Funeral Words

Portable Music Alternative

Apple computer introduced a few new products today including a special boom-box like speaker system designed for the iPod. Simple, sleek and can run on 6 "D" batteries for portability. You only need an iPod to sit on top and any song can play installed can play for a crowd. It even includes a remote control!

Not cheap at $349.00 but Apple makes products to last and the initial commentary says the sound is amazing. Probably worth a look if someone on the staff already has an iPod and knows a little bit about it. You can carry around A LOT of music (background, service music, Taps) and it's not hard to keep organized with "playlists". It's very easy to drag and drop the music you need into organized folders and use them to work your way through the service.

Here's two links which will provide some additional information:

MSNBC Article on New Apple Products

iPod Hi Fi on the Apple.com Site

Need Music!?!

You don't have to own an iPod to appreciate the value of the Apple iTunes music service. They have a huge and easy to navigate music library AND YOU CAN BURN THE MUSIC TO A CD!!!! Don't miss this! How often does a family member come to you with a special request for music at the last minute and you find yourself scrambling around to find the right song? I know I've gone through that any number of times.

With iTunes you can log on with your computer (Windows or Mac either one) and browse the library to find famous artists performing just the piece you need and often you will find multiple options. For instance, I found 6 different arrangements of Danny Boy when I looked and one of them fit perfectly for the particular service need.

Follow the link below. It will take you directly to the iTunes download screen. The software costs you nothing and individual songs cost 99 cents. Not a bad deal, though keep in mind that iTunes limits the number of times you can make a CD from one of their songs. In other words, you cannot make unlimited copies to give to the family.

Check it out!

Download iTunes

Video Tape to DVD

Ever have a family ask you about how to convert their VCR tapes into disks?? Every once in a while it comes up and I have not had an adequate answer. Check out this product from Sony. PCMagazine just gave it their Editor's Choice award. A simple, self-contained unit that will take the video feed out of a player or camcorder and spool it directly onto a DVD disk. Very slick, it even has a preview screen on the unit so that you can see exactly what images are being transfered. Best of all, you don't need a computer to run it. I might even consider having one of these on hand to rent or lend out to families. Could provide a valuable and relatively inexpensive value added service to the repetoir.  Check it out!!

Sony DVDirect VDR-MC1 on PCMagazine

Quote of the Day

Friedrich Nietzsche

"What is happiness? The feeling that power is growing, that resistance is overcome."

New Poem--The Mourner's Gift

Some of you know that I write poetry in my spare time. This piece I jotted down back in the summer and have only recently added the background image. Keep in mind this piece has a copyright on it. If you have interest in having copies for distribution in your business, drop me an email and we I can put something together for you.

Click on the picture for a larger image.

What will they think of next department

The world of media and advertising continues to morph and change. If we thought we had enough advertising peppering our world already, we haven't seen anything yet. I just saw a piece in AdAge which talks about little shelf mounted video screens for the grocery store which play an ad whenever someone walks by in the isle. Check it out:

Store Shelf Video Ads

Should we talk with our casket suppliers about this one???  Hmmmm. I wonder!

Sales, Selling and Funeral Directing

Perhaps in a simpler day where funerals were funerals, men were men and all seemed right with the world; we funeral directors could play the part of gentleman farmer and remain aloof from the selling of funerals. Of course the best funeral directors have always known how to tell a compelling story which helps families make meaningful (and profitable) choices in their funeral selections. Overall though, we have spent far too little time as and industry cultivating those talents and honing those skills, and now we have the challenge of 10 times as many ideas and choices and options to organize and present to our families.

For those of you who want to challenge your thinking and jump start your salesmanship energies, I have posted a PDF file for you to download. This comes direct from TomPeters.com and gives you a quick blast of thoughts and ideas about selling. Don't expect a textbook and understand also that Peters works with lots of BIG organizations so you will have to tweak some of the language for the funeral home setting. Nevertheless, he's GO IT and we all need to better understand the needs and purpose behind the best kinds of sales and selling.

Give it a look: Download Sales111_012806.pdf