Apr 24, 2019
Working as a funeral director, there are many problems that can occur as a result of a simple miscommunication. Here are 12 headaches funeral directors commonly experience and how to eliminate them from your life using ASD’s advanced and user-friendly technology.
1. You’re called on your cell phone with a new first call but cannot answer because you’re meeting with a family.
ASD sends you an At-Need Alert™ the moment we recognize that someone has passed so that you can politely excuse yourself from any situation and find an appropriate place to handle the new first call.
2. You are starting to feel burnout from answering every call yourself, but want to support families in need 24/7.
With ASD’s At-Need Connect™ you can join in on first calls in progress, just as if you are picking up a second line at the funeral home. You can even listen in to the call in a stealth monitor mode or request more details before taking over the call.
3. You’re away on vacation when an urgent call comes in from a family on your personal cell phone.
Use ASD’s patent-pending MobileFH® feature to keep your cell phone number private. Available through ASD Mobile, this patent-pending feature will display the funeral home’s office line as your outgoing Caller ID when calling from your cell phone. This also guarantees you won’t unintentionally offend a family by blocking your Caller ID.
ASD’s First Call Report® notifies you via text, email or push notification when a first call is handled for your funeral home, even when other employees are on call. You can also launch the ASD Mobile app to quickly review recent calls.
5. A death is reported while you are handling another first call and you need to quickly communicate this information to the backup on-call person.
Rather than writing down notes and reading them to your employees or removal service, ASD Mobile allows you to copy and share messages with your contacts, including the complete recording of every call.
6. You receive a high number of after-hour calls because you forgot to post an obit online due to lack of time.
ASD’s FuneralSync™ program allows you to automatically transfer service information between ASD and your funeral home website, saving you time and reducing data entry errors.
7. A bad storm knocks out power in your area and families have no way of contacting the funeral home.
Through your local phone company, you can set up your call forwarding to route to ASD in the event that there is an unexpected power outage. Having backup protection ensures you never miss an opportunity to serve a family in need. You can also set up No Answer Call Forwarding to protect calls that are not answered in the office by a predetermined number of rings.
8. A first call is reported by a hospital at 3 a.m. and you have to wake up to call your removal service with the details.
ASD has developed customizable solutions to assist with coordinating removals. We can contact a specific on-call person depending on the time and location of death and relay all of the necessary details to your on-call removal team.
9. Some of your staff is better at handling pricing and preneed calls than others and you need to ensure specific employees always handle these sensitive calls.
ASD can connect all pricing and pre-need calls to your designated staff members. All calls that are patched are also recorded, allowing you to monitor communication by listening to calls after they are connected to your staff. We can also send your staff a Pre-Need Alert™ to give you a heads up that a new pre-need call is being handled. They can then choose to connect into the pre-need call via our exclusive Pre-Need Connect™ feature.
10. After being routinely contacted by the same solicitor, you want to block the number from calling.
With ASD’s patented Solicitor Shield™ funeral home, you can block any number from calling your funeral home while lines are forwarded. This ensures you are not charged for calls from telemarketers.
11. After speaking to a family, you realize that the notes you wrote down are difficult to read and you aren’t sure if all the information is accurate.
By contacting the family through ASD’s MobileFH® feature, your conversation with the family will be recorded and available to you through our website, mobile app or voicemail system.
If you are interested in learning how ASD’s technology solutions for funeral homes can help you manage your after hour calls and protect new business opportunities, please contact us at 800-868-9950 or email Sales@myASD.com. Be sure to ask about our FREE 30-Day Trial.
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
