Dec 15, 2012
WHAT A CATCH!
Funeral Director Thomas Gale of Currie Funeral Home in Kilmarnock, VA shared this photo with us of he and his wife after catching a 38 inch, 25 lb Bass! Tom was glad ASD was here to catch his phone so he could catch this enormous fish.
We received a tremendous response after we featured this photo in our e-Newsletter and would love to share more photos of funeral directors doing what they love. Send us a photo of you engaged in your favorite hobby or activity for us to share and show others what you can do when you’re not doing outstanding work at your funeral home! Please email all photos or inquiries to jess.fowler@myASD.com. Not receiving our e-Newsletter? Click here to be added to our list.
UPDATE: ASD Helps Family To Connect After 50 Years
Last month, ASD’s Bilingual Call Specialist Annette answered a call for E. Alvin Small Funeral Home from a woman in Italy who could not speak English. Annette was able to translate the call and contact the Funeral Director John Alban. Later, John revealed to us that the woman was his biological mother whom he had never met before. Because of ASD’s call, John was able to reconnect with his birth mother after 50 years. Click here to read more about this story.
We touched base with John Alban this week who let us know his mother arrived in Virginia on Wednesday. John was looking forward to introducing her to the rest of the family. They are expecting a translator to arrive this afternoon to make communication easier but in the meantime they are using a computer to speak to one another. John describes his birth mother as “a spunky lady” and said he can see a lot of himself in her. He hopes to have photos and videos for us to share soon. Congratulations again John–we’re so happy to have been able to help you make the connection.
ASD’s Christmas Luncheon
Here are a few of the photos taken at ASD’s Annual Christmas Luncheon:
ASD’s Founders and Owners, The Czachor Family. From the left: Martin Czachor Jr, Barbara Czachor, Martin Czachor Sr, Kathy Kelley, and Kevin Czachor.
ASD’s Sales Team. From the left: Corporate Specialist, Maryann Carlisle, Lead Creative Designer, Juan Silva, Project Coordinator, Stephanie Bradford, National Sales Manager, Jason Bathurst, New Client Specialist, Sue Fritz, Project Manager, Lauren Kress, Public Relations Specialist, Jessica Fowler, Lead Generation Specialist, Kia Ouattara and Vice President, Kevin Czachor.
ASD’s Technical Team. From the left: Chief Software Architect, Norman Franke, Vice President, Martin Czachor, Jr., Senior Systems Engineer, Gary Foster and Electrical Engineer, Bill D’Orazio
ASD’s Billing Team. From the left: Accounts Receivable Manager, Dara Dix, Vice President & Treasurer, Kathy Kelley, Administrative Assistants, Sandy Palmore and Carla Jones
ASD’s Operations Management Team. From the left: Operations Manager, Linda Haas, Operations Director, Ric Cusumano, Operations Manager, Sharon Batten and Operations Manager, Jennie Brown.
ASD’s Supervisor Team. From the left: Supervisors Sue Norbeck, Anne Hodgson, Kathy Blythe, Renee Mancer, Will Chicola, Jen Hoban, Susan Daleandro, Kristine Soderland, Donna Twitty, Sandy Ellmore and Bill Leighton
ASD’s Operations Team
ASD’s Sensitive Save of the Week
This past Friday, our Training Specialist, Crystal, took a call from a women who began the call with the statement, “Nevermind, I’ll just call on Monday.” Crystal immediately let the caller know she could relay a message immediately. The caller responded by stating, “I’m just calling to get a price. No one has passed yet.” Knowing that the funeral director would prefer to receive advance notification of a near passing in order to gather information in advance, Crystal let the caller know the funeral home was available to be contacted. What could have been a quick hang up turned into an opportunity for the funeral home to serve a new family. Crystal is the winner of our Sensitive Save of the Week Award!
Click here to see last week’s winner, or check out our list of the Top 5 Funeral Calls.
TIP OF THE WEEK
ASD will be sharing tips and advice each week from funeral professionals and our trusted rewards partners. This week’s Tip comes from our friend Patrick King, Director of Channel Marketing at Aftermath, Inc:
“Develop a formal aftercare program for families you serve. The program could be something as simple as sending out a card 4-6 weeks after you perform a service, inquiring how the family is coping with the loss. The card could include a list of local resources available to the family to help with the grieving process. The program could obviously be more comprehensive and allow you to offer more support with professional programs. The benefits to your funeral home (and the family) are many, including enhancing the value the funeral home provides, continually keeping your name out in the community in a positive way, and ultimately, improving both pre-need and at-need opportunities.”
About The Author
Jess Farren (Fowler)
Jess Farren (Fowler) is a Public Relations Specialist and Staff Writer who has been a part of the ASD team since 2003. Jess manages ASD’s company blog and has been published in several funeral trade magazines. She has written articles on a variety of subjects including communication, business planning, technology, marketing and funeral trends. You can contact Jess directly at Jess@myASD.com
