How do you measure efficiency in your funeral home? For Randy Nash, Owner of Sumner Funeral and Cremation, that looked like finding a software company that could meet the increasing demands of his growing funeral home. Randy shares how he landed on Passare and how the software has transformed his team’s efficiency by helping them move from stagnant paper files to an all-in-one cloud-based platform.

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

I’ve been in the funeral profession since I was 14, so I grew up in this business. We've always done everything on paper. Although we had some management software on the back end, we didn’t have anything that the funeral directors could use daily on the front end.

Plus, our call volume increased considerably right at the beginning of COVID. We needed efficiency and things to be more streamlined. We really didn’t have a choice. If we wanted to keep up with our calls, we had to make a change.

Can you tell us about why you decided to switch to Passare?

I was tasked with identifying a software company we could use, so I interviewed them all. And when I say all of them, I mean all of them.

Passare always came out on top for 3 big reasons.

The number one selling point was the ease of use. One of our biggest challenges at the time was needing a simple way to integrate technology into the arrangement conference. A few years ago, the idea of having technology front and center made us hesitant, but our staff came around to the idea because we were all seeing technology used everywhere.

The second positive reason was the reporting capabilities. I need business insights, and reporting gives me just that!

The third reason was related to the integrations that Passare offers. Those were a no-brainer. Any company we did business with in other areas of the profession already integrated with you guys. And if, for some rare reason, Passare didn’t already have an integration set up, you were and are open to partnering with more companies.

What kind of results have you seen since implementing Passare?

Efficiency increased immediately.

I complete all my tasks much quicker with Passare than on my own. Keeping track of case details and updates is much smoother than taking notes by hand when working on a cloud-based platform. Passare has helped us reduce paper and increase our efficiency.

When we switched, I noticed some differences in their Tennessee forms, and I needed to get those updated and fixed. I called Support and sent them what we needed. I kid you not - it was done and uploaded for us that same day.

Also, meeting with families became much easier. I have never had one family say anything negative about the technology we use. They responded positively to our changes to accommodate them better, reassuring us that we were moving in the right direction.

Plus, we’ve seen positive results due to how open the Passare team is to suggestions and areas of improvement. Your team genuinely wants to improve Passare for all customers and clients. That helps us feel heard and valued.

What's your experience working with Passare Support?

Believe it or not, I don't have to call Support very often, proving that the software is user-friendly. But anytime we have an issue, the Support team is always prompt to help us figure it out. They always understand exactly what I’m talking about when explaining issues.

When we hire new employees, one of the first things we do is set them up with a demo and teach them how to use Passare. The Support team is always very involved in helping us with onboarding.

I appreciate that they are an in-house Support team. You aren’t outsourcing from somewhere else. The people we talk to are right in your office, and they know who we are. That’s a really big deal.

The whole staff has always been approachable. I always enjoy seeing the team at conventions because we have a good relationship. It’s been a positive experience!

What are your favorite features in Passare?

I use dozens of templates and forms every single day. The forms help us run our day-to-day operations and help when we have special events.

For example, we do a Christmas Memorial Remembrance service every year. With Passare, I can easily create an Excel spreadsheet of the names and email addresses of families so I can let them know about the upcoming event. It’s neat and helpful because I do not have to input all that information manually.

The reporting is amazing, too. I love that I can create reports based on whatever business insights I want. I like the option to filter by revenue per director. This option provides a lot of insights into my team. I like to focus on their successes and areas for growth, what they are good at selling, and what they might have a more challenging time selling. Looking deeper at my team helps me know where to push and encourage them. It’s proven to be really helpful.

Do you have any favorite integrations? 

We use quite a few integrations, and we like all of them.

On the accounting side, we integrate QuickBooks and PFA Tax and Accounting Professionals. Our bookkeeper loves both of these because they save time by not having to rekey information.

The integration with Funeral Directors Life (FDL) for preneed has been beneficial. When we click a button, the preneed case becomes an at-need one, with all of the information already populated.

We also use Precoa for our aftercare needs. We capture names and email addresses, and Precoa can easily access that information.

People will find that Passare is capable of so much, and I know we aren’t even utilizing it to its full potential. We could be doing so much more!

Would you recommend Passare to a colleague? If so, why?

Yes, I would recommend Passare. It helps us serve families better and more efficiently.

I don't have anything negative to say about Passare, which is rare because I’m always looking for ways to improve things.

Passare is cool because most of the tools align well with our current processes. I tell my colleagues who are hesitant about using software that it honestly isn’t that different from “old school” methods. It’s just more streamlined and digital.

There are so many software companies out there, and each of them has its own differentiators. With Passare, I stand by the three main differences I mentioned previously: ease of use, reporting capabilities, and integrations.

I would like to add how amazing it is that you all are constantly pushing out updates and new features, and we are never charged extra for any of those upgrades. We don’t have to pay more money to have a better program.

Passare makes our lives easier.

Anything else you want to add?

Before Passare, we were with another software company. The transition from that company to Passare was smooth! Truthfully, we'd only been with the previous software company for less than a year, and we should have gone with Passare first. But you live and you learn!

[Thanks, Randy!]

About the funeral home:

Sumner Funeral and Cremation has two locations in Gallatin, Tennessee. The funeral home currently serves around 400 families each year.

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