Today, technological developments are improving livelihoods, and life expectancy is increasing. As a result, the cost of medical services is on the rise, which explains why the home care sector is a booming business. It is also worth mentioning that 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 every day, and by 2030, most of them will have hit this age, which suggests that others in this category will be older.
So, if you intend to start a home care agency, now is the time. However, beyond the excitement of starting a home care agency, you need to grow and sustain the entity. The reason is that there is a high probability that new agencies will spring up to attend to the demands of the aging baby boomer population, which implies that competition in this industry will keep rising.
As such, if you want your home care establishment to emerge as a leading agency, you need to adopt strategies that will help you stand out from the rest. The approaches you adopt should also help you attract the clients your agency needs to thrive and expand. From such conventional methods like connecting with prospects online to attending networking events, you are never short of options.
But beyond that, you need to be active and creative to ensure that you penetrate the community around you. Word-of-mouth can help you market your agency, but relying on referrals to acquire new clients may not yield a desirable outcome every other time. Here are a few ideas worth considering that can help you grow your home care agency.
Engage Professionals
Indeed, you will always be the go-to person on matters regarding the operations of your home care agency. As much as that is the case, there are limits to what you can handle by yourself. That means that finding yourself running out of time in the day or lacking particular experience or training when you choose to do it all on your own should not come as a surprise.
For that reason, you need to identify the responsibilities you should delegate to others. Otherwise, inefficiencies will set in, and that can affect your reputation in one way or another. For instance, if you are trying to save by opting to design your marketing materials yourself, you will not achieve much if you cannot write and edit a compelling sales copy and lack mastery of a design program.
Remember that your focus, in this case, should be ensuring that potential clients and community partners see you as a professional entity that is keen on details. So, misspelling words or having one pixelated photo in your brochures can give such persons the wrong impression. In that case, you should engage professionals where necessary.
Getting advisors to help you with recruitment and retention, accounting, and operations is also advisable.
Reach Out to Prospects
As you try to grow your home care agency, you may find yourself spending much time in your office, especially in the early days of your operations. You remain deep in the trenches managing your agency to ensure that nothing is amiss and daily activities as running as they should. That may include training new hires, answering phone calls, working on the payroll, and attending to new clients even as you engage their family members.
Your office responsibilities just seem endless. Without a doubt, each of these tasks is critical, but that does not imply you should not schedule a time to get out of your office from time to time. Note that growing your home care agency will require you to interact with prospects closely to some extent. So, by meeting health service providers regularly, you will most likely enjoy high-quality client introductions.
Additionally, frequent in-person interactions with health services providers, prospects, and families of potential clients allow you to build trust. Doing so will also provide an opportunity to assure such individuals that they can expect quality service delivery by opting for your home care agency. You should also appreciate that you need to be part of the community you serve to grow capacity and build a thriving home care agency.
The implication, here, is that you need to be the face of your agency, and you can achieve that by being part of a service organization, getting out and talking to people, or joining the local Chamber of Commerce. That way, you will gain insight into;
- Your competition.
- The people living within your community.
- The individual or entity that inhabitants call when they need help, guidance, and support.
- Whether the people around know about your agency and their perception regarding your operations.
- The thought leaders in your immediate surroundings.
Consider Targeted Marketing
Tracking the source of your client introductions and sparing time to run the numbers is a wise idea if you want to grow your home care agency. The reason is that by doing so, you will understand how you should direct your marketing efforts. For example, you can ask families to complete a satisfaction survey regularly as part of your intake process.
Also, tracking how your clients learn about your care services is paramount because it helps you identify where to invest so you can expand your client base. While you are at it, avoid preoccupying yourself with those who bring in a sizeable number of clients, but consider the source of clients with the highest needs as well.
It may be surprising to discover that although health care professionals and elder care placement agencies contribute the bulk of your client introductions, word-of-mouth from previous clients and their loved ones or support groups bring in higher-need clients. So, you need to develop a strategy to generate and track client referrals and thank the families recommending your agency to their friends.
Organize An Open House
There are many ways to spread the word about your home care agency, and one of the approaches you can consider is organizing an open house. Such a community outreach event shows your involvement in the community, and it also provides a networking opportunity. You can plan an open house at your premises once a month, and if the space available is not enough, you can reach out to a local senior centre to host such an event.
Once you secure the venue, ensure all attendees include their email addresses when signing your guest book. After that, you can use the contact details to remain in touch with attendees with targeted communications, and that will keep your agency top of mind.
Become The Area Elder Care Advocate
Making your presence known in the local elder care arena can pay off when focusing on growing your home care agency. That is achievable by working with the local senior centre, senior coalitions, and other advocacy groups so you can learn more about the local senior community. The priority here should be to advocate for the wellbeing of potential and current clients and position yourself as one that goes beyond the provision of eldercare services.
As a result, society will view you as an individual who is passionate about the rights and wellbeing of the elderly population, which can generate increased interest in the services of your home care agency.
Conclusion
If you are not careful, you can easily waste a lot of time and money trying to grow your home care agency. By adopting the tips above, you can add capacity to your establishment over time and increase your bottom line as well.
