Four Keys for Winning @Need Baby Boomers

One of my main focuses is to help my clients win more at need calls. The best way to do that is to catch the Baby Boomer wave.

People from the Silent generation are fairly set in their ways. In most cases, they’ve selected their funeral home even if they haven’t made their arrangements yet.

But Boomer calls are up for grabs. The idea of being loyal to a funeral home just because they served their grandparents is entirely contrary to how Boomers make decisions.

In this newsletter, I will give you four things you can do to win more at need Boomer calls.

#1 Standout in the Crowd

The Silent generation places a great deal of value on conformity. Boomers, on the other hand, value individualism. They flock to businesses that stand out in the crowd and price shop any company that looks like a commodity.

Remember the golden rule of marketing…

If all things equal, the deciding criteria is always…price.

If you want to succeed with Boomers, stop letting all things be equal. Standout in the crowd, and Boomers will be attracted to your funeral home.

#2 Serve the “unchurched”

According to pewforum.org, 17% of Boomers do not have any religion. Another 28% self-identify as Christian yet seldom or never go to church.

Roughly half of Boomers are going to show up at your funeral home without a relationship with a church. They value ceremony, but they don’t know how to create one without going to church.

That’s why I always recommend having a Funeral Celebrant on staff. When a Celebrant can offer Boomer families a meaningful ceremony, you have a home run on your hands.

#3 Give up control

A lot of Boomers are control freaks. They value being in control of every detail in their life. They also hate being sold, but they love buying things if they feel like they’re in control.

Think through every element of your business and consider how you can give the Boomer control freak a little more control. Simple things like involving them in designing the life story ceremony go a long way with Boomers.

As one of my business mentors told me years ago, you can have control or have growth, but you can’t have both. If you give up a little control you might find yourself winning more Boomer calls.

#4 Expand your price range

The Silent generation was ok with a cookie-cutter “one size fits all” approach to most things. That’s the same generation that built the post-WWII suburbs filled with identical homes where their Baby Boom children were born.

Silent generation families are ok with the fact that most funerals cost about the same. But Boomers are turned off by that idea.

The best way to price your services for Boomers is to have a range of options and let them choose. You will often find that Boomers will be attracted to a low price option but will quickly upgrade to more expensive options if they understand the value of what they are getting.

Those are my four tips for winning more at need Baby Boomer calls. If you are looking to grow your funeral home business shift your focus to the Boomer generation and ride the wave for years to come.

Until next time

John

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