4 areas of business your software should cover

When shopping for a new car, you have choices to weigh before you find the right one  to purchase.

Here are a few:

• New or used?

• Car, truck, or SUV?

• Color? Finish? Miles per gallon? Gas or electric?

The list of questions goes on and on, and all of them should lead you to a final decision.

The same can be said when choosing funeral home software for your business. You should have a list of questions to help you narrow down what tools you need to find the right solution. But with so many options out there, what should you  look for? The best way to start the software search is by examining its features and how they will impact different areas of your business. All the tools should work well together and be housed in a single platform. Because if your funeral home software excels at accounting but doesn’t have a way for you to keep up with events, case notes, and tasks, something is bound to fall through the cracks. Let’s examine the 4 key areas of your business that software should cover and outline the major features to look for in each area.

#1 FAMILIES

More and more families expect to interact with businesses in person and digitally. Your funeral home is no exception.Your software should have features that allow you to offer families digital planning options while building meaningful connections with them. Here are a few features you should look for to improve your service to families.

ONLINE ARRANGEMENT PLATFORM

In a funeral consumer survey our team conducted with McKee Wallwork + Co., 36% of people said they were comfortable planning a funeral online, which shows a 44% increase over the last decade. And nearly half of the respondents said they would likely prearrange and prepay for a funeral online. With an online arrangement tool, your families can preplan and prepay for their funerals from the comfort of home. It also ensures you generate new leads and business for your funeral home.

DIGITAL PLANNING CENTER

Planning the perfect service means you need to collect a lot of information from the family, from vital statistics to payments and documents. With a planning tool, you can work with families online to gather information about the service. That way, you can feel more prepared during the arrangement conference to help families personalize a service.

AI OBITUARY WRITER

Some families prefer to take charge of writing the obituary, but heightened emotions and time constraints can make getting started difficult. Support families by offering them an AI obituary writing tool in your funeral home software platform. You can even use the tool to write a quick first draft to share with a family for review.

ESIGNATURES

In the last year, we found that the number of planners who lived 500-1,000+ miles away from their loved one who had passed increased by 20%. That means you need an easy and convenient way to gather signatures for a case so you can keep the service moving. Look for software that has a built-in eSignature tool, so you and your families can complete paperwork anytime, anywhere. Plus, with a built-in tool, you can distribute, sign, and collect all the documents you need without ever leaving your software.In short, technology can help you work better with families. This next category can help you improve your financials.

#2 FINANCES

Every funeral home owner or manager needs tools to help them manage their finances. The problem is that they might be using 3-4 different platforms to do everything, which is time-consuming. No one wants that! Your software platform should have tools that make managing finances easy. When searching for software, look for these 3 features. PAYMENTS & ADJUSTMENTS You should be able to log and process payments without ever leaving your software platform. That way, you can enter payments, print receipts, and add adjustments to keep track of your financials in one place, saving you time from switching between platforms.

CHECK WRITING

Have you ever had to manually copy over line items from a contract onto a paper check? This can become tedious and time-consuming, especially if you’re paying multiple vendors for every service. Plus, if you miss or mix up a line item, you have to void the paper check and write a new one. Your software solution should allow you to create, print, or void digital checks to save paper and keep a detailed register of checks you’ve written.

INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

At your funeral home, you likely offer families different options for caskets, urns, keepsakes, and other merchandise. If you don’t accurately keep up with your inventory, you might accidentally double-purchase or sell something you don’t have in stock. With great inventory management through funeral home software, you can easily see what’s available and what you have to order, helping you avoid mistakes. With your financials covered, the next category to look for is features for team collaboration.

#3 COLLABORATION

Behind every great team is solid communication. Your software platform should make communicating and collaborating as a team simple and easy to ensure tasks get done on time. Here are a few software features that will help your team work together to ensure no detail falls through the cracks.

BARCODE TRACKING

All funeral homes need a system to keep track of all the items and bodies that pass through their facility, and clipboards don’t cut it anymore. With a barcode tracking tool, maintaining an accurate chain of custody is efficient and easy, whether you serve 40 families in a year or 4,000. A digital system should allow you to scan a barcode, assign it, and track it in real-time.

NOTES & NOTIFICATIONS

With software, digital notes and notifications take the place of scribbled sticky notes and emails. Stay connected and organized with a notes feature that lets you record case details, mention team members, and get instant notifications to ensure tasks get done. EVENT MANAGEMENT As a funeral professional, you’re busy. You need a simple way to manage and schedule work events to share with families or your team so everyone is in the know. Look for software that lets you create a team calendar to make sure everyone on staff knows where they need to be and when.

DOCUMENTS

It’s easy to get bogged down in documentation when multiple people on your team have to re-enter the information multiple times into your software. That’s why it’s important to look for software with auto-fill capabilities, saving the entire team time on paperwork! With families, finances, and communication covered, the last area your software should improve in your business relates to your data.

#4 DATA

Keeping up with all the information that enters your funeral home can be a challenge. Then, you have to take that information and use it to create reports to gain insights into different areas of your business. Your funeral home software should make information accessible, easy to find, and manage. Here are a few features to consider for data management.

REPORTING

You own your data, and you deserve to have the ability to access it whenever you need it. With the right reporting tools, you can create customizable reports that give you insights into your business so you can make key decisions. What’s better is if you can set up automatic reports to appear in your inbox monthly, weekly, or daily.

WHITEBOARDS

When you log into your software, there’s nothing more convenient than seeing all your key information front and center. Look for software that allows you to create a digital whiteboard of your case listing that you can color-code and customize with labels and icons. If it can replace your physical whiteboard, even better.

CASE MERGING

When it comes to cases, your entire staff might help at some point. And when several people touch a case, it’s easy to have duplicate cases emerge. An easy clean-up tool will allow you to merge cases to get rid of duplicates and keep your case f iles clean (and make reporting more accurate!).

IMPROVE EFFICIENCY WITH SOFTWARE THAT SAVES TIME EVERYWHERE

Choosing the right funeral home software is important for improving efficiency at your funeral home. Look for these 4 key areas your software should cover with features to help you simplify processes, save time, and create a great experience for your team and your families

Josh McQueen is the Vice President of Marketing and Product at Directors Investment Group (the parent company of Funeral Directors Life and Passare), where he oversees marketing campaign efforts and new technology products, all while helping funeral homes be more innovative. Reach him at josh.mcqueen@digfamily.co or visit www.passare.com to see funeral home software that will help you better manage your business and connect with families.