Valued Support: Konrad-Behlman Elevates Its Service with FDL
Mark Frierdich
Operations Manager & Certified Planning Consultant
Konrad-Behlman Funeral Homes
Oshkosh, WI
Average call volume: 400 calls/year
Are families getting your sole, undivided attention when you meet with them?
When you have to worry about managing your preneed program, marketing, and other parts of your funeral home, you don’t have the time or energy to serve families well.
Mark Frierdich of Konrad-Behlman Funeral Homes knew it was important to work with a provider that helped his staff stay focused on families. After partnering with Funeral Directors Life more than 20 years ago, Mark couldn’t imagine leaving parts of his business to anyone else.
“If we didn’t have FDL, a lot of our business would fall on our shoulders, which would hurt our ability to serve families,” Mark said. “FDL’s partnership saves us time and is a great asset to our funeral home.”
Keep reading to find out how finding the right partner helped Konrad-Behlman Funeral Homes serve families well.
How has your experience been using FDL for your preneed program?
Our experience with FDL’s preneed service has been nothing but positive. Their customer service is the biggest reason we’ve been with them for 20 years. We love that FDL continues to grow and has become a pretty big company, but they still pick up the phone whenever we call them.
Plus, using DIGicon [FDL’s preneed sales software] is very easy. I consider myself an old-school guy, so if I can learn DIGicon, then I think anyone can. DIGicon allows our funeral home to work with families in very remote areas and complete their contracts quickly. It’s been very nice to have this tool.
You also use FDL for all of your marketing needs. What did Konrad-Behlman’s marketing look like before you switched to FDL?
I used to reach out to local attorneys, churches, and organizations to let them know that we are available to answer funeral, preplanning, or grief questions families may have. Constantly reaching out to those groups took time for our small staff. We don’t have much time to reach out to local clubs and organizations.
Then we tried using all sorts of people and companies for our marketing and advertising, but we didn’t see many benefits. Plus, it hurt our budget and made it difficult to get answers to our questions. I’d have to track down different contacts for different parts of our marketing.
How has your marketing been since using FDL?
We’ve had a very good experience so far. We especially love having all of our marketing with one company like FDL. With FDL, we can pay one fee for all these different services and know they are all working toward the same goal. It’s cost-effective and makes our communication easier. I just have to contact one person.
FDL has also helped us grow our influence in our community. The local community groups we used to have to reach out to are the same groups that are now reaching out to us to see if we’ll speak at their events. That speaks volumes to what FDL has done for us!
So, by all means, using one marketing company is very beneficial to us.
What have you thought about FDL’s website management service?
FDL took care of everything with our website for Konrad-Behlman. I always think of it this way: We’re not marketing or website experts. If I have a sink that needs fixing, I won’t do it myself. I’ll call a plumber. And if I want our website improved, I’ll call the experts at FDL to get it done. Sure, my staff and I know a few things about our website, but our knowledge is nothing close to FDL’s team. So, why would I leave our website to anyone but professionals? We want to give our complete trust to a company we know will do a good job and make us successful. FDL has done that with our website so far.
Do you have any favorite tools or features on your website?
I like how our website has several preplanning features and notifications for our staff. When a family clicks on a specific button or fills out a form on our website, our staff gets notified. That’s a great way to ensure we can follow up with that individual and avoid that lead falling by the wayside. Our website has an entire process set up with deals and pipelines that help us connect with every interested family. We’ve had great luck with reaching families through our website.
Have you seen any positive results since using FDL for your marketing and website?
Since we started using FDL for our marketing and website needs, we’ve seen many more preneed leads come in at Konrad-Behlman. A few years ago, we saw 250 calls per year. Now, we’re up to 400 calls. I think a big part of that is how we’ve informed our community about our services. Our website does a great job of educating families, explaining their options, and giving them easy ways to contact us.
We’ve also seen more new families reach out to us. We have a pretty established funeral home name in our community, so many families know to come to us. But we’ve seen more new families ask us about their options and general questions. I firmly believe the combination of our funeral home brand plus the great marketing and content that FDL provides us has yielded many benefits. The way FDL prioritizes digital marketing is far more effective for us than simply buying a mailing list and making cold calls.
What did you think of the videos FDL’s team created for you?
I was highly pleased with how our videos turned out. One video generated a lot of positivity throughout our community. The video highlighted the installation of a new flagpole at one of our locations and its dedication to a local veterans group. Many people in the community let us know that they saw the video and that they really enjoyed it.
FDL also created some interview videos of our staff, which I think is very powerful. Those videos do a great job of showing families that we’re more than just funeral directors. We’re people, too. It gives a face to our funeral home and makes us memorable and approachable to someone who may not be familiar with us.
Why has Konrad-Behlman continued to work with FDL for so many years?
FDL is very customer and service-oriented. They are easy to contact, and I often tell families I meet with to call FDL’s Home Office if I’m unavailable. FDL is ready to speak with you and get you answers. It’s such a huge comfort knowing FDL is there to help families if I’m not readily available.
What would you say if someone asked you about working with FDL?
You owe it to yourself, your funeral home, and your families to learn about FDL. No matter what you need help with, you can call FDL and get a human being to help you. To me, that’s something that genuinely sets FDL apart.
Look into FDL’s services, talk to funeral homes that use FDL, and see what a difference FDL makes. FDL has been around a long time, and based on the way they treat their customers, they’ll be here for a long time to come.
Ready to leave your business to a trusted partner?
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Read more success stories from funeral homes we’ve partnered with.
From Preneed To Aftercare: How Salazar Funeral Homes Found New Solutions
How Ludwick Funeral Home Upgraded its Social Media and Preneed Program