Plexus Consulting Group: Success Stories -- SCA

Plexus Consulting Group		Success Stories

Southern Cemetery Association

Practice Areas Strategic Planning Survey & Research The Plexus Team Steven Worth Plexus Consulting Group, LLC 1620 Eye Street, NW Suite 210 Washington, DC 20006 Phone: 202-785-8940 Fax: 202-785-8949 Email: info@plexusconsulting.com		The Players The Southern Cemetery Association (SCA) is the trade association of cemetery owners of the Southern region. The SCA organizes annual meetings/trade shows that are considered by its members not only a networking and educational opportunity but as a "family gathering". SCA also produces and offers training courses and educational video/audio tapes. The International Cemetery and Funeral Association (ICFA) is an organization that represents cemetery owners, funeral directors and suppliers on an international level. ICFA therefore has a bigger annual trade show than SCA and is more independent of certain big players. State Associations in the Southern region play important roles as far as legislative and regulatory issues are concerned. Despite of this function, most of these associations face hard times because of decreasing resources and the overall challenge of the industry, namely consolidations and buy-outs of independently-owned cemeteries by big corporations. The Situation In recent years, the cemetery industry has experienced a steady decrease in membership that has been caused to a great extent by buy-outs of independently-owned cemeteries by large corporations all over the country. This has increasingly led to a dilemma of how to serve both groups adequately. On the one hand, the independent cemetery owners used to be – and to a certain degree still are – the life-blood of the organization, on the other hand, the big companies have all the financial power behind them. The growing national and international scope of big firms has called into question the relevancy of a small, regional organization. Moreover, the big companies have started to provide training and continuing education internally, lessening their dependence on SCA’s education and training services. The Southern Cemetery Association had to recognize all these facts but was unclear of how to tailor services and products to big corporations and independent cemeteries alike without running the risk of disappointing and loosing either part of their membership. Many believed all these factors were inevitably drawing SCA toward a merger with the larger ICFA. From the opposite side, the industry is facing increasing legislative and regulative pressure on the state level. Here, SCA had to recognize the competition of the state associations as the primary resource for legislative and regulatory information for cemeteries. Action *Deciding the Course of Action* SCA board members were not in agreement as to how to proceed. Failure to act would inevitably lead the organization to either disband or merge with the ICFA. Despite these considerations, the board felt strongly enough about SCA to decide it would be worth undertaking a strategic planning project, starting with a market survey of members, non-members and the industry-at-large. *Designing the Research Survey* SCA decided to conduct a survey that would provide the necessary data they would need to determine the state-of-affairs of the association and to make decisions about to where to go from here. The objectives of the survey were to determine the following: background information about the respondents; industry needs & trends; how constituents viewed SCA services and the cost of these services; and what additional actions SCA might have to take to address concerns and meet constituent needs. Included in the questions was one that asked whether respondents would support a merger with another organization. *Structuring the Board Retreat* Plexus Consulting Group proposed that the survey findings be the point of departure for a day and a half retreat. A strategic planning committee was nominated, which in return would report its decisions to the full board for final approval. The strategic planning committee was made up of board members – some of whom also serve on or are involved in state associations or the ICFA - in view of the obvious stake that this association had in the results of the retreat. The survey results were presented to the full board and the other members of the strategic planning committee one day before the strategic planning session itself, giving the full board the opportunity to review the findings and ask questions. On the next day, the strategic planning committee was to go through the strategic planning effort, taking a fresh look at all issues in light of these findings. Results *Summary of Survey Results* The group also discovered a couple of facts that came as a surprise to them. The first was that there is virtually no difference in the way the large corporations and the smaller independents view the major opportunities and challenges facing the industry. The second was that virtually all SCA’s programs receive high marks from those who are familiar with them. However, on this point, the principal challenge is that too many are not familiar with current programs and services. A high number of respondents could be labeled as so-called "fence-sitters" having no real opinion on important issues – mainly because of lack of information. This "target-group" was identified to be of vital importance for SCA’s future. SCA, ICFA and the state associations seem to play different but equally important roles in a variety of areas for their members. *Outcome of Board Retreat* In assessing these facts the strategic planning group was able to redefine the role of the SCA, as compared to the ICFA and the state associations. In light of this new definition, the group developed a new mission statement for the association with new principles and goals that addressed the threats and weaknesses while taking advantage of strengths and opportunities. The committee then looked at what it will take to do all this, even while realizing that time and financial resources are limited. Everything was on the table—even the possibility that SCA might need to form strategic alliances with other organizations or to fold the association entirely and make it part of some other entity. But after the group had gone through the whole analytical process it came to realize that all that had been outlined was very doable using current resources and that SCA had identified a unique and vital role for itself as a service supplier. Moreover, the entire group was enthusiastic about the plans they have set out for themselves. Instead of thinking about dissolving the organization, the group concentrated on expanding the vision, mission, and goals of SCA as well as on developing an ambitious business plan, and prioritizing the action items in the view of limited financial and personal resources.