'Our biggest challenge is being accepted
by consumers.
Consumers are not educated or aware
that they have other options.'
-BOBBY THOMAS
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Selection: Bobby Thomas and his wife, Bobbie, have more than
a dozen models on display in their showroom at Casket Gallery
of Florida on University Boulevard.
Bobby Thomas, who
owns a
discount-casket store, says many people
don't realize they can shop around.
By SUSAN STROTHER CLARKE
OF THE SENTINEL STAFF
In the casket business, there are no sidewalk sales, no two-for-ones
and no discount coupons.
As far as marketing goes, things are deadly dull.
Bobby Thomas, owner of Casket Gallery of Florida, can attest
to that. Thomas and his wife, Bobbie, have been in the discount-casket
business for about two years, using the soft sell to attract
new customers.
They've learned a few things along the way: People can save
money shopping around for casket. But buyers, in their time
of grief, don't bargain hunt. Many don't even realize casket
can be bought outside a funeral home.
"Our biggest challenge is being accepted by consumers,"
Thomas said. "Consumers are not educated or aware that
they have other options."
In his University Boulevard showroom, Thomas has more than
a dozen casket on display, from a brushed copper model with
a Last Supper scene for $3695 to the pinky-white "cameo
rose" that is popular with women, which sells for $1,295.
He can order most anything else from hardwoods and steel to
military casket and even theme models, so a loved one can
take his final journey in a casket decorated with race cars.
Thomas sells six to eight casket a month -but he has bigger
plans. The retired Navy officer is one of a few independent
casket sellers in Orlando. He dreams on the day when companies
like his are as common as gas stations. The funeral and related-product
business is valued at something north of $16 billion annually.
Still, he knows he has his work cut out for him.
Much of his time is spent trying to get people to understand
that they have choices -just like they do when shopping for
a suit, a bottle of wine or a new computer. Yet most of his
potential customers don't like to think about death, much
less prepare for it.
Thomas shakes his head when discussing the challenges. He
tells people: "Dignity doesn't have to be expensive."
But how does a business owner sell the unsellable? Thomas
has identified his target market. He thinks it is baby boomers,
who are more accepting of straight talk about funerals than
older people.
Business experts said that companies that are most successful
in getting people comfortable with an unusual product tend
to do so by desensitizing their customers - that is, making
them forget a little about what they're dealing with.
"If you look at what companies have tried to do with
other products, they try to market it without mentioning what's
painful or distasteful," said John Curtis, an Orlando
consultant.
Think about Pfizer Pharmaceuticals and the company's medication
for impotence, Viagra. Talk about taboo subjects. Yet Pfizer
spent millions of dollars on television commercials and print
ads that explained that impotence was nothing to be ashamed
of - it was in many instances a treatable medical condition.
It didn't hurt that Pfizer had deep pockets, or that its pitchman
was Bob Dole, the former presidential candidate who showed
that powerful Washington insider could suffer from erectile
dysfunction (or, as he delicately put it, "E.D.")
Informing people about his product, Thomas is low-key. That's
how he was in his military career, when he spent time as a
recruiter, selling young people and their parents on the Navy.
He puts fliers on cars, conducts free seminars to explain
funeral-preparation options and buys a small amount of print
advertising.
He has a Web site and has tried direct mail, though he concedes
word-of-mouth works best. Thomas hopes he'll be successful
eventually in expanding his business, adding more clients,
more products and perhaps even a chapel.
But, in the meantime, he knows he has to change perceptions.
And he's working on it, one person at a time.
"If you do what you've always done," Thomas said,
"you get what you've always gotten."
Susan Strother Clark can be reached at sclark@orlandosentinel.com
or 407-420-5414.
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