As everyone knows in the world of funeral service, it can be difficult to find and retain talent right now. Rising costs, local geographical constraints, and many other factors can make it nearly impossible for funeral home businesses to know how to work around the labor crisis in death care.

Needless to say, Henry Funeral Home holds insight that everyone needs to hear – having Gather is like having another funeral director on staff, but only half the annual cost.

Curious to see what Zhaden and Henry Funeral Home have accomplished since partnering with Gather? Read more about their major success story below.

The Legacy of Henry Funeral Home

Henry Funeral Home, which has been serving families for over 45 years, is located in the heart of Cambridge, Maryland. Their entire staff takes pride in pure excellence and providing the highest quality of service possible, to every family they serve.

Additionally, they never forget their roots – they work hard every day to bring honor to the late founders and leaders of the funeral home, Charles J. Henry and Janelle C. Henry-Buck.

The team has expanded from 7 to over 25 funeral service staff, and Henry Funeral Home is always exploring new ways to better serve its community.

Zhaden Myster’s Life in Funeral Service

Today, Zhaden T. Myster, at the young age of 29, is the owner of Henry Funeral Home. Let’s rewind many years ago. His mother, who worked as a mortician, invited Zhaden to attend a meeting with her to talk with her boss. Her boss turned to Zhaden in the meeting. “When are you going to work for us?”

The question was followed by a quizzical look from Myster. “Like, you want me to work at a funeral home?”

Eventually, Zhaden opened up to the idea: he started helping by driving the hearse during services. At that point, he fell in love with helping serve his community.

Fast forward to now – after the funeral director that he was working under suddenly passed away in 2021, Zhaden was approached with the opportunity to purchase Henry Funeral Home. He’s been leading the business since then.

The Details Matter in Funeral Service

At the end of the day, serving families is what drives Zhaden and his team to work every day.

However, funeral service isn’t always sunshine and rainbows. Every family is different, every staff member is different, and every service is different – but as Myster notes, the details (down to even detailing the hearse or car) are 100% controllable, and make a major difference.

“We’re dealing with precious cargo. Hearing a family say that they didn’t know what to expect coming into the situation and that our team made is so much easier, that’s the drive,” Zhaden notes.

Funeral Service is All About Teamwork

Zhaden also notes that funeral service is all about working together as a team. There are many details involved with working in or operating a funeral home; new ideas, whether they come from the front line or the behind-the-scenes people, should be celebrated and listened to.

“I’ll share this interesting story. We were on a service one time and I was standing next to one of the employees and they asked me a question in regards to who had done some work. As a gentleman stood next to me, we both pointed at each other at the same time. That’s the way it should be. That’s how a team works – not one person should take the credit.”

Per Zhaden, new changes and challenges will continue to shape the death care industry moving forward, such as fragmented families and new generations to serve. But having a strong team and adapting to change quickly will continue to guide Henry Funeral Home to success.

How Gather Has Impacted Henry Funeral Home

Given the challenges and factors that continue to shape funeral home businesses, Zhaden knew that his team needed a funeral home management platform like Gather.

Gather is Like Having an Additional Funeral Director on Staff

Since switching to Gather’s case management platform, Zhaden believes that it’s been a game-changer for business:

• Collaborate With Families in Real-Time: “Gather is truly mobile-friendly. I got my haircut at the barbershop this morning and I essentially did a cremation arrangement from my chair during the haircut, and invited a family member into the system. I looked, they [the family] had pictures uploaded, obituary completed. I like that those challenges can really be eliminated through the use of software. It’s like having your whole system in your back pocket, and it ACTUALLY works.”
• Get Daily Updates on Revenue: “At the end of the day, funeral homes have to make money. Gather gives you a financial picture at the top. I don’t think there’s any other software that lets you see revenue collected monthly as a percentage.
• Gather Constantly Updates: “Anytime I email and make a request for something that I want in the platform, the team is already working on it or they’re getting to it. But really, it’s been like hiring another funeral director. It tracks notes. It does everything. The customer service is great.”

Gather Builds Beautiful, Integrated Funeral Home Websites

Zhaden also enjoys the ability to publish cases created in Gather directly to Henry Funeral Home’s new, beautifully designed website that was built by Gather.

• Mobile-Friendly Design: “Everybody has a website now, and it may be ‘mobile friendly’, but it’s not mobile friendly. Just because you can view it on a phone doesn’t mean it’s mobile-friendly. Viewing our website or using Gather on your cell phone is just like doing it all on a computer. Our website looks great on people’s phones, which is where more and more traffic is coming from.”
  
  
• Digital Showroom For Families: “At first, I was leery about putting our prices out there, I didn’t want others to see our showroom and price-gouge us. But with a push for more transparency with pricing, I like being able to now tell people that our caskets are actually directly on our website for them to see. We have full control over our digital GPL and can update it directly in Gather, and it updates to the website for us.”

Elevate Your Funeral Home Business With Gather

If you are extremely motivated and interested to take your funeral home business to the next level like Zhaden Myster has done with Henry Funeral Home, explore our website design portfolio and book a free demo to see why Gather’s case management platform will be the difference-maker for both your staff and your families.