FM Insights NFE special: Purpose-led innovation with Hannah Leverton

👇Read the full interview below — or watch the 5 min video highlights

Q: Your family firm has an incredible history of innovation, from pioneering eco-hearses to embracing digital changes. What do you feel are the core strengths independent funeral directors should draw upon when promoting their businesses?  

HL: It all comes down to knowing your core values, what you represent and what separates you from others. In marketing speak, they call it vision, mission and values, but in layman’s terms, it means making your business wrap around the client’s needs rather than the other way around. Listening is paramount. We are in a fortunate position where we don’t sell a set product off the shelf; we build a service specifically for the individual family. You must be client-led, marrying their needs with your values to build absolute trust. 

Q: In your experience, what types of marketing approaches resonate best with the communities you serve?  

HL: Our approach isn’t about aggressive, commercially driven campaigns. For us, the ultimate campaign is simply being available exactly when people need to find us, making sure we are easy to find and ensuring we come across as the genuine people we say we are. When someone is grieving, authenticity is everything. Lately, we’ve seen fantastic digital engagement with short-form video content on social media. Simple 12-second Facebook Reels showing a horse-drawn hearse or something unique about a funeral bring our work to life instantly, without requiring families to wade through reams of written text. 

Q: You’ve mentioned social media. Which digital platforms deliver the best results for Leverton & Sons?  

HL: Given our demographic in North London, Facebook and Instagram are our two main platforms for sharing notices and information. We also use LinkedIn, which is popular for interacting with professional bodies. However, we made a conscious decision to step away from X (formerly Twitter) entirely out of ethical principles to make a stand. 

Q: Leverton & Sons operates in one of the most diverse urban areas on the planet. In the context of the direct cremation trend, what does this diversity teach us about the role of a traditional funeral?  

HL: No matter the culture, the unifying factor across our entire community is the need for collective grieving. Whether that means a silent, calm service or a loud, celebratory one, there is no wrong way to do it. My dad always says we will do anything as long as it’s legal! Direct cremation certainly has a place, but where it lacks is that it misses out on the collective physical or virtual coming together to share in grief and mark a life. Skipping that opportunity can create real long-term issues for those left behind. 

Q: Are you seeing any specific shifts or trends in London right now that might eventually take hold across the rest of the country?  

HL: Broadly speaking, webcasting, filming funerals and deep personalisation are standard everywhere now. Interestingly, the traditional winter and summer rhythms of death spikes have become completely unpredictable since COVID-19. More specifically, we are seeing a growing trend of large church services where the coffin is committed privately the following day via direct cremation, allowing the family to go straight from the church service to the reception. 

Q: Shifting to technology, Leverton & Sons recently implemented Funeral Manager. Mindful that it’s still early days, what operational differences are you already noticing?  

HL: The benefit has been widespread because the platform brings the whole company together. Our previous CRM was only really used by head office and our funeral directors. Funeral Manager gives our entire operation live, full sight of what we are working on simultaneously across our five branches. For instance, in our mortuary, our embalmer, Leslie, can now accurately plan her work two weeks in advance, which she simply couldn’t do before. We’ve also introduced automated email invoicing with QR codes, which dramatically reduces the administrative burden on our finance team. 

Beyond just freeing up time, this technology has driven a genuine “levelling up” within our company. It enables staff autonomy and creates a real sense of empowerment, ensuring everyone across our separate branches has access to the exact same information at the exact same time. It forces you to look hard at your processes, but the resulting joined-up communication and internal equity are massive. 

Q: The National Funeral Exhibition (NFE) takes place later this week, representing a crucial window for firms to evaluate compliance software before statutory regulation arrives. What is your advice to funeral directors looking at digital transformation, particularly those managing multiple branches?  

HL: Do your homework. Go to the exhibition, ask the tough questions, test the platforms, push the buttons and get multiple quotes. Don’t be afraid to ask for opinions from other funeral directors using the software – this profession has a wonderful, supportive network for sharing information. For multi-branch firms, my biggest tip is to secure dedicated resources. Day-to-day operations are exhausting, so bring in a freelance project manager or second a trusted team member for six months to purely focus on driving the implementation forward. Be realistic about time, but don’t be afraid. Jump in.