Home Care & Home Health Care Marketing: Strategies to Generate a Steady Stream of Referrals
Whether you are in In-Home Care or Home Health services, alliances play a crucial role in generating a steady stream of referrals. When sales representatives market your services, everything depends on their ability to deliver a powerful message that differentiates your agency from competitors. So when they market to physicians, healthcare professionals, facilities or hospitals, they need to demonstrate the unique strengths of your home care or home health agency in a manner that resonates with your referral sources.
But how do you begin this process?
Identify Potential Referrals Sources for Home Care and Home Health Marketing
- Physicians ? Your home care or home health care business can build valuable relationships with your patient?s specialists and general practitioners. This will help in work flow for the patients and set the stage for more referrals.
- Hospitals ? Discharge coordinators, hospital social workers, and staff are a great resource for obtaining home care opportunities.
- Nursing?Homes with Rehab ? Nursing homes serve patients who may need care in the home after discharge for a speedy recovery. So provide their Social workers with a targeted message about your senior care services and the types of patients you serve.
- Disease-Specific Associations? Several associations assist patients with the support of diseases like MS or ALS. They can refer to your home care agency.
Connect with past Clients or Patients for Word of Mouth Referral Marketing
Your home care and home health care marketing strategies should include reaching out to your past clients (if you have their permission), and existing clients to gain insight and ask for referrals to their friends and family. Reaching out to current clients and building a relationship of trust with them will ensure that they happily refer to your home care or home health care services to patients in need.
Home care referrals can also come from hospital discharge planners and also from other healthcare professionals. So it is very important that sales representatives develop meaningful relationships with these referral sources. When they know your agency and trust your home care services, they are more likely to refer your agency to potential clients.
Consumer?Marketing
Consumer marketing typically refers to home care or home health care marketing strategies that directly target potential clients. The goal of consumer marketing is to educate and engage people about your home health and in-home care services so they understand your services better making your agency top of mind when they need these services.
Some good examples of consumer marketing include TV ads, radio broadcasting, billboard ads, senior-related seminars, community events, and Google AdWords.
Here?s a 5-Step Action Plan that Home Care Services and Home Health Agencies Can Follow:
1. Hire the Right Sales Professional ?
Every home?care?and?home?health agency should always be on the lookout for self-driven sales talent that has relevant industry experience, the ability to make connections, the energy to keep up with call schedules and the skill to ask for business.
2. Develop Your Own Template with Your USP
The competition for patients among home care services is fierce so it is important to develop a unique value proposition plan by identifying the unique aspects of your agency that can be summed up in a quick attention-grabbing presentation.
3. Prepare a Professional Presentation
You have very limited time at your disposal to grab the physician?s attention. So prepare a brief yet impressive deck that shows how your agency can help physicians meet their specific goals while providing excellent patient care. Then build up with a quick 5-minute presentation that includes your most persuasive data.
This is when you start discussions and establish expectations. Ask good open-ended questions and let them elaborate to see how you can add value.
4. Identify Your Competitive Edge
Identify compelling reasons that give you an edge over your competitors. If your experience and your expertise are your key differentiators, then highlight them. They will provide compelling reasons to get more referrals.
5. Set up a 90-Day Sales Plan
Go the extra mile with sales planning as it will bring strategic focus which is required for meaningful and timely growth. A robust sales plan will allow your sales representatives to identify and tap high-value referral sources.
Weekly calendaring will work as a roadmap and sales activity reports will enable them to document their follow-up schedule. Seek feedback as it will enable you to modify systems and meet expectations better.
At Home Care Sales, we can arm your sales representatives with key skills and tools needed to meet their sales goals consistently so you keep growing.
Q1. How can I promote my home care business or home health care services?
To emerge as a leading home care business or a home health care service, you can:
- Have a consultative sales person who utilizes educational based sales tactics
- Hold an open house or host a community event
- Reach out to professional referral sources
- Educate your online audience with informative and engaging blogs about healthcare issues
- Engage your target audience on social media with valuable information
- Speak at events that are relevant to the services you provide to deliver valuable healthcare insights and spread awareness
- Develop relationships with physicians, hospitals, nursing homes, and other relevant healthcare facilities
Q2. How do I increase my home health referrals?
In order to increase your home health care referrals, you need to focus your time and effort on qualified accounts. Follow the 5-Step Sales Process for High Performace.
Step 1: Identify
Step 2: Differentiate
Step 3: WIN
Step 4: Reveal
Step 5: Strategy
Or Home Care Sales can help you get the referrals you need to grow your business. We?ve formulated rock solid and proven home care and home health care marketing strategies and tools that will help you achieve high-performance sales month after month.
Q3. What is the best way to get clients for a home care agency?
The best way to get clients for your home care agency is to give your sales representatives the right training and tools. Then they will be fully-equipped with the right knowledge, tools, and resources to confidently arrange meetings with local physicians and community care professionals like medical care staff, discharge planners and social workers.
Q4. Can I get a referral without seeing a referral source?
Maybe. In a direct referral, you have access to the referral source, but in an indirect referral, you may not. Since there are several ways to market your home care or home health care agency, such as print, radio, online advertising using social media platforms and your website, you may not know the referral source of many of your indirect referrals.
Q5. How do you get a referral?
Developing relationships with medical professionals who treat your potential clients may help you drive more home care referrals. Connecting with hospital staff and local physicians and educating them about your home care services will increase the likelihood of being referred by them. So train your sales representatives to personally visit local physicians with a personalized approach and education of the services provided by your home care agency and you should be able to see more home care referrals coming your way.
Q6. What do you do with a referral?
You need to know and understand what your referral partners really want from you and if they don?t know, you need to ask!
Asking them about their goals will help you understand their needs better so you can align your services to deliver great value while meeting their business outcomes.