Poppy is hiring
Poppy Mardall is looking for her young company’s third full-time employee. Her fresh approach to the business of funerals makes this a job more suitable, perhaps, for someone outside the industry. But she is very open to applications from those within it who feel that her philosophy is also their philosophy. She says: This is […]
What’s for love and what’s for money?
If there’s one thing that really vexes people in the funerals business it’s the question of who gets paid for what – and how much. Take the business of conducting a funeral. In England, when C of E clergy moved their fee up to £160 + travel, lots of people howled. Everyone in England is […]
Window displays that move
Posted by Richard Rawlinson at his eye-watering best The multiple windows of Harrods, and the eye-watering budget for the displays in these windows, are a far cry from your average undertaker’s window onto the high street. However, moving installation is perhaps one trend any retailer can take from London’s leading stores. Last Christmas, Harrods windows became […]
How full-service and niche undertaker websites use words
Posted by Richard Rawlinson While many undertakers’ websites offer useful information for those planning funerals, they’re understandably not impartial, being the marketing platforms of commercial companies. Compare and contrast, for example, these words from both mainstream undertakers and specialists in their given niche (simple funerals, woodland burials etc). A full-service, family-run chain says this of direct […]
Man for all seasons
“No fuss? You’re absolutely sure about that? You’ve taken into account the emotional needs and expectations of your family and friends? … Yes, we have our simple package. Yes, if you’re sure it’s right for you we can do that for one nine nine five all inclusive.” I am sipping tea in the office of […]
Not in front of the children
The information revolution has done huge damage to the funeral industry. Recent TV exposés of goings on behind the scenes in a Co-operative Funeralcare and a Funeral Services Partnership mortuary went viral when they aired and endure in the public memory. That the NAFD did not, in the aftermath, suspend or expel FSP called into […]
Empower the bereaved and they’re a joy to work with
Once in a while we get to hear what a difference the GFG has made to people – especially since we upped the amount of info we offer on our website. We’ve recently added heaps of helpful, informative documents that people can download. It’s proving very popular. When a family organising a funeral decide exactly […]
Window dressing
An email arrived here recently from a person who has been struck by the way undertakers dress their windows. ‘Dreadful’ is one of the adjectives she used, ‘depressing’ another. She’d like to set up a small business and put them right. Whether or not undertakers’ windows are on the whole dressed badly is a matter […]
The stalemate of funeral choice
Posted by Richard Rawlinson Cherishing freedom of speech we often quote the line, ‘I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it’. So democrats proselytise in order to influence others, and sometimes those influenced leave one tribe and join another. A far cry from relativism, the message […]
Funerals, who needs em?
When England first played Scotland, on 30 November 1872, both teams employed formations that would raise eyebrows today. Scotland went for a cautious 2-2-6 while England employed a more swashbuckling 1-1-8. The game was all kick-and-rush in those days. Kick-and-rush. It’s how businesses, anxious to futureproof themselves, respond to prophecy. Some bright spark peers into […]
