Five Things That Makes Us Different From Other Funeral Homes?
Not Better / Not Worse – Different
The Last One in our series #5
5-Star Reviews
The Background
Like all industries there are good and bad operators. Doesn’t matter where you look – builders, teachers, police, salespeople, lawyers, doctors, church ministers and funeral directors.
Some people are very good at hiding any negative or harmful aspects they may have. There are people who are very good at talking a good game. And on the other hand there are those who do a great job, but aren’t good at promoting or backing themselves.
One major factor that helped me decide to start SDF was to provide a service that really wasn’t being addressed. This was a simple low-cost funeral service. I heard stories of families paying exorbitant amounts for a simple cremation and so I wanted to do better.
Sometimes there were stories of families being talked into doing a lot more with a funeral home than they wanted. But they felt obligated or pressured to change their minds. It can be quite easily to manipulate families at a time of loss and stress.
So this is the context in which SDF started.
Knowing What You Will Get
It was essential that people knew what SDF offered and also what we DID NOT offer. I didn’t want to say I would do something, when that wasn’t what we were about. So we don’t do embalming. There is minimal handling of the person. I’m more than happy to help with a committal, but we don’t do larger services.
Saying that, many families chose a simple cremation and will then have something more formal or inclusive at a later date. Which many organise themselves or with a funeral celebrant.
It wasn’t that we couldn’t do some of these things. Rather, our focus was to keep things simple. Do the basics well and go from there. Over time things have changed and developed. For instance, we helped organise our first gravestone this month.
Reputation
I cannot express how important our reputation is. How a family feels about our service is so important. This is the thing that means the most to me. When a family tells me how impressed or pleased they were, that’s my goal.
I know I don’t get things right every time. There have been a few occasions that families didn’t like an aspect. And I have changed how I do somethings as a result.
Obviously I’ve had other funeral homes making negative comments. It is disappointing to hear so much of what they say is not based on any fact. In the very early days there was one who said this:
He is based in Motueka – wraps bodies in plastic – he is not a professional – has no urns etc – works from his home – rumour is he keeps bodies at his home up his drive in his vehicle.
Needless to say that this person’s information got virtually everything wrong. Except that I do work from home. But my home has been and will continue to be transformed to meet needs. Also, I’m registered with both NCC and TDC. Looking back, I find it amusing more than anything else.
I try not to worry about what others may say. Especially when they have no contact with me. For me, it is those families I have worked with that I base my quality on.
So asking for google reviews has been something I’ve done from the beginning. It isn’t something I pressure people to do. But they all have an opportunity to do this. And they also have the opportunity to express things they didn’t like.
Conclusion
SDF clearly advertises the specific services and prices it offers. If anything, we will go further to help families, than be limited by a budget. I got into this business because I wanted to meet a need. Over the years this has been confirmed again and again by families.
There are good funeral homes in Nelson Tasman, good people. From the start of this series I simply wanted to focus on our difference.
SDF will never be the biggest or flashiest funeral home. I quite like being the smallest. And I like being simple. Simple is Good.