Working with many funeral homes gives us a unique insight into what works and doesn’t work when running a funeral home. Many funeral home directors are open about the mistakes they’ve made and how they wish they could have avoided them. Be sure to avoid these common mistakes when running a funeral home!

Not knowing when to say no

Funeral directors are all about helping people through a difficult period, but the need to please and satisfy every customer can be detrimental to a funeral business. Not all demands can be met, you can’t please everyone, and you have budgets to stick to.

A common issue is not being able to say no to a grieving family, especially involving finances, so learn to say no, because sometimes it’s the only option you have. Never cut costs to accommodate a grieving family, otherwise your may struggle to stay afloat.

Not valuing your time

A funeral director that doesn’t value their time is only going to struggle with their business. It’s understandable to want to answer all calls and inquiries to a business, but your time is better spend running other parts of the funeral home - by outsourcing to a call centre you truly understand how valuable your time is and how it can be used to grow your business.

Avoiding networking 

Networking is an overlooked aspect of running a funeral home. You work with various people in the funeral industry, from embalmers to crematoriums to florists, so take the time to develop a good work network.

Working with businesses that are a good match for your funeral home is only going to improve your quality of service, so don’t make the mistake of avoiding networking - it makes a real difference