The country’s premier trade publication for funeral homes has a flower-friendly message for its readers this month: Flowers and plants are an important and emotional part of memorial services — and funeral directors and florists should work together to ensure floral tributes offer family members and friends comfort in their time of grief.
 A five-page story in the June 2015 issue of The Director encouraged funeral home directors to work closely with florists and to emphasize the importance of flowers and plants to grieving families. |
The five-page story, published in the June 2015 issue of The Director, the flagship publication of the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA), cites research from a new report, which analyzes results from a survey of nearly 200 NFDA members.
The Funeral Directors and Flowers Report reveals directors’ thoughts and preferences on sympathy flowers and delves into issues such as charity donations versus flowers, consumers’ reactions toward sympathy flowers, the relationship between floral retailers and funeral directors and more. It also provides ready-to-implement ideas, checklists and detailed suggestions from funeral directors.
The research was coordinated by the American Floral Endowment and funded by the Floral Marketing Research Fund.
The Director story included input from florists and ideas on how to put an end to the troublesome “in lieu of” phrase, along with tips on how directors and homes can work more seamlessly with local florists.
Strengthening the relationship between funeral homes and local florists was the topic of the April 2015 Floral Management magazine cover story and it will be the focus of a panel discussion during SAF Amelia Island 2015, Sept. 9-12, when attendees will hear directly from four funeral directors and have time to engage the speakers in a candid QA about best practices, trends and tips.
