How Can a Gratis Giveaway Drive Profitability? Ask Funeral Home Gifts!

What if one simple solution could serve as a marketing tool, a family keepsake, and a grief supplement product, while also differentiating your funeral home or cemetery from others in the best way possible? And what if that solution was also highly profitable…even though you’re giving it away?

Well, that solution exists, and its success at all of the above has been proven over and over again. Just ask Ryan Reyes, Senior Vice President of Funeral Home Gifts, the creators of incredibly meaningful personalized products for over 40 years.

“It’s a no-brainer,” says Reyes, “it’s the only solution. From a business standpoint, it makes sense. From a funeral director and cemetery standpoint, where you want to aid and serve your families, it makes sense. And it’s going to set you apart as having a unique offering that no one else in your community will have. That word will get around.”

So, what is “it?”

The “it” Reyes is describing is the idea of gifting your families a beautiful keepsake from Funeral Home Gifts: namely, its signature product, the Tribute Blanket. Yes, you read that right. Reyes wants you to give these blankets away to the families you serve, not sell them in the arrangement room. But … why?

“Statistics have proven that there is a 2.7X take-up rate,” Reyes states. “In other words if you gift a blanket to a family, display it as a surprise gift to the family at first viewings, visitations and services, three additional copies will be purchased by other loved ones. For a funeral home with 150 calls, you’re getting an extra thousand dollars from every service. That’s your electric bill, that’s your apprentice, that’s your removal company. It works for everyone. And our process is simple and proven.”

The genius concept of giving away blankets was carried out by Funeral Home Gifts President Karl Weisenbeck when he joined the company in 2011…and it’s quite straightforward:

First, you place an order for a personalized blanket to honor the deceased. Simply choose from one of three styles of Tribute Blankets including a woven “tapestry” blanket, two sizes of printed blankets, and “sherpa” style. Orders placed by 3:30 Eastern time are shipped for delivery next day. 

Next, you display the blanket to the family as a token of love from your team. Funeral Home Gifts offers blanket stand that provides a perfect way to display the blanket, but you can also drape it over a sofa, display it as you would flowers or a flag, or use it as a backdrop during the visitation or service. Then present it to the next of kin much like a flag presentation at the conclusion of the service.

“I would bet that in your first month, you’ll sell enough blankets to other family members and loved ones who attend to not only break even but come out way ahead,” Reyes says.

Why blankets?

Although the technique works with many of the products Funeral Home Gifts offers — including portraits, plaques, and keepsake pillows — the company’s Tribute Blankets have proven exceptionally popular. For Reyes, the reason is simple…“it’s an eternal hug,” he explains. “There’s something different about a blanket. It’s tactile, you can touch it, you can feel it, and you can wrap yourself in it.”

For Reyes, the best feedback he receives is from funeral directors who tell him how perfect the finished product looked, and how it brought tears to the eyes of the family when they received it. Funeral Home Gifts has a filing cabinet full of equally heartwarming stories from the families themselves.

“The letters say things like ‘I haven’t been able to sleep until I got this blanket. Now I feel like my husband’s still there,’” Reyes says. “In the funeral industry, we hear all the time that 3 AM. is the worst time for someone who’s lost a loved one. They roll over and realize again that the person they love isn’t there. That’s when having our blanket to wrap themselves up in really helps.”

Reyes also relates a story about an eight-year-old boy who cried nonstop and didn’t sleep for weeks after his father died. 

“The first night he received the blanket, he slept like a baby,” Reyes says.

Unbelievable turnaround

How can Funeral Home Gifts produce a high-quality, completely customized blanket and deliver it the next day? It all boils down to a production process they’ve perfected over 40-plus years in the textile business. It’s a process that’s positioned Funeral Home Gifts and its parent company, North Carolina-based Pure Country Weavers, as the world’s foremost creator of woven tapestries.

“The process is proprietary, but the technology is a combination of a myriad of various software and applications,” Reyes explains. “It’s seamless. We have a team of artists who perfectly edit these blankets all day. We take what the funeral director sends, and we make it better.”

Funeral directors can complete orders for blankets in less than 10 minutes through Funeral Home Gifts’ user-friendly online portal. Simply select a background from among thousands of themes…religious, hobbies, careers, etc. Then upload up to five images, enter multiple lines of custom text and complete your design. The Funeral Home Gifts art team will then take the reins from there. 

Best of all, Funeral Home Gifts offers this service to deathcare providers on a risk-free basis, with no contract or long-term commitment required. 

A profound, multi-faceted impact

To Reyes, Funeral Home Gifts blankets are more than a keepsake; they’re a way deathcare providers can help families and loved ones move less painfully and perhaps more quickly through the stages of grief. 

“That’s always been my M.O. because I know they’re hurting,” says Reyes, who spent years working with families as a third-generation funeral director in his family’s funeral home. “I don’t care if the funeral is prearranged or not. They don’t know what it’s going to feel like until it happens. And they’re already dealing with thoughts like, ‘Did I say the right thing’ or ‘Did I leave someone out of the obit?’” Everyone deals with grief in their own individual way and it’s just a painstaking process.”

Reyes explains that while families usually are surrounded by support during the services and even for a while at home during their waking hours, the times when no one is there are some of the hardest. 

“But you know what, if you had a blanket with your loved one’s image on it, you will feel comforted,” Reyes says. “The blanket absorbs your tears. It wins a coveted place on the couch or the bed. Your kids and grand kids will carry it around, wrap themselves up in it. It’s going to be seen and be a part of your everyday life.”

More than blankets

While blankets certainly serve a special, personal purpose, other products from Funeral Home Gifts have also gained immense popularity with deathcare providers and the families they serve. Their signature quality, unbelievably fast turnaround, and professional, artistic customization services apply to multiple options, including custom cap panels photo urns, neckties, portraits, keepsake boxes, and pillows.

“Our 946A photo urn can be customized on all four sides,” Reyes says. “It’s made of aerospace grade aluminum with marine-grade end caps, and it’s so strong that a Caterpillar won’t break it. We drove a truck over it just to make sure.”

Funeral Home Gifts serves all sizes and kinds of deathcare providers, including funeral homes, cemeteries, and even transport companies, who have ordered personalized blankets to use as comfort covers. As a Funeral Home Gifts client, you receive personalized instruction on how to use their online order process and how to best offer their products to the families you serve. 

You can always trust that your order will be created completely in the U.S.A. and delivered next day if ordered by 3:30 PM. Eastern time. For Reyes, this is just another way to help you, which in turn helps your families — something he genuinely believes is vital.

“I believe in service,” says Reyes. “I believe in servant leadership. I believe in a servitude attitude. I believe that if you take care of people, everything will work out in the end.”

To partner with Funeral Home Gifts right away at no risk to you, email info@funeralhomegifts.com, call 1-800-233-0439, visit funeralhomegifts.com, or reach out to Ryan Reyes directly at ryanr@funeralhomegifts.com.