Funeral Homes Business Plans -- Not necessarily business as it has been

As you well know, funeral home business plans have changed dramatically the past few years, due to the fact that the industry as a whole is undergoing a massive transformation.  To ensure that your business plan "works", its first job is simply to educate your banker on just what those changes have been.

Most people, including bankers, are rather stuck in the past.  Unless this is a banker that you have dealt with for a number of years, you will need a section right up front in your business plan outlining what the major changes in the industry have brought, and how that has affected your bottom line.

Also point out how your business is accommodating these changes.  No one business can be everything to everyone, so demonstrate which services you have opted to provide, and why.

And, since everyone assumes that all funeral homes are well financed, make sure your funeral home business plan sets out just why you are looking for funding, i.e., what affect the funding will have on your business, and how you will repay the loan.

We went searching for an existing funeral home business plan template that we could recommend, and we honestly couldn't find one.  The ones we found are so archaic that they just would not not work.

So we have a different recommendation.

Take a solid business plan workbook and amend it to suit your needs.  All business plans have certain elements in common, like

• An outline of the business
• Marketing plan
• Pro forma projections
• Information on the principals

Your business plan will too.  But your funeral home business plan will be different from every other business plan, even different from other business plans for funerals homes.  The licensing requirements will be different.  The demographic information will be different.  The core business services will be different.

Use that difference to your advantage and demonstrate how your business is truly unique.

As with everything that you do, you will be walking a narrow line between "profit" and "compassion".  You are used to that, and you no doubt do it a whole lot better than we do.  So use that skill in writing your business plan.

You have a unique calling, and your funeral home business plan will reflect that.

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