HHT #166 - Growing Your Home Health Care Business

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Growing Your Home Health and Hospice Business

9-Steps to Build a Better Business in Home Health Care and Hospice

August 4, 2009

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In this issue...

-- Nine Steps To Build A Better Business In Home Health And Hospice

-- 1. Create Competitive Advantage in Your Marketplace

-- 2. Apply the Top Ten Techniques of Highly Effective Home Health Marketers

-- 3. Apply the Seven Step Relationship Selling Process

-- 4. Sell Home Health and Hospice to Physicians

-- 5. Understand Buying Styles and Selling Styles

-- 6. Select, Hire, and Coach Professional Home Health Sales Reps

-- 7. Make Powerful Sales Presentations

-- 8. Practice, Practice, Practice!

-- 9. Measure Sales and Marketing Results

-- 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.


Nine Steps To Build A Better Business In Home Health And Hospice

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We're coming to you today from upstate New York, where we're working with a growing home care company to develop strategies and insights to grow their business and get ready for the future. As I write to you from my hotel room, the cable news channels are bringing us the latest scoops on efforts to reform healthcare in America. It's still too early to tell what the final bill will look like, but one thing is certain. Home Health Care and Hospice will be different in the future than they are now.

As a CEO or executive team member, two critical roles you play are to grow your business and get ready for the future. In this case, we don't know what the future will bring, so let's grow the business. I want to discuss nine specific things you need to consider to grow your business in the coming months. And NOW is the time to get busy growing your business, because the agencies with the greatest market share will be better positioned to deal with the changes that are coming - whatever those changes may be.

Give some thought to what you can do in each of the following nine areas:


1. Create Competitive Advantage in Your Marketplace

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What makes you different from your competitors? Why should a physician or hospital discharge planner send patient referrals to your agency instead of your competitors?

How would the members of your middle management team answer those questions? Is everyone on your management team in the same place regarding competitive advantage? Usually not!

The first step is to get everyone on the same page when describing what makes your agency different. Then you need to pull the team together and focus on implementing your competitive strategy more effectively than your competitors.


2. Apply the Top Ten Techniques of Highly Effective Home Health Marketers

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Once you have defined your competitive advantage, then you must get your message out in a persuasive and convincing manner to your referral sources.

Our research shows that the top techniques include networking in the community, making direct sales calls on referral sources, implementing an effective public relations campaign, having an effective web site, and speaking to groups about the benefits of home health and hospice.

There is no one marketing technique that is the magic bullet that will catapult your agency forward. The magic is in the mix. It is a creative mix of effective marketing methods that when implemented correctly, positions your agency for future growth.


3. Apply the Seven Step Relationship Selling Process

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The second most frequently used and most effective technique for generating referrals that turn into admissions is making direct sales calls on physicians and discharge planners. Teach your sales professionals to apply the Seven Step Relationship Selling Process and you'll see measurable results:

  • Identify likely prospects
  • Make the approach in a high self esteem manner
  • Develop rapport
  • Determine the referral source's needs and wants
  • Present your agency's programs and services, and your unique factor
  • Answer questions and handle objections
  • Close the sale - ask for the referral! </


4. Sell Home Health and Hospice to Physicians

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Our research shows that 75% of home health referrals come from two sources; hospital discharge planners and physicians. Selling to physicians takes a special set of knowledge, skills, and attitudes to be effective.

Learning to communicate effectively with physicians, and make persuasive presentations to time crunched doctors, is a unique set of skills that not all home health sales and marketing folks possess. Mastering the process of selling to physicians is critical.


5. Understand Buying Styles and Selling Styles

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Each referral source you meet has a unique pattern of behavior that makes up their buying style. Each home health sales person has a unique selling style. Matching selling to buying styles is a critical skill set for home health business building.

Effective home health sales professionals are able to observe the behavior patterns of their referral sources, adjust their own selling style, and build relationships that earn trust and confidence.

What's your buying style? What's your selling style? How can you adapt your style to match the style of your key customers?


6. Select, Hire, and Coach Professional Home Health Sales Reps

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One of the biggest challenges you'll face in rapidly growing your home health agency or hospice is finding, hiring, coaching, and rewarding highly competent sales professionals. There just are not that many great sales people out there working in home health care and hospice.

The more you study the behavior style, workplace motivators, and selling skills of effective home health sales people, the more you'll realize how important it is to select the right people. Once you find them, then you need to train and coach them, and then provide a compensation plan that rewards their sales performance.


7. Make Powerful Sales Presentations

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Making effective sales presentations is a skill set that involves the ability to understand the needs and wants of your best customers. It involves mastering the concept of competitive advantage, while using your language skills to present the message in a way that resonates with the referral source.

We've observed that the difference between a great home health sales person and all the others is the ability to sit down and have a meaningful dialog with the referral sources, and persuasively present your programs and services in a way that separates you from your competitors.


8. Practice, Practice, Practice!

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Practice makes perfect. Right?

Wrong! Perfect practice makes perfect!

To master the process of selling and marketing home health and hospice services, your business development team members need to take time out to practice these skills. We really like video practice to help sales reps master the art and craft of selling home health and hospice.

There's no better way to learn than delivering a practice sales presentation, getting feedback from other experienced sales and marketing professionals, and then seeing yourself on video.


9. Measure Sales and Marketing Results

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Develop your sales and marketing scorecard to track the results of your business building efforts. Highly effective sales and marketing professionals are motivated by keeping score, and winning in the marketplace. Your sales team members need immediate feedback on the results they are achieving and they need to be compensated based on these results.

Master these nine steps with the Home Health and Hospice Business Builders Workshop!

Join Dr. Tray Dunaway, MD; Elizabeth Jeffries, RN CSP, CPAE, and myself for the 2009 Home Health and Hospice Business Builders Workshop to be held in Louisville, KY on September 16, 17, and 18 to experience each of these nine steps and master the skills involved. You'll come away with new knowledge, skills, and attitudes that will help you bring in new referrals that turn into admissions.

Register by August 18th to get the Early Bird Discount!

You'll save $200 per participant when you register for the Home Health and Hospice Business Builders Workshop before August 18th. Also, reserve your hotel room at the fabulous Brown Hotel near Fourth Street Live in downtown Louisville to be sure you get the special conference rate.

Register Today for the Home Health and Hospice Business Builders Workshop!


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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phone: 1-866-209-5101

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