Partner Spotlight: Ronald Taylor II Funeral Homes

You know that captivating, kind individual who can lift up the mood of any room they’re in? They hold this charisma, this presence, that just cannot be recreated. They lead by example. They care about every single person, and they do whatever they can to make someone else’s day.

These unique individuals? They’re also known as “unicorns” in society – people don’t come across them too often, but when they do, they consider themselves lucky.

Ronald Taylor II, the owner of Ronald Taylor II Funeral Homes, is one of those unicorns.

Learn more about the legacy of Ronald Taylor II and how he partnered with Gather to do better business and provide more value to his families.

From Basketball Courts to Funeral Homes

While his father built the Taylor Funeral Home business from the ground up over 30 years ago, Ronald Taylor II didn’t see himself following in those same footsteps. He loved basketball and envisioned a different path forward in life.

But when basketball didn’t pan out how he had hoped and his mother was diagnosed with cancer, something suddenly clicked. He thought back to the past conversations he had with his father about taking over the family-operated funeral home business.

And he realized just how meaningful and fulfilling it can be to help serve others – to celebrate life, family, and the memories in between.

“Ultimately, at the end of the day, I would love for more peace. I would love for life to slow down. I would love for the unnecessary killing to stop,” Taylor II states.

He would soon become a licensed funeral director, take over his father’s funeral homes, and begin serving families in the Baltimore and Washington D.C. areas. Taylor II, a family man with three kids and a loving wife, has now been serving for over 17 years.

His love for the industry continues to grow every day.

“I believe in making the hardest times for different families the easiest times. After arrangements and services, I oftentimes become friends with the families. Cookouts, picnics, we always end up reconnecting down the road from the moments we shared together. I love the community, I love people, and I want to ease them during their most difficult time[s].”

What His Funeral Homes Needed

While he enjoys his daily profession and appreciates the passion that his father has poured into Taylor Funeral Homes, Ronald Taylor II also understands that nowadays, families are looking for more meaningful services in a world that is constantly changing.

“We try to get as modern as possible – meeting people where they are, whether it’s Zoom, live streaming, whatever it may be. We want to be new and innovative in the industry, we want to see what’s out there so we can make it easier for us and our families.”

In his journey to modernize his funeral homes’ services and workflow, Ronald Taylor II ventured to the NFDA Convention in Chicago back in 2019. That fateful weekend, he crossed paths with Gather at their booth, and he was immediately drawn in. He was looking for cloud-based funeral director software that integrated smoothly with everything and eliminated the need for pen and paper.

From there, he took a chance on Gather, and the rest is history.

How Gather Has Impacted Business

For funeral professionals, the business can be unpredictable, and that’s no exception for Ronald Taylor II’s funeral homes. When he switched to Gather, his business saw an immediate impact.

Case Management Software Saves Time

When Ronald Taylor II switched to Gather’s easy-to-learn case management platform, he gained the ability to automate several tasks that are required when planning services or arrangements for his families.

“Gather has saved me and my company time more than anything. Time that goes into making initial arrangements, putting arrangements into the computer, then putting out a contract. Before, it would sometimes take me a couple of hours.”

With the new extra time on his hands, he’s able to put extra focus and love into every family that he works with – and that’s a freedom that he never had before. And in his eyes, that’s the most important thing in the funeral business.

While saved time is a big benefit of switching to Gather, it’s not the only benefit for funeral directors – the platform offers customization and family collaboration abilities that Taylor II fell in love with.

“I like customizing the Remember Page, helping families put their pictures up, the live streams, it’s probably one of my favorite pastimes. I love it. I can also make arrangements on the phone from anywhere.”

Ronald Taylor II Built and Manages His New Website With Gather

Before Gather, Ronald Taylor II’s funeral home website was good, but it wasn’t great. It didn’t explore opportunities to provide additional value to families. He had design inspiration and a vision, but no website designers with industry expertise that could bring it to life.

After partnering with Gather, Ronald Taylor II gained the opportunity to build his dream website from the ground up.

“The process of me getting my website from Gather was a seamless and easy process. During our time, they integrated all my information from Gather into the website, and it’s beautiful.”

While Ronald Taylor II enjoyed the onboarding process and the custom design capabilities of Gather’s website team, he also enjoyed the little amount of work that he was personally required to put into the process.

“The most important thing I love about my website is that I don’t have to do it. Once I put everything in Gather one time and click one button, it serves all information – the obituaries, the Remember Page, everything goes straight to my website and I didn’t have to do anything.”

How Gather Has Impacted Families

While the impact on his business process and business success are evident, Ronald Taylor II also loved Gather for the flip side of the coin – its impact on his families.

After all, people are what fuel his passion for the funeral industry.

“We do family weekends. We do family fun events. I’m for the people. I use Gather for everything. The families love it. They love that I’m interacting with them as soon as I get a phone call.”

Taylor II also raves about feedback about the website from his families, saying that all of his families love it. When it comes to his website, families comment on:

• How amazing it looks and feels
• How interactive the Remember Page is
• How easy it is to navigate and find their loved ones, and
• How easy it is to watch services with the live streaming integration

Partner With The Funeral Home Platform That Understands You and Your Families

Chances are, you (and your funeral home) are a unicorn just like Ronald Taylor II.

For our team at Gather, we don’t just consider ourselves lucky when we get to work with a unicorn. We consider it a privilege and responsibility to celebrate you and let you be the guiding light in the funeral industry as well.

We have three licensed morticians and funeral directors on staff that are consistently helping provide feedback to us on how we can build out the best solutions for you and other funeral professionals.

Gather’s funeral home software was built with the purpose of providing the easiest and simplest experience for both funeral homes and families when it comes to planning arrangements. Our all-in-one solution can streamline your processes and provide:

• Simpler Case Management
• Interactive Live Streaming
• Custom Funeral Home Websites
• Reliable Body Tracking

Schedule your free, quick demo with our team today and see if we’re the right fit for your business and your families, or give us a call directly at (888) 492-2697.