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Jake reflects on his thought process and then the writing, publishing and promotion of his book: Staying Alive In The Funeral & Cemetery Profession: Building A Business, Weathering Changes, and Finding Growth in 2019. You can get your own copy of Jake’s book by contacting the Johnson Consulting office at 1-888-250-7747 or email at info@johnsonconsulting.com. You can also purchase the book on Amazon / Audile here.
See the complete transcript here:
Robin Heppell:
Welcome back to the Funeral X Podcast. I am Rob Heppell and I’m joined with my Funeral Results Marketing business partner, Jake Johnson. Hey there, Jake?
Jake Johnson:
Hey Rob. How’s it going?
Robin Heppell:
Pretty good. We’re getting back into the swing of things from being in Las Vegas at the ICCFA convention, it was good to see lots of faces down there. And I think today, what would be a great topic, we did talk a couple funeral results marketing, Google Ads sessions, and being at the convention our booths were across from each other. And on your side, you had a big stack of your books that you wrote, Staying Alive in the Funeral & Cemetery Profession. So I thought, hey, this would be a neat little shorter episode where we could just maybe talk about the process of writing the book, what’s involved, how it can help folks, and how does that sound?
Jake Johnson:
Yes, happy to. Let’s do it.
Robin Heppell:
Cool. Okay. So now the book was published there in 2019, so pre-pandemic. And how long had you been thinking about writing the book?
Jake Johnson:
It’d been a couple of years. I just thought that just the opportunities I got to experience through my father and the people that he did business with and his buying and selling career and running Pierce Brothers in California. It’s just some cool stuff that comes from Batesville, Indiana, which is where you’re either a casket salesman or you sell pre-need or you sell funerals. So it just seemed like a fun thing to do. And for me, I’ve mentioned this in presentations, but I’ve got a stack of books next to my bed that one day I’m going to get to, but I wanted to make it something that was easy to read, quick, I even got it and you can listen in audible version of the book as well. So something nice and easy.
Robin Heppell:
That’s how I consumed at Jake. Yes, audible is great. Okay.
Jake Johnson:
I should have had Morgan Freeman do it, that would’ve been nice when all day I fall asleep. That’d be good.
Robin Heppell:
So when you’re doing that, so you put your mind to it. You’re starting to work on it. I know that it would be probably a challenge to, I know how busy you are. Any struggles with it or and then what was your philosophy on how you laid it out?
Jake Johnson:
Yes, it was difficult. It’s like if you imagine that you look at a piece of land and you want to build a house there and then you got to figure out how to design the layouts and then what kind of tile and all that. It’s very much the same for a book what was the purpose? I think what you should start with is who is this meant for? What is your goal in writing the book and then what it started from there and then morphed into the different chapters and then so really I created all the chapters and then I filled them in as I went through that journey from beginning to end.
Robin Heppell:
Cool. Now what about, were there any chapters or sections that you thought, oh the folks reading this probably aren’t going to like the hard truth?
Jake Johnson:
Well, to me, I was curious because it changes so fast when I talk about innovation grow growth technology would that be as relevant? And when I wrote documented it as is today, and as you mentioned, I did this in 2019, and my God, Rob, you and I were just at the ICCFA convention, and how many more booths than we’ve ever seen of technology vendors. So it was just curious to me as I laid it out, just what it would be like in the quickly in the future would it be the same or not? And so my hope is that it was broad enough to get your juices flowing, but not specific enough to tell you that this is how it has to be done because that’s always changing.
Robin Heppell:
Yes. Well, I thought if we look into the table of contents and your process I thought it was great where you, first of all, you laid out the basics of the business, especially for maybe even an outsider and talked about the death and taxes and then the life cycle of death care. And then a little bit of woven your background into that. And I thought that was a really good job. And as you do so well, you do, I think a lot of us that are in the business, especially at the individual business level, you’re really just thinking year-to-year, making sure I go trying to increase my market share, trying to improve my averages and provide a good customer service and that client family journey, but you do a great job of bringing in the, well, what about the value? What about looking at from the enterprise level and that.
So is that just something that is now probably just ingrained in your mind so much that you add that in to as you’re bringing people through that discussion of profitability cash flow, EBITDA, but then there’s this next part that, well, all business owners should be thinking down the road.
Jake Johnson:
Right. So I think that you, I don’t know that it matters on the size of the business that we can enter in an organization. When I was in Las Vegas, I think, I don’t know, I want to say we had close to 400 employees, but it was a lot, hundreds of employees. And so you would think an organization that big, that there’d be this ladder, this journey within the organization to learn new things and because it’s where we’re spending most of our time. And down to the funeral business, that’s got four employees maybe, or maybe even just two. And everybody else is contracted.
And to me, if we’re spending most of our time in an organization, I think it’s just cool and quite honestly, it makes your job more meaningful and rewarding to understand that entire customer journey and entire business journey. Where do you fit in? How do you contribute? Or just because if you talk about what is the phrase, where we were trying to go to the moon and I can’t remember which president was asked the janitor was cleaning up in the NASA warehouse or whatever and said tell me about your job. He says I’m sending a man to the moon.
So this guy clearly knew what the whole company’s objective was. And that’s why I always look at it this way. The presentation I recently did I share with intent, those that are in the crowd that are not funeral business owners that are managers or employees that for them to understand what they do and how it contributes to the value of the organization they work for. And when you look at it that way, it feels pretty good. Not everybody, that’s what they want. They just want to come in and clock out. But it’s good to know what that is. And that’s why I covered it all in this book. So really it goes back to who is this book written for? It wasn’t just for owners. It was really is for people interested in the business, people in the business that are daily arrangements or embalming, what have you so.
Robin Heppell:
Well, I think even when you were speaking about the, I guess you were at Palm at the time and talking to one of the cemetery crew and letting them know, like “Hey, these are the financials, this is what we’re working up against.” And then how that then turned into some really good feedback from them of like how you could improve that part of the operation.
Jake Johnson:
Exactly. And it did, in fact, to be quite specific. So you know that it’s not just full of hopes and dreams for me, it was our overseeding. They were shocked at what some of the costs were to do the overseeding we were doing. And so they made some shifts, saved us some money. They did it because it there wasn’t necessarily any reward for it out of them outside of just understanding the big picture and saying, well, heck if you ask me, this is how we should be doing it anyway.
Robin Heppell:
So I’m sorry, Jake, overseeding is that like fertilizer for the grass?
Jake Johnson:
Yes. Oversaw, you comment in the desert because anything dies when it gets cold. You got the extremes of colds and hots so it’s the transition from be Bermuda into Ryegrass and just the whole process and what those costs were. It was quite expensive where we were.
Robin Heppell:
Okay. Hey Jake, I’m from the Pacific Northwest. So lush, green grass is this something that-
Jake Johnson:
Something rye and fescue that’s what I’m going to call it. I don’t know.
Robin Heppell:
Cool. Another neat part about what you dove into here in Chapter six was about embracing the technology. And obviously I totally agree we’re on the same page here. You’re spot on about the value of the online obituaries and how much traffic it drives and the websites as well, where a decade ago, I’ll do a whole presentation just trying to explain that. And I think folks are finally cluing into that value of that online presence.
Jake Johnson:
Well, we know it’s really interesting. So what was it, what I’m short on my historical people, but there’s an individual that said if it’s, what was his name? He say if the world was coming in an end, he was going to move to Cincinnati because that’d be the last place it would come to an end or something like that. But I think that he really meant to say is, it’d be funeral service. What so the interesting thing and fun thing that we get in funeral service, which is also frustrating thing, is that we see all these changes in technology and how it’s impacting the world in general.
And then we say, wow, we’ve got this really applies to funeral service. And so you inject it into funeral service. And the problem in my opinion is that you’re not serving those type of similar customers that the rest of the world is, you’re serving its first of all, it’s a very personal service, but people that are hopefully dying in their 80s and 90s and whatever it’s just a different customer, but we all know my point is that you can see the future and be like this magical future predicting individual.
If you look at the outside world knowing that it’s coming to the funeral service, but if you just time it right when the rest of the world that takes on and does those similar things within the funeral service. And it’s coming and what some and many, I would say many, but I’ll say at least a handful, how’s that as a word? If technology firms have learned you come into funeral space and it takes time. You can’t just take the number of deaths and multiply it by some fancy percentage and assume they’re all going to take you upon it. There are a lot of CRM systems alone, point of sale systems, how many are there at least 20 plus of them and so you are embracing technology definitely knowing just what’s going to stick or not. That’s what we’re going through right now.
Robin Heppell:
For sure. And it’s that on Shark Tank, we actually got to see Damon John there in Vegas. And although he didn’t talk about this, but so often people, I think they do like the funeral math. They have this great idea. They’ve had their entrepreneurial in some way. They had not an experience that they thought was great and they think, oh, here’s a problem I can solve. And then all the data’s there. Oh, so there are this many deaths in the US per year. And then if we take, okay, so now that’s like 60% cremation across the country. And then if I could just get 1% of that and sell this earn or sell whatever this technology is, it’s that funeral math that okay, the math might work. It doesn’t mean that’s going to happen in reality.
Jake Johnson:
Yes. I think the thing that’s interesting that I’ve run those models the TAM, if you will, total addressable market. And you start with those deaths and then you break it down by a percentage to your point, but then you have to realize there’s and these are good problems to have if you’re a funeral homeowner, but so many of that business, you can probably wipe off its 35% or so its already been pre-need, prefunded. Like they’ve done it already like I don’t need to… And then you take another base of that customer. That’s loyal to John Murphy, awaiting Murphy funeral home or whatever. They’re just going to go there and see him whatever. And so if it’s a B2B, or I’m sorry, B2C concept you’re not going to be able to skip the process of the person they trust.
And then you’ve got so many that are the cremation families that are only going to go online or there’s shipping or whatever. There are a lot of variables when you break it down it changes the math a little, but there’s no doubt that you got to embrace technology. I know it’s coming the funeral homeowners in my opinion, and cemeterians are definitely the ones benefiting from this because you’ve got, and I’m sure in the life cycle of innovation you have this massive entrance, then it gets fine-tuned by those that will continue on and succeed and make it profitable that it becomes commoditized once it’s repeatable and whatever. And so I feel we’re in the early stages of that quite honestly. I mean really. So it has its place though.
Robin Heppell:
Well, and that leads me then to the next chapter about effectively navigating the succession plan. And especially if it’s going to be, we’re not talking about then the corporate side of it, we’re talking about the independent side and especially now right, with the baby boomers who held, who were too young in the 90s and now they’ve held on and now it’s now they are in their 60s plus looking to pass things on. And it’s interesting with when they’re looking to their kids to pass on, like their kids nowadays whether they’re generation X, millennials, or what have you. It’s different because I don’t know what the nice way to say this Jake, like the commitment level, might be a little bit different.
Jake Johnson:
Well, it’s interesting. So it’s easy to say, oh my God, I don’t know how the free world’s going to exist as soon as all the hard-working people, even the people that just want to find more balance in life. The reality is they’ll figure it out and you’re starting to see it. It’s the outsourcing, it’s this specialization doing what they’re most suited for and outsourcing the rest. And you know what? It ain’t a bad idea because I think what in the end, it fills the third gap of balance, which is your own health. And we know how hard this business can be on your health when you’re going to handle all yourself, you’re not going to look for outside help. And when you got free time, well then now that’s free time to do these 10 things I’ve been waiting on. There’s a certain level of productivity that’s I think even a formula out there as far as how much productivity you can get out of anyone person within hours of work. So they’ll figure it out in technology it’ll be a big piece of it in my opinion.
Robin Heppell:
For sure. What were you thinking then, as you’re trying to, I guess, as the writer of the book, you’re trying to set these folks up to give them some insight, you’re passing them on your own. You’re letting them know, Hey, here are some case studies, whether it’s on buying or selling and just to have some strategies there. What was your hope as you almost let them fly out of the nest after you’ve been able to educate them there through the book?
Jake Johnson:
Right. I want them to figure out when is the best time to determine when you’re ready to sell. And when I say sell, sell to your children, sell to your key employee, sell to somebody from the outside. And when you say that, or you look at that, you analyze what that means to determine you’re ready to sell a lot of it, which I’ve done in presentations is about also being in a position where you can expand and acquire, but it’s about having your house in order. And then once the at is done you’re just in a better spot so that you can… It’s really for the benefit of the business. I like to think that presentation I just did and I said a lot.
Your business is a thing, think of it as a person, think of it as your spouse is what I would like to say or significant other. And how you’re treating it so that when you’re gone, it goes to the next person. Like so many funeral businesses have done over the years where most businesses fail where their fifth generation, sixth-gen, whatever. I wanted to make sure that’s something that was easy to identify how to make that occur. Because a lot of us consultants and vendors in the space, we get all excited about certain customers we can come to and from an income for us and the amount of value we can give back to that business and how that compounds, but 80 for whatever they say, 80% of the funeral homes are small funeral homes the 110 calls.
And it can be a little tighter and the schedules can be a little tougher and vacations can be a little harder. And how can we set those businesses up to succeed? And I’m not saying that I’ve laid out in here the answers, but it’s certainly some things to think about because you almost would assume that as cremation rises and people become less attached to the community. If 80% of those funeral homes out there are 100, 110 call funeral homes, we also have to assume they’re in small towns. And so what does that mean for the future of those funeral businesses? And my family has one in Batesville, Indiana. So does well, we had great people running it so, but there are things to think about.
Robin Heppell:
Cool. Well, how overall as we wrap up here, how’d the process go for you? Once you finished it, and then it’s done, it’s published, you’re launching, was it a bit of a relief, or was it exciting for the next part of the promotion of it?
Jake Johnson:
Well, it was interesting as it came to an end and then you have the proofreading and then it’s humbled that you reach, then you reach out to people that you know and ask them if they wouldn’t mind reading it and given their testimonial or thumbs up on the book and that’s taken their time to do that for you. And the responses I got was it was pretty cool. But it seemed like once it got going, once it got to the end, I’m like, oh man, well, I hope this really flows like I thought it was going to flow and I hope that it did.
I’ve had good comments out of it. Again, I try to make a very easy thing to pick up, look through, and I’d like to think there are some pearls in there, what I’d really like to think is that somebody would go through it and say, Wow, okay. So there’s the whole tier point. There’s the 360 view of had a look at this and that they walk away or that it may spark some thoughts they’ve had in the past that things that they knew they needed to get to knowing that they’re never going to get it done unless they start strategic plan or any of the other things I talk about in the book.
Robin Heppell:
Cool. Any thought of like a sequel or a new version coming up?
Jake Johnson:
I don’t know. Yes, maybe with all this pandemic stuff, it’s been interesting to see something else, maybe an insert.
Robin Heppell:
Well, the last time I went through it, again, just getting ready for today even though it was pre-pandemic written, it still, it all seems completely applicable. And maybe just their experience over the last couple years may take some of these suggestions that you make Jake talk more to heart because they know that things could change and you need to be prepared.
Jake Johnson:
Right. I think that quite frankly, it could be very relevant because what the pandemic has done to us. Is that we’ve got distracted. We decided to do what was most important because we were very busy and we all know unless if you have a unique market that it’s hard to find help. So I think it we’re come out of this and we want to get back groove of taking care of our spouse, if you will, our significant other, the best way we can. Reading this is, in my opinion, is definitely something get your juices flown. So you can start thinking about getting back on those strategies for the best, not only the best business light business for professional career within your business but best home life, best health. Just the balance that gets all this stuff done.
Robin Heppell:
For sure. Well, Hey, how can listeners get a copy, Jake?
Jake Johnson:
Yes. If they email me or they call Johnson Consulting, did they email me at my email address? JJohnson@johnsonconsulting.com. We’ll send them one it’s available on Amazon actually, but I’m happy to send organizations, people as many books as they want if they just ask.
Robin Heppell:
Sure. So, Hey, well that sounds great. Hey, and thanks for this Jake. And I’d like to thank you our listeners for spending your time with us today. Our goal is to share our experience and insights and I hope that it may help other funeral professionals like you improve their funeral enterprise. Make sure you check back soon for another episode of the Funeral X Podcast until next time, this has been Jake Johnson and Rob Heppell.
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