Internal Marketing

One of the biggest potential opportunities for home care agencies is internally generated referrals.  Companies often overlook these opportunities.  Most agencies have no idea how much business they are losing that is right under their nose.  Don’t be one of them! 

There are several major possibilities for internal referrals: 

Inter Company—The most common is that one division doesn’t refer to the others.  Example: An agency has home health, hospice, private duty and DME.  Typically there is little thought given to cross referrals and planned cross-selling of services.  What usually happens is home health division is referring patients to another hospice, the hospice is purchasing equipment from a competitor, DME isn’t considering internal home health referrals and hospice is using a competitor’s private pay agency.  An analysis of your agency’s referral patterns will tell you how big the missed opportunity is.  You should be able to recoup much of this business without any competition.

Individual Employees—Agency staff often live in the community your agency serves and have the opportunity to make referrals.  Are they sending this business your way?  Do they believe that the agency they work for is really the best choice for their friends and family?  Have they been trained to make the referrals?  Is there an incentive plan in place to encourage staff referrals?  Are family members in need of services offered a special discount?  Are there any divisive issues creating animosity between staff or departments? 

Board Members—The members of your Board of Directors know a lot of people in the community and can refer a lot of business.  Are you reminding them to generate business?  Establish a protocol for reminding board members of the need for their referrals, thanking them and recognizing their efforts.

Note to Hospital Based Agencies:  Internal referrals are even more important! Establish a strategy to sell and market to within the hospital, reaching out to case managers and discharge planners in the same way that is done with referral sources in the community.  Don’t take hospital staff for granted or create animosity by trying to “force” anyone to use you. 

Excerpted from 101 Home Care Promotional Strategies That Deliver Legendary Results without Busting Your Budget!