Funerals Are Changing with James Mac Neil
Sep 27, 2021
A more transparent and accessible approach to the funeral transaction is underway. James Mac Neil from Life Transitions explains how their progressive approach is being welcomed by the families they serve.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll hear…
▶️ [0:16] The funeral industry has been slow to change. And James is here to talk about why that has been the case, and why Life Transitions is taking frankly, quite a different approach than a lot of traditional funeral homes are. And you take a much more progressive approach. Why is it important for you to do that?
▶️ [2:49] At the core of everything that we're going to ever do is connect it to sadly someone's passed away. So we're always stuck with that, but it's the idea that we're not stuck with that paradigm that has been expertly designed and built and maintained for generations that when someone died, you went to a place like this and you did these things and it caused this much, that's it. Yeah.
▶️ [5:22] I was warned when we first started when I told a few small selected people that we were going to launch out with this new version of the funeral home. Some wise people say, “You should probably say goodbye to your funeral friends now because no one is going to talk with you like within the industry.” Just because this is a different approach. Funeral homes know that the families of our nation are asking for different things, but it's hard to change quickly.
▶️ [7:24] So a lot of people don't want to talk about death anyway, but then with us being such a different provider, to this day, we have people say, “Oh, you only do the cremation.” Just a misunderstanding. Our full name is Life Transitions, Burial and Cremation Service right in the name. But people just make the assumption. Well, you're not like a regular funeral home, so you must not do all the other stuff. So that we're constantly trying to gently correct people with that.
▶️ [9:24] And some people grief you've been through grief for, sometimes you're destroyed by it. Sometimes you are angry, sometimes you're totally, "Nope, I'm good." And you get a sense of reading people and reading the body language and the words. And sometimes there are no words, but it's a lot of just giving people lots of space to do their thing.
▶️ [11:56] And everything else seems so modern and progressive, frankly, for me personally, comfortable. And just so you know, this is the first time I'm physically in this building. So when I came in my immediate thought was it was an upscale home. Oh, that was the impression that I got.
▶️ [14:06] It shows the human side. It shows the human side of what you do and deals with all the complexity of the logistics of what you do. Right. , it's a huge endeavor, and like you said, "Holding yourself to a really high standard to make sure that, you know, but we’re only human.”
▶️ [16:40] And I think we've had a great opportunity to encourage other small businesses. The people say, “Who does your marketing?” Like we do. “Who does your videos?” We do. They're like, “We can do it. You can do it. Yes, you can do it.” You just have to be brave. Take some great advice from a real expert here, how to talk in the camera, how to do all that kind of stuff. And the tools are at your fingertips. A lot of them are free.
▶️[18:26] You've been creating some really high-quality content there. I know we're in the early stages of growing that channel. But you should check it out because you have just put down a lot of knowledge and insight and wisdom in those videos that really can help people make better decisions about after-death care.