The purpose of this post is to simply convey the idea of “How can that be So?”.
Reason #1. Both deal with emotions.
Grief is the emotional response to loss.
Disney appeals to emotions by providing an amazing family experience. As I walked the park that evening, observing families in the hotel and park, I thought of our visits to Walt Disney World and I was flooded with emotions…and memories. (see next point)
Reason #2. Both are about memories.
Disney creates memories and a funeral should recall and bring forth memories.
As we walked the grounds of Epcot Center Monday evening, I got teary eyed more than once, thinking about the two trips I have taken there with my family and just watching the families that were there, creating those life long memories. Because I had experienced the joy of bringing our daughters there, I could watch what was going on, knowing that the end result was going to be worth the money and the miles walked in the Florida heat and humidity. I described one such highlight of the evening yesterday in a post entitled,“From the Human Tank”. Precious memories, for sure….dude.
#3. Both are expensive outlays of resources.
Maybe not for the same reasons, but both are expensive.
Whenever you have a premium price, it is imperative that you deliver your services flawlessly and create real value in the eyes of the consumer. If you are going to pay several thousand dollars for an experience, you better get a good one.
Disney understands that. Many funeral providers still need to learn.
#4. Both rely heavily on their customers to refer friends and family to their services.
It is pretty simple. If we do not do a great job of exceeding the expectations of our clients,…and their guests, they are probably not going to talk about us positively…. to be our cheerleaders. Those of us who have them know what I am referring to.
Funerals are obviously very delicate, family events and when we consider the fact that families are composed of members with varying expectations, you can understand why funerals can often become very dynamic situations.
The key will be for us to take the lead in assisting our communities in remembering the deceased person accurately, the way they were when they were alive, helping them heal and complete those important relationships and dazzle them with our intuitiveness and attention to detail.
We will accomplish that in such a way that it becomes a positive experience…an exchange in abundance.
So for now, we will begin the journey and provide peeks along the way.
Those that laugh and scoff today might someday be looking to us for answers…and all you will need to do is ask.
[Via: Excerpt from: [Exclusive] Foundation Partners Employee Shares How They Plan To Change Funeral Service]
I’m not sure why this was posted today, perhaps as a response of sorts to my comments yesterday.
Don’t get me wrong, my wish of luck should not be read with any hint of sarcasm. I do hope someone hits on a great idea that helps the industry. Maybe Foundation Partners can figure it out.
Just the same, I would point out that a house cat and an apossum have many similarities between them (tails, whiskers, noses, eyes), but that doesn’t mean they make equally successful house pets.
Cherry picking a few similarities does not a successful business plan make.
And as was seen with Ron Johnson (the Target and Apple retail wizard who went down in flames at JC Penny), just because circumstances have made a person successful in one realm doesn’t mean those ideas will succeed in another.
I’ll say it again. Funeral service is *very* different from Disney.
Peace
Hi Ryan – I always appreciate and respect your articles and insight.
I know there are some out there that are liking the idea of the “Disney” approach. Disney is a fine company that has already made its mark on history with the market it
serves. As a funeral director myself, I tend to be more partial to the “Ritz Carlton” approach which frames all of the ideals that you identified, but in a very different approach that I feel is a better representation of who we are.
While everyone is entitled to their opinion, right wrong or indifferent, today’s society is
quick to paint or profession with the same brush and one thing I have learned
is that sometimes the wrong message hurts us all.
I think as funeral professionals, we all need to balance which model best represents our heritage based on service, dignity and respect and we will find ways to apply those ideals with today’s changing society.
Best regards,
Live and learn. While everything “Disney” or “Ritz-Carlton” will not translate directly to funeral service, there are some concepts that could….or could give rise to even new and novel concepts and ideas on how to better and even more uniquely serve our families. Funeral service today is anything but a “Mickey Mouse” business if it is to continue to be successful. The concepts and philosophies of how the funeral business works and offers to families has got to change and even anticipate families wants and needs. A truly memorable funeral service may only have a few really memorable moments or events in the whole service, but it is those events that made it “truly memorable.” Just like the Disney World experience in some ways is not that different than a county fair or any other amusement park,,,,but it is the way they deliver the experience that makes it special and a memory. Out of the box thinking and thinking about funeral service differently (from the families perspective) is what it is really all about.
Ryan,
I wanted to take a few minutes to clarify a few things that I failed to cogently convey.
My original post was meant to be a counter-point to those that had joked about Foundation Partners Group and the fact Brad Rex is a Disney guy. I suppose I let my emotions get the best of me as I described the experience of being at Epcot….it is customer service nirvana.
What we are doing is looking at different best practices to allow us to better serve our clients and guests, resulting in taking what has typically been a negative experience and making it a positive.
I do not see us “doing Disney” per se, but there is much to learn from them. I do see us giving our staff, …all our staff, training that parallels what the kids are taught at Disney. Surely our leadership is smart enough to know that a funeral home is different from a amusement park…but there are enough similarities to make it interesting…at least for me and a few of my friends.
Again, thank you for picking this up as I have had over 1,000 visitors to my blog since Monday, which is about twice the normal readership….Ray
I believe that this piece hits the bullseye. For too long, our field has been less than responsive to the new public demand for an experience that matches the price tag. When someone goes to Disney, they don’t quibble on price. They pay the amount that Disney asks and Disney carries the burden of providing an experience that equates to the dollars spent.
When we provide a less-than-stellar experience, that is when people turn to the internet and price shop our competitors the next time they need our services. I have yet to hear a funeral director admit that they do anything less than stellar – but if that were the case, price-shopping would be much less prevalent and our business would have a higher profit margin.
This lesson alone justifies the Disney comparison…people are very willing to pay for a positive, memorable and satisfying experience – be it a wedding, funeral or once every decade trip to an amusement park. If we as an industry focus more on providing the experience our consumer wants (instead of the experience that WE want them to have)
our future will be much more secure.