Our sales tools are available to assist you during your sales process, from capturing new high-quality leads as they begin their pre-planning process to selling your services through the storefront to capture information efficiently, to sending contracts electronically for signature seamlessly.
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