Is a "Re-Launch" right for your business?

If your business isn't new, how do you know if you should consider a Re-Launch? Jim and I would argue, you should always be in the attitude of a Re-Launch. A Re-Launch doesn't mean that we are going to throw away everything from the past. It doesn't mean we have to make drastic changes to our name, mission, or logo. A Re-Launch is a way of life. It's like the difference between loosing weight with a fad diet and a lifestyle change. A Re-Launch attitude is a new Branding "lifestyle". With this strategy we respect that in our business (death care), we don't have the opportunity of growing our business without taking current market share away from our competitors. Therefore, we are constantly trying to define our Brand with the families being served by our competitors. We suffer from the "lumped in" syndrome defined by recent consumer market research on funeral homes. If consumers think that all funeral homes pretty much do and offer the same services and products for the same price, we have to consider a campaign to let our community know about the services and products that set us apart from our competitors. No, a billboard promoting "Well Lit Parking & Air Conditioned Facilities", isn't enough. That is unless your funeral home is in a small village the middle of the Africa. That would truly be a unique to the market. When examining what is worthy of a Re-Launch, consider the following: the look and color of your logo, the tag line in your advertising and printed materials, the culture of your business in the eyes of your community, a new division that would market to a niche', or a reintroduction of the very "thing" that has made your firm successful in the first place. Remember, frequency of purchase will always be a challenge in our industry. If you have considered a Re-Launch of your funeral home, or are contemplating a niche' strategy, we invite you to call and schedule a time for us to share the successes and challenges of those who have adopted a Re-Launch Branding strategy for their firm.

Question: What is Marceline, Missouri

Answer: What is... The boyhood home of Walt Disney. Is your heritage part of your brand strategy? Do you included stories about your company's founder when speaking about your business? Have you considered storytelling to help build your brand? Recently, the management team from St. Louis Cremation and Heartland Cremation & Burial Society, Kansas City & Columbia attended The Disney Keys to Excellence workshop at the University of Missouri. During that workshop our group worked to benchmark our company's brand strategy with what the Disney Institute calls the 4 Keys to Excellence: Leadership, Management, Service & Loyalty. In combination, these Keys are used to define a company's Brand and ensure a relevant Market Position. The Disney Keys program, presented by the Disney Institute is held all over the US throughout the year. I have attached a link to the schedule for 2010. I would welcome the opportunity to attend and facilitate a workshop the day following Disney Institute training. I have attended three different workshops, and each time have come away with great ideas on how to strengthen my brand, build customer loyalty, and learn how to move my business closer to the hospitality model our customers demand. Call me at 816-313-1677 if you would like to discuss my experiences further. Disney's Keys To Excellence

If you are reading this article, you have already been exposed to the writings and subsequent discussions we have had over the years about the books written by Jack Trout & Al Ries, and in more recent years, Al & Laura Ries. For many of us, it began with a book called The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, by Trout & Ries. This book outlines the successes and pitfalls of businesses with whom Trout & Ries use to describe a set of concrete laws to follow for marketing. They warn early in the book's prologue, break these rules, and suffer the consequences. Since that first reading and discussion, The 22 Immutable Law's...has become a bible (small b) for our learning group. The foundation of any good learning group should be a common language. The most influential approach to our common language is the research done by Jack Trout, Al Ries and his daughter and branding partner Laura. We have continued to grow our common language by expanding our group study to The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, Positioning, and The Death of Advertising, and the Rise of Public Relations. All books researched and penned by Al & Laura Ries. It is easy for us to make a case for reading or rereading one or all of these books throughout the year. In the case of the titles, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing and The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, the reprints have included updates to the companies profiled in the books. These updates are important to show that the "laws" that they discuss in the original books, still apply to marketing today. If you would like the challenge of stretching your academic legs, apply the laws of either the books on Branding or Marketing to your company's brand position. For more information on consulting or training for your Brand or market position, click our TRAINING button at www.cremationconsulting.com. "How to Build a Successful Brand", is part of our ELEVATION series of training being offered this Fall.

Of Capitalism and Ego

If you’ve read the newspapers or followed the on-line stories, you are aware of the economic calamity that Edward "Ed" Leo Peter McMahon, Jr. is living.  McMahon, at one time the consummate advertising pitchman, game show host and sidekick to Johnny Carson, is in financial ruin. Rabbi turned stand-up comedian Jackie Mason once used Ed McMahon in an example of capitalism. When Carson asked Mason during an appearance on The Tonight Show years ago, “What is an example of Capitalism?”, the quick-witted Mason replied, “Capitalism is you getting $5,000,000 a year to talk, McMahon getting $1,000,000 a year to listen and me getting $319 to sit between you two!”.  Ed McMahon and the millions he made have vanished, and his travails can serve as a lesson for all funeral homes.

Capitalism is a system of economics whereby those with the proverbial better mousetrap will get paid more than all of the other mousetrap manufacturers.  However, within this system of economics there is a basic truth that cannot be overlooked: “No matter how much you make, profit is still defined as Revenue less Expenses”. McMahon and many others have learned the hard lesson that overhead must be less than revenue. Still, every month I get a new assignment spurred by funeral operators of all sizes that do not understand this fact.

We can define what Capitalism is in many examples.  We can also define what Capitalism is not.  It is not a sense of entitlement.  How many stories do you know of firms that in the 1980s were providing 300 calls a year and are now doing less than 100 calls?   Those firms felt they were entitled to the business, and it would be theirs for as long as they kept their doors open.  Suddenly, a number of market factors came into play, including hard working competitors, coupled with their entitlement mentality to change market share.  Ed McMahon was great in the age of live commercials.  We remember his ad-libs doing Alpo commercials and every time giving the catch phrase at the end of 60 seconds.  Alpo was happy, but Alpo learned that their sales did not increase with the added cost of a live commercial. McMahon lost that income, to which he felt a sense of entitlement.

Why do funeral homes have a sense of entitlement?  In part, I think the reason is a Complex Ego.  This is an industry that almost exclusively names its businesses after its owners. As the owner, you are the business and the business is you.  You wear shirts with your own last name on them, proudly demonstrating the business name while at the same time, establishing who you are.  Your staff may have the shirts too, but they wear them to work or public events.  They don’t just put them on to go out to dinner. 

This matter of Complex Ego is compounded because this business was 24/7/365 long before the computer industry made that phrase popular.  You are almost constantly on call.  You may or may not have the phones transferred to your home or your personal cell phone when outside the building, but you check in with the person who is answering the nightline constantly. 

Another issue of ego is the matter of celebrity status for the owner.  Imagine the last time you were in a local restaurant and someone said “hi” to you.  Your first reaction was to smile and greet them.  The next reaction was to try and search your memory for who they are or who they are related to that you served.  Celebrity is defined as “someone who is known by more people than he personally knows”.  You speak to groups of strangers without any inhibitions.  You know you are a constant representative of your business and this industry.  You have celebrity status whether you like it or not.

With so many issues of ego involved in running and owning a funeral business, can you understand why it is impossible to consider that you can fail?  Recently, I did an assignment for a multiple location business.  The owner had lost about 20% of the calls over the past six years to local competitors at each of the various small markets.  The cremation rate increased by about 100% over the six year period we studied.  Either of these two factors would be financially perilous, but put them together and you have a bankruptcy waiting to happen.  The owner didn’t reduce his salary during this time.  The owner didn’t cut overhead during this time.  He assumed the market would come back.  I guess he also assumed the cremation rate would descend upon his command like Charlton Heston commanding the waters of the Red Sea to part. Unfortunately, this was a problem that was easy for me to see, as I didn’t have my ego in the way of the decisions.  Had the client not reached out to someone for help, he too might have been co-hosting Alf’s Hit Talk Show as McMahon was forced to slip down to in 2004.

I made a presentation to a study group recently and talked about business management indicators.  Many of these indicators have been written about in this column over the years.  One person raised his hand and said, “Can’t we do these ratios and analysis for ourselves?”.  My reply was, “Yes you can, but are you going to tell yourself that you must make changes when there are clear indications of a problem”?  Self coaching is a problem.  How many times do we see celebrities in the tabloids with their entourage of PR agents and managers who have a vested interest in the celebrity, telling the celebrity they are doing well?  Someone must be prepared to step up and tell the celebrity that their actions must stop.  In the case of a business, one of those actions is often allowing overhead to be more than revenue.  

Around the year 2000, we saw a very public bankruptcy affecting The Loewen Group.  As people started to bid on the business entities Loewen was selling, I had the unique perspective to value all 400 locations that were for sale.  I had the opportunity to do the same sort of analysis when Prime Succession went bankrupt for the second time a few years later.  I found one very common theme in the operation of the two large companies: They tended to employ at their individual locations the same number of people, licensed and non-licensed, even though their case counts dropped significantly.  These were two very intellectually capable companies.  They employed analysts with degrees in finance, management, accounting and economics.  Yet, no one spoke up or no one listened to the voices of reasoning. This just put them in bankruptcy quicker.  Who do you listen to?

The problem with an entourage is often, they become parasitic.  In my 30 years as a scuba diver, I often see fish living together and wonder if their relationships are parasitic or symbiotic.  One day, I asked a marine biologist, and he gave me a simple method of determining the nature of the relationship.  He said, “If the host dies, the relationship is parasitic, and if he lives, it is symbiotic”!  One client years ago employed an outside group of advisors.  I was most impressed.  They met one morning a month at a local restaurant and went over the financial reports of the company.  This group was vocal about the operating objectives of the company and told the owner their opinions without any euphemisms!  If you have advisors, are they parasitic or symbiotic in their relationship to you? 

Anyone can learn from their own mistakes.  It takes a very informed person to learn from the mistakes of others.  You should learn the lessons of the economic life story of Ed McMahon.  Learn them, and you have a chance not to repeat them.  I don’t think that Donald Trump will come to your aid if you get in trouble.  And if you do get in trouble, due to your celebrity in your home town, I can guarantee it will be talk of the town.

Daniel M. Isard MSFS, is president of The Foresight Companies, LLC, a business and management consulting firm located in Phoenix, AZ.  Dan is the publisher of the monthly “Preneed Perspective”. Dan is also the author of several books and can be reached by phone 800-426-0165 or by e-mail danisard@f4sight.com.  For information about consulting services visit www.f4sight.com.  Copies of this article, as well as other educational information, can be found on the web at www.thefuneralcoach.com.