Einan’s at Sunset Funeral Home wanted to make a dramatic software shift. They wanted a user-friendly program to accommodate their collaborative families and growing case volume. Plus, they wanted to make this monumental shift happen overnight – yes, you read that right.

Consultant Kim Harvey led the team at Einan’s through a massive change. Discover her thoughts about the process and see the successes this funeral home has experienced.

Before we dive into the Passare questions, can you tell us about your role at Einan's?

I’ve consulted with Einan’s at Sunset Funeral Home for about 10 years. My work involves project management and consulting. Essentially, I help companies bridge the gap between their interest in products and their implementation of those products.

A project manager helps tie everything together when a business wants to launch something new, create a new process, or make a large transition.

What were some of the challenges the staff at Einan's faced before getting Passare?

Einan’s used a different software for about 5 years prior to Passare. The old software technically had many capabilities but wasn't user-friendly. The old software didn’t work for those who weren’t technologically-savvy. We needed software that anyone could use.

Additionally, our case volume had been growing for years. We were at a point where we needed something better.

What were some of the reasons that led to choosing Passare?

We did extensive research on 10 different companies and interviewed with 5 of them before deciding to go with Passare.

Here are some factors that swayed in Passare’s favor:

• More tracking opportunities due to our growing case volume

• The ability to manage eSignatures online and create templates for documents

• Bringing the price list in for all of the merchandise

• Potential benefits we saw from our glimpse into Planning Center

All of these features were selling points.

Describe your experience with the transition and implementation process.

We immediately dove right in with implementation. Here’s a timeline for reference of how our process worked:

We began training with the onboarding team in July. Then, we transitioned to Premium Support in September. After that, we signed up for fast-track training that went from September to November. Finally, we launched December 1st.

We pulled off a fully-fledged launch. We went from running one software on November 30th to Passare on December 1st.

How has your experience been with Premium Support?

Premium Support has been helpful for several reasons.

One, we got to work with Julie Hofmann, who is phenomenal.

Two, we planned to embrace all of the technology quickly, and Premium Support welcomed that challenge.

We understood that many who onboard with Passare are doing slower implementations at their own pace. We wanted it to work on our timeline. Your team rose to the occasion, and we pulled it off together.

We received thorough training on moving and mapping documents, transferring price lists, and transferring merchandise visuals. With all of the training provided, we were able to do a lot of prep work.

Premium Support helped us navigate any challenges we encountered before launch. We felt like your team understood our implementation goals and gave us the support we needed to have a successful launch.

What kind of results have you seen since implementing Passare? 

The entire team likes the integrated payment system.

We're taking payments in the room during the arrangement meeting. If family members call in from out of town for the meeting and everyone's divvying up the cost, we can give them a link. With the link, everyone can manage their payments online. Everything is tied to the same contract, and accounting doesn't have to track that down.

What are some of your favorite features in Passare?

When we transitioned to Passare, one of the biggest selling points was Planning Center. We serve large families that like to be very involved in the planning process. We knew they would benefit from a collaborative feature that gives them some control.

Planning Center makes it easy to add 10+ people to a group. Every member can share photos for the service and provide information about the decedent. Passare recently rolled out the ability for funeral directors to chat with families via Messages in Planning Center. We like this tool because it allows the funeral director to message families without having to give out a cell phone number.

Planning Center also lets the family browse merchandise and prices online. They love that. Our families can see the urns, keepsakes, caskets, flowers, life celebration print materials…all of it! The funeral director can show them all the options in one space instead of sifting through multiple catalogs or jumping from website to website. It’s a complete online shopping experience for them, and we needed that.

The funeral directors use the Planning Center right away with families. More often than not, they see the Planning Center in action from our very first interaction. We get the families willing to sign up right away with their credentials. In those instances, families might input information before the arrangement meeting, and anything they add shows up for us. Talk about timesaving!

It's so great to hear your families love collaborating in Planning Center! Do any other features stand out?

Decedent tracking was a strong selling point for us. It has performed just as we would have hoped. We use the barcode tracking for decedents and locations.

We also love using dashboards. We use pre-made company dashboards that are set and shared with users based on their roles. We do this to make sure everyone is on the same page, which has worked well. Everyone's looking at the same information, which is crucial when dealing with 5 different locations. It’s essential that everyone has the same information at the same time.

Do you have any favorite integrations?

We like the QuickBooks integration. It has been key in saving our accounting department a significant amount of time. Within the first month, we noticed that it saved between 20 – 40 hours of work.

Due to the amount of time saved using the QuickBooks integration, our accounting teams were able to conquer more tasks. When the accounting team can take on more work, other areas of the business also experience some relief. Saving time with just one integration created this domino effect within the funeral home.

We appreciate the first-call integration with Answering Service for Directors (ASD) on several fronts. We love being able to upload the services right into Passare and create a case immediately. This is especially helpful when someone calls in after hours. ASD can provide all of the necessary information and details, which saves a ton of time.

Would you recommend Passare to a colleague? Why?

Yes, Passare is very user-friendly from an implementation standpoint. We were able to onboard our team quickly. Our situation is unique because we have a fairly large set of standard procedures to help with big company transitions such as this. However, I can still confidently say that Premium Support was instrumental in a smooth transition.

We'd also recommend Passare from a business standpoint. The reporting is robust. The accounting features save accounting a significant amount of time. Planning Center makes communicating and getting information from families a seamless process.

The entire team would recommend Passare.

About the funeral home:

Einan’s at Sunset Funeral Homes is located in Richland, Washington. Currently, they manage about 600 calls per year.

Efficient Implementation

Ready to make a change that is sure to benefit your funeral home? Do what Einan’s did, and go all in. Get a demo of Passare today.