Funeral Words

Predictably Irrational

Curious about why people think the way they do? Curious about learning how to tailor your business offerings and pricing so that everyone is more likely to experience a win-win outcome? Let me recommend Dan Ariely's Predictably Irrational as a place to begin.

Ariely, Professor of Behavioral Economics at MIT has done hundreds of simple but insightful experiments which identify quirks and blind spots in the way human beings perceive economic outcomes.

This book won't teach you specifically how to rework a General Price List, but for those of you constantly looking for a better way to explain and organize your offerings, Ariely's insights might make a difference. Chapter 1 alone, which shows the impact of packaging in the magazine business, is worth the price of the book.

Check it out.

                 

Compact Fluorescent Bulbs

A couple months ago, my father called me after seeing a piece on NBC's Today Show about the potential hazards involved with the use of compact flurescent bulbs in the home or workplace. Of course the hazard proved over-blown in that particular story (a woman had spent $5,000.00 with an environmental cleanup company when she dropped and broke a CFB). Nevertheless, CFBs contain a small amount of mercury which acts as a poison in humans and has an adverse environment impact as well. Cleanup and disposal should be done with care.

Follow the link to a fact sheet which provides information about proper handling of CFBs. Follow the second link to information about a CFB recycling program newly started by Home Depot.

Download Fact_Sheet_Mercury.pdf

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/business/24recycling.html?ex=1372046400&en=d039520f2d91d9c7&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Email!

Think people are distracted out there? You're right!

Here's an article from the New York Times about recent efforts by large companies to curtail the amount of email and instant messaging, so that people workers improve their productivity.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/14/technology/14email.html?ex=1371182400&en=1205d91382acd3dd&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

We in funeral service don't have the same deluge in our smaller companies. Still, we can keep these things in mind when trying to contact other colleagues in affiliated businesses. Perhaps they don't need the latest internet chain letter afterall. *

Back at it!

Thank you all for the kind words I have received the last couple of months I've taken away from blogging. I know you've missed the material, at the same time, I've needed to focus on business and family for a little while. It's been good for me and well worth the shift in effort.

Still, I think I have a few insights and ideas (and the occassional contrarian point of view) which don't get talked about in any of the other funeral service media. I think I should keep at this, and I will.

A quick note for now that Stephen Lee, editor of the Funeral Service Insider has taken my "What would Wal-Mart do?" posting and reworked it for his newsletter. Expect to see that either this week or next, AND expect that you will start to see some thoughts and ideas pop up here on a more regular basis.

Thanks for checking in and have a fabulous week.

BT

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