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Meetings Matter in Home Health Care

Education, Communication, and Information are Critical to Your Future

July 22, 2009

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In this issue...

-- Meetings Matter in Home Health Care

-- Six Tips on Making Meetings Work

-- Strategies and Insights to Build Your Home Health and Hospice Business

-- Meet The People Who Have Been There

-- About the Author

-- Permission to Reproduce

Welcome,

Welcome to this issue of Home Health Care Today, the leading electronic newsletter for home health care and hospice executives who want to grow their business and get ready for the future. Every other Wednesday, we bring you strategies and insights that will help you take your agency to new heights.

For ideas to grow your Private Duty Home Care business, subscribe to Private Duty Today, the bi-weekly newsletter for non-medical home care CEOs. Your complimentary subscription is available at www.privatedutytoday.com.

Meetings Matter in Home Health Care

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We're coming to you this week from the J W Marriott Desert Ridge Resort in Scottsdale, AZ where we're participating in the National Speakers Association Annual Conference and Convention. This is the gathering spot for 1300 experts who speak professionally.

The other evening at our Past National Presidents dinner, my friend and colleague, Dr. Terry Paulson, encouraged us as speakers to talk to our audiences and readers about the importance of meetings in any industry. It got me thinking about the importance of meetings in home care, particularly during these times of change and uncertainty.

As I have traveled around the country this spring speaking at state and national conferences, there has been a clear drop in the number of attendees. Some of that is due to the economy, and some is due to the uncertainty of the future.

There has also been some fall out from the federal government's criticism of companies holding "lavish meetings" in Las Vegas. That public criticism has had a sobering effect on corporate leaders thinking about planning meetings, and it has caused a ripple effect around the world. I was talking with a friend from Australia who said the stigma about meetings created by those comments has affected meetings in Australia and Asia.

I remember my first home health care meeting, with the Board of Directors of the VNA of Venango County in Oil City, Pennsylvania in 1982. We worked together on strategic planning and board development. I remember my second meeting with the executive teams of three neighboring VNAs who came together to discuss some joint community education programs. (We could not talk about marketing back then under Medicare cost based reimbursement.) I remember speaking at my first meeting of the Pennsylvania Association of Home Health Agencies, (now the Pennsylvania Home Care Association.) And I remember speaking at my first NAHC convention.

I don't know about you, but I've learned a huge amount of what I know about home health care and hospice from attending, speaking at and facilitating meetings. Meetings are where leaders come to learn, to exchange best practices, to gather information about legislation and regulation, and to build community.

It's probably the last part . . . "to build community," that is the real power of home health care and hospice meetings. You can learn skills, exchange ideas, and get information on the Internet. But meetings are the place that you go to connect face-to-face with other leaders who are doing this business of home health care.

It's clear to me that the leaders in our industry are also the leaders of meetings, and the leaders of their state and national associations. You've heard me say it before. It's clear to me that state and national associations are the grass roots of our industry. That's where leaders come together to build community, share, and learn.

Now, when times are changing and things are uncertain, is the time to dig down and find the money to attend your state and national association conferences. It's the time for home health care companies to bring together their leaders and their sales teams to talk about the future, and how to create competitive advantage in the marketplace. It's time to bring together the members of your team who will need to adapt to the coming changes in home health care from healthcare reform.

Six Tips on Making Meetings Work

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Whether you are planning a meeting or attending a meeting, here are six things to think about before your next meeting:

1. Have a clear purpose for your meeting

Whether planning a meeting or attending a meeting, be clear about the purpose of the meeting and what you want to accomplish. The more clear you are about the purpose, the more you will take away from the meeting.

2. Stay focused on your purpose

It's easy to get distracted by all of the people and activities of the meeting. Develop a strategy to stay focused on the purpose of the meeting, and what you want to accomplish or take away from the meeting.

3. Involve the participants

Be sure to plan activities and involvement into the meeting. The more you get participants involved and interacting, the more they will benefit from and take away from the meeting.

4. Include time for networking

As I said earlier, you can learn, communicate, and share best practices on the Internet. But networking and community happen face-to-face in meetings. Make sure to build in time and activities for participants to interact on an informal basis.

5. Bring back information

Too many times you send people to conferences or seminars and they get great information, but they keep it to themselves. Build a plan to have everyone who attends a meeting from your agency come back and share what they learned with others. We have a saying in our company. "We teach that which we most need to learn." If you send someone to a conference, have them come back and teach others what they have learned.

6. Take action on your ideas

Too many times, meetings become great places to learn, communicate and share. But nothing happens as a result. The key to successful meetings is to take action as a result of the outcomes. If you are having a strategic planning meeting, take action to implement the plan. If you are having a leadership retreat, take action on the principles discussed. If you are attending a conference, bring back 5 to 7 specific action ideas that you can implement to make change in your agency.

A participant in one of my seminars on Vision once said, "Vision without Action is Hallucination." Well, a meeting without action is a nice gathering of wonderful people. In this dynamic and challenging industry of home health care and hospice, we can't afford to just gather. We must put ideas into action to make our vision for the future become reality.

Strategies and Insights to Build Your Home Health and Hospice Business

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Mark your calendar for September 16, 17, and 18 to come to Louisville, KY for the 2009 Home Health and Hospice Business Builders Workshop. This highly interactive workshop will be designed to help you develop the sales, marketing, and public relations skills you need to grow your agency and get ready for the future. And you can't lose with our 100% Money-Back-Guarantee that we are offering with this conference!

The program will kick off with Dr. Tray Dunaway, MD, CSP, a physician and surgeon from Camden, South Carolina who will help you connect the dots of home health care and hospice. Then Dr. Dunaway will guide you through the process of building relationships with physicians and penetrating the doctors' office staff.

A new face to many of you will be Elizabeth Jeffries, RN, CSP, CPAE. A former home health care nurse, Elizabeth is an award winning professional speaker, author, and executive coach who works with health care leaders who want to maximize their potential. Elizabeth will present the key elements of selling in style, and will describe the critical behavioral styles of highly effective home health and hospice sales professionals. Elizabeth will also give you tips on selecting and coaching high impact sales professionals.

Stephen Tweed, CSP, will be there to describe in detail the seven sources of competitive advantage in home health care and hospice, and to apply the top ten techniques of highly effective home health care marketers. Stephen will also guide you through the seven step relationships selling process and describe how to turn referrals into admissions.

You won't want to miss this exciting opportunity to gain new sales and marketing skills that will enable you to be more competitive in your marketplace. Early bird registration will save you $200 per attendee and there are additional discounts for groups of 5 or more, so register today!

Register Today!

Meet The People Who Have Been There

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While we continue to build the content and approach of our business builders workshops, we always learn from the past successes of previous programs. We asked past participants to tell us what they found most important or most useful from participating in our workshops. Here are the viewpoints of some people who have been there:

"When I read about the training on Stephen Tweed's website, the course outline immediately piqued my interest. Having worked for 20 years on the operational side of home care, this program appeared to be exactly what I needed to transition out of my comfort zone.

After attending the program, the information proved to be extremely valuable in providing insights as to how to approach various selling situations within the home care industry. Moreover, as a team leader, the training helped me provide better guidance to those on my sales force.

In particular, I found Dr. Tray Dunaway to deliver superb and entertaining anecdotes which truly remain in the forefront of my mind while talking with doctors. His message as to how to communicate with MDs proved extremely useful resulting in direct referrals from targeted doctors."

Sarah J. Sullivan
Executive Director
ResCare HomeCare
Chicago, IL

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"I think the presentation that helped me the most was Dr. Dunaway's. His presentation really helped me to understand how the doctors think and how to persuade them better. Altering the message so that it appeals to the doctor has really helped me to converse with them better. Now, I have better ways to talk to them and educate the doctors about how and when home care referrals could be made.

We offer many services, so now I can change the message to highlight a different service and how that service could help a specific type of patient. The practice sessions with the feedback really did help."

Kathy Bynum
Joplin Regional Marketing Manager
Integrity Home Care

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"WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR CAN MAKE! As a result of your training and our marketing and sales efforts, we have tripled our business! Marketing efforts have more than doubled our Medicare admissions over the last year. Thanks to the intense marketing training, our referral sources have more then doubled in key target areas.

My background is in sales and marketing training and yet I still learned so much from Stephen Tweed, and Dr Dunaway! As a result I was able to fine tune my own craft. Your tools provide a great foundation for a beginner or seasoned sales professional! We employed these tools and the management of the sales team accountability and productivity reports to produce more referrals, more admissions and better outcomes - everybody on the team gets it and our agency is finding that because everyone is involved everyone benefits. "

Vickie Shoopman
Director
Bayada Nurses
Tucson, AZ

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"I wanted to write to thank you so much for the Sales Professional Conference in San Antonio. I learned a great deal. The conference really helped build my confidence during sales calls. I found it especially exciting to come back home, put the things I learned in action and watch the resulting success! In the 2 months following the conference, I had 267 referrals and 175 admissions! I was also promoted to marketing director for our company, Home Bound Healthcare. I now oversee the marketing staff for 7 locations. I look forward to attending your conferences again. I feel it helps even those who have previously attended to serve as a reminder and motivator. Thank you again."

Sheri Maurer
Marketing Director,
Home Bound Healthcare
Moline, IL

Register Today and get the Early Bird savings!

About the Author

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Stephen Tweed, CSP, is Chairman and CEO of Leading Home Care ... a Tweed Jeffries company. For over 25 years he has been a recognized leader in strategy and leadership development for home health care & hospice companies and associations. He is the author or co-author of seven books, five 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 38 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

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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 Home Health Care Today. Copyright 2009 Stephen C. Tweed. To receive a FREE subscription to this newsletter, log on to www.leadinghomecare.com."

Contact Leading Home Care

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email: stephen@leadinghomecare.com

phone: 1-866-209-5101

web: http://www.leadinghomecare.com

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