As reflected in the title to this article, I pose my question as it reflects a discussion that needs to be had within the death-care industry relating to creativity. I have long argued that the monument industry has not been creative enough, preferring instead to earn a quick buck at the expense of creating a legacy memorial for their clients. This lack of creativity has filled cemeteries with “me-too” monuments that are boring and unattractive.
Bill Bates, the President of a death-care industry training program for funeral homes sent me an email titled, “On Becoming Creative.” Bill is a leader in creativity in the death-care industry so his words should receive rapt attention.
“Words can be powerful; especially the words that make up loving eulogies and the ones we use to honor others, yet words are but symbols of symbols, thus twice removed from truly effective communication. If words only, form the bases of funeral ceremonies, which they have in the American funeral, they of their nature must fail to fully capture the essence of an individual beyond the material facts and figures of his or her life. The fact that an individual graduated from college, had a dynamic and successful career, was married, a father and grandfather and retired says little about his heart, his victories and defeats, his courage in the face of adversity.”
“The ability to creatively demonstrate each individual’s accomplishments, religious, spiritual or philosophically perspectives and relationships form the basis or foundation of good funerals. They give meaning to the word personalization or interactive funeral ceremony.”
“Creative ceremonies go beyond the use of words to tell a story and communicate the meaning of a life. Some level of creativity is required to symbolize such things as goodness, integrity, love, kindness, tenacity, courage and all of the stuff we value about being human that lies beneath the activity of a life. A picture truly becomes worth a 1000 words when we can show the beauty in loving relationships through participation or when we can creatively demonstrate the characteristics that others loved in the deceased. Our ability to paint the picture energizes the experience and moves family and friends, impacting their perception of value in the experience.”
Bill gets it! He understands something very important that a lot of funeral homes and monument companies have failed to understand and express through their work. As a whole, the monument industry has not been as creative as it could or should have been as many folks entered the industry as mediocre tradesmen, lacking in big-picture creativity or communication skills to truly educate the consumer.
Thanks to online retailers, such as http://www.usamonuments.com/, traditional monument companies are crawling slowly toward the Internet scene as consumers are demanding the shop-from-home convenience and creativity that the Internet-based memorialist offers.
If a company is creative on the Internet, then they are more likely to be creative in memorializing a loved one’s legacy.
If you want to purchase a mediocre monument, it really doesn’t matter as much where you purchase, and price alone may be the primary focus of your commodity purchase.
However, if you want an heirloom memorial, look at the creativity of the memorialist and you are more likely to achieve something special in memorilizing yourself through a preneed purchase, or in memorializing a loved one.
Remember, Bill gets it! I hope you do too!
Burton Fletcher
http://www.usamonuments.com/
Burton@USAMonuments.com
Showing posts with label Creativity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Creativity. Show all posts
Monday, January 01, 2007
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Online Marketing Has Changed The Monument Business For The Better!
Our company has both a local and an online presence serving a local, national and international clientele. Like the progressive company we are, we chose to have a powerful online presence; however, with that said, our online presence is significantly stronger than most monument companies in the U.S. market. See www.USAMonuments.com a/k/a www.BigBeautifulMonuments.com and form your own opinion.
I read a fellow online who I will call Mr. Granite Chips wrote, “I know many common commodity items are routinely purchased over the internet with great convenience. However, is it really wise for consumers to purchase custom crafted products such as granite memorials via the internet? We as memorialists all know too well that granite monuments can and usually do vary greatly in quality, craftsmanship, shape carving, deep roses, etching, sandblast, hand carving, lettering just to name several as well as grade of granite being used perhaps more than any other product in the marketplace?”
Mr. Chips, makes his points as best he can; however, I think it is also clear that he does not have a significant online presence. If he did, he would know that companies that sell online offer greater variety, shop-from-home convenience and excellent craftsmanship, often far superior to the local marketplace, and without high pressure sales during the grieving process.
Another monument dealer who I will call Mr. Yankee Stonecrafter wrote in reply to Mr. Chips, “I as recently as yesterday was directed to a website by a customer who saw something that gave them some ideas for a family monument. They were using the internet for reference, but not to purchase. The customers volunteered that they would not buy a monument over the internet because as they say “seeing is believing.” There are always going to be people who will buy anything and everything on the net, just as there were people before the net existed who didn't care about craftsmanship or quality, only price. "
Mr. Yankee could also have said that there are always going to be folks who purchase locally without paying adequate attention to the wide selection offered over the Internet. Internet designs are seen and these same designs are not offered in the displays of most brick-and-mortar companies. If you want unique, you should shop online. If you want a traditional commodity purchase, then you may still want to shop online for the savings we can offer.
Mr. Yankee continued, writing, "The internet has only made it easier for those types of customers to shop. I think it may help some of us who do care about quality and craftsmanship in the long run by helping to choke out the dealers have no business representing our craft. The internet is great reference tool, the best. However I believe that is where it ends. Or course there is the porno and that's a big plus.”
I won't comment on Mr. Yankee's admitted Internet viewing habits; however, I appreciate his admission that the Internet has made it easier for consumers to shop. Anyone who invests in the technology of the Internet is likely to offer superior creativity and construction of truly unique designs.
I took editorial license to edit the words of these two monument builders. I do not consider myself to be in competition with their companies as I am a unique memorialist more than a monument builder and I suspect they serve only a limited geographic market.
Also, I seek to avoid the commodities market in which so many monument companies market themselves. Instead, we seek a market niche of often upscale, unique, and one-of-a-kind designs.
In addition, I frequently receive calls from prospective clients who advise me that the local monument company representative was impolite, ill informed, offered a limited selection, or offered a price that was significantly higher than the price offered by my company. I also frequently take business from competitors who dominate the Internet with their online presence.
There are all types of prospective and actual clients, just as there are a wide variety of business people in this world. There is plenty of business to go around! Clients can view our offerings to instantly see that we are conscientious, offer creativity and high-quality products. My advice to anyone knew to the monument industry is to carve your niche and you will succeed, regardless of your business platform.
Too many of our competitors have a small sampling of me-too monuments that perpetuates the status quo in the marketplace. Cemeteries are filled with what I call Cliche Monuments with the same color and the same serpentine top with little, if any, imagination or story telling.
I suspect the home-town monument builder has been helped more than hurt by the online reseller as there were a lot of very poor and boring designs as well as inferior workmanship before the online retailers educated consumers on the wide assortment of options available. We offer more than mere shop-from-home convenience, but also great prices with some of the finest workmanship to be found anywhere.
We are proud to create unique memorial products and we prefer to leave the focus on commodity sales to others. Our clients are often discriminating, high-end purchasers and they will continue to be our primary market niche in the future.
I got into this business to shape opinions and change market practices as I saw significant deficiencies in memorialization that I sought to change. As one of the most published memorialists in the United States, I am proud of our positive impact in the marketplace.
As with so many other industries, online marketing has forced brick-and-mortar businesses to modify their business practices to satisfy a consumer who is often demanding and fickle. Those monument companies that refuse to adapt will die off, for they perpetuate the past more than shape the future.
Burton Fletcher
http://www.usamonuments.com/
Burton@USAMonuments.com
Copyright 2006. All Rights Reserved.
I read a fellow online who I will call Mr. Granite Chips wrote, “I know many common commodity items are routinely purchased over the internet with great convenience. However, is it really wise for consumers to purchase custom crafted products such as granite memorials via the internet? We as memorialists all know too well that granite monuments can and usually do vary greatly in quality, craftsmanship, shape carving, deep roses, etching, sandblast, hand carving, lettering just to name several as well as grade of granite being used perhaps more than any other product in the marketplace?”
Mr. Chips, makes his points as best he can; however, I think it is also clear that he does not have a significant online presence. If he did, he would know that companies that sell online offer greater variety, shop-from-home convenience and excellent craftsmanship, often far superior to the local marketplace, and without high pressure sales during the grieving process.
Another monument dealer who I will call Mr. Yankee Stonecrafter wrote in reply to Mr. Chips, “I as recently as yesterday was directed to a website by a customer who saw something that gave them some ideas for a family monument. They were using the internet for reference, but not to purchase. The customers volunteered that they would not buy a monument over the internet because as they say “seeing is believing.” There are always going to be people who will buy anything and everything on the net, just as there were people before the net existed who didn't care about craftsmanship or quality, only price. "
Mr. Yankee could also have said that there are always going to be folks who purchase locally without paying adequate attention to the wide selection offered over the Internet. Internet designs are seen and these same designs are not offered in the displays of most brick-and-mortar companies. If you want unique, you should shop online. If you want a traditional commodity purchase, then you may still want to shop online for the savings we can offer.
Mr. Yankee continued, writing, "The internet has only made it easier for those types of customers to shop. I think it may help some of us who do care about quality and craftsmanship in the long run by helping to choke out the dealers have no business representing our craft. The internet is great reference tool, the best. However I believe that is where it ends. Or course there is the porno and that's a big plus.”
I won't comment on Mr. Yankee's admitted Internet viewing habits; however, I appreciate his admission that the Internet has made it easier for consumers to shop. Anyone who invests in the technology of the Internet is likely to offer superior creativity and construction of truly unique designs.
I took editorial license to edit the words of these two monument builders. I do not consider myself to be in competition with their companies as I am a unique memorialist more than a monument builder and I suspect they serve only a limited geographic market.
Also, I seek to avoid the commodities market in which so many monument companies market themselves. Instead, we seek a market niche of often upscale, unique, and one-of-a-kind designs.
In addition, I frequently receive calls from prospective clients who advise me that the local monument company representative was impolite, ill informed, offered a limited selection, or offered a price that was significantly higher than the price offered by my company. I also frequently take business from competitors who dominate the Internet with their online presence.
There are all types of prospective and actual clients, just as there are a wide variety of business people in this world. There is plenty of business to go around! Clients can view our offerings to instantly see that we are conscientious, offer creativity and high-quality products. My advice to anyone knew to the monument industry is to carve your niche and you will succeed, regardless of your business platform.
Too many of our competitors have a small sampling of me-too monuments that perpetuates the status quo in the marketplace. Cemeteries are filled with what I call Cliche Monuments with the same color and the same serpentine top with little, if any, imagination or story telling.
I suspect the home-town monument builder has been helped more than hurt by the online reseller as there were a lot of very poor and boring designs as well as inferior workmanship before the online retailers educated consumers on the wide assortment of options available. We offer more than mere shop-from-home convenience, but also great prices with some of the finest workmanship to be found anywhere.
We are proud to create unique memorial products and we prefer to leave the focus on commodity sales to others. Our clients are often discriminating, high-end purchasers and they will continue to be our primary market niche in the future.
I got into this business to shape opinions and change market practices as I saw significant deficiencies in memorialization that I sought to change. As one of the most published memorialists in the United States, I am proud of our positive impact in the marketplace.
As with so many other industries, online marketing has forced brick-and-mortar businesses to modify their business practices to satisfy a consumer who is often demanding and fickle. Those monument companies that refuse to adapt will die off, for they perpetuate the past more than shape the future.
Burton Fletcher
http://www.usamonuments.com/
Burton@USAMonuments.com
Copyright 2006. All Rights Reserved.
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