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Purpose
 Robin
Heppell has identified a real need for funeral homes in North
America to have access to business consultants that have relevant
knowledge of today's business operations, given that many of
the challenges faced today were not present in generations past.
By combining his expertise in technology and pre-need,
his formal business knowledge and his deep-rooted legacy in
the funeral profession, Heppell feels that he can help funeral
homes be more competitive, more profitable, and provide the
best possible service for the families they serve.
Background
Heppell is a fourth generation funeral director who got his
start in the family business with his grandfather, William Egan
of Egan Funeral Home in Bolton, ON. Washing
cars, gardening, and making middle-of-the-night transfers -
as with many generational funeral directors – were the
tasks that Robin cut his teeth on. Being born and raised
in Victoria, BC though, Heppell returned to the west coast after
the summers in Ontario and started his career with David McCall,
at McCall Bros. Funeral Directors.
After a decade of funeral directing and embalming, Heppell took
on the new challenge of Preneed in 1996. By not giving
in to the Insurance Council of B.C.'s antiquated rules, he obtained
his life insurance license, formed Heppell Funeral Planning Ltd. and was on his entrepreneurial
way. During this mind shift between at-need and pre-need,
Heppell taught himself the ins and outs of sales and marketing
while keeping abreast of all of the latest technologies.
In 1998, he was rewarded for his pre-need efforts when he ranked
first in North America for overall sales for NSM's Pre-need Program, despite being burdened
with a 75+% cremation rate.
He continued to balance his pre-need duties with the demands
of keeping McCall's up-to-date technologically. In the
mid-nineties, Heppell created a call management database with
a form and report generator, which due to its robustness, McCall's
still relies on today. When the time came for McCall's
to be fully-wired, Heppell was the project manager for the implementation
of the 15 unit network. With his knowledge continually
expanding on the tech side, he joined forces with Todd Abrams,
the president of FX-Directors Solutions, of Dallas, TX; and
he represented them throughout Canada until 2006. It was
at this time that the transformation from Planning
to Solutions occurred
as Heppell saw a greater need and opportunity beyond preneed.
He realized that he also needed to further round out his knowledge
so he obtained his Bachelor of Commerce
degree from Royal Roads University, with a focus on
Entrepreneurial Management.
Outlook
The current situation in the funeral profession is tougher than
it has ever been and Heppell realizes that the next five to
ten years will be the same or even tougher. Nonetheless,
he sees a bright future ahead - not just by relying on the impending
“Death Boom” – but believes that those who
are willing to address the situation now will reap the benefits
both now and in the future.
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Company
Info: Heppell Funeral Solutions