Tips for Home Care Web Sites
Posted by Mike Ferris on Friday, September 26, 2008 and posted in Home Health Care Sales
Your agency’s Web site should be consistent with your commitment to sales, marketing and customer service. A Web site will reinforce your agency’s image, provide a means of getting information, provide a favorable comparison to your competition and make it easy for your customers to communicate with you electronically.
Following are some tips for making your agency’s Web site stand out from the competition’s:
Make it Consistent with Your Marketing Image. . .the Web site should look, feel and be consistent with all of your collateral marketing materials.
Clear Statement of Agency’s Competitive Advantages and Services. . .There should be a clear statement of the agency’s niche market(s) on the landing page and home page. This statement should immediately tell the visitor to your site what your competitive advantages are and why they should choose your agency. Brief and clear should be the mandate for this element.
Include Service Area Map. . .and make it easy to read and understand. This feature may be one of the most important items to include on your site. If you have multiple locations, it should have an easy way to contact the correct location or a central intake/information line. The service area map can be very important to case managers looking to place a patient/client and is also important for out-of-town family researching care options for a family member.
Easy to Contact Your Agency. . .If your goal is to have the visitor call or e-mail you, then make it easy to find your phone number and street address. Also, make it easy to send you an e-mail request from every page in your site. Clarity and ease of operation will make all of the difference in your response rate and the success of the site.
Include Real People Contacts. . .at every juncture make your contacts real to the visitor. Have the CEO (or owner) welcome the visitor, have the Clinical Director welcome the Medicare or Skilled care inquiries, etc. One of the elements people don’t like about the Internet is the faceless nature of many sites. We are selling people and the services they provide—make it apparent that you have the best and most customer service-focused home care professionals anywhere.
The Bottom Line: Build a Super Web site! Make it easy to use and allow visitors to the site to sign up for information and give you permission to contact them about Home Care Services.
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Qualifying
Posted by Mike Ferris on Friday, September 19, 2008 and posted in Home Health Care Hospice Sales
One the most important attributes of the successful home care sales person is the ability to qualify prospects and customers. There should be in each agency a list of questions that you will want to know about every referral source. This list should be compiled by the entire team at the agency as the attributes of the ideal referral source will hinge on these items. The reason your most successful “A” accounts are your best accounts is because your agency best serves their needs.
You must uncover the referral sources needs and special interests by properly qualifying them.
Some questions to add to your list:
Do you refer to home care?
Do you have Medicare patients?
What time of the day or week is it most convenient to catch Dr. Bob?
Will you be sending the home care referrals or would I need to speak to someone else?
What type of special needs do your private pay referrals need?
How do you determine which home care agency you will use for each referral?
What is the best way to communicate with your group?
How would you like us to get the orders to you for signature?
When is the best time to call to discuss specific issues with one of your patients?
Do any of your patients go home needing some private pay assistance?
Why haven’t you sent us a patient in over a year? Was it something that we did to alienate you?
What would it take to provide you with the level of trust necessary to entrust one of your patients to my agency for care?
When can we count on getting some referrals?
If you could change home care for the better, what would you change?
Can you tell me about difficulties that you have had in the past with other agencies?
Will you ever send us a patient referral? If so, what will it take to make it happen?
This list is by no means complete, but it should give you some direction with your qualifying. If you know what the customer wants, then you are halfway home.
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Caregiver Training
Posted by Mike Ferris on Friday, September 12, 2008 and posted in Home Health Care
Family caregivers are potential clients who are often overlooked by home health care agencies. These caregivers are already providing care to their own family members, and as a result are generally overlooked as prospects. The reality is that it is only a matter of time before they will either need additional help or will be in need of respite. What better way to build relationships with this community than to provide training for caregivers and caregiver support groups.
A recent study by the National Alliance for Caregiving in conjunction with the AARP asserts that while more than half of caregivers give assistance with ADLs, only 18% have received any formal training.
There are many times more caregivers than private duty patients in the community at large. They can all benefit from training on how to better care for their family members. This will create tremendous amounts of goodwill with this group of future potential clients.
Support groups are another excellent way to build strong relationships with this potentially important group of future clients.
Respite services can be pathway to future business. Offering respite care can be a great way to introduce you to family caregivers and opens the door to increased business. Anything your agency can do to build a strong bridge to the caregiver community will position the company to increase its market share in the future.
Excerpted from 101 Home Care Promotional Strategies That Deliver Legendary Results without Busting Your Budget by Michael Ferris
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