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A Letter from the CEO
Jon Lefrandt • March 17, 2020
Our CEO, Jon Lefrandt, on COVID-19 and Domani’s response and plan moving forward:
What we're seeing right now with COVID-19 is nothing short of unprecedented. With so much uncertainty and volatility, it can be easy to worry and lose sight of what’s most important: serving families experiencing a loss with respect and professionalism.
We at Domani are committed now more than ever to supporting our funeral home partners as they help families in their communities navigate the loss of a loved one amid the current uncertainty.
We have structured our business to be agile and adaptable to meet the needs of our funeral home clients.
Families need outreach now more than ever, and because of the web-based technology that powers Domani, we are continuing aftercare communication with families while our staff works from home.
The same is true for Domani Preneed Appointment Setting. We chose the best-in-class CRM system, Salesforce, to manage our appointment setting engine. Because of that, we have the flexibility to call and schedule appointments for your family service counselors from anywhere.
We are working hard to ensure that funeral homes and families are taken care of, and their needs are met during this difficult time.
I’m grateful for our Domani team and their commitment to providing exceptional value during this challenging time and extremely thankful for our funeral home partners and the critical, selfless work they do today and every day.
We are inspired by those funeral homes that are pivoting as well by allowing family service counselors to meet with families in creative ways to prepare and fund their preplanned funeral policies.
We are easily able to adapt to these changes and will continue to innovate and ensure that families are given exactly what they need.
In order to best serve the families that are struggling the most during this difficult time, who may not be able to have friends and family nearby, we are offering Domanicare, our award-winning, text message aftercare program for free for 60 days so you can focus on your at-need families and allow us to take care of your aftercare families.
We are in this with you and are not going anywhere. Together we can rise above this and provide even better value to the wonderful families we all have the blessing to serve each day. It’s our privilege to work with each of you, thank you for your continued trust in us!
Warm regards,
Jon
Funeral Home Articles
If there's one thing we've learned in 2020, it's that it's difficult to predict the future, and there will all be surprises that lie ahead. Businesses and individuals need to stay agile and adaptable to be ready for whatever life throws at them. 2020 has been a challenging year for the funeral profession and others as well. Still, we've seen that those funeral homes and funeral professionals who have focused on making their consumer experience as comforting and easy as possible are those that are winning. At Domani, we exist to help funeral homes help their families have a better experience. Through the power of text messaging, we follow up with families and give them the support and resources they need following a loss. That great experience then leads to a positive online review and helps others looking for a positive experience to find that funeral home. It's a virtuous cycle that helps grow a funeral home's at-need business. When it comes to preneed, the same principle holds. If funeral homes can provide the experience a family is looking for, that will be the funeral home that wins. During 2020, our preneed appointment setting team has found great success in scheduling remote appointments. Funeral homes that have been willing to adapt and find new ways to do business have grown even during difficult circumstances. We firmly believe that technology will help us as a funeral profession provide those better experiences for families, but simply using technology for technology's sake is not the answer. We need to leverage technology to help provide personal, engaging experiences with families. We shouldn't use technology as a crutch or an excuse. It's another way to help the ones we serve and provide them the support they need during a difficult time. As we approach the end of the year and look forward to 2020, take some time to think about how your funeral home is providing meaningful experiences for families and how/what you can do to improve that in the coming year. If you're interested in learning more about Domanicare or Domani Appoinment Setting, please schedule a demo by clicking the link below.
By far the most effective way to create a sense of loyalty to your funeral home is to perform an exceptional service for that family. However, there’s more that you can be doing to establish credibility with families. Here’s three easy steps on how to develop loyalty to your company and ensure your customers come back for your services when a loved one passes.
The vast majority of people in the US and Canada use smartphones. Almost everyone has a smartphone nowadays. Remember when the first “smartphone” came out in 1992 and cell phones like the BlackBerry and iPhone were considered luxuries when they were first created? Now it’s a common sight to see an iPhone. Most funeral homes and cemeteries haven’t even scratched the surface of text-based aftercare, but with 80% of the U.S. population owning a smartphone, and that number expected to rapidly grow.