Goal for the Month: 

Time to plan a Holiday Helpers campaign!  Start the process by defining the services you will offer.  The promotion must include a Holiday Helpers services information sheet that lists all of the special services that can be provided during the holiday season.  These are privately paid services that can range from housecleaning, decorating, shopping, package wrapping, meal preparation, holiday card addressing, travel companionship and companionship while family is away.  Then distribute these flyers to your existing clients and patients, senior centers, referral sources and elsewhere.  Offer gift certificates to adult caregivers in a special direct mailing.

Monthly Reminders:

Register now for the NAHC Annual Meeting and make travel reservations early for the best airline ticket prices.  Consider bringing the entire sales team—there are often several sessions about sales and marketing.  During the off hours, strategy meetings can be scheduled to discuss plans for the upcoming year.  One tremendous benefit of exposing the sales team to a national meeting is that they will see that they are part of a dynamic industry filled with professionals. 

September is Cancer Awareness Month including Ovarian, Pediatric and Childhood Cancer Month.  Partner up with your local oncology specialists and the local American Cancer Society to heighten awareness of prevention and diagnosis for the general public and the elderly. 

Excerpted from 101 Home Care Promotional Strategies that Deliver Legendary Results Without Busting Your Budget! by Michael Ferris

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Want to know why your best referral sources choose your agency?

Ask Them!  This is something that you should do often and using different methods. You should send them referral source satisfaction surveys, have the sales representative ask and senior management should call and visit.

Ask “What do we do better than any of the other agencies?” or “What are the two things you like best about our agency’s services?”

Once you know why they love you, then you can use this to develop your message. 

Do any of the following sound familiar?  Do you see some definite trends?

~ We have a multilingual staff.

~ We accept most referrals and do not “cherry pick” the easier and most profitable referrals. 

~ We process the referral quickly and easily.

~ They like the quality of care given to our patients. 

~ Our nurses are kind and caring.

~ Our staff is reliable, often going beyond their responsibilities to offer suggestions to the patient’s family or physician. 

~ Availability—24/7

~ Reliable—can count on us to do what we say we will do.

~ We are committed to providing professional, ethical, and quality service.

~ We follow-up with our clients on a regular basis to assess service effectiveness and to make revisions that reflect changing needs and wishes

Let us know what your referral sources love about your agency.

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The key to successful long-term Web marketing is to start an ongoing dialogue with the prospective patients or clients.  The goal for your electronic marketing and even traditional advertising should be to build a list of people interested in home health, hospice or private duty.  Then you can keep value added information coming to them on a regular basis.

This is the best way to leverage your Web site.  Make it easy for them to sign-up by putting the sign-up box on the first page in a prominent location.  Offer some item of perceived value, such as a free report, that will entice them to sign-up.  Make sure that they opt-in to your list and then keep building!

Tip: Put an e-mail address in your advertisements to enable interested people to contact you for information or the free report.  This will result in a much higher conversion ratio than just listing your Web address.

Note: If you are part of an integrated health care system or hospital based, make sure it is easy to find your agency’s information on the Web.  Too many times I find that these home health agencies and hospices are hidden on some hard to find page on the parent company’s Web site.  Get your own domain name and set up your own pages—the results will be startling!

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