Your Feedback from NFDA Bulletin Survey Leads to New Features
Thanks to all of you who participated and submitted your extremely informative responses for the NFDA Bulletin survey. While 82.7% of participants said they wouldn't change anything about the publication, we did receive some valuable ideas for future pieces.
Many readers wanted to see more stories about employee issues and business practices. With this issue, we've included a section on customer service titled Fine is a Dangerous Word. Subscribers also told us that government regulations, specifically OSHA topics, were something they looked for in the NFDA Bulletin. So, starting now and in each quarter, we're going to ask you for your questions regarding OSHA and related issues. Now is the time to talk to us and let us know what's on your mind about OSHA. We'll pick one question and address it in a future issue. Just email your question to dlandis@nfda.org.
NFDA would also like to congratulate Brian Calhoun of J. Henry Stuhr, Inc., Funeral Chapels and Crematory in Mount Pleasant, SC. Brian won NFDA's career day presentation guide, Exploring a Career in Funeral Service, after submitting his responses to the survey. If you'd like more information on purchasing NFDA's Exploring a Career in Funeral Service , call 800-228-6332 or visit http://www.nfda.org/resourcestore/resourcestore.php?CategoryId=44
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NFDA Member to Host Memorial Event on WWII Battleship After B.T. Hathaway of Hathaway Family Funeral Homes, Fall River, MA, ordered his Free World War II Memorial Dedication packet from NFDA to host an event, he had another idea. He contacted the management of the Battleship Massachusetts to see if he could host his event on their battleship.
“It only took a couple of phone calls to make our reservation on the battleship. I have never found a project so easy to get started. Any funeral home that tries, should have no problem getting their community involved. Now is time to get the word out,” said Hathaway.
Mr. Hathaway also has asked a Medal of Honor recipient to speak, and a Navy band to play on the ship, pending confirmation. There will be a 21-gun salute and the battleship guns will be fired off. He also plans to have a screen set up while the memorial dedication is being broadcast on television. While Mr. Hathaway is already getting interest from participants, he is displaying the poster and will use the ads NFDA provided as part of the FREE World War II Memorial dedication packet.
Although this is quite a bit of detail for one event, we hope you get some ideas on planning your own. The materials in the WWII packets will work well for both small or large events. You also have the option to just display the poster or run an ad without having an event. For more details on this FREE packet for members and ordering information so you can start planning your event, call 800-228-6332 or visit http://www.nfda.org/page.php?pID=572.
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New Incentives for 2004 Pursuit of Excellence as May 1 Deadline Approaches It's time to submit your entry for the 2004 Pursuit of Excellence award by May 1, 2004. New for this year, award recipients will receive a customized media list for their area, detailing contact information for newspaper editors in their community. Recipients will also get free advertising slicks that can be used to promote their Pursuit of Excellence involvement in their local newspapers.
Pursuit of Excellence is NFDA's premier program for honoring excellence and unshakable standards in funeral service. Recipient firms are provided high-profile, national recognition for their outstanding service, professional integrity and dynamic public relations programs. For more information about this program, including how you can participate and how it can create a spark your business, call NFDA at 800-228-6332 or visit http://www.nfda.org/pursuitofexcellence.php, where you can also download a registration form. *Note: Make sure your award application is received by the May 1, 2004 deadline.
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Fine is a Dangerous Word According to your responses from the NFDA Bulletin survey, business practices is a key topic that you'd like to see covered more often. Here's a piece written by Debra J. Schmidt, professional business speaker who recently spoke at the NFDA teleconference, Keys to Customer Loyalty.
Have you ever had a terrible customer service experience at a restaurant? When you were leaving, did the host or hostess ask, “How was everything?” Instead of offering your real opinion, did you simply answer, “FINE?”
Most of us leave it at “fine” for a number of reasons. We don't want to waste our time trying to fix their business; we don't believe anyone will listen to our concerns; and even if they do listen, we don't believe anything will change. So we say “fine” and walk out the door vowing never to return.
“FINE” is the most dangerous word in the consumer language. It's a code word that means, “I'm neutral - and as soon as I find something better, I'm out of here!” Are your customers telling you that everything is fine, implying they are satisfied? If so, you may have a problem—because 65-85% of customers who say they are satisfied actually switch to the competition.
To build loyalty with them, we must exceed their expectations by looking for ways to surprise and delight them. Don't settle for your customers or employees checking the “satisfied” box on your satisfaction surveys. Every employee in your company is responsible for building customer loyalty. You'll know you've established a loyalty-focused company when you see these customer comments on your surveys:
“The employees here are always friendly.”
“This company goes the extra mile for me.”
“The employees sincerely care about my concerns.”
When your satisfied customers become loyal, they'll refer new customers. Then watch your bottom-line go from “fine” to spectacular.
Debra will be presenting her workshop, Customer Loyalty , at the 2004 NFDA Convention & Expo. Also, look for Customer Service: The Hidden Secrets to Business Growth with Ron Rosenberg on October 19, 2004. For more information on customer loyalty and other business topics, like the Alan Wolfelt's top-selling Funeral Home Customer Service A-Z, visit NFDA's Professional Resource Store at http://www.nfda.org/resourcestore/resourcestore.php?CategoryId=18.
You can also visit Debra's Website at www.theloyaltyleader.com.
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FTC Issues Final Rule on Do Not Call List On March 29, 2004, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a final regulation amending the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR). To be compliant, the new regulation requires sellers and telemarketers to use a version of the National Do Not Call Registry obtained from the FTC. This can be used no more than 31 days prior to the date any call is made. Under the current TSR, it must be used three months prior to the date any call is made. For funeral directors, this means you'll have to update your pre-need calling list on a monthly basis. The new rule [16 CFR 310.4(b)(3)(iv)] is effective January 1, 2005.
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House Bill Allows Federal Savings Associations to Accept Funeral Trust Accounts The House passed and sent to the Senate H.R. 1375, the Financial Services Regulatory Relief Act of 2004. Among other things, the bill would allow federal savings associations to be the depository for funeral and cemetery trusts or escrow funds. Currently, savings associations are prohibited from accepting these types of accounts. The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.
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2004 NFDA Public Policy Positions Adopted and Available Following the Policy Board meeting at the 2004 Advocacy Summit, NFDA has made available its Public Policy Positions for 2004. To view these, visit http://www.nfda.org/page.php?pID=158.
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New NFDA FaxBack Form Could Save Funeral Homes Thousands of Dollars NFDA has developed a new form, available on NFDA's 24-hour FaxBack system, to protect funeral homes against possible copyright infringement lawsuits. Recently, an author made a copyright infringement claim against a newspaper when it published one of her poems in an article. The newspaper believes it will spend several thousand dollars to settle the claim. As a result, the newspaper has notified funeral homes that it will no longer permit poems or verses to be quoted in obituaries.
To protect funeral homes from copyright infringements, NFDA created a form titled "Directions to Funeral Home to Use Literary Work, " for families to sign if they want the funeral home to include a literary work as part of a funeral service. By signing the form, the family represents that the printing of the literary work on memorial items or the recitation of the literary work as part of the funeral service will not infringe copyrights held by others. The form also includes an indemnification by the family if a claim is brought. NFDA's 24-hour FaxBack is available by calling 800-713-0661. FaxBack documents are also available for members to download from the NFDA web site: http://www.nfda.org/page.php?pID=316
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