Greg Tucker is a 10 year veteran of the cemeteries and crematoria industry. His latest role at Catholic Cemeteries + Crematoria (CCC) sees him drawing on that experience to manage cemetery operations, from the delivery of professional customer service to the provision of compassionate grief care.
Greg decided to join CCC, as the Regional Manager Cemeteries + Grief Care largely due to the calibre of people that worked there. He could see what the leadership team were trying to achieve with customer service. Greg explains “Their drive and passion was inspiring, I had not come across it before in the industry”.
“Lots of companies talk about customers being their core focus, but not many are able to put that into practise. At CCC, it is central to everything the company strives towards. They are a commercial organisation, but have a different way of looking at things.”
The values of CCC as an organisation mean something to everyone that works there. The company’s mission and the capacity to lead by them are what embeds authenticity and innovation in the company and allows CCC to place the customer first.
Greg believes that what differentiates CCC from other cemetery providers are the people and their drive for excellence. The skills and expertise of the management and staff come from a broad and varied background. They engage commercial thinking, but remember to do the right thing by customers.
Greg has experienced this when dealing with customers in the past. A family had ongoing issues that predated him working at a memorial park. He advised the lady to come in and went through all the paperwork with her. Greg now receives a Christmas card every year from her, as a result of resolving this ongoing issue for the customer.
The feedback that Greg has received from funeral directors has been overwhelmingly positive. He has been told the reason that they continue to book funeral services with CCC, is they know the standard of service they will receive. They know when they arrive at the memorial park, everything will be ready.
They funeral directors are also confident that if something goes wrong, the staff will fix it right away. They are empowered to get things resolved quickly, without a great degree of red tape. It is critical the team can learn from these incidents, so they don’t happen again.
Greg is surprised by the reactions from friends that are unaware that CCC work with multiple religious and cultural groups. They are unaware that the organisation has strong and respectful relationships with multi-faith groups including the Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and indigenous communities.
CCC is also the only operator in Sydney with a dedicated Grief Care team. The team hold memorial masses, annual commemorative events and support sessions at the cemeteries. The team can direct clients to specialised groups such as Heartfelt and the Road Trauma Support when required.
Greg is proud of the services that CCC provide for all in the community and has witnessed this first-hand with special services to support the homeless and the destitute, through our partnerships with St Vincent de Paul and PAYCE End Street Sleeping.
If there is one thing that Greg has learnt throughout his career, it is that “People are the most important thing in the world” and he takes looking after the families that trust their loved ones to CCC and the funeral directors who use our memorial parks seriously. He has a great team of staff that support him in this endeavour.
Greg continues to be passionate about the industry he works in and believes it is one of the most rewarding. “We help people at the most terrible time in their lives. It is life-affirming to be part of a team that does everything it can, to help make a difficult time a little easier for our customers.”
