By Stephen Tweed 

Last week I was up in New England working with a new client on business strategy and growth.  This is an amazing company that has grown steadily over the past five years and is now providing 18,000 hours of care per week from private pay, long term care insurance, and Veterans Administration.

One of the things that has made them so successful and that has enabled them to grow so large so quickly is their unique selling system.  They have mastered the process of identifying high potential referral sources, making the approach, telling their story, and consistently making the rounds on their route.

As we looked at their Strategic Profile Data, we saw a clear pattern of where their clients were coming from that lined up with where their sales professional were making calls.  The conversation turned to how we find more individuals who can refer clients who want more hours of care per week, and who need care over long periods of time.

Bank Trust Officers and Trusted Advisers

Our conversation turned to tracking the dollar value of a client.  At Leading Home Care, we have done a number of projects where we helped clients calculate the dollar value of a client by referral source.  In every situation, the highest value clients are referred by Bank Trust Officers and other trusted advisers. These may be Geriatric Care Managers, Elder Law Attorneys, Estate Attorneys, and financial advisers to the wealthy.

As a result of our conversation, I sent my new client a copy of our eBook, Increase Your Income Selling to Bank Trust Officers and Other Trusted Advisers. I wrote this book several years ago with my friend and professional speaking colleague, Mike Sullivan.  Mike comes from a banking background, and I brought my home care experience, and together we wrote this popular and useful eBook.

If you would like to increase your income, consider the key points described in detail in this book:

• The Opportunity with Advisors
• The ABCs of the Trust Business
• The Nature of the Trust Business
• The Seven Step Relationship Selling Process
• Other Trusted Advisors
• Call to Action.

What’s the Dollar Value of a Client?

During my Home Care Business Builder Workshops, which I conduct several times a year in key cities around the country, we talk specifically about growing your business by increasing the number of “high dollar value clients.”  What do we mean by “high dollar value clients?”

We calculate the dollar value of a client by calculating the length of stay of each client and multiplying that by the average revenue per month.  Then we organize the list of clients by referral source category so that we can see clearly how much revenue per clients comes from various categories of referral sources.  Here’s a specific example. We had a member of our Top 10% CEO Mastermind Group give us a list of all the clients his agency served in a year, the start date and end date of service, and the actual dollars billed each month.  From that we calculated the LOS – Length of Stay – in months.  LOS times the average revenue per month gives you the Dollar Value of a Client.

From that analysis, here’s the average Dollar Value of a Client by referral source category:

• Facilities (SNF, ILF, ALF) – $6,440
• Hospitals –  $6,699
• Home Health – $7,120
• Physicians – $14,567
• Veterans Administration – $21,019
• Client and Family Referrals – $22,385
• Employee Referrals – $32,298
• Bank Trust Officer – $40,394
• Consulting Pharmacist – $90, 843
• Geriatric Care Manager – $91,680

Caution: This is only one example.  This is not based on any industry trends or data.

As you can see from this anecdotal example, the hours per week and length of stay translating into the Dollar Value of A Client is much higher for Bank Trust Officers, Geriatric Care Managers, and other trusted advisers. You won’t get as many clients from these sources as you will from health care providers, but the hours per client and dollars per month will be much higher.

To grow your business, focus on finding referral sources who give you client who want more hours per week for a longer period of time. To learn how to attract that new business, order a copy of Increase Your Income Selling to Bank Trust Officers and Other Trusted Advisors.  

You can order a copy of this powerful eBook by going to www.homecareCEO.com and clicking on the Store button.