Responsive website designs are growing in popularity – and necessity – simply because of the increasing number of people accessing websites from mobile devices. Responsive technology is different than mobile technology though because it provides one site for every screen and creates an optimal viewing experience on smartphones, tablets, laptops, and full-screen computer monitors.
Each of us has our own very personal reasons for becoming a funeral service professional. For me, it was my love of ritual. My anthropological training allowed me to spend decades studying the multitude of cultural rituals surrounding death. This love turned my strictly academic career into funeral service where I could work with families to create meaningful funeral and memorial services. Add to that my recent certification as a grief counselor and I think it’s easy to see where my heart lies.
It’s also easy to see that my heart does not lie with the seemingly mundane tasks of case management! Chances are you feel much the same as I do. We came to this profession as a way of expressing our desire to care for others not because we wanted to get buried in the minutia of case management (pun intended). Yet, how many times during the week do you find yourself stuck in your office, feeling overwhelmed by your management and operational responsibilities?
Fortunately, today’s technology can free you from the shackles of your office chair and allow you the mobility needed to serve today’s families.
Once upon a time, just for fun, all of us would search our own names in Google just to see how we ranked. The act of ego-surfing was done on the sly so we didn’t come across as caring whether we could find anything about ourselves in the first few pages of the rankings.
Today, not taking the time to Google ourselves and our companies is simply irresponsible. Controlling what searchers find and claiming your business name on the major search engines is part of an effective online reputation management (ORM) plan and makes perfect business sense.
So where should you begin? The first step is actually knowing how your firm looks online when families are searching for you. This is the initial stage of your ORM Plan. Yes, this takes more than a few minutes and can be quite extensive but the following steps can help get you started to assess your current online reputation and determine what needs to be done to improve your online presence.
A recent study suggested that the typical funeral home in North America receives an average of 19 unsolicited sales contacts per day. Being in the technology space, I am saddened to say that in today’s market, most of these contacts involve someone trying to sell some form of technology.
We live in a new world of digital phone service with unlimited calling, email blasts, digital fax machines, and social media. Many technology companies use these techniques because they require little to no investment in advertising and no personal contact. Most don’t know anything about the funeral profession because their sales ‘experience’ has focused on everything from vacuum cleaners and photocopiers to used cars. The noise they generate can be relentless and deafening.
Ashley Montroy, FrontRunner Professional’s Marketing and Social Media Manager spoke with Lauren Moore for her article Be Smart about Social Media. The article is published in the March 2014 issue of American Funeral Director Magazine.
The Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project, which has been studying online adults’ social networking site use since 2005, found that last year, 73 percent of adults that are online are using social networking sites. Like it or not, your customers – and your employees – are using social media, probably on a daily basis. It’s crucial, then, that you consider implementing a social media policy for your funeral home.
FrontRunner Professional CEO and Founder, Kevin Montroy, participated in a Technology Roundtable. The following article by Patti Martin Bartsche was published in the March 2014 issue of American Funeral Director Magazine.
There’s no question businesses – including funeral homes – are operating in a rapidly changing technological environment. What worked five years ago is now considered antiquated and not in tune with the times. But how do funeral professionals determine the right time to upgrade, what technology tools best fit their business model and how to protect themselves from security breaches? We turn to three industry leaders: Wes Johnson, president and CEO of Continental Computer Inc.; Kevin Montroy, founder and CEO of FrontRunner Professional; and Kimberly Simons, vice president of SRS Computing, to get the answers.
Stories. We love them, We’ve always loved them. Even ‘history’ as a word comes from ‘his’ ‘story.’ We like to hear them, and we like to share them. The stories we like most are the ones involving those we love. Those colorful characters and plot twists make up the text of our life stories, and sharing those stories brings us greater connection to each other.
There is a lot of hype these days about electronic guest books and most of the hype, of course, is coming from the technology companies producing them.
As the CEO of a technology company, this latest fad serves to remind me that when it comes to technology, just because we can, doesn’t mean we should. And, as more and more funeral homes seek to be the ‘leading’ funeral home in their communities, being on the front line gives them a greater chance of being shot.
I am going to take a trip down memory lane…
Does anyone remember the day they purchased their first cell phone? I can remember mine like it was yesterday; a Nokia 5110 that my mother purchased for me. At the time, it was the perfect device for a mother like mine and a tech geek like me. For her, it was a way to keep tabs on me 24/7 but for me, it was the coolest thing since Nintendo.
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