Funeral directors have one of the most difficult jobs there are, and not always for the reasons that people outside the profession believe.

It’s not just difficult because they deal with death every day, though that is never easy and can wear on funeral directors emotionally at times. Their jobs are difficult because this career is so multifaceted — the demands on funeral directors are numerous, and no day is ever the same as the next.

Funeral directors are a little bit of everything — event planners, secretaries, grief counselors, administrators, community members, healthcare workers, businesspeople, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters — the list goes on.

That’s why prioritization is such an important skill for a funeral director to have. To be successful, a funeral director has to be able to balance giving families what they need while also serving the best interests of themselves and their funeral home.

Tips for Prioritizing

We’ve put together a few tips for staying organized and keeping priorities in line:

• Don’t forget that your physical and emotional well-being is an important priority, too. If you aren’t taking care of yourself first, it’s very difficult to take care of others and run a business at the same time.
• Aside from yourself and your family, your client families should be highest on your list of priorities. Their needs should go above everything else, and if you can’t prioritize them yourself, you should ensure that someone else at your funeral home does.
• Set aside time each week to look at the tasks you have at hand and set goals for completing them.
• When you are prioritizing tasks, look at these factors and organize accordingly:
  • How urgent are they? Do they have a very specific deadline?
  • How important are they? Even if something isn’t urgent, it should be prioritized higher than other tasks if it’s something that’s important for your success.
  • What amount of effort needs to go into this task? Can it be split into smaller tasks?
  • How valuable is this task to you? To your client families? Your funeral home?
  • Is this something you need to do yourself, or is it something that should be delegated?
• Set aside time annually, semiannually, or even quarterly to take a look at some of the big things involving you and your funeral home, such as:
  • Is your funeral home currently compliant with all laws and necessary permits, certificates, etc.?
  • Is the technology you use up-to-date and effective?
  • Are there ways that you can improve your skills or the skills of the rest of your staff to better serve your families?
  • Are your facilities up-to-date? Do they need any maintenance or upgrades?
  • Are you proactively looking at your funeral home’s future and taking into account new trends?
• Discuss all of your short-term and long-term goals with the entire staff and make sure everyone is on the same page and understands what their roles are.

What’s most important when it comes to prioritizing is taking the time to set up a plan for both the short- and long-term. Even though your priorities will need to shift at times, having a strong plan in place will help you stay organized and on top of everything that needs done.

If you find that you don’t have enough time in the day to complete everything you need, perhaps it’s time to invest in technology that helps you stay organized and saves you time.

Frazer customers save time by having everything they need in one place. Our websites are easy to manage, and you can even manage them from your mobile device through the Frazer Web Manager iOS and Android apps.

Notifications, Tribute Store orders, website stats, preplans, contact forms, authorizations, upcoming services, and so much more — right at your fingertips, everywhere you go.