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This week was our Home Health and Home Care Marketing Mastermind week with one of our clients.

This is a specific format we run with the teams we consult for to collaborate on growth strategies.

In 8 mins, the Agency team member gets solutions to challenges from Marketing and Operational leadership.

The closer you are to the work, the more tangible the solutions are.

This week the #1 challenge that was brought to the table: staffing

 

Perhaps you are in this position too.

One office reported over 25 referrals could not be filled.

YIKES!

That STINGS!

How are you, as a salesperson, going to make a quota?

How are you, as an owner, going to make revenue goals?

 

This is the current situation with many of our clients. Their marketing is “dialed in,” and now they are struggling with staffing.

…And COVID is NOT helping this situation! Agencies are constantly dealing with staff on quarantine and others out sick.

This agency is hiring but not fast enough to “plug the hole” of staff placed on leave.

This challenge is not new to us. Recruiting and retention is a big part of our new owner’s program: Caring Agency Mastermind (CAM).

How can we improve our recruiting and retention?

 

The focus of this Marketing Mastermind for this agency we serve as facilitators for their marketers was “How do we help” as sales reps. How can we be part of the solution?

CCRC – LOL Not the BAND or Continuing Care Retirement Community – but it’s an excellent way to remember!

Creedence Clearwater Revival

Community: Marketers are super connected – let’s use it! Time to give them jpegs for posting, emailing, and texting out into the community where they have contacts.

Current Staff: Yes, we all have referral bonuses but have your highlighted them lately? Often our staff forgets because they are so busy picking up shifts or visits due to colleagues being out.

Referral Sources: Our referral source, some of them are looking for work. Yes, it’s true.

Just this week, one of the nurses at the hospital reported she doesn’t have enough hrs for full time because her unit is shut down waiting on COVID overflow. She is HUNGRY for work and has worked with Home Health in the past. This might be a perfect fit. Just don’t assume everyone has the hours they need or want.

College: The college “job fairs” might be on hold but not the virtual job boards and advisors are still looking to help students. It’s an excellent time to look at your “school” strategy.

Nothing is more frustrating than not having enough staff. From a marketing perspective, I just want to cry!

 

But your Marketers can help!

In our Caring Agency Mastermind program, we give folks all the tools and ideas they need to engage ALL staff to contribute to help them find a team.

If you want more tools and ideas to solve your staffing challenges, join us

Apply here to see if you are the right fit!

Keep Serving Seniors!

Melanie

P.S. Your Marketing Team IS part of the SOLUTION for recruiting and retention – Want to discover how? Click here to apply and have a discussion.

 

Andrew Carnegie had a mastermind group. So did Henry Ford.

Ford would mastermind with Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone, and others.

The mastermind group can focus unique energy on your effort or challenge in the form of knowledge, resources, and energy.

As the individual must “do the work” of becoming a “success,” a mastermind group can harness the focus behind your success.

Mastermind definition according to Jack Canfield:

“The definition of a Mastermind Group is simple. A mastermind group is made up of people who come together on a regular basis—weekly, biweekly, or monthly—to share ideas, thoughts, information, feedback, contacts, and resources.

By getting the perspective, knowledge, experience, and resources of others in the group, not only can you greatly expand your own limited view of the world, but you can also advance your own goals and projects more quickly.

They’ve been used by some of the most successful people throughout history.
We all know that two heads are better than one when it comes to solving a problem or creating a result.

So, imagine having a permanent group of people who meet regularly for the purpose of problem-solving, brainstorming, networking, encouraging and motivating each other, and holding each other accountable to taking action to achieve their goals.

A mastermind group can be composed of people from your own industry or profession—or people from different walks of life.

It can focus on business issues, personal issues, or both. But for a mastermind group to be powerfully effective, people must be comfortable enough with each other, to tell the truth.”

 

Cheryl and I are curating a new mastermind group.

Caring Agency Mastermind CAM for short!

We are looking for owners and leaders who want to be part of a community and collaborate!

Here are great reasons to consider having a discussion about joining the CAM FAM!

    1. New Learning
    2. Cross Promotion
    3. Extend Your Network
    4. Think BIGGER!

If you would like to discuss if the CAM FAM is a right fit for you, click here to fill out the application and schedule a time to talk to Cheryl or Melanie

Click the application below and let’s have a conversation!

Join the CAM FAM!

Melanie

P.S. This year we are focusing on the 5 pillars of success for agencies AND we are “scheduling” FUN! Because we ALL need more fun! Click here to apply!

 

 

As cases spike, more and more accounts are going into “lockdown.”

…But some reps are still getting in. Why are some reps allowed in, and others are being told that due to COVID, they are not allowed in at the same accounts?

I spoke with one of our favorite Home Health reps, and I asked her, “how are you doing? The cases in your area are rising, and your governor is considering restrictions again. How are you making it in this time?”

This rep (Stacy) is really great! She has been serving her accounts for the last 7 years with this agency.

She is also known for her “iron grip control” over her “good” orthopedic accounts. She is very protective of these accounts, and rightfully so – over this year, her best account referred her over 200 patients!

Stacy told me this. “I have been in contact with my doctors, nurse practioners, and surgery schedulers via text until about 3 months ago. Then, they started to invite me in again. So I can just go in like normal now, but that’s not true for all reps.”

When I asked her why she said. “They use COVID as an excuse to not let in the reps they don’t like or don’t know.”

And there is was COVID, the great rep filter!

I thought this was going to happen. All those reps who made “lazy” sales calls. To “just check-in” or “Checking to see if you had a referral”…. “Just got the boot.”

Today, now more than ever, your reps have to have a valid business reason for calling! They MUST have a sales message of the week that identifies high-value patients or clients for you and MUST be relevant to your referral sources!

Another one of our favorite reps, Lacy, reported she feels a deeper connection with her referral sources than pre-COVID. I asked what she attributes that sense of connection. Besides the fact that Lacy is a FANTASTIC rep, and her relationships were rock solid pre-COVID.

She shared that social workers have had more time to talk on the phone. Without the distraction of all the other reps, “dropping in,” they spent 10-20 mins with her on the phone, sharing and connecting.

What can we learn from these experiences?

  1. There is value in developing relationships even when you are “remote” Stacy used text, Lacy used the phone.
  2. When you offer value – you will “get through the filter.”

If you are being “filtered out,” think about ways you can offer something different – in the form of education or connection. Make sure you have a valid business reason for reaching out.

COVID is a pattern disruptor – and it allows us to rethink EVERYTHING!

If you are struggling to be heard…

If you are being “filtered.”

Time to skill up!

Get your weekly sales messaging on point!

Sign up for the RoadMap of Referrals today!

Serving more seniors together!
Melanie

P.S. Are you being filtered out? YOU ARE THE HOME CARE EXPERT! Let us show you how to get through and be heard. Click here to get on Mike’s calendar for a tour of the system.

 

 

Hurricane Sally came to visit us a few weeks back and left some damage.

While I am not a fabulous home improvement chick, I decided to tackle some of the repairs and paint myself.

A fair bit of it was beyond my skillset, so I recruited my brother to help.

My brother Justin is a solid woodworker, so I asked him to help me repair some of the soffit on my roof.

While Justin set up a shop to replace some wood, I went about my painting prep. Power wash, scrape, sand with 80 grit, then finer, wipe off the boards, caulk, tape, and then paint.

My brother was working on another side of the house and came over to ask me a question when I was prepping. He took one look at me and said:

“Hey Sis, do you know there is a tool called a “paint eater?”

 

Hmmmmm, Nope!

I have never heard of it, but it sounds like you think it is something I could use.

He said – “How long did it take you to get to this point?” I told him I got 8 hours into this section, and I am about to paint, so maybe another 3 hours more?

Justin said, “Oh man, Sis, I wish I would have known I would have let you borrow my paint eater that prep work would have been done in 2 hours.”

“You are working WAY too hard for the same result.”

 

Well, darn it – here I was working my tail off working HARDER, not SMARTER because I didn’t know there was a tool available.

Justin let me borrow his paint eater on the next section of the house, and wouldn’t you know it – he was right!

This tool allowed me to do the next area of the house in 2 HOURS! OMG! This was AMAZING! Prep time slashed and straight away to taping, and painting! SUPER STREAMLINED!

It looks AWESOME! With less than ½ the time it took me on the other side of the house!

That’s when it hit me: IT’S ALL ABOUT HAVING THE RIGHT TOOLS!

 

When you have the right tools – man, you just get it DONE!

No time wasted – Straight away to the result!

It’s just like Marketing in Home Care, Home Health, and Hospice.

You may not know there is a tool that can help you compress time and increase your results.

There is! We made it just for you! Roadmap of Referrals!

When you have the right tools, you go straight away to sharing your weekly sales message that resonates and asking the Home Care Sales Trigger™ questions that get you a referral!

Think of Cheryl and me as your “Sisters” who share their knowledge with you so that you have the edge!

Which will allow you to achieve your goals faster!

If you want to go faster- Jump on Mike’s calendarand take a tour of our tools that will make your life so much easier!

 

Serve More Seniors Together!!

Melanie

P.S. What is your favorite tool? Go to our Facebook page and share your favorite tool!

 

Halloween was just a week ago.

I know it seems like FOREVER ago, but only a week.

My twins are 7, and they are really into Halloween.

Don was DJ Marshmallow (I know he is a pretty big deal. You will have to google it later)

Dylan was Harry Potter.

We live in a quiet neighborhood on the golf course with about 25 houses. Most owners are seniors, and 5 of us families who have kids. We didn’t know if anyone would be “doing” treat or treat this year, but we thought, well, let’s try it and see!

About 75% of the houses didn’t have their lights on – the universal signal that “we don’t have candy for you,” so it was a little dark, and because I am not winning Mother of the Year, I forgot a flashlight.

Dylan said to me:

“Mom, I love Halloween but being out here in the dark – I am scared. You are not scared of the dark, and I want to walk with you.”

I told him “Dylan – I am here with Don and you, and it’s OK – I wouldn’t let anything happen to you. So just walk beside me instead of running ahead with your brother.”

Sales Lesson #1: You are always braver when you know someone has “done this before” and was “OK.” Follow the plan. We lay out our marketers’ plans months in advance. We have been down this road and we know it produces referrals! It will for you too! Confidence!

We finally came to some houses with tables outside with bowls of candy, and the neighbors were sitting in rocking chairs on the porch. The boys were so excited. Earlier in the day, we talked about manners and to say “Thank you” when they gave you candy. Don stepped up right away – took one piece of candy and said, “Thank you!” and went off skipping.

Dylan was timider. “He said, Mom- they are so far away – do I have to say Thank you?” I said – Yes, just like we practiced but LOUDLY so they can hear! To which he did, “THANK YOU!” And the neighbors yelled back – “Your Welcome.”

Sales Lesson Number #2: When you practice what you will say – It is EASY, and you can make modifications on the fly when you know the structure! Weekly Sales Messages are KEY- knowing what you are going to say BEFORE you walk in the door or pick up the phone – is key to your success!

Once we got home, of course, the big Halloween Candy Trade began.

2 Laffy Taffys for 1 snicker – 2 Twix for 2 boxes of Milk duds the trades went on and on.

Which brings us to Sales lesson #3: Know your Ideal Patient Type. We all have our “sweet spot.” The patients and clients we LOVE to work with AND are good for the agency. OWN it!

These kids had no problem saying I want “snickers” you need to own it too. “We specialize in Parkinsons! Which Parkinsons patient is struggling with ADLs?”

With all that is going on in the world, it was great for one night to have some semblance of “normal.”

 

It was good for the kids and our senior neighbors who stayed socially distanced but got to see and interact with the kids plus all those cool costumes!

Wishing you a Bountiful November! I hope you had some fun during Halloween!

Keep serving seniors!

Melanie

P.S. If you are looking for a “plan” we got it! Click here to find a time on Mike’s calendar that works for you and he can show you the system!

We just buttoned up Quarterly Business Reviews and Plans with one of our Mastermind clients.

EVERY Marketer grew their office double digits year over year for quarter 3 2019 vs. quarter 3 2020! The Marketers for this agency have a strong finish to the end of 2020.

I couldn’t be more proud of them and their willingness to pivot HARD and achieve results better than 2019 (2019 was a solid year, too!). This agency has not let COVID and the lack of access nor the lack of staff (due to quarantine) slow them down!

I asked each Marketer the same question during our zoom meeting:

“What do you attribute your success to during the 3rd Quarter?”

Here are the 3 Secrets that I heard:

1. Delivering Value EVEN when working from home!

How do you deliver Value when you are remote? There were many questions early in COVID – Could they do it? Would their referral sources accept them being “remote”? They said I am not a copywriter. They needed a lot of support to be confident in reaching out via phone, email, text, video. Following the structure of the Inside Sales Process and RoadMap of Referrals gave them the tools to each week go out and deliver value in the form of education and high-value patient targeting. Using the Home Care Sales Trigger Questions on the Quick Reference cards to reach in and get the ideal referral on caseload NOW!

2. Showing up: Consistency in reaching out – even when it feels like “no one is listening.”

One of the reps said, “It feels like sometimes I am talking to the wall” Voicemail that delivers a sales message of the week is fantastic but not getting a return call or feedback is hard. What is great is when you do connect, the referral source says – “Oh, I loved that email about Mrs. Jones and her Parkinson’s that sounded just like my mom.” It’s WAY BETTER when that is coupled with a referral!

3. Drill it: Education and Motivation every day!

Another rep shared her story of the funk she found herself in a couple of weeks ago. She was tired; a few of her friends had actually died from COVID. She was concerned for her mother, who is elderly. She said:

“I had to take a hard look at how I would pick myself up and get motivated again and the way I decided to do that is to INVEST in MYSELF! I decided every morning I was going to get up and log onto HomeCareSalesPro.com and do a Lesson. When I do a lesson, I FEEL CONFIDENT! And CONFIDENCE SELLS! SO TRUE!”

What does this success in the numbers look like for this agency?

 

 

Over $110,000+ in profit increase in Q3 2020 vs Q3 2019

Which owner would like that profit over the last 90 days!

Which marketer would like that bonus check?

We ALL would!

 

You want momentum like this too! YOU CAN!

Join us for an exclusive FREE webinar:

The Blueprint – The Top 3 COVID Driven priorities for sales leaders to Gain Referrals

Set yourself up for SUCCESS! FINISH 2020 STRONG!

Register today! Click here!

See you there!

Melanie

P.S. This is your chance to help more people. Get your blueprint and set yourself up for success! Click here and sign up NOW!

P.S.S. You want to be part of the Mastermind and connect with other high-quality owners like this agency’s owners? Click here and lets have a discussion!

I was recently speaking with the owner of an agency who said to me:

“I am exhausted. Look at my calendar. There is no time for me. I am slamming and jamming through the day from one meeting to the next. I don’t have time to think strategically. I am struggling. What’s worse is I see my staff struggling with the same issues.

They are tired of being on zoom for 6-7 hrs a day in meetings. They tell me our clinical and caregiving staff is getting “burned out,” and I am afraid they might be running into the ground. I am worried.

My staff IS the agency. No nurses or Aides or Caregivers – NO AGENCY

Day to day, I don’t know my staff situation because of COVID and having staff out on quarantine. COVID tracking is taking up a tremendous amount of time and resources.

We have plenty of referrals – that’s good – the reps are following your inside sales process – that is not a problem.

The problem is I am overwhelmed and tired.

And it feels like everyone else is too.

I need help. I need a plan. Not just a couple of morale boosters but a plan to honor my staff. And help me get out of this “funk” of groundhog day that has been my life for that last 6 mos.”

 

I told this owner – He is not alone.

 

I, too, feel the collective “tiredness” of the whole world.

We are in a sustained trauma.

We can’t see our friends. We have to reserve spots online to go to church.

Our “Social framework” is broken.

For the Owner. He is tired.

I shared with him some productivity hacks to gain some of his time back. So that he can have room to think. Think about the future – winter is just a month away for him.

Everyone will be “back inside,” and that means even less socialization for him and his staff.

We have all heard the estimates on the costs of employee turnover:

  • 6 to 9 months of salary. (That’s well over half what you pay an employee in a year. For an employee making $100,000 a year, the turnover cost could be as high as roughly $75,000. Ouch.)
  • 16% of annual salary for jobs with traditionally high turnover, such as entry-level jobs.
  • 20% of annual salary for jobs requiring mid-level experience
  • 213% (not a typo!) of the annual wage for top-level executive positions, including C.E.O.s *

(Statistics according to https://www.peoplekeep.com/blog/employee-retention-the-real-cost-of-losing-an-employee
)

We can all agree employee turnover is expensive.

(Add on top of that all the “COVID-exposure quarantines AKA COVID exposure “vacations” as one owner calls it)

His marketing team is delivering more referrals then he can serve! He is TURNING DOWN REFERRALS! — YIKES!

He needs current staff to stay and “do more” even when they are already tired! (He also is hiring as fast as he can)

Employee centric management will shape pandemic recovery success.

For this owner, we are creating a plan. A step by step Employee Engagement plan for him to help him honor his staff, increase morale, and connect to the human first.

The Framework is C.E.F.T.

C- Compassion. Offering comfort, and empathy to staff during this challenging work/life/kids a homeschooling balance

E- Experience. Your staff needs to “DO” Something! The activity needs to be engaging, and your team will become involved in the reward system. E is also for EASY – Yes, the activity needs to be engaging, but it needs to be EASY too- the staff has enough “work” to do.

F- F.U.N. We ALL NEED MORE FUN!!!

T – Timely. This cannot be a 1 and done. This is an ongoing plan of engagement and honoring of staff. We have all tried gift cards – for them only to become an expectation. This plan has “surprise” and “chance” worked in so that his staff doesn’t “expect” the reward (much like a slot machine – you keep coming back because you don’t know when it will pay out!)

The result of this plan will be that he can give it to his administrators to roll out each month and engage his staff. Engage and delight his team that his agency cares. Cares enough to create the social framework they lost during the pandemic.

This agency will create deeper relationships with its staff, which will allow them to serve more patients and increase their revenue.

We are all in this together.

Giving the owner the Freedom to Grow.

During this time of Overwhelm, we are here to help.

If you want to gain access to this Employee Engagement Plan – we invite you to be part of our Beta roll out in our Mastermind. Click here, fill out the application, and see if it’s a good fit for both of us!

Melanie

P.S. Overwhelm is real. You can move out of it with structure. With structure comes FREEDOM! You got this – We can help!

Over this past week, you may have seen several industry sources sharing that nearly 50% of all Home Health referrals from the hospital are not started for care.

One of our mastermind members has seen an explosion in referrals from the hospital.

That is GOOD! Revenue is UP!

While the increase in referrals is AWESOME!

Here is the BAD part.

It has created 2 problems.

  1. Incomplete patient information – i.e., more non admits
  2. Not enough staff and putting HUGE pressure on existing staff to do more– i.e., Recruiting and retention.

Incomplete information: Incomplete patient information has always been a challenge. And when the patient leaves the hospital, it’s hard to “track them down” if the contact information is not correct.

How can your marketers or office staff help?

For our Mastermind Program, we are adding a module on transitions.

Here is a piece from that module:

V. C. E.

Verify:

Verify patient contact information and emergency contact information when the patient is STILL in the hospital.

Call:

Call the patient (if you can’t get in the hospital) AND the emergency contact to welcome them to your agency when the patient is STILL in the hospital or as soon as you get the information.

Educate:

We have created a “What to expect” brochure that is patient-centered and is a perfect resource to have the D/C planner hand out or email to the patient or family that describes the next steps so that the family knows who to call and gives them peace of mind during their transition

 

Recruiting and Retention

This is the “other side” of the sales and marketing coin. When your team does their job – you will have staffing problems. This agency owner and mastermind member always tell his branch administrators – keep hiring and let it be a sales problem! He means by that keep hiring nurses, therapists, and HHAs to the point that his agency has “open visits” and then put the pressure on sales and marketing to get more referrals!

Right now – EVERYONE has VIRUS FATIGUE, and it is compounded by an increase in referrals, and in this team, that means the current nurses, therapists, and HHAs have to do more visits.

This Mastermind agency is killing it with recruiting. They have more applicants in the last 6 mos than we have seen in the previous 7 years of working with them. But the referrals are growing faster than they can onboard.

How can Marketing help? What can you do as an owner?

This Mastermind agency uses its marketing team to deploy several retention and appreciation strategies we collaborated on to increase morale and let them know they are appreciated!

The staff has reported:

“Feeling cared for”

“Like we matter.”

“Thank you for making my day brighter.”

and one intake staffer reported:

“OMG, I can’t believe you noticed how hard I was working. Thank you!”

It goes a long way to help keep your staff committed to your vision and your agency.

Cheryl and I are building a new recruiting and retention module for the mastermind group.

We are pulling together the best practices and tactics we have experienced as consultants in the industry for the last 20+ years so that the mastermind group can have a vault of recruiting and retention strategies that will allow you to plug and play the best practices at your agency. SO easy – just pick out the ones you like and implement them.

We are in beta right now!

If this sounds like something you would like to be a part of – go to www.homecaresales.com/mastermind to fill out an application, and let’s jump on a call to see if it is the right fit for both of us!

Melanie

P.S. Even though we are all socially distancing – Cheryl and I are COMMITTED to having MORE FUN in the mastermind this year too! Wait until you hear the fun community activities we have planned for the group!

I just completed a session for HCAOA annual virtual conference.

“LOVE Home Care – HATE Sales Management”

 

The theme – Rediscover the Magic of Home Care!

That is a great theme and an extension of that theme “Rediscover the magic of your sales rep.”

Many owners that we have worked with have shared with us (maybe you have thought this too)

Sales reps are SOOO hard to manage. I don’t know-how
I don’t want to manage my sales rep – I don’t even like sales!
I don’t like it SO much – I don’t even have a sales rep anymore.

Cheryl wrote this week about the value of a sales rep for your agency.

If you were not persuaded by her encouragement to have salespeople, let us go with the facts.

According to the Home Care Pulse Benchmarking study – I shared this in my presentation.


It is a fact!

When you have more salespeople, it will produce more results (read revenue!).
But you just can’t have a sales rep and like magic, have them produce! You have to have the strategies in place to hold them accountable, and that is where we come in – Home Care Sales has been empowering reps and holding them accountable for the last 20 years, and we have had to learn the hard way!

Lessons learned so that we can share with you the easy way!

In today’s blog, I will break it down for you in 3 easy steps so that you can eliminate the drama, focus on high-value client referrals, which will allow you to IMPACT MORE LIVES while INCREASING YOUR INCOME!

ONE: Alignment Agreement – We used to call this an expectation document

Five action items or less that you and your Rep agree upon agree

Examples include: Documentation, calendaring/ planning, expenses

This one document has saved me so much heartache. Recently one of our mastermind members used this document they have access to it in our resources vault. They went through the interview process- and with the offer letter to the Rep gave them a copy of the expectations.

The potential rep turned down the position because she felt like she could not commit to the number of sales calls. While this agency owner was sad, he put all this time and effort into the potential candidate. I told him – he dodged a bullet!

If she would not commit to meeting expectations on the front end, he would have been chasing and hounding her to complete the activity level and met with 100 excuses on why she could not achieve them.

TWO: Planning

The MOST HATED word in sales. Planning.

I don’t know of any rep or manager who LOVES to plan. They like to “do,” but you know you would head off to CA from AL without your GPS. You sure don’t need to jump in your car or on your phone without:

  1. Targeting High-Value Client Types
  2. Your Sales Message of the Week
  3. Your Home Care Sales Trigger Questions ™ that are going to reach into the current caseload and get you the EXACT referral you want NOW!

We do this through the Roadmap of Referrals program where we give the reps the sales message of the week and the Home Care Sales Trigger Question all DONE FOR YOU (click here to see it in action with Mike)

THREE: ScoreCard and Coaching AKA – Holding reps accountable

What are the metrics that you want to see?

  • Hours
  • Revenue
  • Referrals
  • Home Assessments
  • Admissions
  • Number calls completed

This Scorecard is filled out by the Rep each week, and the Scorecard is delivered to the manager or owner.

This accountability focuses on the “right activities that are going to drive the right results.”

This Scorecard is available in our Achieve program (want to learn more? Click here and have Mike show you)

Coaching is key to connecting with our reps. Its where you deepen the bond, create a “safe space” to problem solve, and offer suggestions.

We use the acronym of GROW:

Goal
Reflection
Opportunity
Win

Accountability – Empowerment = Blame

Empowerment – Accountability = Low Performance

Accountability + Empowerment = High Performance!

 


 

With structure comes FREEDOM!

You can do it! You can be the sales leader!

We can help

Roadmap of referrals

Achieve

Mastermind

Keep Serving Seniors!

Melanie

PS Thanks, HCAOA! If you are not part of HCAOA – click here http://www.hcaoa.org/ to learn about this great organization!