Glenn Rogers and his partner John Fullerton have transformed South Taranaki Funeral Services in Hāwera in the two and a half years since they purchased it.
Both the online and bricks and mortar business has been fully revitalised, complete with name change and total rebrand, with the help of two different business mentors in that time.
Glenn has been a funeral director for 23 years, including the previous seven for Cleggs Funeral Services, as it was known at the time. Glenn took over the hands-on running of the business in 2021, with John a fellow director and key supporter.
For the first year or so, almost all of their time was spent either thinking about work or being at work.
There were two distinct phases of the businesses transformation - one that was out of their control, and another that they initiated. In both situations, business mentors were key contributors.
Glenn and John hadn’t owned the business long before a nationwide Covid lockdown hit in mid-2021. They’d recently linked up with business mentor Shona Glentworth through Venture Taranaki, and she encouraged them to see the time as an opportunity.
“She actually turned Covid around for us and said, 'You've got this down time, make use of it,’” Glenn says. “That’s when we rebirthed our funeral home; we decorated, got new furniture in and really upgraded the facility so when we reopened, it was all looking sharp.
“It was the rejuvenation we really needed, and things started to pick up from there. She was brilliant because she was a bit of everything - we got advice on a whole broad spectrum of business and helped us to really get up and running.”
“Glen simply needed the confidence to do what he knew he needed to do,” Shona said. “I think my role was to be a sounding board and help him go through the ‘what ifs’ so he could make decisions about changes that needed to be made.”
After that successful first year, Glenn and John felt the businesses' needs were slightly different. They wanted to really focus on branding and promotion, so were reallocated a mentor who specialised in these key areas.
“He gave us some really good starting ideas and set up a programme for our social media ads with different types of information to put out to our target markets. That structure was probably one of the best things that ever happened to us,” Glenn says.
Glenn believes both business mentors have been hugely influential in the early stages of taking over an established business.
“In our first year in business, even going through Covid, we danced for joy at making a small profit - that’s almost unheard of. Then in the second year, we improved significantly. We’re really happy with how it’s gone.
“The biggest thing we’ve got from our mentors is confidence. I’m still learning everyday, but I have a lot more confidence to be able to lead the business in the right direction.”
In particular, Glenn credits both mentors with offering different ideas, but allowing them the freedom to make their own decisions and still lead the business their way.
“The best thing about both of our mentors is they‘ve really guided us - they’re not there to fix your problems for you, but they’re there to answer questions or when you need to run something past someone. That’s where the mentor programme really comes into its own.”
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