INTERVIEW
Alex
fixes it
Special report by David Holmes
If you ever watched TV’s ‘Hotel
inspector,’ you know the format of the
BBC2 show, ‘The Fixer.’ They are very
similar. The host, Alex Polizzi, dispenses
wise business advice to hapless or witless
small family business owners. But why
would any sensible person take part in
such a show?
My family have been in the funeral
industry for decades, covering much of
South West London from 10 separate
locations. Six years ago, I decided to
start a new business closer to my Island
home. After much research I picked Fleet
in Hampshire, 60 miles away.
Our London firm conducted 1,200
funerals a year, so we thought a target
of 50 funerals for our first year in Fleet
achievable. In the event we managed
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a disappointing 35. Despite opening
a second office in Camberley, it took
several more years to get up to a barely
break-even 100 funerals a year.
I have strong opinions about funerals;
I think people should have choice at the
end of our lives. I think they need to
be better informed about the options,
not just settle for what is offered by
sometimes lazy c orporate undertakers.
The BBC wanted a family funeral firm to
take part in their ‘Fixer’ series; I ticked
some boxes, and my name was suggested.
I thought doing it could be great for our
profile, although I also realised taking
part could be quite a gamble.
We were vetted, our books revealing
only modest profit, and the BBC decided
to spend a day test filming with us. After