~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Customer Service as Competitive Advantage How "being easy to work with" brings in more business March 19, 2008 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In this issue... -- Exceptional Customer Service as a Source of Competitive Advantage -- Superior Quality Is Not Enough! -- Certification Programs for Your Sales Professionals -- Please Participate in our Recruiting Survey for Non-medical Caregivers -- There's Still Time to Register -- New BLOG Postings on the Home Health Care Leadership Minute -- About the Author -- Permission to Reproduce Welcome, . . . to Stephen Tweed's Leading Home Care Report, the premier online newsletter for CEOs and executives of America's leading home health agencies. Today we're looking at sector 2-S of the AOTF model - Strategic Service. I want to give you some new insights on how you can really use exceptional customer service as a source of competitive advantage.

Exceptional Customer Service as a Source of Competitive Advantage ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I remember vividly the day in September, 1999 when I became interim President and CEO of a $25 million hospital based home health care company in Louisville, Kentucky. It was right in the middle of the Interim Payment System from Medicare, and the financial picture was really ugly. You probably remember that time too! My job was to turn this sinking ship around and get ready for a new CEO. One of the things I looked at was how much business we were getting from our own hospital. Our share was about 42%, and our competitors were getting 58%. How come? I set up meetings with the discharge planners, and talked with our clinical liaisons. We examined the discharge and referral data. The answer came down to one simple fact. We were giving lousy service to our biggest and best customer. We had taken them for granted and were not as responsive as we needed to be. Fast forward nine years later and the agency there is a whole new organization. They have since merged with the second largest agency in the market area, and together the new merged agency is the biggest and most successful in the state. One thing I learned from that experience is the power of exceptional customer service in home health care. Your referral sources don't care how good your quality is if you don't answer your telephone. When we explored the situation further, we found several basic problems that caused our own hospital discharge planners to call our competitors: Our telephone system was terrible and it was hard to get through to the right person. The person answering the telephone was not giving exceptional service. The intake department was stressed, overworked, and under appreciated. The clinical teams were short of staff and hesitant to take new cases. The clinical liaisons in the hospital were frustrated by the high demands being placed on them by the intake department for information. The hospital discharge planners were good friends with the intake coordinators at our competitor's agencies. The result was that we were losing the business. Exceptional Service Begins at the Strategic Level We quickly fixed some of the customer service problems at the operational level. But we realized that Exceptional Service begins at the Strategic Level in your organization. Your home health agency will only be known for exceptional service when your senior leadership team has a clear strategy for competitive advantage, and everyone at the executive level is on the same page as far as service. That means that clinical managers, the intake department, recruiting, human resources, finance, billing, and quality assurance all need to be willing to focus on going out of their way to serve a customer. It means making sure that every "moment of truth" when the agency comes in contact with a referral source is an exceptional customer experience. Once your leaders are all on the same page philosophically, then you can address customer service at the managerial and the operational level. Exceptional Customer Service is a philosophy and a strategy, not a tactic. It's not about more smile training and positive thinking. It's about finding and fixing all of the little moments of contact where customers have less than exceptional experiences.

Superior Quality Is Not Enough! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In the last issue of Leading Home Care Report, I wrote about Strategic Quality. I received many positive calls and emails. And then there was this note: Stephen, I really enjoy your newsletter, and we attempt to apply any ideas possible. Regarding quality, I agree with you as to the importance. However, all things have not worked together for good in our case. Our agency was named among the Top 100 in the United States last year, and still in the Top 500. We have been in our service area longer than any of our competitors (over 25 years) with the same name and owner even! We have taken this information (along with a comparison of the other main competitors in our service area) showing that we are far and above every other one; we have achieved targets and above in all 10 areas; 1 of our 2 primary competitors has achieved "0" in any of the "10", however we continue to lose referrals to them. Just after the first of this year, we visited several of our physician offices to have a "frank" interview about their feelings about our agency. We again reviewed the graphed scores of our quality measures and compared with other agencies. (The first time we visited we did not include names of other agencies; this time we did.) When we asked them if quality was important to them, they said "Yes, but . . . " when they geta call saying the HH agency discharged Mama and she still needs them, they just want an agency that can keep the patient (and family) happy. They are impressed and say that quality is great, but doesn't keep the patients' families off their back in many cases. They say that these agencies will admit them even when we have discharged them and keep them pretty much as long as the patient wants them to. They also say that our criteria for admission is too rigid, and others will take them, usually with no questions asked. We try to follow the Medicare regulations and compliance to the letter. Between that and the extravagant gifts that some of our competitors give, we are having difficulty competing. We really can't understand how these agencies do it, but all we know is that when they get a patient, they never let them go (entirely). We keep hanging on, hoping that only the good survive, but hope we'll still be around to enjoy it. Thanks for listening, Quality Bound in Tennessee You see from this example, and many others, we have found quality by itself is not enough in a highly competitive marketplace. Everyone says they want high quality care. And every agency says they give high quality care. Some can prove it with Home Health Compare scores. Yet if your agency is poor on service, or can't take the patient, they call your competitor.

Certification Programs for Your Sales Professionals ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ One of the big challenges facing home health care executives who want to grow their businesses is finding and training sales representatives. Our research shows that the number two most effective and most frequently used technique for bringing in referrals that turn into admissions is "Direct Selling", having feet on the street calling on physicians and other referral sources. We also know from our research that most home care sales representatives are not effective, and in fact do not bring in enough admissions to cover their carrying costs. To solve that problem, Leading Home Care has teamed up with Decision Health, publishers of Home Health Line and Private Duty Insider, to offer two sales certification workshops. The Certified Home Care Sales ProfessionalTM This certification is designed specifically for sales professionals representing Certified Home Health Agencies, calling on hospitals, physicians, and other skilled care facilities. This workshop is designed specifically for those selling home health care. We have also had participants from hospice, medical supply companies, home medical equipment, and home infusion pharmacies. The Certified Private Duty Sales ProfessionalTM This certification is designed specifically for sales professionals representing private duty, non-medical home care companies. Although the selling principles are the same, the focus is different. This workshop is designed specifically for those selling private duty. Take a look at the web sites for each program. Then decide which one is best for your sales representatives. We've found that the graduates of these programs are able to demonstrate measurable increases in admissions during the first eight weeks after the course and that more than pays for the cost of the program. The Certified Private Duty Sales ProfessionalTM April 14 & 15, 2008 - San Antonio, TX The Certified Home Care Sales ProfessionalTM June 11, 12, 13, 2008 - Charlotte, NC September 17, 18, 19, 2008 - San Antonio, TX

Please Participate in our Recruiting Survey for Non-medical Caregivers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you have a private duty business affiliated with your certified home health agency, we would like to hear from you. Leading Home Care is kicking off the most significant survey in the history of home care to look at the most effective methods for recruiting private duty caregivers. This is a follow-up to the industry survey we conducted in 2006 on recruiting methods for nurses and therapists. Please have the person in your agency who recruits non-medical caregivers go to this site to complete the survey. We'll share the results with you. Go to www.privatedutytoday.com and click on the Survey Link. Or just forward this email and they can click on the link below. Complete the Private Duty Caregiver Recruiting Survey

There's Still Time to Register ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Last Thursday, Judy McGuire and I kicked off a three part teleseminar series for hospital based home health agencies. We had a great conversation about the Seven Steps to Growing Your Hospital Home Health Agency. If you are a leader in a hospital based home health agency, there is still time to register for the last two programs in the series, and get the audio CD for all three. "Engage: Seven Strategic Steps to Growing Your Hospital Home Health Agency." Thursday, April 3, 2008 - 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time - Assess Your People Strengths, Empower Your Team, and Engage Your Hospital Thursday, April 24, 2008 - 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time - Involve Your Professional Advisors, Promote Your Agency in the Community, and Measure Your Success For the very reasonable fee of $499.00 you'll receive: the two remaining 90-minute live audio conferences including Q & A Individual learning guide for each participant Facilitator's guide to lead an on-site discussion of the material Continuing Education contact hours for nurses and other professionals Three audio CD recordings of the live teleseminar for later review For additional information on this teleseminar, or other services for hospital based home health agencies, click below. Don't Delay! Register Today!

New BLOG Postings on the Home Health Care Leadership Minute ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here are the most recent postings on our BLOG at the Home Health Care Leadership Minute: Home Health Agencies use company cars to aid nurse recruiting and retention High tech camera lets you peer into your own cavities VNS NY Implements mobile VPN Canadian Healthcare System Struggles Clarifying "Home Care" terminology Click here to visit our BLOG

About the Author ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Stephen Tweed, CSP, is Chairman and CEO of Leading Home Care ... a Tweed Jeffries company. For nearly 25 years he has been a recognized leader in strategy and leadership development for home care companies and associations. He is the author or co-author of five books, four of which were written specifically for the home care industry. He has served on the boards of directors of three not-for-profit home care agencies, and has served as interim President & CEO of a $25 million home care company. Stephen is a past-President of the National Speakers Association, a 3500 member international society of experts who speak professionally. He is also the father of a 37 year-old son who is physically disabled and uses the services of home care on a daily basis. Meet the entire Leading Home Care Team

Permission to Reproduce ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Permission is granted to healthcare publications, associations and companies to reproduce this article in your publication, or to distribute copies to your leaders, on the condition that you reproduce the credits and contact information as follows: "Reprinted with permission from Stephen Tweed's Leading Home Care Report. Copyright 2008 Stephen C. Tweed. To receive a FREE subscription to this newsletter, log on to www.leadinghomecare.com."

Contact Leading Home Care ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ email: stephen@leadinghomecare.com phone: 1-866-209-5101 web: http://www.leadinghomecare.com