The Caregiver's Mission

Scott: [00:00:00] And I view it as rewarding because we're helping. We're helping someone in the most devastating time of their lives. So if we can help that person in a meaningful way, it just gets me out of bed every day. It gets all of us out of bed every day. Because how many opportunities do you have in life to really help someone? We could do it every single day. Time in and time out.

Kristen: [00:00:31] Welcome to Archetypes, a podcast by Future Commerce. I'm Kristen Vencel. Even with just a glance over the course of history, it's easy to see how important and powerful story has been throughout time. We humans thrive on story, whether we are the storytellers or the listeners. We feel connected to others through story. Archetypes is an exploration of the roles that we play in the story of a brand and features interviews with people who create the brands and experiences that are changing our world. It's an investigation into how we as people take part in these stories, ultimately making them our own. No matter who you are in this world, you engage in commerce. Commerce touches every living soul. We all have a role to play. We all have a story to tell. Archetypes is the story of commerce. Caregiver, the self-sacrificing protector of others. [00:01:38] The Caregiver continually supports others, making sacrifices on their behalf. They are honorable, selfless, and loyal. The Caregiver offers unconditional love and has a strong sense of responsibility for others to protect and provide a safe place where others can feel nurtured and cared for. [00:01:58] For a customer to have a seamless experience while dealing with grief and trauma requires exceptional service and unbelievable logistics infrastructure. They need care. For the three founders at Titan Casket, Scott Ginsburg, Joshua Segal, and Liz Segal, this is core to their story as a brand. Welcome to this episode of Archetypes.

Phillip: [00:02:29] Is there a story that comes back to you that is indicative of the kind of relationship that you have that's very personal with your customer that might be differentiating from someone just buying apparel online?

Scott: [00:02:44] I got a whole bunch of them. But getting back to what one of the methods also is, some people don't want to talk to anyone, so they'll just click, and then it will just show up, and then we'll still reach out to them and talk to them and try to manage their expectations and ask when is a funeral? And make sure it gets there in a timely fashion just to make sure there aren't any questions. But Phillip, your question about a story or something that sticks out? I spoke with a family maybe a few years ago, and the wife ordered the casket for the husband and they would take their grandchildren every year to Disney World. And she said the money that she saved with us will be used to take the grandkids again to Disney World to celebrate her husband's life because he enjoyed taking the grandkids. It was his favorite thing to do.

Josh: [00:03:49] Every phone call is a story.

Scott: [00:03:51] Yeah. Totally.

Josh: [00:03:51] Like Sunday morning I picked... We have team here all the time, but I answered the phone Sunday morning and talked to somebody in Chicago just sobbing, having found us and saw the price and realizing they could get through the next week because of that. And free shipping, like just things that are normal selling features that are transformative for somebody in that moment. And then we have other customers who tell us they have a certain custom casket, they're putting in a pickup truck and they just want to tell stories about their loved one's personality.

Phillip: [00:04:22] How does the traditional business work? Is there a model where you're going to a local funeral home, which I assume there are only so many within a geographic area that serves an entire populace? Do they try to sell models that they have on hand versus having to order something that's back ordered or in stock? Are there sort of like economics at play that require them to try to move stock that they've taken good inventory positions on? Let's talk a little bit about the traditional business model and how you guys would sort of upend that if you will.

Scott: [00:04:57] So the traditional funeral home that the average person would go to, they would just go to the exact same funeral home the family's always gone to. And there might be multiple funeral homes within the given area, but they've always gone there and they don't shop. The typical funeral home has the same six or a dozen caskets on their floor that they've had for the past 20 years. This industry hasn't changed in over 100 years, and the same method you used in the 20s, 30s, and 40s are the same that you're going to be using today. That's basically the channels that people are going through right now.

Josh: [00:05:36]  [00:05:36]You may have seen us talk about being the Warby Parker of Caskets and that's not because we're direct to consumer. It's because what Warby saw was there was one manufacturer that controlled all the supply and they also owned the channels of distribution. And so they thought there was a better way of working outside of that. And it's the same thing in caskets. [00:05:55] There are two manufacturers that control 85% of the market. They only sell to funeral homes. And so as a result, there are big markups between the manufacturer and the funeral homes and then from the funeral homes to the customer. And so what we do is on the manufacturing side, Scott's been a generational casket manufacturer and we have a network outside of the big two. And so we can produce, which is hard, and then we sell through the channels I mentioned. And also we have a growing business with funeral professionals that are not funeral homes. So cemetery owners or funeral directors who operate independently EOL doulas... So there are always professionals that are in local communities working with families, and they're great partners for us. The hard part of this business is this isn't a topic that people want to think about generally, and it's not often dinner conversation. And so for us, our strongest channels are our retail partners, organic and paid search for customers who are aware, and then word of mouth and referrals, because we're asking customers to take a leap of faith that during one of the more meaningful weeks of their lives to turn to us and trust us with this such an important purchase. And so when they can turn to somebody in their lives and who says, "I've done this, you can trust Titan. It's a high-quality product. They'll take care of you." If you think about what Zola has done in weddings, like 15 years ago, you'd walk into a local event center and sort of plan your wedding. But now that planning starts at home, and that's the change that's happening in funeral planning. And so customers come to us to buy the casket, but that's a very small piece of what is a long process that requires both planning support and even emotional support. And so there are certainly other product categories we can expand into, and we have a long way to go just in getting caskets right. But things like urns, flowers, services like obituary writing, and then planning. I mean, the traditional church to funeral home to cemetery is less and less what if you really sit somebody down and ask what is the goodbye they envision, it often takes place outside of those parameters and people just don't know what those options are and where to find them. And so just being an educational center, selling those directly or not, I don't know, but sort of exposing those types of options for customers and then helping them with the transactional pieces where we can is where we see ourselves going over time.

Brian: [00:09:00] You mentioned that one of the biggest channels is just someone popping into Google and searching "caskets," and that, I would imagine, is actually becoming a bigger thing as people look to Google and the Internet as their way to navigate through everything in their lives. When someone does land on you, what does that initial engagement process look like?

Josh: [00:09:23] It really depends on the customer. So nearly every customer that we work with calls us, unlike most DTC companies, and they'll be customers who come to our site and recognize what is a traditional eCommerce site and read reviews and see that it's an okay, normal thing and maybe even a better experience to be sitting at home around your table with loved ones, picking and selecting a casket in front of a salesperson. [00:09:56] These are families right in the middle of it. They want to talk about their loved one. And so we hire very carefully, and the team we put in place has no limitations around how long they can spend with clients. [00:10:10] And so the stories are, I mean, we're talking about this whole business is very rational in how we pieced it together, but it's an incredibly meaningful business and rewarding one for those of us here who were the first to answer the phones and then our entire team today.

Phillip: [00:10:28] How do you bring some sense of order to a moment of chaos? That seems like a really beautiful thing to do with your life and a noble thing to do with your life.

Scott: [00:10:41] I mean, that's how I view it. [00:10:43] We have a business. We make money, but at the same time, too, the client is saving 50% or more of what they would ordinarily spend at a funeral home. And we get to help every day. [00:10:56] And I view it as rewarding because we're helping someone in the most devastating time of their lives. So if we can help that person in a meaningful way, it just gets me out of bed every day. It gets all of us out of bed every day. Because how many opportunities do you have in life to really help someone? We could do it every single day, time in and time out.

Kristen: [00:11:23] For more about Titan Casket and their heartfelt story, get your copy of the Archetypes Journal at ArchetypesJournal.com. Archetypes is brought to you by Future Commerce. Discover the world of Archetypes, take the Archetypes quiz, and get the Archetypes Journal at ArchetypesJournal.com. You can find more episodes of this podcast and all Future Commerce properties at FutureCommerce.com.