Erik Madsen
It’s clear that there’s a great deal of growth potential—for agencies that are willing to change, adapt, and improve. Here are three of the most critical changes you need to consider as you plan for 2019.
Friends, partners, and customers of Home Care Pulse,
I’m Erik Madsen, and I’m the new CEO of Home Care Pulse. I’m grateful for the opportunity I have to work more closely with great individuals and companies throughout the home care industry.
It’s a challenging and rewarding time to be in home care, and I’m certain that Home Care Pulse is in a better place than ever to help home care agencies meet the challenges of a changing industry.
A few notices and upcoming events you should be aware of:
A Bird’s-Eye View
At Home Care Pulse, we’ve collected a mountain of data over the years to get a birds-eye view of where the industry is going. With this insight, I’d like to give some advice to agencies working on their growth strategies for 2019.
As a business owner, you spend a great deal of time in the weeds of your business—as you should. But it’s necessary occasionally to step back and take a look at the larger shifts happening in the industry, and I want to help you do that for a few moments.
It’s clear that there’s a great deal of growth potential—for agencies that are willing to change, adapt, and improve. Here are three of the most critical changes you need to consider as you plan for 2019:
#1: The need to differentiate your agency has never been greater.
There are two questions every home care agency owner needs to be able to answer:
- What sets my agency apart from others?
- Is this point of differentiation immediately clear when a potential client or caregiver hears about my agency?
There may have been a time when the mantra “If you build it, they will come” could be applied to growing a home care agency; unfortunately, this simply doesn’t work today.
Dial down on what sets your agency apart for others—and make sure that it becomes a visible part of your brand so that potential clients and caregivers recognize it. Specializing in certain types of care such as dementia and Alzheimer’s is one useful way to differentiate your agency from others.
You can also differentiate your agency with proof of your quality such as client testimonials or Best of Home Care awards. Great client care is one of the most important ways to stand out, but just saying you give great care isn’t enough—you need to prove it.
However you choose to differentiate your agency, make sure that it becomes an integral part of your brand—so that no matter how someone may hear about or come in contact with your agency, it’s quickly apparent to them why your agency is different that your competitors.
#2: The right targeted recruitment strategy can help you sidestep the caregiver shortage crisis.
With unemployment at its lowest rate in decades, it’s a great time to be a job seeker. The downside is that employers have to fight for the best employees. You’re not only competing with other home care agencies; you’re competing with large companies like Amazon, who just increased their minimum wage to $15.
If you want to protect your margins but still retain great caregiver talent, you need to create a targeted, cost-effective caregiver recruiting strategy that identifies where your best caregivers are coming from and focuses on those channels.
In another recent Letter From the CEO, Aaron Marcum discussed the importance of identifying the “persona” of your ideal caregiver and focusing your recruitment strategy on the areas and channels that target this persona. This is one of the most important ways that you can reduce the impact of competitive offerings on your staffing.
The right recruitment strategy, backed by the right information, will empower you to build a steady pipeline of good caregivers at a comparatively low hiring cost.
#3: Technology is providing game-changing solutions to the agencies willing to invest in it.
It’s not all doom and gloom in the industry—there are significant opportunities for agencies willing to adopt new changes, especially by embracing technology.
It’s clear that more and more potential clients are using the Internet to find the right home care provider. You might already have a good online presence, but are you using all of the tools available to stand out from other providers in your area? If creating an organized process for getting Google and Facebook reviews from your clients hasn’t been a priority, you’re missing out on one of the largest potential sources of new revenue.
In addition, many agencies are still letting clients slip through the cracks between the first inquiry and admission as a new client. Tracking your inquiry-to-admission ratio and utilizing your scheduling software to its fullest extent can help you to progress more inquiries to become clients and quickly generate an increase in revenue.
This isn’t the last time you’ll hear me talk about these opportunities. Keep an eye out for upcoming additions to our program to help you get found and close the gap more quickly.
Work Smarter, Not Harder
One final tip for 2019: work smarter, not harder. Many of the most successful figures in business are normal people who realized how to make the most out of their time, energy, and resources.
If your growth strategy includes looking for new ways to stand out from the competition, attract leads, or reduce turnover, connect with us and we can talk about the different resources Home Care Pulse has available to help you.
I’m honored to work with the great individuals and organizations in the home care industry. Here’s to a great year of growth in 2019.
Best regards,
Erik Madsen
Chief Executive Officer
Home Care Pulse
