We aren’t in the home care business! Contrary to much of your marketing, you aren’t in the “business of caring”.

We are, however, in the relationship building and maintenance business. Our entire business is about building relationships with three groups of individuals; clients, employees, and payors. Over the next three issues, we will focus on strengthening relationships with these three groups, in order of importance.

Some will argue with me, and I encourage that, but my perception is that the relationships rank as follows:

1. Relationships with referral and funding sources
2. Relationships with employees
3. Relationships with clients/consumers.

I rank relationships with referral and funding sources highest simply because, without them, your business would cease to exist. Therefore, your #1 job as an organization is selling!

While selling is critical, sales and marketing are the two areas that leadership teams struggle with most. Here are five questions I hear frequently from private duty CEOs and directors, as well as our answers.

Should I hire a dedicated salesperson?

The simple answer is “Yes!” Companies with the right sales staff dramatically increase revenues. The key is hiring the right people. Your salespeople must be able to sell! That sounds simplistic, but I’ve seen companies struggle because their salespeople are friendly, articulate, attractive and dedicated. All these qualities are beneficial, but direct selling skills are required. Your sales staff must be able to locate prospective referral sources, introduce themselves effectively, build rapport and finally... ask for business!

Should I hire salespeople from other industries, or train home care staff to sell?

I’ve seen both work, and both fail. Top quality salespeople have skills that transcend their industry. It’s very possible to find someone who sells cars, computer systems, or pharmaceuticals and teach them enough about home care to sell it. Unfortunately, top quality salespeople are expensive, and usually aren’t looking for work. The job market is flooded, however with mediocre salespeople.

Sales training is essential, regardless of whom you hire. Hire an ex-pharmaceutical rep and train them about your industry, or hire a nurse manager and train them to sell.

Sales training should also be ongoing. Selling is an art and a science. The best salespeople in the world can still improve. Additionally, for those of you with a sales team, quality salespeople feed off each other. Getting your team in a room to learn on a regular basis will help them grow.

If I have salespeople, do I still need advertising?

We always say, “The Magic Is in the Mix.” There is a secret formula, like Coca-Cola or KFC, unfortunately I can’t tell you. It’s locked in my vault and only my cat knows the combination.

You’ll have to discover your own mix. Having trained salespeople makes your advertising dollar go further. Having strong marketing materials makes your salespeople more effective. Having an organized approach to marketing and documenting results keeps the engine fine tuned.

I can’t tell you your mix, but here are things to consider:

• Is your website content rich, or just an online brochure?
• Does your printed material have a consistent look and feel?
• Are you using highly targeted marketing materials?
• Have you invested in radio or local cable?
• Do you have regular email or printed newsletters, and do they sell?
• Are your ad specialties unique and useful, or landfill?

Constantly question the mix. The best way to find the right mix is experimentation, and the only way to know it is correct is through documentation. You should track everything and be able to document your return on investment for each activity.

Where does networking fit in the mix?

Networking in the community is one of the most frequently used techniques in marketing home care. Success varies, and is difficult to document. If you choose networking, focus on organizations that can feed you referrals and organizations where your membership will be valued.

• If you receive substantial funding from Medicaid waiver, participate in advocacy meetings for clientele. Find groups where you can connect with social workers or payors.
• If you sell private pay services to wealthy families, participate in boards and volunteer groups that cater to wealthy philanthropists or groups of business owners.

The key is adding value. If you or your staff are adding value to the group, you’ll likely be rewarded with referrals. If you are just “hanging out” waiting for crumbs, you’ll likely go hungry.

What if I don’t have salespeople?

You do! Every individual who works for your company is a salesperson. Your first objective should be to create a sales culture within your company. Make certain everyone knows that they are representatives, and make certain they understand their role.

A strong sales and marketing strategic plan will show how every scheduler, supervisor, administrative assistant, human resources executive, and yes... even the caregivers and CEO... have sales roles in a growing company.

If Leading Home Care can help you answer any of these questions, give us a call. We develop sales training programs, conduct salesperson recruitment evaluations, create marketing plans and develop websites. Call 1-888-668-9333 and ask for Jason Tweed, Stephen Tweed, or Michael Giudicissi.

By Kathy Clater

What are the biggest challenges you face in finding and keeping caregivers? What are the most effective methods of overcoming those challenges? How can Leading Home Care help you grow your business and get ready for the future?

In July and August, 2006, Leading Home Care conducted a telephone survey of 18 Private Duty companies to learn what they are doing as effective practices in recruiting and retaining caregivers. The surveyed companies were selected at random from among Leading Home Care Private Duty clients and customers.

Survey participants were asked to respond to a series of open-ended questions, such as: “What are your issues in recruiting and retaining non-medical caregivers?" "What have you tried that worked?" "What have you tried that didn’t work?”

The results of the interviews were compiled and analyzed to identify the following major issues in recruiting and retention of Private Duty non-medical caregivers.

1. Selection of reliable caregivers

Companies are asking for help in selecting reliable caregivers. We have good news... help is on the way! Leading Home Care will soon be offering pre-employment assessments targeted specifically for our industry and assistance with behavior based interviewing.

Well designed and properly implemented, pre-employment assessments have been proven to help companies: select more effective employees; improve retention; minimize employee theft and other socially undesirable behaviors; and increase the effectiveness of the staffing process.

2. Balancing number of caregivers and clients

How to get to that magic place where supply equals demand? The majority of our surveyed companies listed this as one of their top issues. Skill level of the staffing coordinator/scheduler, forecasting ability, regular communication between staffing and marketing teams and between scheduler and caregivers, and skill marketing to current referral sources were key themes.

3. Recruiting techniques that work

Sixteen of 18 companies (by far, the number one answer) listed current employees as one of their most fruitful recruitment sources. Therefore, we thought it would be interesting to take a look at how our surveyed companies are handling Employee Referral Bonus Programs.

Direct mail and actively recruiting at churches and schools were also considered fruitful. Most companies preferred small newspapers/penny shoppers over major newspapers. See Effective Practices – Recruiting to learn how one company gets 100% of CNA grads at his local school, another has good luck with students majoring in Social Work, one has 800 churches in her database, and to learn some tips on how to reap the most from employee referrals.

4. Recruiting and retention for wealthy private pay clients

One company, who serves very wealthy clients only, has an extensive (12-page interest inventory) client/caregiver matching and orientation process. Is there a difference in recruiting caregivers for very wealthy clients?

5. Retention/Recognition

Most every company in our survey has recently added some improvement in this area. It was inspiring to hear about all the fun things people are doing. Yet, retention continues to be a challenge in our industry. It was interesting to note that 11 of 18 companies conduct no exit interviews and 13 of 18 don’t know what their turnover is. At Leading Home Care, you have heard us say many times before, “what gets measured, gets managed.” A system to document and organize all of those tidbits of information from exit interviews, opinion surveys, employee meetings, weekly “how’s it going” calls, etc., will really help you paint an accurate picture and prioritize initiatives.

In addition, companies often overlook the powerful effect of employee selection on employee retention. We’re excited to soon bring some cutting edge selection tools to the Private Duty industry!

6. Orientation

Orientations are becoming more structured, professional, and interactive and giving line management a greater role. See Effective Practices – Selection to find out how one company uses their orientation as a job simulation and still part of the hiring process.

As a result of this survey, and this list of major challenges, we're compiling a report on the most effective practices used by these successful Private Duty companies. Stay tuned to this section of Private Duty Today for more information from our study.

About the Author: Kathy Clater, the newest member of the Leading Home Care team, is our Home Care Recruiting and Retention Specialist. Kathy works with Private Duty companies that want to recruit more caregivers, and with Private Duty owners and administrators who want to improve their employee retention.

Stay tuned to this spot in our newsletter for Kathy's Korner, a regular report on the results of our research and development efforts in recruiting and retaining Private Duty caregivers.

We're heading back to Las Vegas in November for the 9th Annual Private Duty National Conference sponsored by Private Duty Insider and Decision Health. If it's anything like last year, you won't want to miss it.

Stephen Tweed, CEO of Leading Home Care, was privileged to speak for the first conference, called Private Duty Boot Camp back in 1997. This program has come a long way since then, as it has grown in size and content.

This year's conference runs from Monday, November 13th through Wednesday, November 15th. Stephen will kick off the last morning of the conference with a program called, "Building Your Private Duty Referrals Dashboard: An Electronic Tool to Gauge Your Success."

In this program, Stephen will be describing in detail our Private Duty Scorecard and the success we have had with our Private Duty Planning and Coaching clients in measuring the success of their businesses. He'll show you step by step how to set up your Private Duty Scorecard, and how to measure the Critical Measures of Success in Private Duty Home Care. We'll also be sharing some new benchmarking data that we're collecting through our collaboration with Outcome Concept Systems.

There are some other wonderful presentations on the schedule that you will want to be there for:

• "Build Your PD Business the Right Way" - with Lucy Andrews
• "HR Pitfalls" - with John Gilliland
• "State Law Roundup" - with Tim Purcey
• "Non-solicitation and Non-compete Clauses" - with Liz Zink-Pearson
• "Magical Customer Care" - with Al Jensen
• "The Seven Habits of Highly Successful Home Care Managers" - with Dexter Braff

Don't delay! Make your hotel and plane reservations today for a terrific time in Las Vegas, and come back with some valuable tools and techniques to grow your Private Duty Home Care Business.

Private Duty Today! is published every other Wednesday by Leading Home Care . . . a Tweed Jeffries company. We invite you to pass this newsletter along to your friends and colleagues in Private Duty Home Care by clicking on the link below.

• Publisher - Stephen Tweed, CSP
• Circulation Manager - Diane West
• Editor - Jason Tweed

Permission to Reproduce: Permission is granted to home care companies, home care associations, and home care related publications to reproduce articles from this newsletter as long as appropriate credit is given as follows: "Printed with permission from Private Duty Today! Copyright 2005 Leading Home Care ... To sign up for your FREE Subscription, log on to www.leadinghomecare.com."

You may also sign up for your FREE Subscription to Stephen Tweed's Leading Home Care Report. This bi-weekly electronic newsletter is written for home care company CEOs and senior executives who want to grow their businesses and multiply their performance.

email: jason@leadinghomecare.com

phone: 1-888-668-9333

web: http://www.privatedutytoday.com