Jan 08, 2019
6 Ways to Gain Control of Your Funeral Home’s Communications
This article was originally published by ASD Vice President, Kevin Czachor, in the Texas Director Magazine, a publication of the Texas Funeral Director’s Association.
Every funeral home has a unique history, business culture and relationship with the public. Directors require complete control over how their businesses are represented to separate their firms from competitors and uphold their funeral homes’ traditions. Communicating with the public, especially after hours, is an area where funeral professionals often have different philosophies. While one director may like to be contacted for every message, the director in the next town may prefer to screen these calls more tightly.
Understanding that every funeral home operates differently, ASD – Answering Service for Directors, the only funeral-exclusive answering service, has developed solutions that allow directors to customize how calls are answered and dispatched. Here are 6 tested ways to gain control of your funeral home’s communications.
1. Change Your Vigilance Level
Whether handling a removal, conducting a funeral or traveling in a poor coverage area, there are times when you know you might be difficult to reach. Staffing levels vary significantly depending on the number of services scheduled and it may be impossible to predict your availability. With ASD, you can easily adjust what types of calls are dispatched to you and what messages can be held for you to review later. Directors can change their vigilance level 24/7 over the phone, online or on ASD Mobile to accommodate the funeral home’s changing schedule. Click here to learn more.
2. Set Your Unique Communication Preferences
Funeral homes are one of the few businesses that can have several generations working together. Directors often prefer to access and send information differently depending on their comfort level. Understanding funeral homes require a range of communication tools, ASD has developed a suite of solutions to meet the needs of every experience level. While some directors utilize ASD’s mobile app, website or voicemail systems, others prefer to have messages read to them. Multiple options allow everyone on your staff to manage their preferred communication method. For funeral directors that utilize ASD’s award-winning mobile app, notification preferences can be customized individually, allowing each on-call person to determine how, when and why they are notified of new messages.
3. Customize First Call Procedures
First Calls are the most critical calls that funeral homes receive. Therefore, it is understandable that funeral homes have different requirements when deciding how these sensitive calls should be handled. With ASD, you determine what information should be gathered when a death is reported, including special scripts or notations for ASD to follow. By sharing information on your on-call removal company, ASD can dispatch the call once the deceased is ready to be taken into your care. You can set up specific instructions on how First Calls should be dispatched to your funeral home team or removal company depending on the time and/or location of death.
You may also specify which employee should be contacted for pricing or preneed inquiries and ASD will patch these high-priority calls to your staff. Or, if you would prefer to have these sensitive calls patched directly to your on-call person, ASD can accommodate this request as well. We can even alert your on-call when there is a death call in progress, giving you and your staff time to prepare for the call. Using our patented First Call Connect®, you can then connect into the call, as if picking up another line at the funeral home. Each on-call director can customize his or her First Call Alert® and First Call Connect® preferences using the ASD Mobile app. Scroll down below for more information on these ASD exclusive features.
4. Keep Your Cell Phone Number Private
Have you ever called a family on your cell phone only to be contacted by them at a later time when you’re not on call? As a result, a family may dial your personal number when you are not in an appropriate environment to handle their call. This is a common problem among funeral directors. While it is possible to block your Caller ID, this can create a negative first impression for families who are waiting to hear from you. Fortunately, a better solution now exists. ASD’s patented MobileFH® enables you to call any number from your cell phone using the funeral home number as the outgoing Caller ID. With this patented ASD exclusive feature, funeral directors can keep their cell phone number private and ensure that families always call the right number back. Every call that is connected via MobileFH® is also recorded, allowing owners and managers to monitor their staff’s communication by listening to their conversations with at-need and preened families. Click here to learn more.
Recently, ASD expanded our MobileFH® feature to allow funeral homes to also use the funeral home number as their outgoing Caller ID when using text messages. Introduced in 2019, MobileFH® Texting connects the funeral home’s business line or any other funeral home number to the ASD Mobile app, giving funeral professionals the flexibility to send text messages without disclosing their personal cell phone number. MobileFH® Texting ensures families and contacts are using the right phone number when sending sensitive information to the funeral home via text message. It also provides on-call funeral directors more freedom to conduct business on the go without giving out their personal cell phone numbers. Funeral home owners and managers can easily review their staff message exchanges with families as all text messages, photos and important documents are stored safely within the ASD Mobile app. Click here to learn more.
5. Respond to First Calls and Website Leads in Real-Time
Sometimes families will work down a list of funeral homes when trying to determine which one meets their personal and financial needs. For directors looking to gain a competitive advantage, ASD has several proprietary features that allow you to connect into new first calls. The moment an ASD Call Specialist recognizes a death has occurred, a First Call Alert® will be sent via text, email or push notification. Directors can then dial or tap a phone number to activate ASD’s patented First Call Connect® feature and connect into the call in progress.
6. Control Information Given to Callers
Whether looking for directions, service details or information about local establishments, callers will frequently contact a funeral home with routine questions and inquiries. To ensure these callers are assisted 24/7, many funeral homes send ASD specific details that are communicated to callers. ASD’s FuneralSync™ integration with the leading funeral home website companies enables ASD to automatically pull service details from the funeral home’s website, ensuring callers are always given the most current information. You can also use our Helpers feature to expand ASD’s local knowledge of your funeral home. Add local establishments, common funeral home callers, recommended florists and more to the account, allowing our Call Specialists to answer routine questions and relay information that you provide.
Kevin Czachor is the Vice President and Family-Member Owner of ASD – Answering Service for Directors, the only funeral home exclusive answering service in the United States. Kevin has written several articles on the subject of communication technology and delivers seminars annually on how mobile solutions can help funeral professionals conduct business on the go. He can be reached at 800-868-9950 or Sales@myASD.com.
RELATED READING:
- Unlocking Your Telephone Strategy: How New Technology Has Altered Funeral Home Call Patterns
- How to Keep Your Sanity While On Call
- 7 Telephone Strategies for Growth
About The Author
Kevin Czachor
Kevin Czachor is the Vice President and Family-Member Owner of ASD – Answering Service for Directors, the only funeral home exclusive answering service in the United States. Kevin has written several articles on the subject of communication technology and delivers seminars annually on how mobile solutions can help funeral professionals conduct business on the go. He can be reached at 800-868-9950 or Sales@myASD.com.
