Whether trying to increase profit margins or get caught up on everyday tasks, all businesses set goals to continue growing and succeeding.  

Robyn Dostie Esposito, Office Manager, Licensed Funeral Director and Embalmer, and Certified Crematory Operator, had big goals for Munson-Lovetere Funeral Home & Cremation Services, Inc. 

Coming from the sales profession, Robyn had seen firsthand the benefits of cloud-based software, and she wanted the same for the staff at Munson-Lovetere. With software, Robyn aspired to:

• Find a safer way to store paper files

• Access case details from anywhere

• Improve their billing process

With Passare, that’s exactly what she got.

Munson-Lovetere Funeral Home & Cremation, Inc has a safer way to store and access data, and has improved their billing process, which benefited the whole team. 

Keep reading to see how Passare was a key factor in Robyn’s success: 

How would you describe your overall experience with Passare?

We have been with Passare for 7 years, and I’ve found working with them unbelievably easy the entire time.

Can you tell me about when you decided to use Passare?

We decided to use Passare in 2017, and I had just become a licensed funeral director at the time. My previous background was in the sales profession, and we worked frequently in a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) software. I wanted the same in our funeral home, but the funeral profession wasn’t very cloud-based back then. 

For example, our old system required us to enter all our data manually. But we had two offices that weren’t connected to the same network. So, that system wasn’t going to work long-term because we couldn’t access, edit, or add information without going to the physical location.

That’s why one of my goals with cloud-based software was to be able to access files from both of our locations. I just didn’t know how I would incorporate a software like that into a funeral home.

Then we found Passare. 

What challenges were you facing in your business before getting Passare?

I’ve already mentioned our struggle with not having a cloud-based system. But we also struggled with data storage. 

Before Passare we printed every piece of paper. But in the 1980s, we had a fire and lost a lot of files that way. That affected us and our families. I didn’t want that to happen again.

When we were looking at switching to Passare, we started to realize that we were at maximum capacity for storing paper files and we didn’t know what we would do with the 45 years' worth of paper we had.

How has Passare helped you achieve your goals over the last 7 years?

When we were looking for software, I had a 5-year plan. None of the other software companies we looked at even came close to me thinking I could achieve my five-year goals, but Passare was innovative. We needed a company to grow with us because I knew that the funeral profession and technology would change over time. 

In my five-year plan, one of my goals was to go completely paperless. Another was to increase the efficiency of our billing process. 

In 2017, we used a Microsoft Disk Operating System for billing, which I knew wouldn’t scale over time. Plus, our owner did all the billing, and she traveled quite a bit. So, if someone came in with a billing question or issue and our owner wasn't physically at the funeral home, we couldn’t help them because we couldn’t access the system without her.

I wanted all of our billing to be in Passare, and as of this January, we’ve achieved our goal. Now we have all our information in one place that is easily accessible.

What benefits have you seen from using Passare for billing?

With all of our billing in Passare, I’ve been able keep an updated price list in Passare. I did that in 2019 and have continued to update it. With that, the staff can quickly assist the family without ever leaving the software.

Plus, now it doesn’t matter where we are - anyone can log in and help a customer with a billing question because all our data is in one spot. 

We notice fewer billing errors and don’t struggle to store the data. We scan all our billing documents after they’re completed and don’t have to worry about them again. 

Of course, we keep the paper files for 7 years for compliance reasons, but it’s nice that they’re safe in Passare as well. The billing feature has been so great. 

What's been your experience working with Passare support? 

As someone who doesn’t speak technology or consider themself tech-savvy, I feel like I’m constantly asking the support team for help. And everyone on the team has been wonderful! They always listen to me and get back to me with an answer, even if they need a bit more time to figure out a solution.

Everyone who has answered the phone has been incredibly helpful. The customer service at Passare is hands down very, very good. I think everybody should use it because you don’t know what you'll learn by calling and asking.

Would you recommend Passare to a colleague?

Absolutely, and I have recommended Passare multiple times. In order to run your business effectively, you need to be everywhere at once. A family will call you when you’re running a service with questions like, “Do I have a prearrangement? Am I fully funded? How can I get a copy of the death certificate?” And you’re going to want the ability to check in on that file to get information quickly. With Passare, we can do that. 

Anything else you'd like to add?

When choosing a funeral home software, you need to consider where your business is going and how you’ll grow. Getting Passare isn’t about what you can do with the software today, but how you can use Passare two years from now as the industry changes.

A lot of people have a hard time seeing that because they get stuck on the fact that they have to migrate their data or something else. But put your faith in Passare, and it will grow with your business. 

About the funeral home:

Munson-Lovetere Funeral Homes & Cremation Services, Inc. has served the Woodbury & Southbury, Connecticut areas for over 200 years. Currently, the funeral home serves around 250 families each year, but with their partnership with Pet Passages, they serve closer to 500 calls.

Robyn Dostie Esposito is the Office Manager, as well as a Licensed Funeral director and Embalmer and Certified Crematory Operator.

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