Do you run a home healthcare and want to attract clients? If YES, here are 20 practical tips on how to get clients for your non-medical home care business. The non-medical home care business has showed great signs of profitability, especially with the increase in the aged population in the United States, and also with insurance company rules reducing the amount of days patients are eligible to stay in the hospital following a procedure.
This means that a lot more people are in need of non-medical home care. With the increase in people requiring these services, a lot of entrepreneurs have jumped into the industry thus making it a bit competitive. With a lot more people now in the business of offering home care, it is now tasking to get the number of clients your business needs to survive and thrive.
It is a known fact that the success of your non-medical home care business depends on building your client base, and if you are still struggling with getting clients, we have provided some sure fire tips that will keep you get ahead of your competitors in the business.
20 Hot Tips to Get Clients for Non-medical Home Care Business
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Take volunteering to the next level
Volunteering at strategic events is a very good way to get people to know about your business. For this reason, you need to start volunteering at local health fairs, school fitness programs, blood drives, clothing donation centers, soup kitchens and other community sponsored charities.
While you are volunteering at these events, endeavor to tell people about your business; in fact, you should make it a point to communicate through ongoing volunteer efforts that compassion and trust are the foundation of your agency.
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Join home care organizations
Another workable way you can get clients for your non-medical home care business is to join local, state and national home care organizations. These organisations would not only give your business the needed publicity, but it will make people know that they can trust you.
While you are doing this, you should equally pursue accreditations that demonstrate your agency’s commitment to quality care. Promote your achievements in the local media to build your reputation in the community.
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Partner with complementary businesses
Related businesses are not the only way you can get clients, in fact, the bulk of your clients can come from strategic partnerships. For this reason, you should endeavor to partner with complementary businesses such as rehab centers, hospice agencies or a skilled home health agencies. Although a hospice or home healthcare agency may be providing a daily nurse or therapist visit, there is often a gap in personal care and other support services.
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Offer variety
When doing business, people like to be able to pick and choose. Make sure you develop a menu of services and offer them on an a la carte basis to your clients. It is a fact that many of the larger home-care service companies only offer a bulk of services and don’t give clients the opportunity to choose just those services they most need.
Clients can save money by purchasing only those most-pertinent services. They’ll appreciate your cooperation and provide you with plenty of referrals. While offering variety, you should do it in such a way that you do not incur more expenses or overhead for your business as this could defeat the whole aim of the scheme.
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Diversify
While offering you clients a lot of services to choose from, you should also diversify your offerings. To do this, you should add services that might not be offered by larger companies that could make your business more attractive to wealthier clients.
For example, provide hot prepared meals, offer to go grocery shopping, take clients’ pets to the vet or any other convenience services they might need. Pair up with a cleaning service to provide one-stop shopping for clients who need more than just home care.
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Give your caregivers incentives to refer
The more referrals you get, the better for your non-medical in home care business. You can use your caregivers as a means of sourcing referrals for your business. You should provide them with incentives for bringing in new business for you.
Set up a form of commission that your staff can earn when they bring in new clients or they bring you referrals that turn into paying customers. The caregivers you hire are on the front lines and spend the most time with clients. They are in the best position to learn about new opportunities in the marketplace. The boost in pay they can earn is another tool you can use to retain competent staff, too.
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Touch up your feedback system
Your feedback system is another thing to look into when growing your in home non-medical care business. Set up a feedback system and monitor your caregivers closely to ensure your clients consistently receive top-quality care. Call clients personally to check on their satisfaction with the services you’re providing. Send clients feedback forms shortly after they first sign on with your company. No matter how good you get at marketing, if you develop a reputation for poor or unreliable service, your sales will suffer.
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Get a blog
It is often said that old age is like a second childhood and children of seniors are often unaware of the kind of care their parents need. You should become a source of this authentic information. The best way to do this is via a blog where you can put out content that is relevant to your customers. Not only existing customers, but you will also receive a lot of leads from this channel as people begin to trust your business.
Another effective way would be to have a social media presence where you can post problems related to old age, their solution, about your organization etc. Few useful tips are- decide which social media is best for you, get a professionally designed cover photo, make interesting contents and try as much as you can to engage your audience.
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Spend On Online Advertising
A lot of people are searching for services online, and a local business like yours should definitely advertise online. You should not only focus on channels like Facebook Ads but also Google Ads, as most people search on Google first for answers.
Ensure the content is catchy and communicates the message correctly. Identifying the right target audience for the ad is important as the buyer and customer are generally different for your service. If you are not able to handle this service properly, get a professional to do it for you.
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Partner With Hospitals
Generally, most seniors are associated with hospitals where they visit for regular health checkups and other issues. While a few cases require hospitalization, most cases can be taken care of at home. At this point, the hospital can refer them to your home care services. Ensure that you connect and partner with all the hospitals and other emergency and care organizations in the localities you provide your services. They can provide you an unlimited source of clients.
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Associate With Senior Issues
A lot of issues plague seniors’ right from insurance coverage to veteran support. Associate your business with these causes and become an advocate. Where possible provide support through a lawyer or fund the right agencies. This will give you coverage in the media and create a favorable brand image. It is important for seniors that they partner with services that adhere to their values. This is bound to get you a lot of leads because of positive PR.
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Create A Comprehensive Referral Program
Like other service businesses, your home care service business will thrive with referrals and word of mouth marketing. You can have a special referral program with financial incentives for doctors and other specialists. To reduce your costs, you can have a different referral program for clients which will focus on free services. This will only use your resources instead of additional expenses.
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Don’t Forget Local Advertising
Classic local advertising, like the door to door flyer distribution and display of posters in a community, is always a sure shot way of generating leads. You can always take help from designers to get a creative flyer design for your marketing. You can partner with local businesses like medical and convenience stores to display these posters. When sharing your flyers, note to focus on areas where your potential clients exist.
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Conduct Seminars And Talks
If you do not have in-house experts to conduct seminars and talks for seniors, and if you are not a professional yourself, you can partner with professionals in associated domains like insurance, nutrition, and healthcare to conduct talks for seniors.
You can approach hospitals and communities to conduct these talks in their facilities. You can get a lot of footfalls and generate new leads for your home care services business. You can give away brochures and other personalized merchandise like T-shirts, Badges or even stickers for cars with your logo on them.
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Conduct Free Health Drives
Marketing events are useful for creating brand awareness. Since home care is related to healthcare and allied services, you can bring your target audience for a health drive or workshop. To minimize your costs, you can conduct this event in a local community town hall or clubhouse.
Don’t push your services too much but make sure your branding is visible on the banners placed. Let your logo design be seen prominently so that people know the brand conducting the event.
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Start A Newsletter
A great way to capture new leads is by starting a newsletter. You can have a link for subscription to your newsletter through your website as well send a copy to your existing clients. Make sure the newsletter not only has exciting offers but is also information packed.
Make the newsletter attractive and use a lot of infographics. Experts opine that a good infographic increases the click through rate of your newsletter. Your infographic should have eye catching design, be power packed with information and should not look too cluttered.
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List Your Business In Directories
An important task that will get you a lot of leads is listing your business in local directories. These directories could be online or offline. For example, the local yellow pages, directories maintained in hospitals or local town council offices.
Make sure you cover all the places where your target customers are likely to search for your services. Today there are several apps as well which list all convenience services together on one platform, make sure you make the best use of them.
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Get your clients in on your referral program
Your clients are another great source of referral for your business. Offer your clients an incentive to get you these referrals. Your best form of advertising is word of mouth and by offering current, satisfied customers a discount, a gift or a free service, you encourage them to talk you up to their friends and families.
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Spend On Sponsorships
Conducting your own events can be cumbersome and time consuming especially if you are a single owner with a small team. The easiest way to engage with the target audience is to piggyback on other events for them. Get a sponsorship deal where you can display your brand logo as well as banners at the event, along with press coverage. Also, be present at the event with business cards and brochures.
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Give speaking engagements
Speak at local senior centers, senior apartments, and retirement communities. Select interesting topics on healthy aging such as nutrition, exercise, sexuality, and memory enhancement. You can also be a guest speaker at assisted living facilities, nursing or rehab facilities to meet residents that may be in need of additional personal and supportive care services not already provided.
Conclusion
While you are putting all these tips in practice, you should have it in mind that you must be able to describe your company whenever and wherever you find yourself. To be able to do things effectively, you need to create an elevator speech for your business.
This pitch should be a short, two or three minute script that best describes your business and the quality of service you provide. By being able to succinctly describe your company, you can deliver a sales pitch anywhere and everywhere. Tell everyone you know about your business; talk it up among friends, at parties, in line at the Grocery Store and through your family.
Again, you need to establish mutual beneficial relationships with your competitors by both agreeing to refer clients to one another when an agency is unable to provide requested services. In this business, there is no point in hoarding your services.