Funeral Directors Are Not Sales People, So How Do We Sell Our Product?

Funeral Industry News December 18, 2009
CDFuneralNews

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Funeral Directors Are Not Sales People, So How Do We Sell Our Product?

image This has been a topic that I have been exploring for a while now. How do you take the pressure of “selling” off of the funeral director? Funeral directors are not sales people, and with the rise in cremation and alternative disposition options we are seeing traditional funerals and burials falling off the map. When I meet with funeral directors for my families burial vault business I am constantly looking for ways I can use our displays and collateral to do more of the “selling” of the product so our funeral directors can concentrate more on caring then selling. The best way to do this would be for me to meet with every family, no one can sell my product better than me, but it would be impossible for this to happen. So now what?

The good people over at Trigard sent me an article and video about their new “Personal Touch” kiosk. They first displayed the kiosk at NFDA but we have not heard much else about it since then. This is the first free standing touch screen display for burial vaults that I am aware of. I had a chance to demo the kiosk and was very pleased and impressed with what I experienced. The kiosk did an amazing job at displaying the burials and through a series of simple questions steered me to the burial vault that would best fit my preferences (based on the answers I gave for the questions). I don’t think the kiosk is perfect or the ultimate answer for selling burial vaults, but it has provided a benchmark to build from, and I am sure Trigard is already in the process of the next version. Below I have posted an article from Trigard’s blog and video about the Kiosk. Take a look and see what you think. As always I would love to hear your thoughts.

Personal Touch? Program Removes Intimidation Factor From Vault Selection Process

Trigard is proud to announce the launch of their new Personal Touch? program. Trigard introduced the program at the 2009 National Funeral Directors Association convention in Boston.

The Personal Touch? program is available on an exclusive touch screen kiosk to help families select a personalized burial vault based on characteristics of a loved one. The program can be customized for each individual funeral home and can also be downloaded on to a laptop or desktop computer. ?Many people are not informed about what a vault is and why they need one. It is our job to educate them. The Personal Touch? program will help get that important information out to the families we serve,? said Linda-Darby Sempsrott, Chief Executive Officer.

The Personal Touch? program provides personalization by having the choice of adding with honors option or an appliqu