PRACTITIONER SPOTLIGHT: Sinn Family’s Small Choices Are Making a Big Difference for Minnesota Families

Ean and Crystal Sinn are no strangers to navigating major decisions. Since the pandemic, they’ve successfully managed a 2,000-mile long-distance relationship, married and had two beautiful boys, relocated across state lines (twice), and launched three locations of Sinn Family Celebration of Life Centers from scratch. 

But as Ean explained in a recent conversation with The Group, it's the small choices he and Crystal have made as they’ve built their funeral homes that have, perhaps, made the biggest impact on their business and the families they serve. 

The social switch

Take the decision to move from standard social media posts to personally recording and sharing educational video content.

“That was at my wife’s urging,” Ean explains. “She’s like, ‘Ean, you have to do this.’ I didn’t have TikTok. I didn’t have Instagram. I didn’t watch videos. I didn’t realize how important video is for social media these days. My wife just said, ‘This is where people are.’ And she was right.”

Ean began filming videos in July, mounting his phone on the funeral home’s livestreaming tripod and using inexpensive apps for teleprompting, editing, and scheduling across four platforms (YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok). Since making that switch, Sinn Family’s Facebook presence alone has expanded from 2,300 followers to 12,000, generating two million views across all videos over the past 90 days with seven videos exceeding 100,000 views — all organically, without any paid boosting or targeting.

“It’s been really very, very positive,” Ean says. “Two things I’m sticking with are that I will not do things for shock value and I will explain things as if I’m explaining them to a grieving widow at nine in the morning across the arrangement table.”

The videos have cultivated meaningful conversations with followers, grown the new funeral home’s name recognition and reputation, and encouraged community members to ask important questions that Ean personally answers within the comments section. They’ve also led to business growth; in fact, one video explaining the cremation authorization form resulted in nine prearrangements.

Transparency across the board

In another recent reel, Ean shared that families receiving the cremated remains of a loved one would now be presented with a simple rosewood urn rather than a black plastic container — at no extra charge. He admits in the post's introductory text that this is no gimmick, and that he’s no salesman. It’s simply a decision they’ve made as a business, and Ean has no problem explaining why.

“[People have] asked, ‘Well, doesn’t that hurt your urn sales?’” Ean explains. “But I’m not big on merchandise. We’ve structured our pricing so that if they buy their urn on Amazon, that’s ok. But the black plastic boxes … I’ve heard from more people that they have good intentions of buying an urn, or they plan to make one, but they never do. I think it gives a little bit more reverence to their loved one if they're in a better container, even if it's temporary. It’s just nice to send them off with this.”

Community collaboration is key

The decision to invest a little more to provide a better experience for families is indicative of the Sinns’ business philosophy. Before Ean and Crystal opened their first funeral home three years ago, they knew that their firm would be based on service, not pricing — a concept that sounds like quite a financial challenge for young newlyweds introducing a brand new business to a relatively small community.

But instead of being intimidated by these potential roadblocks, the Sinns addressed them with the creativity and openness that’s since become their signature. They approached the leaders of a local United Methodist Church with an offer to buy their property for use as a funeral home, while allowing the congregation to continue holding services and events in the space. The collaboration was so successful that the Sinns repeated the process, purchasing and sharing church properties in two more locations. 

The three Sinn Family Celebration of Life Centers now serve families across four Minnesota counties, with the first location now also offering onsite cremation. The nature and layout of the spaces make them a natural choice for community events, and each location has hosted educational seminars, blood drives, concerts, farmers' markets, and more since their wildly successful open houses — where, Ean shared, guests stayed well beyond the scheduled end time.

“It was supposed to be a five-to-seven, and it turned into five-to-ten because people really wanted to stick around,” he recalls. “We created a space that they want to stay in. I mean, the biggest compliment you can get is when people aren’t afraid to spend time in your funeral home.”