Dec 21, 2015
As we welcome the Christmas season here at ASD, we wish you and your family the same happiness and excitement we feel during this time of year. At ASD, we hear every day how funeral directors have touched families by giving back. All year round, and especially during the holidays, the generosity of funeral professionals is inspiring.
Funeral Directors understand that for a lot of people, Christmas can be a difficult event. Understanding that families need support, many funeral directors search for ways to help others during this time of year.
With the upcoming holiday approaching, our goal is to provide you with the peace of mind needed to spend this special time with friends and family. As usual, ASD will have staff available 24-hours a day to assist you. We understand that being on call on Christmas is a reality for many directors. Funeral professionals extend themselves more to their profession than all of Santa’s elves combined. We realize that the time you have with your family is often interrupted so you can help others in their time of need.
For this reason, planning in advance of the holidays is essential to us here at ASD. Christmas, New Years Day and the entire holiday season is fully staffed with back up support so you can enjoy those days knowing that your phones are protected. Our employees are committed to working on the holidays, which is why last year on Christmas Day we answered 87 percent of all calls on the first ring and 95 percent by the fourth ring. Every year, we create a special holiday schedule that includes all of our Call Specialists. While our operators work shorter shifts, scheduling everyone increases the overlap of employees to ensure our office is never under staffed. With responsive plans and a close eye on the upcoming schedule, we can forecast well ahead of every holiday to provide the most consistent and reliable service available.
We understand that holidays may impact how you respond to your messages. Our custom-built systems allow us to update your ASD account based on your needs any time, day or night. Please let us know if you have any special On-Call schedules for the upcoming days. If you wish, we have systems in place that can assure you are only being called for messages of the utmost importance.
These calls include:
► Death Calls Prearrangements & Pricing
► Families calling regarding current services
► Near Death situations
► Calls from other Funeral Homes
► Anyone requesting an immediate call back
If you would like to be called ONLY for the situations listed above, please advise our Call Specialist when checking out that you should be reached for CODE YELLOW calls. All other calls will be available via the website, mobile app & voicemail system. If you have any questions or would like to customize your “Code Yellow” criteria, please call 800-868-9950 ext. 2 to speak with a supervisor. You can also click here to learn more about the different checkout options we provide to meet your changing needs.
ASD’s #FuneralDirectorFacts Holiday Image Shared More than 80,000 times on Social Media
An information graphic created by ASD recently struck a cord with thousands of funeral directors on social media. The image was created to spotlight the sacrifices made by funeral directors who work on-call during holidays to provide support to their communities. Many people outside of the profession are unaware of the many ways funeral professionals devote themselves to others. ASD shares #FuneralDirectorFacts to help educate others about the dedication of directors. Each fact focuses on a different way funeral directors go beyond the call of duty to serve families.
With Christmas approaching, many funeral directors are prepared to miss holiday celebrations at home if a family in need requires their services. ASD wanted to highlight this sacrifice and create an information graphic that funeral directors could feel proud to share. We are thrilled that so many funeral professionals have related to our #FuneralDirectorFacts. Some have even cropped the image to remove our logo from it. What matters to us is that so many directors connected with the post and shared it. The graphic has now been shared online more than 80.000 times! Watching a positive funeral director image go viral is a thrill for us at ASD.
ASD’s Annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest
For the fourth consecutive year, ASD employees wore their favorite Ugly Christmas Sweaters and Sweatshirts to celebrate the holidays. Our Fourth Annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest is now in full swing over on ASD’s Facebook page. Click on the image below to visit our Facebook page and leave a comment to help us decide which one of our employees wore the most creative “ugly” getup.
ASD’s Christmas Give Back Programs
ASD staff collected over 40 Christmas gifts for the Angel Tree Program. The Angel Tree Program was created by Children’s Choice, a non-profit adoption and foster care agency in our area, to ensure that children in need receive Christmas gifts. This cause is very near and dear to our hearts and we love how involved our staff is every year!
ASD Employees recently took up a collection of donations for Victory House, an organization that provides support and assistance to homeless veterans. This cause was very important to ASD Supervisor, Kathy Blythe, who passed away last year in December. Our staff wanted to do something special in Kathy’s memory and decided this would be a beautiful way to honor her memory. A special thank you to our supervisor, Isabel, for coordinating this project and transporting donations between ASD and Victory House.
ASD’s 12 Days of Christmas
We rewrote the “12 Days of Christmas” to apply to a typical day in the life of a funeral director. Hope you enjoy!
From everyone here at ASD, we extend to you our best wishes for a joyous Christmas and prosperous New Year! We hope you enjoy the holidays with confidence knowing your phones are always protected. Please don’t hesitate to let us know if there is anything we can do to make the holidays brighter for you and your family. Our supervisors are available 24/7 to make any changes or updates.
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
