How to Increase Your Inquiry-to-Client Conversion Rate

Home Care Office Staff Hiring Tips

Converting inquiries into new clients takes time and energy. Here’s how to get your prospects to the finish line.

Like it the old fashioned way?

Let’s start from the beginning. You’re searching for ways to better manage and increase lead conversions. Your inbox is consistently swamped with inbound and outbound emails to and from potential clients. And you’ve got a staff that is eager to build new relationships.  That’s great news! So, now what?  

Are you taking the time to reach out to every single inquiry? Are you showing and telling what current clients love about you? Are you using your CRM software to its full potential?  

It’s difficult to predict the future, but having a strong sales process is a must. It’s going to act as a flexible guide that will still give you direction to achieving your goals. The sales process is going to look a little different between agencies, so knowing your customers, and how they respond is important.  

How to Convert Inquiries into New Clients

This roadmap to converting inquiries to new clients is going to be your new best friend. It’s something that you should reference often, especially as you make changes to your sales process. 

Want to increase your conversion rates? Let’s get started.  

#1 Create a process for logging, tracking, and responding to every inquiry

While keeping an organized database may not be everyone’s favorite thing to do, it certainly plays a big role in converting inquires to new clients.  

A lot of the problems you might face when tracking and responding to inquires can be solved with a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. We’ll get to that more in #2. But first, it will take some planning and staff training to make it play out correctly.  

Your inquirytoassessment, assessmenttoadmission (close), and overall inquiry to admission rates are metrics that you should use to hold your staff accountable.   

You’ll also want to train staff to respond to all inquiries to make sure the responses are consistent every time. People like predictability, so having a process in place will help to make sure your response is quick and unwavering.  

Customers expect quick responses. In fact, 82% of them expect an immediate response, or they’ll go elsewhere. Make sure to provide relevant, helpful answers to your customers’ questions quickly. Set a timeframe for all calls to be returned (outside of emergencies, which must be handled immediately). This should not be more than 30 minutes, preferably 15. 

While tracking inquiries is never black and white, we’ve found in the 2020 Home Care Benchmarking Study that there is a huge difference in revenue for those who track every inquiry vs. those who don’t. 

How to Convert Inquiries into New Clients

A good rule of thumb is to benchmark yourself against other agencies to see where you’re falling short 

How to Convert Inquiries into New Clients

Tracking inquiries doesn’t have to be expensive. In fact, we’ve created a free resource for all your inquiry tracking needs. You can use this spreadsheet to track client inquiries as they come in, and also maintain a record of inquiry date, assessment date, admission date, name, lead source, services needed, phone, email, address, city, state, and postal code 

 #2 Use a CRM

Customer relationship management (CRM) systems are a godsend. Essentially, they are a management tool that helps organize all your sales and marketing efforts. But even more so, they can be a total lifesaver when tracking potential leads, measuring communications, or even reminders for when you should get in touch with leads.  

A CRM system is a bit of a step-up from simply tracking all the information on a spreadsheet. Nonethelessthey are both efficient and if used correctly, will help you gain more clients. The biggest thing here is being diligent and thorough.  

Here’s where things get a bit dicey. There are so many options for CRM software on the market that it can be overwhelming to settle on one. We’ve got you covered. Here are a few that we recommend taking a look at 

Here are few options for scheduling software with built-in CRMS. The software you currently use may already have this tool. Make sure to check before investing in a new program: ClearCareAxisCare, and MatrixCare, among others

Other options to consider:  PlaymakerIsoratec, and HubSpot 

If your scheduling software does provide a CRM, this may be the best option for your home care agency as these CRMs will likely save you time and will be easier to navigate right off the bat because it’s in a program you’re already familiar with. 

How to Convert Inquiries into New Clients

Once you get set up on a software, regardless if it’s built-in or external, be prepared to streamline your sales process. According to our annual Benchmarking Study, 22.5% of agencies report using a CRM, but those that do make $200,000 more in annual revenue (on average) than those that don’t.  

Just a quick note as you start evaluating CRMs: ensure that your CRM is HIPAA-compliant or that you’re prepared to keep marketing/lead data separated from secure client/patient data. 

#3 Use social proof

One of the most underrated aspects of converting inquiries to new clients is using social proofYou’ve got to brag, but not necessarily about yourself. Let your clients do it for you.  

Not to get too technical, but social proof is a psychology – and using psychology to persuade or connect with prospects works wonders. The simple fact is that people influence each other. Past and current clients will likely have more power and impact than a company trying to sell its own services.  

Here are a few ways you can use social proof to your advantage:  

Share testimonials and satisfaction scores: If you are already a part of Home Care Pulses monthly client/caregiver experience surveys, review your testimonial reports and check your Strength Index Report to learn what categories your clients rate you highest in. Testimonials and satisfaction scores are the lifeblood of your organization. They show your success at relationship-building and humanize your organization. You can also use your Client Testimonial Report to easily pull testimonials to use in your assessments.

Use reviews: Is your agency set up on the top review sites? If not, you’ll want to hop on-board as soon as possible. You can start with general review sites like Facebook, Google, and Glassdoor and then dive more into industry specific sites like Caring.com, BestofHomeCare.com, Care.com, AgingCare.com, and CareLike.com. For a full list of agency-specific reviews sites check out our blog: How to Get More Online Reviews For Your Home Care Agency. 

Social proof is one of the few ways you can communicate directly through past or current clients. It shows that you can not only talk the talk, but you can also walk the walk.  

While social proof is a good indicator of how your agency operates, you need to remember the importance of building a reliable brand. Make sure going forward, that you and your caregivers are continually meeting the level of care that clients expect. If the positive reviews and testimonials highlight good experiences, continue creating good experiences.  

Social proof is dependent on the care and response your agency provides. If it is not satisfactory, social proof will not work.  

So, here’s the bottom line: let your clients learn from each other’s experiences and provide care that is both meaningful and outstanding.  

#4 Provide additional support and add value

You may to have to do a little bit of hand holding here when working with potential clientsThe sales process should always feel like natural human interaction. It’s about building relationships, not simply telling a client what you can do for them. You need give your services a face AND a personality.  

It’s only 2020. We aren’t working with robots yet (at least, most of us anyways). Don’t treat your customers all the same way. They are all different and have different needs – and addressing them individually will give your home care agency the leverage it needs to grow.  

When you’re getting in touch with people who have inquiries about your services, a good first move is to simply say “thank you” and let them know you are always available to answer any questions they might have. This can go a long way. Make sure to get the conversation started but don’t rush the process.  

Both, before and after the initial point of contact, you’ll want to make sure you are readily available to provide additional support and information outside of the assessment. One way to do this is to send brochures or social proof beforehand.  

Another way to add value to the conversation is to provide easy access to the information you know they want. You could have a frequently asked question (FAQ) section on your website highlighting questions that other clients have previously asked. Or, using those questions and adding more detail to your website and resources where information may be lacking is also a great strategy.  

Getting to the finish line

The finish line, in this case, is highly metaphorical because working with clients is ultimately a journey, not a destination. You can succeed, but the race will never end. Having clients is an ongoing venture that will take you up and down many hills; however, having a good idea of what the route entails will help you avoid any surprises along the way 

Converting inquiries to new clients can be a lengthy process. As long as you are dedicating time and energy into getting prospects from point A to point B, you’ll likely see an increase in inquiries that convert to sales.  

Get in a rhythm that works for your home care agency. It will take time to figure out, but these four tips should help you get started.  

What are you doing to convert more leads into sales? Let us know in the comments.  

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