Two things crossed my desk this morning, and they are the same story in two totally different contexts. Stick with me here and you’ll learn two things at once and in less than 10-minutes. Both of which could easily transform your pre-need program if you take action.
First one: Passare just launched what their CTO Kyle Swearingen says is the first MCP server in the funeral profession. MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. The plain-English version is this: it is an open standard that lets an AI tool connect directly to software you already use, with no custom code required for each new connection. So instead of exporting a report or digging through a system manually, you could ask an AI which preneed contracts in your Passare account are still unfunded and get an answer pulled from your actual records. That is the direction this is heading.
Now, let’ me explain exactly what’s happening. This is important…
Right now, the launch is aimed at technology partners and developers building on Passare’s platform. Funeral home owners cannot just flip a switch and have this running by Friday. Think of it as the first door opening, not a finished room. But I am genuinely glad Passare built it, because every vendor that connects their platform to AI tools makes the owner more capable, not more dependent on corporate infrastructure. If your software vendors are not thinking about this, they should be. One question worth asking every vendor you work with: “Do you have an MCP server, or a plan for one?”
Second item: SCI reported preneed funeral sales production up 6 percent in Q3 2026, roughly $19 million. Comparable preneed cemetery sales were up 5 percent, and year-to-date cemetery preneed is running 7.5 percent ahead of last year. Those are company-reported figures. Management says buyers are shifting toward single-pay preneed insurance contracts over multi-pay arrangements, and they read that as strong consumer confidence with no sign of a slowdown.
Here is what SCI says they are doing to drive those numbers: more sales counselors, more seminar and lunch-and-learn activity, targeted marketing, digital lead generation, and a move to guaranteed hourly pay to hold onto their counselors.
Now I want to ask you something directly. Did your preneed numbers move like that?
If production is flat while the largest company in this profession grows it every single quarter, standing still is falling behind. I am not telling you what your numbers look like. I am asking you to find out. Pull the last four quarters of your own preneed production and look at the trend. Then pick one thing to do this month. A seminar. A lunch and learn. A real conversation with every family you served in the last sixty days.
You hold something SCI cannot buy, which is a local name and families who already trust you. That is a real advantage. But trust does not convert without a process behind it.
Here is where the two items connect. SCI is growing preneed with people, events, and systems. Passare is showing us that the systems side of this profession is starting to open up to AI. Owners who build the infrastructure around preneed will have both the data and the process to see their own numbers clearly and act on them. Marketing is infrastructure. It is not a campaign you run once.
Pull those four quarters. Ask your vendors about MCP. Those two moves cost you nothing but attention.
-John
