We have an interesting article this month containing tips for end of financial year. We have another great article on marketing this month and some insights by Wayne Schulz into manufacturing of coffins in Queensland in the early days.

Our free Alliance rewards program is being embraced by many funeral homes. Joining the program is easy, simply email us and we will forward your setup details.

I thank all of our customers for their continued support and commitment to our great company.

Warm regards, Rohan

Fist Birthday

Ashton’s Victorian branch recently celebrated its first year of service to the state’s funeral community.

Rohan Kerr, CEO, and Patrick Di Lizio, Victorian Account Manager, held a celebration dinner to mark this milestone for the company along with Ashton’s Victorian clients.

“We are excited to be serving these leading funeral businesses and are committed to Victoria and to offering an industry-leading product range and first-class delivery service”, stated Rohan.

The night was thoroughly enjoyed by all in attendance and was a chance for funeral homes to come together for fellowship and to celebrate with Ashton Manufacturing.

91 Years in Coffins

Three men with nearly a century of combined coffin manufacturing service, got together recently and reminisced about the industry. By Wayne Schulz

On a warm Autumn afternoon, my father Allan Schulz, Des Todd and myself walked through Ashton Manufacturing’s production facility and discussed our collective time of 91 years as coffin manufacturers in the funeral industry…

My father started at H.H. Webb very early in his working career, both his father and brother, Colin worked there. They were manufacturing caskets for the US Army in those early years.  I remember Dad telling me that he wanted to join the airforce but was not accepted as his trade was regarded as an ‘essential service’! Dad left after 6 years to work for his uncle Bruce at H.A. Schulz Pty. Ltd. where he remained for 6 months.  When Dad married in 1950 he went back to H.H. Webb where he worked for a further 10 years, Robert Hartley was the Production Manager. R.L. Hartley Pty. Ltd. was formed and Robert Hartley took Dad with him to be his Factory Manager, Dad held this position for 13 years before returning to the family business, H. A. Schulz Pty Ltd.

I worked with my father, Allan, for 24 years, we were both wood machinists and enjoyed a fantastic working relationship. I began working with Dad at H.A. Schulz Pty Ltd in 1970, 18 months later the business was sold to H.H. Webb, Dad and I accepted the positions offered to us, once again Dad found himself back with the company he originally began with.  Des Todd was the Production Manager at H. H. Webb at that time, a position he held for 6 years, when Des resigned my father replaced him as Production Manager and I was promoted to Foreman of the Machine Shop, Lid Section and Timber Yard.

The H.H. Webb factory in Brisbane was the main manufacturing plant for all states, semi trailer loads of flat packed coffins were regularly sent to Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.  In the early 1970’s H.H. Webb was the largest user of productive timber products in Australia, 40,000 super feet of timber went through the Brisbane factory every week, 136 was the highest staff number I recall.  Back then, nearly all coffins were solid timber, veneered ply coffins were regarded as the base range.  I can remember the development and introduction of the first paper veneered particle board coffins, it was around 1976, and the general consensus was “these won’t last”, how wrong we were.

After thirteen years at H.H. Webb our family began Schulz Enterprises, a company still in operation today, it is no longer owned by the Schulz family and now trades as The Wood Wren.  Unfortunately, my father suffered a severe heart attack while at Schulz Enterprises in 1986; he was 59 at the time and recently celebrated his 85th birthday.  Sadly, Dad was forced to retire within the following twelve months; a decision that was extremely difficult for him, the family company had been sold by this stage.

I remained on as Factory Manager through two ownership changes and gained my qualification of French Polisher during this time, I resigned to accept the position of Manager at Mt. Thompson Memorial Gardens in Brisbane, a position I held for 5 years. Nearly 17 years ago I was approached by David Ashton to join his team on the Gold Coast, a position I accepted without hesitation and where I  happily remain today.

End of FY

Practical tips to help with end of year, from Steve Inwood, of boutique financial planning firm SALA Financial Services.

It is hard to believe that the financial year is already looming upon us.  The year has flown by and for some it will only have been yesterday when last year’s tax return was lodged. Given how quickly this financial year seems to be passing it is now timely to start considering your end of year strategies and to ensure that you make the most of any opportunity available to you.  Once 30 June has passed it will be too late to do anything for the 2011/12 year.

Whilst I am sure all of you are using the expertise of a qualified planner, it is worthwhile taking some time to consider your options and potentially then going to see your Financial Planner or Accountant.  In this article I have outlined some options and tips for you to consider prior to the end of the financial year. These will not be exhaustive and there will be other options that you may consider appropriate, however these will get you headed down the right path to be totally prepared with time to spare.

There are some key areas for individuals to consider:

• Check your superannuation contribution for this financial year. Do some calculations to ensure you are not going to breach the contribution limits. For the 2011/12 financial year the limit on concessional contributions is $25,000. If you are aged 50 or above, special transitional provisions apply (until 30 June 2012) you will be able to contribute up to $50,000. You will need to check with your adviser if you can make use of this special provision. Concessional contributions are pre tax superannuation contributions including superannuation guarantee, salary sacrifice or self employed contributions.

The limit on non-concessional (post tax) contributions is $150,000 for the 2011/12 financial year. There is also a ‘bring forward’ option, which allows you to contribute up to $450,000 over 3 years if you are under age 65 ( e.g. you could make nonconcessional contributions of $450,000 in 2009/10 but you could not make further non-concessional contributions until 2012/13) without paying additional tax.

• If you are under the contribution limit seek to contribute more to super and reduce your income tax liability.

• Defer income until next financial year.

• Prepay interest on margin loans and investment properties.

• Get depreciation schedule (also known as a quantity surveyor’s report) for your investment property.

• Government co-contributions – if you earn less than $58,000 per year the government is willing to match your superannuation contributions dollar for dollar up to a maximum of contribution of $1,000 per year.

• Consider making a contribution to your dependant spouse’s superannuation. If your spouse earns less than $13,800, you can make a contribution to their superannuation and be eligible for an income tax rebate.

• Purchase Income Protection Insurance and pay the annual premium.

• Reduce any capital gains by crystallising capital losses before 30 June.

• Don’t forget to claim your net medical expenses over $1,500.00 so put your medical expenses together

These are some simple areas for you to consider in order preparing properly prior to the end of the financial year.  It is important you start thinking about these issues now as 1 July is too late. If you would like further explanation on any of these areas I suggest you contact your adviser or call me to discuss on 0422 003 964.

Steve Inwood

SALA Financial Services

stephen@salafs.com.au

www.salafs.com.au

The Wave, The Future, Three Stooges & White Grubs

By Stew Kennedy

Catch the wave

I call it the “Baby Boomer Wave”.  It has dramatically affected the last four or five decades on many fronts, economically and socially. So why should this one of the last Baby Boomer decades, be any different.

As we all know, Baby Boomers think they are going to live forever. For many the idea of ill health, or god forbid, “mortality” is only just starting to become a reality.

So there you are, in an industry that is in a prime position to capitalise on the Baby Boomer Wave of funeral activity. Are you ready? I hope so!

Death is unavoidable. You have an endless supply of potential customers and they, or their families will come. But will they come to you, or will they go to another Funeral company and if so why?

Now more than ever (if you haven’t already) it’s time to take a long hard look at what you are doing, or can be doing more of, to attract the Baby Boomer Wave.

The future of funeral marketing

Some years ago, American airline companies realized that there was not a lot more they could do in terms of improving the “in-cabin experience” for their customers. Or so they thought!

So in a blinding flash of wisdom, they asked themselves, “What can we offer, improve or promote that will enhance the customer experience before they climb into our aircraft?”

From that thought grew what was (at the time) a completely different focus on Airline marketing.

Some of you may remember it started with a TV commercial featuring a young OJ Simpson running through an airport, avoiding luggage, etc. I think the focus was on “time & convenience” for passengers, in the terminal.

I wonder how Funeral companies will be marketed in the future. I suspect quite differently than the way they are today.

Perhaps there will be more thought given to thinking outside the box. (No pun intended!)

Stooges live!

I have attended about twelve funerals.  Eight were conducted superbly. Several however, were less than desirable. The worst, was like a scene from The Three Stooges. It featured fat little sweaty men, wearing badly fitting suites and crooked paisley ties.

The way you look, can change the way people see you and it will affect their buying decision. It reminds me of a briefing session I was involved in for a company’s marketing business. No names no pack drill. It was a very boring session and I wondered why?

We conducted some research into what their (target audience) “trade” customers thought of the way in which they conducted business. Basically they said that the company and the people they dealt with were very tired.

So the next time we met, I wore pajamas.

After the initial giggle about my flannels, the marketing director’s smile turned to a frown when I told him what his target had said. He made quite a few changes, dramatically improving the way in which the company presented itself and subsequently the way it was seen by potential customers. His business took an upward trend and we have remained very good friends.

The point is nine tenths of successful marketing has to do with the way people see you.

Finally, watch out for white grub.

This thought is about marketing, but it is also about keeping focus on the business of your business.

My wife and I had a beautiful conifer. We had seen it grow to become quite a good size and it was a real feature in our garden. Not sure, but I think it was a “Book Conifer”. It had very lush and very green foliage.

But one day it started to go brown and within a week it was dead.

I took the problem to the nursery and was told to check for “white grub around the roots”. So I dug it up and there they were, big thick white grubs. They had killed my conifer and they did it without any apparent symptoms, until it was too late.

At the time, I had a business that was suffering from some white grubbing. My partner was ‘playing other games’. And yes, the business died very quickly. He hid his activities very well. There was very little I could do.

So the final thought for now, is beware of white grubs in your business. Watch out for people or events that take your focus off the business of the business. This applies especially to how you market your business.

Try to spend more time working on the business of marketing your business, rather than in the business of marketing your business. You will reap the rewards.

Stewart Kennedy

Brighton Road Marketing

0414 501 966

stewart@brightonrd.com.au

www.brightonrd.com.au

 CASKET

• Octagonal or rectangular in shape.

• Lid is hinged and fixed with clips.

• Commonly constructed from metal or solid timber.

• Mostly preferred in USA and Asia.

Our business development article this month by Stewart Kennedy on marketing is useful information if you are considering lowering your prices to gain additional business.

Our new Facebook page is full of colour and information about what’s happening at Ashton. If you use Facebook, please jump on our page here and give us a ‘like’.

We have some exciting projects underway which we will launch later this year. The continual feedback loop from our customers assists us to offer your funeral business the latest innovations to meet the changing nature of funeral service.

From all of my team and I at Ashton, I would like to wish all of our friends in the funeral community a very safe and enjoyable Easter period.

Warm regards,

Rohan Kerr (CEO)

Ashton supporting work of Melanoma Institute Australia

Melanoma is the third most common form of cancer in Australian men and women. More than 11,000 new cases of melanoma are diagnosed in Australia each year. However melanoma is often identifiable at an early stage where treatment can result in a cure.

As families are increasingly requesting that memoriam donations are made in lieu of flowers at funeral services, Ashton is now supplying Melanoma Institute Australia memoriam donation envelopes to funeral homes whose client families and friends are wishing to donate to the institute. The institute uses donations to find a cure for this cancer.

The postage paid envelopes are supplied free of charge, with a tear-off section where details of the deceased and donation information can be written and sent back to the institute.

Contact Ashton on 1300 263 346 to order your Melanoma Institute Australia memoriam donation envelopes for your funeral home. For more details please visit: www.melanoma.org.au