DIVERSIFICATION OF ASSETS – Most independent funeral home owners have the majority of their net worth tied up in the business – it’s no surprise that financial advisors will consider this risky.   Why? The probability of your business declining in value is high, especially as cremations increase or  a low-cost or online competitor enters the market. The lack of investment diversity can be devastating to your ability to retire in the future or meet your retirement expectations. This is why we are finding many funeral home owners are being proactive, realizing it’s much safer to sell before they’re ready to retire.  Partnering allows you to diversify your family assets into a mix of other investments that can include cash, bonds, other securities, or real estate.

OPERATIONAL SUPPORT – In order for you to focus your time on serving families, our private buyers take responsibility for all the “back office” responsibilities such as accounting, human resources, risk management, legal issues, marketing, and technology support.  We constantly hear that one of the most valuable benefits of partnering with a larger company is that it gives former owners the chance to finally enjoy more nights and weekends. With the opportunities to be away from the business, these owners can now spend more time with their loved ones and enjoy their hobbies.  Another opportunity that presents itself is that the former owners can now spend more focused time on what matters the most to them at work, the grieving families.

STAFFING – Finding and keeping high-quality staff has become a tremendous challenge for most funeral home owners.  We often hear that the quality of potential employees just isn’t what it used to be.  Larger, private funeral home operators usually have deep recruiting relationships, as well as stronger benefit plans and career development opportunities. All this helps a great deal  in attracting the right-fit employees.  These larger companies also cross-utilize employees so they can easily send someone to provide staffing coverage if anyone is off of work for any reason.

ADDITIONAL FUNDING– Funeral home owners often recognize that in order to take their business to the next level and improve their position in the market, they need to continuously work on improvements. However, the desire isn’t usually there to invest the funds needed to accomplish this.  Larger private buyers are well-funded and willing to make the investments where needed to maintain and grow market share – it could be as simple as paving the parking lot, replacing carpet, or even be a larger project like the addition of a chapel.

EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE– Just as in life, there are many things that can go wrong when owning a business.  Some examples include fires, floods, loss of employees, or owners becoming sick or disabled. Most recently, we’ve seen Covid-19 as a risk that every funeral home in the nation had to promptly address. When you’re part of a larger group, there is a whole team of people working together to develop strategies and help each other. When you’re an independent owner, it’s not uncommon to fight these battles alone which can feel isolating and negatively impact the owner’s health and well-being.

FREEDOM FOR NEXT GENERATIONS– One of the biggest concerns we hear about from sellers about the option of selling to the next generation is that they don’t want their kids to have the same stresses that they have had to endure over the years. Securing financial futures while pursuing interests and passions without a huge burden of debt has been quite rewarding for many of our sellers.

Q: Why should I consider selling my funeral home?

A: Many of our clients consider a sale due to the changing nature of funeral service – Increasing cremations, more regulation, casket stores, online casket retailers, low-cost storefronts, potential tax changes, and the dwindling number of qualified staff. However, most of our clients are merely interested in a change of lifestyle.  They have successful businesses, but they realize that life is not just about work.  As a funeral home owner, the lifestyle is one that is typically tied to the business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Many of our clients tell us they woke up one day and realized that life was passing them by and they wanted to rid themselves of the daily burden of running a business.  We understand this mentality, and we have assisted numerous sales for owners who wanted to start a new chapter in their life.

Q: Why can’t I just explore a funeral home sale on my own or get my accountant to help me?

A: You and your accountant are integral in completing a successful sale. Even so, engaging with succession planning professionals specializing in funeral service such as NewBridge is key critical. Accountants, even if they are excellent at their work, don’t have access to all the potential buyers, market data, financing sources, or the relationships in the funeral service to get a deal successfully completed on their own. Additionally, accountants charge by the hour so you would end up paying them even if a sale transaction doesn’t even end up taking place.

Q: What Should I Expect from NewBridge as an Independent Funeral Home Owner with an Interest in Selling?

A: You can expect NewBridge to:

• Determine which type of buyer would be the best fit for you.
• Perform a confidential business valuation.
• Provide a cremation trends analysis as well as a tax implication analysis.
• Provide a comparable sales summary of similar sized funeral homes.

Q: Will a New Owner Ruin My Business?

A: No. Corporate funeral home owners have taught us all several important lessons. Mostly, they have taught regional buyers exactly what not to do.  Funeral home buyers today realize that you can’t just come in, raise prices, and reduce service.

In contrast, the buyers that NewBridge works with are looking for ways to increase services to families so that they can continue to build and maintain relationships already established within the community. Whether it’s through the use of Zoom meetings, after-care programs, increased marketing, painting and/or carpeting the building, or even adding a new facility, NewBridge buyers know that serving families is what ensures the success of a local funeral home.  It’s common practice for our buyers to gladly connect you with former owners and managers so you can get a first-hand account of how life is actually like after the sale with a new owner.