The Right Way of Death: Restoring the American Funeral Business to Its True Calling

What if youve been right all along?What if everything you think (but cant say) about funeral service is true?Death care isnt what it used to be. Cremation rates are sky-high customers have changing expectations and new competitors materialize every day. Its no surprise that an entire generation of family funeral home owners are wondering if this is the time to get out.This book has the answers. Author Eric Layer has spent his career helping brands navigate the winds of change after spending most of his life in and around the family business of funeral homes and cemeteries. He leverages that unique perspective to paint a vivid picture of what todays funeral directors are getting right-and what theyre doing wrong.The current uncertainty around death care is not morticians fault but it is their problem. The calling is hamstrung by mixed messages. Its tough for a modern funeral director to decide whether to be leader or follower salesperson or confidant. But there is a right way to do death and funeral professionals are experts. The future of the business will require a recognition of that truth so that those who work in death care can reclaim the soul of the calling and guide families with care and confidence.Layers firm McKee Wallwork + Co. has spent more than a decade meticulously researching and consulting with funeral homes and related businesses. The firm has been a pioneer in industry research having fielded the first-ever national funeral consumer psychographic segmentation study and co-invented the Death Care Genogram as well as the Death Disruption Index. In The Right Way of Death youll find a crisp and insightful portrait of the modern business of death that draws evenly from that extensive research business case studies and poignant personal anecdotes.An engaging thoughtful and surprisingly enjoyable rebuttal to Jessica Mitfords controversial 1963 book The American Way of Death Layers The Right Way of Death is a must-read for any American funeral director cemeterian or mortuary owner ready to do death better.