EPISODE 24

The Right and WRONG way to answer the phone at your Funeral Home

Not having the right phone skills or strategy can cost a funeral home a lot of money in lost business, which often goes unnoticed.
When a person calls for a price, do you give them a direct cremation price, or do you display empathy and build rapport with the person? That subtle difference can make or break your opportunity.

On this episode, we talk with Nicole Weideman from Dead Ringers, who explains the right and wrong way to answer the phone and why training is critical. We’ll learn the following:

1. The cost of not showing empathy when talking with families on the phone
2. How to build rapport with price shoppers
3. Easy ways to follow up with families after that initial phone call to increase your chance of winning their business.

BONUS*** Listen to actual recordings from funeral homes and learn what NOT to do when taking a call.

Show Notes & Resources

• Ellery introduces special guest Nicole Weideman of Dead Ringers (0:41)
• Welton explains why you should focus first on the lowest hanging fruit: phone conversions (3:00)
• Nicole introduces herself, her company, how she got into deathcare, and why the pricing discussion should be the least of your worries (5:03)
• Funeral homes say their strength is how much they care—is it? (8:45)
• The four things you must train your staff to ask when answering the phone, especially when you're not around (12:49)
• Who should be answering the phone? (14:57)
• Nicole answers the question of whether phones are becoming irrelevant (18:18)
• Nicole describes the top three things funeral homes should say on a phone call (21:16)
• How to answer the "how much?" question (27:32)
• Nicole tells the story of her best friend's funeral home experience (29:41)
• Nicole talks about structured phone skills training (33:43)
• Having a tangible next step after a client call is imperative (42:37)
• Ellery asks what Dead Ringers' training looks like (47:48)
• Nicole shares cringeworthy calls from Dead Ringers training (55:41)