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Private Duty Today
Welcome to Private Duty Today, the bi-weekly electronic newsletter for Private Duty Home Care Leaders from Leading Home Care ...a Tweed Jeffries company. In this issue, we bring you ideas, information, and insights to help you grow your Private Duty Home Care business.
Private Duty Today is a permission-based newsletter. It is only sent to our recent customers and those individuals who have requested it, or who have given permission for their address to be included on our list of subscribers.
I'm Jason Tweed, Director of Business Development for Leading Home Care, and Editor of Private Duty Today.
Private Duty Today is published every other Wednesday, and currently goes to over 6000 subscribers. |
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In 2003 Leading Home Care conducted a marketing study of techniques used by home health agencies to grow their businesses. The #1 most common marketing technique used was Networking in the Community. While over 90% of agencies told us they use networking, few of them could document its effectiveness at generating business.
Anecdotal data suggests that networking could be even more effective in the private pay sector. My personal opinion is that networking ranks #2 behind Direct Sales as the most effective technique at growing a non-medical home care company.
Three ways networking can help you grow:
- Direct Referrals
- Indirect Referrals
- Smarter Executives
Direct referrals are very simply running into people who could use your services, and being well prepared to ask them for the business.
Indirect referrals are the old "I know a guy who knows a guy, who knows...". This takes time, but eventually your organization gets recognized more widely in the community. In a sense it's like brand marketing, only your face represents your brand.
The final benefit of networking in the community is the expansion of the mind and skill set of executive team members. Let's face it, none of the great business leaders got that way based exclusively on their own smarts! Surround yourself with bright business leaders and you will start to absorb the ability to broaden your perspective, and grow your business.
Sincerely,
Jason Tweed
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Connect with Other Business Leaders
You will speed up your company growth by communicating with other individuals, particularly ones that are having their own success. There are three terrific opportunities to connect with other business leaders and grow your own company.
In Your Community
Participate in the local Chamber of Commerce or other business related community groups. You will learn more about selling locally by learning from others who already are successful.
Many people view these groups as an opportunity to develop sales relationships and referral sources. You'll find frequently that these groups are accustomed to salespeople and public relations types coming to meetings trying for a quick boost in revenue. These groups can be wary of newcomers.
The key is to give before you receive. Participate and contribute your time and energy. Then, you will reap the rewards. These rewards may be direct in terms of referrals, or indirect in terms of personal growth and development.
Additionally, try to identify groups that sell to similar client bases. If you are primarily private pay focused, you'll want to network with groups that serve wealthier people in your community. You may find an arts council or a country club just as valuable as a business group. If your primary focus is Medicaid or Waiver services, developing strong ties to the health and human services communities in your regions would be valuable.
In Your Industry
State and national home care associations are the grassroots of our industry. The unfortunate reality is that many of these associations, while providing excellent support for Medicare Certified companies, do not cater to private duty home care. This is changing, however, slowly. One of the main reasons they don't cater to private duty as well as they should is that private duty companies aren't participating as much as they should. We strongly encourage you to join your state association, and perhaps one of the national associations. Participate, attend meetings and advocate on behalf of non-medical home care companies.
Currently there is one national association, The National Private Duty Association (NPDA), dedicated to non-medical home care. This new association is growing and gaining respect rapidly. Additionally, they are in the process of launching state chapters. The first state chapter was launched in Illinois in 2004.
Private Duty Today has assembled a Directory of Home Care Associations. This directory includes national, regional and state associations for both home health care and non-medical home care.
With Other Franchise Owners or Members
The most common question I hear from people thinking of starting a non-medical home care company is "Should I buy a franchise?".
What I tell them is that franchises and membership organizations are good at helping you get started, but some of them are not good investments for the long term. The biggest benefit of ongoing membership in a network or value from a franchise is the opportunity to connect with other individuals in your exact same business, but in non-competing markets. With home care associations, frequently people are reluctant to participate and share their secrets, particularly if there is a possibility that direct competitors will learn from them.
Make sure you're getting value for your royalties or membership fees by keeping communication open with more experienced owners and mentoring newer owners. Attend annual meetings and make time to communicate with regional owners. |
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How to Say "No" or "Yes"
One of my first career struggles when I started my business was finding the right networking groups. I had difficulty saying "No" when asked to join a council, a committee, or a board. You see, I'm in a wheelchair. When I first started many of my potential customers were groups that served people with disabilities. I was the shining example of a success story.
Most of what they knew about my success, however, was that I got out of the house more often than most disabled people. I wore a tie, so I appeared successful. The reality was, for the first couple years I struggled to pay rent, partially because so much of my time was taken up by doing things for free.
I had to come up with a way to participate with fewer groups, only the ones that were most valuable. Here's the rule I developed in 1997, and it has served me well for a decade.
"Be a teacher, or a learner."
We've all been members of a committee, where three people did all the work and nine more just show up for the monthly meeting.
Whenever I connect with a new group of people I try to assess whether I have something to teach this group or whether I have something to learn from this group. If neither, I politely explain that to the individuals in the group, and they usually hold me in higher regard for not participating.
This can even happen over time. Sometimes you participate and get tremendous value for a year, then you no longer are learning. At this point you may have become a teacher, but maybe not. If you outgrow a group, recognize the time for transition has come.
This can be a scary decision, particularly if you are still getting new referrals from this network. If you are no longer playing a prominent role, these referrals will dry up anyhow, therefore a smooth transition to a new group and new referral base is still in order. |
Creative Networking as a Recruiting Tool
By Kathy Clater
When you're reflecting on your networking strategy as it relates to sales and marketing, don't forget that it's an important recruiting tool as well! Here are a couple of examples that clients shared during my recruiting and retention phone survey (of 18 private duty companies) last summer.
1. Employee Referrals
By far, the number one answer with almost 40% having a formal employee referral bonus program. This approach is especially fruitful for companies that have a strong retention (or employee relations) program.
To reap the most from the "Who do you know?" concept, build it systematically into every process. For example, this question is part of every application, reference check call, client satisfaction survey, quality service call script, etc. Train your staff on how to ask that question. The question is not, "Do you know anyone who is looking for work?" The question is, "What other great caregivers do you know?"
2. Advertising and recruiting through local churches
One client keeps a database of every church current and former caregivers attend. She has 800 churches in her database! She sent a flyer and letter to each of them advertising an upcoming open house. She also placed flyers and hangers at 100 to 200 locations in the area and did a paycheck stuffer. She had 65 applicants show up.
Note: It is perfectly acceptable (and effective) to actively recruit through churches. However, it is illegal to ask applicants about their religion as part of the hiring process, or to deny employment based on religion.
3. Direct recruiting through schools
One client gets 100% of the CNA graduates at a local school (about 20 per class), by attending their graduation ceremony, eating lunch with them, and personally handing them applications and business cards. Another provides the 8 hour practicum, and a third has great results recruiting students majoring in social work. (Tip: also try seminary students, and especially their spouses.)
4. Direct Mail
Several companies said direct mail to licensed caregivers from lists provided by regulatory agencies was their most fruitful source. Many agencies keep a database of former employees and stay in constant touch. (Tip: add other sources to your database, for example, applicants who turned down a job offer and leads from the "What other great caregivers do you know?" question. If your direct mail is not fruitful, look first at implementation - from quality of copy to ease of responding, and what happens in your office if someone does respond.)
Stephen and Jason often refer to strategic staffing as one of the critical components of a successful agency (the three legs of a stool). I believe strongly that staffing also has three critical components: selection, retention (or employee relations), and recruiting. It seems to me that some agencies tend to want to focus primarily on recruiting. I believe that is like pouring more water into a glass with no bottom, if we don't also hire the right people in the first place and take great care of them.
If you would like more information on how to hire caregivers with high integrity and behavior that fits the job through caregiver pre-employment assessments and behavioral interviewing contact me: email Kathy@leadinghomecare.com or phone (502)339-0653. Assessment clients also receive a complementary copy of my recruiting and retention survey results, which includes more great recruiting and retention tips. |
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Upcoming Events
Yes, it's almost June and time is running out to for you to see Stephen and Michael this month. Here's where they'll be speaking.
- Sales Training Boot Camp - Columbia, MD - June 14, 2007. Michael G. will teach your new and established sales reps how to bring in referrals that turn into admissions.
- AHHIF Annual Conference - Orlando, FL - June 20, 2007. Stephen Tweed will present the opening keynote - "Grow Your Business, Get Ready for the Future." He'll also be speaking on "Finding and Keeping Non-Medical Caregivers." Then on June 21st Michael G. will present "How to Build your Sales Team From the Ground Up."
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