ICCFA Wireless is a bi-weekly electronic newsletter bringing members of the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association the latest government and legal, industry and association news. It is available to all ICCFA members current on their dues. Comments, questions and "hot news tips" are welcome. Write to: hq@iccfa.com.
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INDUSTRY NEWS
H.R. 3655 Cliffhanger: Bereaved Consumer Rights Bill Pending in Congress Through Year's End
 At this writing, both houses of Congress have adjourned until after the November 2 elections. The leadership of both the Senate and the House of Representatives have announced that they will reconvene by November 14 for a "lame duck" session to consider passing new laws, possibly right up to December 31 when, by law, the 111th Congress must permanently adjourn. At that point, all bills not voted on will expire and must be reintroduced into the new 112th Congress to begin the process all over again.
Most attention is understandably focused on whether the Bush Administration tax cuts will be extended or allowed to expire at the end of this year. However, of particular, and perhaps peculiar, concern to the cemetery and funeral industry is H.R. 3655, the Bereaved Consumers Bill of Rights Act, which is pending before the full House for a vote.
H.R. 3655 was passed by a voice vote of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in July. The ICCFA testified in opposition to the bill and has rallied additional opposition from numerous industry trade associations, within and outside of the cemetery and funeral industries.
Two factors currently in play may affect whether or not H.R. 3655 becomes law in the final weeks of 2010. The first issue is the impact of the cost analysis of the bill (reported in the previous edition of ICCFA Wireless). The second factor is a new Senate bill, S. 3860, which seeks to impose new regulations on Arlington National Cemetery. While this bill does not affect private sector cemeteries or related businesses, the provisions of H.R. 3655 could eventually be incorporated into this legislation.
Just prior to the Senate recess at the end of September, Senators Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Scott Brown (R-MA), Joseph Leiberman (I-CT), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Richard Burr (R-NC), introduced S. 3860 to impose strict new regulations on Arlington National Cemetery in the wake of serious mismanagement problems at the cemetery. The bill is focused entirely on Arlington but through the Congressional amendment process, its purposes can be expanded to address other issues involving the private sector.
Depending on the priorities of the House and Senate leadership during the "lame duck" session, H.R. 3655 could be forwarded to the Senate for consideration or S. 3860 could be passed by the Senate and forwarded to the House. In either event, both bills could be combined for a vote, or possibly added to an appropriations bill that Congress will be considering. ICCFA members will be kept informed of significant developments.
ICCFA NEWS
Hotel Reservation Deadline Extended to Monday
There is still time to reserve your room for the ICCFA Fall Management Conference. The J.W. Marriott Camelback Inn Resort & Spa has extended the ICCFA discounted rate through Monday, October 11. After that room rates increase from $245 to $329+ per night. Make your reservation now through the resort's Web site at www.camelbackinn.com or by calling 1.800.582.2169.
The ICCFA Fall Management Conference, October 27-30 at Camelback Inn Resort & Spa in Scottsdale, Arizona, offers a one-of-a-kind opportunity for you and your top management staff to develop a strategic plan for the next five to 10 years.
On the first day of the conference, John Austin, Ph.D., senior consultant in executive development for Decision Strategies International and an instructor for senior executives at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, Georgetown University and Duke Corporate Education, will present a three-hour session on strategic planning. Austin developed an exclusive "scenario report" with a seven-year outlook for the cemetery, cremation and funeral service industry based on a pre-conference industry-wide survey as well as in-depth interviews and study group sessions with some of the profession's top thought leaders, He will present a one-hour keynote address on scenario-based strategic planning, followed by a two-hour workshop session in which he will facilitate a planning session using the scenarios in the report.
On day two of the conference, William Malek, strategy execution officer for Strategy2Reality LLC, former program director for Stanford University's Advanced Project Management program and author of "Executing Your Strategy: How to Break it Down & Get It Done," will conduct an interactive, experiential session on strategy execution. He'll share his expertise on how to take a strategic plan from idea to action, including topics such as recognizing necessary change, avoiding poor planning and understanding and communicating strategic goals.
The conference program will be rounded out on the final day with a presentation by employee benefits expert Scott Morsch on how the new health care laws and the choices employers make with regard to those laws will affect their companies, as well as a panel discussion on the government and legal issues facing the profession.
In addition to the educational sessions, the Fall Management Conference offers excellent opportunities for informal idea sharing, including the Fall Management Golf Tournament and several evening receptions.
For complete program details and registration materials, visit www.iccfa.com or call 1.800.645.7700.
Download the registration form here or register online here.
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THANK YOU TO OUR CORPORATE PARTNERS!
Matthews International • Service Corporation International • StoneMor Partners LP • Batesville Casket Company • Forethought Financial Services • Stewart Enterprises • Wilbert Funeral Services • Cold Spring Memorial Group • Johnson Consulting Group • Lincoln Heritage Funeral Planning • Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks & Mortuaries • Riviera Tailors Ltd. • Carriage Services • Aurora Casket Company Inc. • IMSA • Merendino Cemetery Care • Trigard • HMIS • J. Stuart Todd, Inc. • Independence Trust Company • Milne Construction Company • Gibraltar Remembrance Services
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Make This Quarter Your Best Quarter of the Year: Start a Contest!
Sales Managers: Make your fourth quarter of 2010 the best quarter of the year. Create a contest with a reward that will give all of your counselors incentive to become top producers. A trip to the ICCFA Wide World of Sales Conference, January 12-14, 2011, at Bally's Las Vegas is a terrific incentive and is the reward that keeps on giving as your staff will attend training sessions filled with useful, practical tools they can take back to the office and implement immediately, allowing them to retool, re-envision and recharge their sales throughout 2011.
The 2011 Wide World of Sales Conference offers:
- Internationally renowned keynote speakers Noah Rickun and "The Sales Whisperer" Wes Schaeffer
- Sessions on strategic marketing, social media & online leads, branding, sales strategy, setting & meeting goals, and more!
- Two solid days of educational seminars offering practical tools and techniques for boosting sales
- ICCFA take-home binder filled with handouts and "how to" instructions
- Registration directory of all attendees to facilitate networking with more than 300 of the best industry sales counselors and managers from around the world
- Wednesday evening Welcome Reception
- Opportunity for counselors to participate in our "Speed Sales" session: 10 solid sales ideas shared in a "speed dating" format
- A special Thursday networking and motivational luncheon with Gary O'Sullivan
- A chance to win cash and prizes
- and much more!
Register online today or download the registration form here. You may now make your hotel reservation at Bally's. Bally's Las Vegas is offering attendees the discounted room rate of $149 per night for single/double occupancy (a decrease of $29 from last year's hotel rate). To make your reservation, please call 1.800.358.8777 and identify yourself as an ICCFA attendee.
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THANK YOU TO OUR CORPORATE PARTNERS!
Service Corporation International • Forethought Financial Group Inc. • Homesteaders Life Company • Matthews International • Assurant Solutions • North Star Management Group • Arbor Memorial Services Inc. • Funeral Directors Life Insurance Company • Gibraltar Remembrance Services
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 Submit Your 2010 KIP Award Entries Now; New Pet Category Added
Applications for ICCFA's 2010 Keeping It Personal (KIP) Awards are available for download. The mission of the awards program is to recognize the best in personalization in the cemetery, cremation and funeral service profession. Deadline for submission is December 3.
Created by the ICCFA Personalization Committee, the KIP program honors recipients in five categories:
Winners are recognized in ICCFA Magazine and at the ICCFA Annual Convention & Expo. Winners also receive a press release for use in their local media.
2010 applications and profiles of past winners are available on the ICCFA Web site at http://www.iccfa.com/certifications-awards/kip/kip-awards.
Annual Convention & Expo Keynotes: Applying Outside Expertise to Your Business
The ICCFA's 2011 Annual Convention & Exposition, March 8-11 at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, offers three keynote addresses to help guide your business to "A Bright Future:"
- Apple brand evangelist, entrepreneur and author Guy Kawasaki will examine the process cemeteries and funeral homes need to undergo if they are to reinvent themselves and their ability to serve the marketplace of tomorrow. He'll use his experience working with Apple and studying dozens of world-class companies to lay out the strategic steps needed to create new products and services, and he'll provide specific examples of how to do this within our industry.
- "Long Fuse, Big Bang" author Eric Haseltine will show you how to become a "visionary," how to refocus and redefine the business realities that exist right in front of you and how to turn perceived threats into opportunities. He'll examine specific issues facing our industry and challenge you to re-envision them to achieve both short- and long-term advantages in the marketplace.
- Consultant and speaker Juliet Funt will share simple yet powerful strategies to help you create the "white space" you need to become more effective, efficient and energized in your daily work life.
In addition, the 2011 Convention offers:
- Cremation Coaching Center LIVE!: In the cremation "game," there will be winners and there will be losers. In this first-of-its-kind interactive educational experience, our cremation coaches will help you and your staff develop the strategy and skills you need to succeed in cremation operations, arrangements and administration. Co-chairs: Julie Burn and Poul Lemasters.
- Breakout sessions on topics that most affect your business: marketing to boomers, management solutions, effective hiring, technology, embalming and more.
- More than 400 exhibit booths
- Second Annual PLPA Conference
- Networking luncheons, receptions and dinner
- Earn continuing education credits
- Free food & drinks in the Expo hall
- KIP Awards presentation
and much, much more. MARK YOUR CALENDARS NOW!
The exhibitor prospectus is available online now. Registration and full program information will be available later this year.
- TO BUY/SELL
- POSITIONS AVAILABLE
- Cemetery Manager (New Mexico)
- Start Immediately, Cemetery Person to Manage (Georgia)
- Executive Director (Miami, FL)
- Sales Director (Charlottesville, VA)
- Cemetery Sales Professionals (Jacksonville, FL)
- Sales Management Professional (Michigan)
- Top Sales Director Needed (New York)
- Sales Manager Openings (Florida)
- Experience Cemetery Sales Managers (Philadelphia/Delaware Co./Chester Co., PA)
- Experience Sales Professionals (National)
- Funeral Director (Terre Haute, IN)
- Funeral Director (Jacksonville, FL)
- Funeral Director (Houston, TX)
- Maintenance Supervisor (SW Florida)
- Great Opportunity & New Approach to Sales (Kentucky)
- Sales Professionals (Florida)
- Insyte Cemetery Consulting (New York)
- Embalmer (El Paso, TX)
- Funeral Director/Embalmer (Corpus Christi, TX)
- Cemetery Sales Manager (Central Florida)
- Sales Management (IL, OH, LA, MS, WV, AR, MO, KY, TN, NJ, MD, DE & PA)
Place your classified advertisement with ICCFA today!
member benefits
ICCFA Supply Link Allows Easy Buyer's Guide Searching
The ICCFA Supply Link, an online buyer's guide members can use to easily search for products and services from the convenience of their computers, can be accessed directly from the ICCFA home page. The Supply Link offers a "Search" function whereby members can search according to product type or company name and can be limited to a state or to a certain radius distance from a specified city or ZIP code. Users also can narrow their search to include only ICCFA-member companies. Suppliers that are ICCFA members and exhibitors are identified as such in their listings.
Discounts at FuneralReview.com and Dignity University
The ICCFA has partnered with FuneralReview.Com to provide online continuing education at a discount for members. Founded in 2002, FuneralReview.Com is North America's largest provider of online continuing education courses designed specifically for funeral directors, embalmers and preneed counselors. ICCFA members are being provided a code for use in obtaining a discount on the site's funeral courses.
All funeral courses at FuneralReview.com are approved by the Academy of Professional Funeral Service Practice. ICCFA members in good standing can log in using a special code to receive a discounted price on the funeral service courses. If you have not yet received your code or have misplaced it, call the ICCFA at 1.800.645.7700. For more information, visit www.funeralreview.com.
The ICCFA also offers low-cost online training on a variety of OSHA topics through a partnership with Dignity University. To access the 23 OSHA courses, visit http://online.ecampustraining.com/Dignityu/.
ICCFA News Page
The ICCFA News Page takes you to sources throughout the world for industry news and updates. It brings you the most comprehensive selection of funeral service and cemetery news available anywhere, along with frequently updated general news items related to national and world events. The News Page reports the news before anyone else and is one of the most visited page on the ICCFA Web site. Stop in each day and you'll see why.
Music Licensing
The 2009 Music Licenses are available for just $248 per property, no additional fees. Covers ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. Any U.S. funeral home, cemetery or related business is eligible for membership as a Music License Member. Licensing directly with the agencies this year would cost nearly $600 per location, so this price—which requires no additional membership fee—is still the lowest available to the industry.
Tax-Related Questions
ICCFA members now also have access to an attorney for tax-related questions regarding trust earnings, care fund allocations, capital gains, investments and more. The ICCFA has retained Leslie Schneider, CPA, a tax attorney with Ivins, Phillips & Barker in Washington, DC, for telephone consultations for up to 20 minutes with no obligation. To take advantage of this member benefit, call Schneider at 202.393.7600.
ICCFA Insurance Program
Administered by Alliant Insurance Services, this program allows members to purchase commercial property and casualty insurance—including general liability, commercial property, automobile liability and physical damage, umbrella liability, professional liability, workers compensation, employee benefits and more—at rates they probably would not be able to afford on
their own. For details, call 800.390.9099.
HR Law Benefit
Through an unprecedented new benefit program, ICCFA members can now access free legal consultations regarding labor relations, human resource management and employment law. Attorney Michael Pepperman of the Labor Relations and Employment Law department at Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel LLP (ORM&H), is available to address questions on topics ranging from hiring and firing, to employee privacy and workplace violence, to wages and hours, to equal employment opportunity and wrongful discharge issues. Michael Pepperman, Esq., has spoken on labor and employment issues at several ICCFA conferences and regional industry meetings. To take advantage of this benefit, please call 215.665.3032.
ICCFA Introduces New Sales Training Programs
ICCFA introduces new sales training programs by sales trainer and professional speaker Gary O'Sullivan, CCE. O'Sullivan's two latest products include a 10 DVD Series—The Power to Sell Preneed, and a training support system called the GoSell System. Both products provide sales managers with tools and training strategies that will help them to strengthen and motivate their teams. For more details or to place an order, call the ICCFA at 800.645.7700.
ICCFA Internet Expo
The ICCFA Internet Expo is the largest online exposition in the cemetery and funeral service industry. Cemetery and funeral home owners and operators will find 300+ providers in more than 100 product and service categories. Exhibit space is provided as a free, exclusive benefit to all ICCFA supplier and professional members. Check it out today!
Fraud Prevention & Detection Consultation Service
ICCFA has retained the services of veteran fraud investigator Robert A. Garvey Jr., CPA, CFE, CrFA, CVA, to serve as a consultative resource for members' employee theft and fraud concerns. The new member benefit, the "Fraud Investigation and Deterrence Consultation Service" or FIDCS, will allow members to discuss by telephone any issues or concerns related to suspected fraudulent activity or a desire to put systems and controls in place at their locations to deter such activity. There is no cost to ICCFA members in good standing to utilize this benefit. The number to call is 866.649.1902.
Legal Advice on Cremation Concerns
Courtesy of the ICCFA Government and Legal Fund, ICCFA members now have access to pre-paid legal advice on cremation-related issues. Through this exclusive member benefit, the association has retained Poul H. Lemasters, Esq., of Lemasters Consulting in Cincinnati, Ohio. Poul is an attorney and licensed funeral director, and members in good standing may call him at 513.407.8114 to discuss cremation concerns for up to 20 minutes at no charge.
FTC 'Red Flag' Compliance Program
ICCFA now offers members a sample compliance program concerning new Federal Trade Commission rules to fight identity theft. To have the program template sent to you, please contact us at 800.645.7700 or rfells@iccfa.com.
GPL Compliance Check
Members whose businesses must follow the FTC Funeral Rule's General Price List (GPL) requirements can have their lists reviewed for compliance by attorney Poul H. Lemasters, Esq., without charge. Contact Lemasters at 513.407.8114.
CONTACT US
International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association
107 Carpenter Drive, Suite 100
Sterling, VA 20164
1.800.645.7700
703.391.8400
Fax: 703.391.8416
www.iccfa.com
Copyright 2010, International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association
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