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Cemetery Management magazine, July 2004
By Lexann Pryd-Kakuk
Perceiving them to be only for a highly exclusive audience, many cemeteries have avoided marketing private estates like they market community mausoleums or memorials. When people tell me that private estates are too risky to market because there is not enough of a critical mass to support their private estates marketing efforts, I ask them one question: "How can you assume that the private estates market doesn't justify an active marketing program when most families have never been informed or educated about private estates?"
I respond with the same question when people point out that the biggest trend in memorialization today is cremation and toward less formal and expensive forms of memorialization. That may be true, but cremation is one segment of the market. A substantial niche market for private estates remains largely untapped. A large number of people in the private estates market, including high net worth Americans earning $250,000 or more and households with incomes of $75,000 or more, are also seeking to memorialize their legacies and families through private estates. But most of them have not been aggressively marketed to. Most Americans don't know what private estate means. They probably know what a family or private mausoleum is. But they don't know that there are hundreds of different private estate designs available to suit the preferences of middle-to-higher income families and high net worth families.
Naturally, many cemeteries are averse to spending the time and resources required to market private estates. After all, the most cost effective private estate is significantly higher in price than an average bronze or granite memorial. Two-crypt preassembled mausoleums start from $20,000. A larger personalized private estate with classically designed columns, pediments, porticos, and landscaped walkways with benches and statuary can cost more than $250,000.
Unlike community mausoleums, in which crypt and niche spaces are often sold on a preneed basis by the time the mausoleums are completed, or bronze or monumental memorials that can be sold to families in one or two sittings, private estates require a much longer lead-time to be appreciated and sold to families. Yet this market is recording robust growth compared to other memorialization sectors. Cemeteries that have strategically incorporated private estates into their overall marketing efforts have prospered. Each of the following key success factors are employed by all of the following cemeteries, which stand out as examples of cemeteries successfully marketing private estates.
When the Lohman family acquired the Daytona Memorial Park & Funeral Home in Daytona, Fla., Lowell Lohman did not expect that one of the key features of the park would be a special private estates garden. Many people, in fact, doubted the memorial park would be anything what it looks like today. The state forced out the owners of the previous property, which was plagued by vandalism, dilapidated buildings, weed-infested lawns and garbage issues.
Daytona Memorial Park now is a model with manicured lawns, freshly paved roads, and beautiful fountains. But what makes the memorial park stand out is that it is the only one in the county with a private estates garden. Volusia County has a population of half a million people, half of which are 45 years and 65 years old and over, including many retirees. In spite of the county having a 48 percent cremation rate, Lohman knew that there would be a natural demand for private estates because many people interested in private estates memorialization "had no where to go to except to the largest cemeteries that did not distinguish private estates in gardens."
Lohman had a spot in mind for a beautiful private estate garden. A heavily wooded five- acre area was cleared, a lake basin carved and filled, and 14 lots separated by hedges all facing the lake were created. The Lohmans poured in an estimated $150,000 to develop Legacy Lake, which took months of planning and half a year to complete. There was no doubt that the development of the whole property enhanced the community. The Lohmans publicized their efforts. They relayed details to the media and to community members. This resulted in word-of-mouth appreciation and news coverage about the property. The buzz encouraged more people to visit Daytona Memorial Park, including Legacy Lake.
Legacy Lake was designed to be an exclusive sanctuary for private reflection, promoting serenity and peace of mind. "We wanted to create something very unique, a landscaped Garden of Eden that would be appreciated by people seeking a specialized form of memorialization," says Lohman.
Private estate gardens and market-segmented memorialization sections are marketed in the same manner as real estate and upper-end neighborhoods. Mike Shipley, sales manager of Arlington Memorial Park in Atlanta, Ga., says exclusive areas for private estates at Arlington Memorial Park were developed according to four income categories, starting with silver, gold, platinum and diamond. Just like high-end homes are positioned next to lakes, the diamond area features private estates on a lake or a large pond; platinum is located near water; and gold and silver are respectively farther away from watered landscape. "A person seeking a higher-end private estate will not feel comfortable if the plot will be located in an indistinct area located next to memorials or markers," says Shipley. Since land and private estates are segmented and marketed in different categories, they are also sold separately.
While segmenting your market and catering to each group's personalized needs is paramount in any marketing effort, all people visiting your cemetery need to be exposed to private estates. "Don't think private estates are only for the well to-do," says Shipley. "Because you don't know if they're rich or not and people don't know what their needs are. We never assume anything about a family or a person, especially in regard to their financial, religious or ethnic backgrounds. We treat everybody the same."
Shipley and his counselors are trained to introduce all aspects of memorialization, including private estates. They start at the top and talk to families about private estates, followed by community mausoleums and traditional and non-traditional burial and interment options. "We start with higher value and stop at the value that reaches the need of the person," Shipley says.
Rick Halkuff, regional sales manager for the Alderwoods Group responsible for the Jewish market in southern Florida practices the same top-down sales/marketing approach. "It's very important that the counselor isn't afraid to present something that may cost more than a $1 million to a family," he says. "We try not to quote people on prices or inventory. We work to let people naturally gravitate to private estates or other options where their comfort level is the highest."
By taking the time to educate families in this manner, instead of trying to sell them, Shipley notes that some families have opted for a private estate after having memorialized a loved one with a traditional memorial or community mausoleum. "One family member did not like the community mausoleum that her husband was in and ended up purchasing a two-crypt private estate."
Although most private estates are identified with traditional above ground entombment, the growing preference for cremation has necessitated a need for marketing cremation private estates. Instead of containing crypts, cremation estates are columbariums containing cremation niches. Except for exposed units without vestibules, columbarium private estates appear to be no different than private estates. They may have walk-in vestibules or can be larger, classically designed structures. Another favored approach is to flank the front walkways of non-cremation private estates with benches with cremation cores so that members opting for cremation may be interred in the benches next to their family members entombed in private estates.
Private estates are also marketed as the final gathering place of families. Few Americans live in communities where they are born. Most family members are fragmented and dispersed across the country. Rarely are they buried in a family plot and memorialized in the same fashion or in the same cemetery. A family estate can double as a family plot bringing family members, who have lived apart for most of their adult lives, finally together. Maximizing use of space, private estates can be built with as many as 24 crypts and 100 niches, an environmentally conducive factor.
One of the most effective marketing tools for private estates is the cemetery tour. Over 700 burials occur at Shipley's Arlington Memorial Park. Each burial is an opportunity for counselors to tour family members through the whole property. "Tours have to be conducted continuously," Shipley says. "Counselors have to be on their toes to ensure that all families are taken care of, and no person must be left unattended or taken for granted." Shipley recalls that he was able to sell a family an eight-burial gated estate after one tour. "My role really was that of a guide pointing out various features of private estates, including designs, colors and needs for the family."
Featuring a sample private estate is another way to call attention to private estates when families are touring your cemetery. The Lohmans have a vestibule mausoleum made of Sunset Red granite with sandblasted columns and two benches flanking its front walkway. Instead of a generic family name, the Lohmans had the words, "Your Name" carved on the pediment to personalize the marketing message for visiting families passing by.
The counselor must be able to identify the most important needs of a family in relation to private estates. This requires training and preparation. Bruce McGowen, sales manager for Catholic Cemeteries of St. Paul and Minneapolis, says his counselors are trained to ask families questions and to listen. What size are their families? Where are their families? What are their professions? And so on. "Counselors must be trained to develop profiles of families so they can provide more value-added information about private estates to families," says McGowen.
Shipley says, "Preparation to provide families with information on a preneed or at-need basis, or during tours, or when responding to telephone queries, is absolutely critical. Preparation and training are the most important factors underscoring performance." Shipley himself trains his counselors for tours and giving private estates presentations to families.
A day after purchasing Daytona Memorial Park, a well-known realtor in the community, Edwin W. Peck, telephoned Lohman. It was no normal call. Peck asked Lohman for a private estates prearrangement. He not only sought a coveted spot for himself and his family. He wanted to be memorialized in a private estates garden memorializing outstanding members of the community. Peck's vision has snowballed into a drive led by Peck inviting key members of the community to be memorialized in Daytona Memorial Park's Legacy Lake. Respected members of the community receive letters penned by Peck on Lohman Family Properties letterhead summarizing key reasons why they should be memorialized in Legacy Lake. Moreover, word-of-mouth awareness has also spread thanks to Peck praising private estates memorialization in business meetings, luncheons and other social gatherings. Peck even leads tours through Legacy Lake for targeted community members.
Cemeteries that successfully market private estates include private estates in all of their marketing tactics and programs. Every cemetery marketing private estates should:
Marketing avenues that work best for you should be explored and utilized. Halkuff of the Alderwoods Group networks with public attorneys to seek out families that may be interested in private estates. He also acquires lists of people who have purchased high-income automobiles.
The Web is a major information source for people researching products and services. No longer can it be ignored as a marketing tool in the memorialization industry. Cemeteries incorporating the Web for their private estates marketing strategy often feature private estates information on the top of their site's products page. You should too. A good example is how The Catholic Cemeteries Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis features such information on its site (www.catholic-cemeteries.org/products.htm).
It is important to regularly update your Web site. With a content management tool, you can update your site any time to feature fresh information and promotions, including seminars or special tours that you may want to promote on the Home page or on the "What's New" section. Additional information that will benefit families should also be featured. This can be a section explaining various stages of the grieving process, an emergency planning guide outlining various steps that need to be taken following the death of a loved one, and highlights about new memorial sections being added to your cemetery or a cause-related drive that you are organizing for the community, such as a campaign to support cancer research or a veterans memorial. The objective is to turn your Web site into an information tool that people can use for their memorialization needs. The key goal in marketing private estates is to further educate people so that families will explore what you are providing.
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Lexann Pryd-Kakuk is director of marketing for the Cold Spring Granite Co. Memorial Group, which includes four brands: Royal Melrose Granites (monuments); Granit Bronz (bronze memorials, flush markers, bronze statuary and features); Granite Bronz Mausoleums (community mausoleums and columbariums); and Private Estates (family mausoleums). For more information about private estates marketing and support, contact: LPryd-Kakuk@coldspringgranite.com.
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