HOW IT WORKS

The informed consumer has the power of choice.

The informed public is today looking for a simpler, dignified, and more affordable choices in dealing with their final arrangements.  Grave Solutions was created to give the consumer a choice. You have the right to select products from someone other than the funeral home or cemetery that you have chosen for the service. The funeral home or cemetery may not refuse or charge a fee for handling a product that you purchased elsewhere. They will charge you the fees for installation of the product the same as they would their own customer. The cost of products can be as much as 50 to 70% of the total arrangements. Purchasing products from an outside source that are beyond the control of the funeral home or cemetery can significantly lower your total expenditure for funeral arrangements without diminishing the quality of the products or arrangements. 

With Grave Solutions you have an opportunity to save Hundreds or even Thousands of Dollars when making final arrangements. 

Grave Solutions has developed a  Resale Program for the sale of cemetery property which private individuals no longer have a need for. It is estimated that there are over a Million Cemetery Spaces available nationwide. Until now, families have had little opportunity to market that property except to place a costly ad in their local paper obituary column. With the electronic commerce available, Grave Solutions “Resale Program” is the proper format to assist in the sale and transfer of cemetery property at prices which will be, generally, much lower than the best promotional prices that the cemetery charges. 

Grave Solutions has developed “The National Funeral Plan” which is a discounted, packaged funeral plan that is fulfilled by our nationwide network of affiliated Funeral Homes. Most Funeral Homes are prohibited from offering a discount from their general price list but they are able to offer packages that offer substantial savings to the client family. By using Grave Solutions “National Funeral Plan” the family can shop for the best price at different funeral homes from wherever the family happens to be at the time they have to make arrangements. Once a funeral home is selected, the family can print out the packages or other promotional prices that the funeral home is offering and present this information to the funeral home and avoid the hassle of negotiations or the embarrassment of asking for discounts at a time of emotional distress. This also gives the family written documentation to do comparative shopping without having to locate funeral homes, call and shop on the phone or visit several funeral homes to gather information. 

Grave Solutions will soon be opening the “Memorial Store” where you can select the bronze memorial of your choice, and purchase unique memorialization products that are not generally available from traditional sources. 

HISTORY

Grave Solutions is a business designed to give consumers reasonable and economic alternatives in the choice and selection of funeral and cemetery products and services. Grave Solutions is a business operated by National Cemetery Marketing Associates, Inc.  which was founded in 1996 by Mr. Kenneth W. Brant.  Mr. Brant was an employee for 18 years of the largest company in the world in the funeral/cemetery business. During his tenure Mr. Brant held the positions of Sales Manager, Regional Sales Manager, Assistant Regional Vice President of Sales, and Director, Sales and Marketing. His tenure included 6 years service on his employers National Marketing Committee.   Mr. Brant supervised territories covering 7 states, which included as many as 75 Cemeteries.   His sales teams sold over  $100,000,000.00 worth of cemetery property, products and services. Mr. Brant experienced first hand the wants and needs of families at the time of loss by personally serving families on an almost daily basis for his entire 18-year tenure.   Many creative ideas and marketing programs designed by Mr. Brant are in use today nationwide.  As a Real Estate Broker from 1970 to 1981, Mr. Brant developed a For Sale By Owner real estate business concept, which is still widely used today.

INDUSTRY

The death care industry is a $20 Billion a year business controlled almost exclusively by funeral homes and cemeteries. The business consists of services and products.  The funeral home provides the service of recovery, preparation, and disposal of human remains while the cemeteries provide the service of opening and closing of graves, installation of memorialization and funeral products and maintenance of graves. The major products are the burial container (casket or urn) sold by the funeral home, the outer burial container  (vault or grave liner) sold by either the funeral home or cemetery, the memorialization product  (upright monuments or bronze and granite memorials mounted flush with the ground) usually sold by the cemetery, and the interment right  (ground space or mausoleum crypt) sold by the cemetery.

The death care business has been around since the beginning of time. Some early references are in the Bible.  Abraham purchased, at the time of the passing of his wife Sarah, a cave at the end of a field that would become the family burial ground. Hundreds of years later the remains of Joseph were interred in the same burial ground after they were removed from Egypt during the Exodus.