September 1999
The Director - Features
Are You in the Running?
Third-party preneed marketers can help you in the race for future business
With an aging population and 78-million baby boomers well into their 50s, the funeral market is growing. Over the next 30 years, demographers predict a 50-percent increase in U.S. deaths. The opportunities in this growing market are being snapped up early, however. According to estimates by the American Association of Retired Persons, in 1994 more than 7 million U.S. funerals were already prearranged. The race for the funeral market is well under way‹are you in the running?
To guarantee future business, many funeral homes offer preneed programs. Most of these firms, however, are not doing nearly enough.
Are You in the Running?—Third-party preneed marketers can help you in the race for future business shows how an established preneed marketing company can help funeral firms market preneed services to families through trained counselors. The counselors work on behalf of the funeral home, though they are not employees, and marketing preneed is their full-time work.
Samantha Franck wrote the article. She is an executive channel manager with Fortis Family in Atlanta, a leading preneed insurer and part of Fortis, Inc., a global financial services company. Franck works with preneed marketing companies and hundreds of funeral firms across the country to maximize and secure future market share. Franck can be reached at 800-801-0800, ext. 6429.
