Case management software can help you stay organized and increase efficiency. But great case management software will help you achieve so much more.

Mark Langendorf, Owner and Funeral Director at Draeger-Langendorf Funeral Home & Crematory, experienced firsthand how Passare offers case management software that helps him manage his business and improve service to families.

Here’s how Mark uses Planning Center and other Passare tools to simplify his work and improve the planning experience for families.

What is your favorite feature in Passare?

I’d have to say Planning Center. It’s made my life a lot easier. Working with families is so much smoother now. Honestly, I use it exclusively during at-need planning.

How does Planning Center make collaborating with families easier?

There are several ways, but two big ones are gathering photos and writing the obituary.

Gathering photos:

Everyone has everything on their phone these days. So during the arrangement conference, I tell families, ‘Just log into Planning Center and upload all the pictures you want for the slideshow.’ It’s that simple.

Plus, families can invite anyone to collaborate. I had one family invite all the grandkids, and they each uploaded pictures from their phones. I think that families really enjoy the ability to collaborate on the service together.

Writing the obituary:

Families can also collaborate in Planning Center to write the obituary. I think it’s somewhat therapeutic because they can go home and start telling their favorite stories about grandma. They can put those right into the obituary in Planning Center, or use the AI tool available to create a first draft.

How has Planning Center improved your obituary writing process?

Before Passare, I’d get emails from families like, ‘Did you get my obituary changes?’. And sometimes those emails would end up in my junk mail. Deadlines were missed or things wouldn’t get corrected before publishing. That wasn’t ideal.

Now, families approve the obituary draft and all the details right in Planning Center. Everything’s in one place, and everyone can see and approve the final version. I love that, and it brings me huge peace of mind.

Have you used the AI obituary writer?

All the time. The tool saves me so much time. It can take time to think of an obituary that’s not cookie-cutter. And with the AI writer, I can get a quick draft and tweak it. Sometimes I even send that AI draft straight to the family to use as a template.

The tool also helps you craft your words. For example, if grandma loved going to the casino, I can add that detail, and the AI will add a polished version of that into the draft. We’ve even gotten compliments from families on how well-written our obituaries are. I’m transparent, and I tell families that I had a little help from AI.

What are some other features in Planning Center that have been helpful?

Messages

We use Planning Center messages now, and I honestly didn’t think we would use them as much as we do. Our families actually started using it before we did. All of a sudden, I started getting these text message notifications, ‘You’ve got a message in Passare.’ I opened Passare and saw messages from families about things like “Can you check on this?” or “We approved the obituary”.

Messages has been great because it has decreased the amount of phone calls and texts that would go to my personal cell phone.

Checklists

I also use the Checklist feature religiously. We can set up a checklist for each case so that everyone on our team is aware of the progress. Then, we can make it visible in Planning Center so families are always up-to-date on what’s done and what’s left to do.

Now, I hardly get those phone calls anymore like, ‘What do ya’ll need next from us?’, because families can view the Checklist and see we’re still waiting for clothes, still waiting for an insurance policy, or still waiting for a DD214.

It’s been really helpful.

Payments

We recently added Payments in Planning Center. Now, our families can make a payment right from Planning Center, where they’ve been working with us the whole time. Plus, they can view the remaining balance at any time.

What's your experience managing financials with Passare?

Outside of Planning Center, I really like the case-by-case financials because it organizes everything. At the end of the month, I can look at a report in Passare and know what we spent on caskets or see what merchandise is performing well. And it’s all sorted using case tags, so the information automatically feeds into the reports.

One time, the monthly reports actually tipped us off to a plumbing issue. We saw the water bill in a report and thought, ‘What’s going on?’ The water bill just went through the roof. If we hadn’t gotten that automatic report, it could have been months before someone noticed.

Are you using any integrations in Passare?

Yes, one that’s been very helpful is the integration with FDL Accounting Services.

With this integration, we receive information quickly and get timely insights into how our business is performing. And the people that were skeptical around here before are now true believers.

Using Passare and FDL Accounting Services together is the best thing we’ve ever done.

What's been your experience working with Passare Support? 

We have Premium Support, and I love that their team is always one call away. They’ve helped us build our merchandise and inventory inside Passare. The Support team has also helped us learn how to create and update our price lists. It’s been amazing.

We’ve also had extra training sessions with Premium Support and group team meetings where our team really got to know each feature in Passare. What we learned in those meetings was great because then I didn’t have to teach everything myself.

If I ever have an issue, I never dread calling Support. I know they’ll take care of my issue right away. Everybody on their team is knowledgeable. It’s refreshing not to call and hear, ‘I don’t know.’ They’ll say, ‘I’ll find out and get back to you.'

About the funeral home:

Draeger-Langendorf Funeral Home & Crematory was founded in 1928. Each year, they serve around 500 families in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin. 

Get a success story like Mark

With Planning Center, financials, and key integrations like FDL Account Services, Mark and his team have enhanced their efficiency and service to families.

If you’re looking for ways to save time and improve processes, this is your sign to take a chance on Passare like Mark did. Get a demo below to learn more!