ABC Method
A method of classifying inventory items with categories which are of
high-value, less costly, and/or low-cost items.
Cash Discount
A discount from a quoted price used as an inducement for prompt
payment of invoices.
Consignment
The merchandising agreement whereby merchandise is given to a
retailer to sell, but the retailer does not have to pay for the
merchandise that will be displayed until it is sold.
Census of Business
A source of market data that explains where certain businesses are located.
Census of Housing
A source of market data that keeps track of new home sales by region
and/or the construction of new houses by region and specific area.
Census of Manufacturing
A source of market data that explains where certain manufacturers are located.
Census of Population
A source of market data that complies population statistics with
regard to distribution of population by region, area, etc.
Chamber of Commerce
An association of businesspersons and merchants for the promotion of
commercial interests in the community.
Demographics
Pertaining to demography; the science of vital statistics, or of
births, deaths, marriages, etc. of populations; The statistical study
of human populations with respect to their size, density,
distribution, composition, and income.
Economic Base
The wealth produced in or near a community that provides employment
and income to the local population.
Economic Order Quantity (EOQ)
The quantity to be purchased which minimizes total costs.
Fractional Display
Use of portions of caskets (1/2, 1/4, or 1/8) in the selection room
rather than full-sized caskets.
Inventory
Those goods or stock of goods which are held for resale; also known
as Merchandise.
Inventory Turnover
The number of times the average inventory has been sold or used up
(i.e. turned over) during a period.
Just In Time (JIT)
An inventory strategy designed to increased efficiency and reduce
inventory costs by receiving goods only as they are needed.
Market
A group of potential customers possessing purchasing power and
unsatisfied needs.
Marketing (ABFSE)
The process of planning and executing the development, pricing,
promotion, and distribution of an organization's goods/services.
Marketing (Klicker)
Any activity a funeral home engages in to create public awareness,
generate new business, or retain present business.
Market Analysis
An examination of the demographics, vital statistics, economic base,
and burial habits of the funeral home's proposed or existing clientele.
Merchandising
The purchasing, pricing, display, and sale of merchandise.
Public Relations
Inducing the public to have a positive feeling about a particular business.
Quantity Discount
Reduction in the amount of a bill when a minimum quantity of
merchandise has been ordered.
Rebate
A return of a portion of a payment.
Trade Discount
A method of discounting a bill used by a manufacturer, distributor,
or wholesaler to a retailer or by one enterprise to another in the
same industry.
Benchmark
A standard point of reference to which all other offerings may be
compared; the most and least expensive caskets serve as these on the
selection room floor.
Bi-Unit Pricing
A method of price quotation showing separately the price of the
service to be rendered and the price of the casket.
Break-even Analysis (Break-even point)
The point at which total sales revenue equals total operating costs.
Consumer Credit Protection Act
An act which requires a seller to disclose terms of sale and give
facts of actual interest rate and other charges.
Consumer Value Index (CVI)
The percentage derived by dividing the wholesale cost of the
merchandise by the retail price of the merchandise.
Consumerism
The emphasis placed on providing to customers products and services
that are safe, reliable, and honestly advertised; also a social
movement that seeks to strengthen the rights of consumers relative to sellers.
Consumerized Pricing
A method of pricing so that actual price figures are familiar to the consumer.
Credit
An agreement that payment for a product or service will be made at
some later date.
Equal Credit Opportunity Act
An act which guarantees equal credit opportunity to all applicants
for credit and prohibits credit discrimination on the basis of race,
color, religion, national origin, age, marital status, or because all
or part of a person's income derives from any pub.
Factoring
A method to obtain cash for business operations before payments are
received from customers by selling off accounts receivable to a third party.
Fair Credit Reporting Act
An act which requires creditors to notify a potential recipient of
credit whenever any adverse action or denial of credit was based on a
credit report.
Fixed Dollar
A price determination method whereby the amount of profit desired on
each casket sale is added to the wholesale cost of each casket.
Fixed Multiple
A price determination method whereby the casket cost is multiplied by
a constant factor; aka straight line, balance line, times factor.
Functional Pricing
A method of price quotation by which the charges are broken down into
several major component parts, such as professional service,
facilitates, automobile, and merchandise.
Graduated Recovery
A pricing method where the mark-up varies.
Itemization
The method of price quotation by which each unit of service and/or
merchandise is priced separately.
Markdown
A reduction of selling price below the original selling price.
Markup
The difference between merchandise cost and selling price, i.e.,
gross margin.
Mean (Average)
The sum of a group of numbers divided by the number of units.
Median
A value in an ordered set of values which represents the midpoint,
whereby there are an equal number of values above and below the
midpoint value.
Merchandise Value Ratio (MVR)
The relationship between the wholesale cost of the merchandise and
the total cost (both services and merchandise) to the consumer.
Mode
The number that occurs most frequently in a listing of numbers.
Package Pricing
A pricing method which groups together selected services and/or merchandise.
Price Determination
A method used by management to establish the selling price for
services and merchandise.
Price Quotation
The method by which prices are explained to the consumer (e.g.
itemized GPL required by FTC but package pricing allowed).
Quartile
A division of the total into four intervals, each one representing
one-fourth of the total.
Range
The upper and lower limits of a series of numbers.
Sales Frequency
The number of times sales in a given price bracket occurs over a
fixed period of time.
Truth in Lending Act
An act which requires lenders to inform borrowers of all direct,
indirect and true costs of credit.
Unit Pricing
A method of price quotation which creates one total price package for
both service and merchandise.
Wholesale Price
The list price the funeral home normally pays for a casket (or other
merchandise) from the manufacturer.
Fixed Expenses
A cost that, for a given period of time and range of activity called
the relevant range, does not change in total but becomes progressively
smaller on a per unit basis as volume increases; these expenses do not
increase with increased business.
Variable Expenses
A cost which is uniform per unit, but fluctuates in total in direct
proportion to change in the related total activity or volume.
Overhead (Operating Expenses)
Expenses incurred in the normal operation of a business
Casket Rack
A device upon which two or three caskets are placed, one on top of
the other for display or storage.
Casket stand
The stand or support upon which a casket rests in the selection process.
Church truck
A wheeled collapsible support for the casket, used in the funeral
home, church, or home.
Consecutive Method
Placing caskets in the selection room in their order of increasing or
decreasing value.
Demonstration group (Educational group)
Three or four caskets utilized to educate the selecting party
regarding the elements of casket construction
Direct lighting
Illumination directly shining on an object.
Direct selection room procedure
The method of selling caskets whereby the funeral director remains in
the selection room throughout the selection process.
Fluorescent lighting
The illumination produced by a tubular electric discharge lamp; the
fluorescence of phosphors coating the inside of a tube.
Fractional display
Use of portions of casket (1/2, 1/4, or 1/8) in the selection room
rather than full-sized caskets.
Incandescent lighting
The illumination resulting from the glowing of a heated filament.
Indirect lighting
Reflected illumination of an object.
Indirect selection room procedure
The method of selling caskets whereby the funeral director does not
stay in the selection room during the selection process.
World approach
A method of casket presentation in which caskets are grouped on the
basis of materials; e.g. all copper caskets in one group, all wood
caskets in another group, etc.
Advertising
The art of making the public aware of the services or commodities
that a business has for sale.
Brand
A verbal and/or symbolic means of identifying a product; the
identification for a product.
Brand Image
The overall PERCEPTION of a brand.
Brand Name
A brand that can be spoken.
Brand Recognition
The ability or tendency of customers to remember a brand.
Branding
The use of a name, term, symbol, or design - or a combination of
these - to identify a product or service.
Brandmark
A brand that CANNOT be verbalized
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
A company-wide business strategy designed to optimize profitability,
revenue, and customer satisfaction by focusing on specific customer groups.
Market
A group of potential customers possessing purchasing power and
unsatisfied needs.
Marketing (ABFSE)
The process of planning and executing the development, pricing,
promotion, and distribution of an organization's goods/services.
Marketing (Klicker)
Any activity a funeral home engages in to create public awareness,
generate new business, or retain present business.
Marketing management
The process of planning and executing the development, pricing,
promotion, and distribution of an organization's goods and/or services.
Marketing Mix
The combination of product, pricing, promotion, and placement
(distribution) activities.
Place
Making goods and services available in the right quantities and
locations - when customers want them.
Price
a specification of what a seller requires in exchange for
transferring ownership or use of a product or service.
Product
A good or service that meets a customer's needs.
Promotion
Marketing communications that inform and persuade consumers.
Promotional Mix
A blend of non personal, personal, and special forms of communication
aimed at a target market.
Public Relationship
Inducing the public to have a positive feeling about a particular business.
Target Market
A group of potential customers possessing purchasing power and
unsatisfied needs.
Annuity
Type of funding used in a non-preened environment to provide uniform
periodic payments made at specific intervals, with amounts earning
interest; normally used as a form of tax-deferred savings, but may
have specific, limited use in pre-need.
Bump-up amount
Difference between the single premium amount paid and actual death
benefit (that increases over time) that will be paid out; aka
value-added amount.
Face amount
Amount of insurance provided by a pre-need insurance policy that
increases over time; aka Death benefit.
Guaranteed funeral contract
An pre-need agreement entered into between a client family and a
funeral provider that guarantees the funeral price at the time of
need; can be either irrevocable or revocable.
HIPAA
A law that protects employees' health insurance coverage when they
change or lose their jobs and provides standards for patient health,
administrative, and financial data interchange; also covers the
privacy and security of health information records and transactions.
Irrevocable trust
A trust that cannot be modified or terminated without permission of
the beneficiary (i.e. the funeral provider).
Life Insurance assignment
Transfer of life insurance policy ownership rights to third-party;
when allowed by law, consumer purchases policy and assigns payment of
death benefit to a funeral home.
Medicaid
A jointly-funded, federal-state health insurance program for certain
low-income and needy people that as of June, 2005, covered over 44
million individuals including children, the aged, blind, and/or
disabled, and those eligible to receive federally-assisted income
maintenance payments.
Medicare
A federally-administered insurance program generally linked to
receipt of Social Security benefits that are based on being age 65 or
over or having a disability. It is NOT based on financial need and is
NOT provided free of charge. It requires cost-sharing in the form of
premiums, deductibles, and coinsurance.
Non-guaranteed funeral contract
An agreement entered into between a client family and a funeral
provider in which the money that is paid to the funeral provider in
advance is not guaranteed to cover all funeral costs at need; can be
either irrevocable or revocable.
Premium
The specified amount of payment required by an insurer to provide
coverage under a given policy.
Revocable trust
A trust whereby provisions can be altered or canceled dependent on
the grantor (i.e. the client or client family).
Spend-down
A process of ensuring Medicaid and SSI eligibility through the
reduction of assets and income below specific limitations.
Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
A federal program that assures a minimum level of income to people
who are aged, blind, or disabled and who have limited income and resources.
Trust
A pre-need funeral trust is a legal arrangement in which a state,
provincial, or federally insured bank, trust company, savings bank,
credit union, savings and loan association, state association master
trust, or other authorized trust company is allowed by law to fund
predetermined expenses of a funeral, cremation, or burial.
Underfunding
A situation that occurs when the funds in a non-guaranteed
pre-arranged trust are less than the total services and/or merchandise
selected by the client family in an at-need situation.
Underwriting
Process of assessing and classifying potential degree of risk for
purpose of issuing insurance.
Whole-life Insurance
Life insurance that gives lifetime protection to the insured person.