Webinars
 

OGR brings you a new webinar series this fall.

Interested in the August 28 webinar on improving the health of your business? Click here. For all other webinars, read below.

Instead of "death by PowerPoint", OGR will be offering a fresh take on distance education. For four weeks in September and October, OGR members held conversations around topics of interest to you. Click on the links below to read more about each session. Email OGR to request access to the recordings.

A Conversation with Pam Amos and Nancy Weil -- “How Corporately-Owned Chains Win Price Shoppers and How that Knowledge Can Benefit Your Funeral Home”
Wednesday, September 18 * Email OGR to request access to the recording.

A Conversation with Leili McMurrough, Abby Yost, and Brian McMurrough -- “Workforce Expectations – Matching Next Gen Expectations with Your Funeral Home Culture”
Thursday, September 26 * Email OGR to request access to the recording.

A Conversation with Andrew Loos -- “The Funeral Home of the Future May Not Be a Funeral Home At All”
Tuesday, October 1 * Email OGR to request access to the recording.

A Conversation with Adam Martin and Tyler Pray -- “Themed Funerals – Beyond Bubbles and Dove Releases”
Wednesday, October 9 * Email OGR to request access to the recording.

Wednesday, September 18 * Email OGR to request access to the recording.
Pam Amos, a former SCI manager, and Nancy Weil, OGR’s Member Resources Director, will share lessons learned from price shopping calls and how to perfect your approach to price shoppers’ questions. They will share price shopping calls that went wrong, discuss the system SCI uses to win over price shoppers, and explore how to apply effective techniques at your funeral home to capture these calls.  Learn what steps you can take to differentiate your funeral home from your competitors and guide price shoppers through the funeral planning process.

By the end of this course, you will be able to

• Apply lessons learned from price shopping calls to the families you serve
• Gain confidence when on the phone by knowing the techniques that will connect you the caller
• Discover tools for improving your staff’s approach to callers

Panelists: 
Pamela Amos -- Licensed Funeral Director and Operations Manager at Veterans Funeral Care [read more]
Nancy Weil -- Member Resources Director at OGR [read more]

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Thursday, September 26 * Email OGR to request access to the recording.
As an employer, are you clearly communicating expectations to the next generation of funeral directors and giving them ample opportunities to grow in their careers? Or as a new funeral director, do you have realistic expectations of a career in funeral service? Join us for a live discussion with a funeral home owner, a mortuary science school coordinator, and a new funeral director who have different perspectives on this issue. Each will talk about the next generation’s needs and discuss how employers can find the best employees for their funeral homes. 

By the end of this conversation, you will be able to:

• Understand new hires’ expectations for working in funeral service
• Explain employer expectations for new hires and know how to bridge them with employees’ expectations
• Identify characteristics to look for in a potential employer or employee
• Develop a plan of action for finding employees who fit your funeral home culture 

Panelists:
Leili McMurrough, JD -- Licensed Funeral Director and Program Director at Worsham College of Mortuary Science [read more]
Abby Yost -- Licensed Funeral Director & Embalmer at Kolssak Funeral Home [read more]
Brian McMurrough -- Licensed Funeral Director and Owner of McMurrough Funeral Chapels [read more] 

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Tuesday, October 1 * Email OGR to request access to the recording.
Cremation is a consumer driven event and the cremation oriented customer is the ultimate disruptor. They know they are “in control” of the business transaction between funeral home and funeral consumer.

Our industry’s resistance to consumers' changing attitudes toward funeral service has resulted in a total transformation of how we conduct our businesses today, all at the hands of our customer’s will to shape our generational business to meet their expectations. If we are to be ambitious, we must become sustainable. That requires a seismic shift in how we look at the neighborhood funeral home because, “the funeral home of the future, may not be a funeral home at all’.

• Consumers aren't just comparing your funeral home to another funeral home, they are comparing their experience with you with their favorite shopping experience.
• It’s not a big deal, unless you make it a big deal. Meeting consumer’s needs beyond their expectations is not only what is required for sustainability, but is paramount is building a funeral home brand.
• The key to understanding, “the funeral home the future, may not be a funeral home at all” is adaptation. How do measure if your company is adapting and what adaptations may be required to be sustainable?

Panelist: 
Andrew Loos -- Licensed Funeral Director, President of Cremation Consulting, and President & Founder of Heartland Cremation & Burial Society [read more]

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Wednesday, October 9 * Email OGR to request access to the recording.
A declining number of families are interested an average, traditional funeral and instead are looking for something more – whether that be themed celebrations of life, the opportunity to prepare their loved one’s body for cremation, or holding a service in a nontraditional space. Set your funeral home apart by offering meaningful funerals to families that go beyond dove releases, customized prayer cards, or blowing bubbles. Hear from funeral directors who are approaching personalization in unique ways and going beyond the typical options to come up with services and offerings that are truly meaningful to the families they serve.

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Describe ways to provide meaningful services to families
• Assess your current offerings and how they addresses families’ needs for personalization
• Determine how to offer more personalization options to families
• How to manage staff time when going the extra mile 

Panelists: 
Adam Martin, CFSP -- Licensed Funeral Director and Owner of Martin Funeral, Cremation & Tribute Service [learn more]
Tyler Pray -- Licensed Funeral Director at Pray Funeral Home [learn more]

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Did you miss one of OGR's webinars previously? Not a problem! OGR members have access to all previously recorded webinars for free. Simply visit the Webinar Podcasts page (login required) to start watching now. 

Email Jessica S. Riddlesperger, CMP, Assistant Executive Director for questions regarding OGR's education.