The Best Thing About Christmas Shopping Is Running Into Referring Accounts!

Today I ran into Dr. Joe while I was out Christmas shopping. For those of you that are fateful blog readers, you may recall his story.

He and his partner, Dr. Kirkland, are both top referring physicians. I have been using the Roadmap to Referrals while maintaining this account over the last several years. This past year, I taught them something else to do with my flyers.

Several of our flyers are patient stories. The marketing tools ask, Have you seen Sam? Then the leaflet shows a picture of Sam, and his journey, on how he became our patient and the benefits he and his family received.

Sample:

 

“I had gotten so many great patients to care for from Dr. Jones that I asked him, “why you refer patients to home care? “

I was shocked by his answer. “

 

He shared with me that his great aunt, Cecelia, lived with him when he was a boy. She was a widow, and her youngest nephew, Mark (Dr. Jones Dad), volunteered to let her move into his home when the Parkinson’s disease took a toll on her ability to live alone. 

Dr. Jones said he remembered how much work it was for his mom to care for his aunt’s needs. She needed quite a bit of care over the 15 years that she lived with his parents, and they had to transfer her, toilet her, bathe her, feed her, clean all of her clothing and manage just about everything, like medications and doctors appointments. All of it!

He shared that one day, his aunt fell, and she ended up in the hospital for a few days. When she was discharged, they ordered home health. That home health agency’s nurse told them that she had a friend from a home care agency and that someone would come over to see how they might help make taking care of his aunt Cecelia a little easier. 

The next day Cecelia had a visit from the home care agency.

They found out that she qualified for the VA Benefit because her husband was in the military. They could get a home care aide to assist with personal care for 4 hours a day, five days a week.   

This changed the whole mood of the home. Now his mom had time to go to the hair salon, and because she felt better about herself and had a break every day for a few hours, she improved her self-care. 

Having a caregiver allowed the whole family to benefit.  Meals were once again being cooked, and the entire house felt better.

 On the way out of Dr. Jones’s office, we ran into his partner, Dr. Kirkland. He introduced me, and said to Dr. Kirkland, “did you tell Cheryl about your Aunt Cecilia?” I got a perplexed look on my face. 

I thought it was Dr. Jones’s aunt. Dr. Kirkland proceeded to tell me the same story that Dr. Jones shared with me. 

In the end, Dr. Jones said with a smile, “Aunt Cecelia is his great aunt, not mine.” He continued, “When I am trying to convince my patients to let home health or home care in, I always tell this story as if it’s my own because it becomes more believable.”

I told him, “whatever it takes to improve patients’ lives!”

I hope we can all find more Dr. Jones and Dr. Kirkland’s!

 

There are patients like Cecelia all over the country who need help to stay at home. Some families take on this responsibility and don’t realize how a patient could deteriorate over the years. It is hard to take care of a loved one for a few days, let alone 15 years.

Thank God for home care services. Thank God that the home health nurse had a friend who did home care.

Too many patients would go without care. Now imagine you could quickly help your doctors’ offices to find their Cecelia’s?  Well, we have your solution.

Our 52 week Road Map to Referrals does just that.

For 2022, we are upgrading the patient vignette forms. We are teaching our sales reps to encourage the doctors to provide them to the patient at the time of referral to our agency.

We also ask the hospital case manager to share them with their patients. Expanding the awareness of care we provide using the power of stories helps patients accept and receive our care in their homes.

 

Don’t miss our holiday specials either! You can find them on our Facebook page here.

Want to learn more?

Email Mike@homecaresales.com and see a demo of the road map to referrals in action. Each month I get to coach your sales rep and roleplay the sales messages of the week.

This program is our top-performing sales product, and on average, home health and hospice agencies have experienced a 30% growth rate!

 

Keep Helping, Keep Serving,

Cheryl Pelekis, RN “The Solutionist”