What are your goals?

Happy New Year! Can you believe 2017 has come and gone and 2018 is here? In my last article Reflections of Successes in 2017, I mentioned several wonderful accomplishments which have happened with Home Care Pulse, our partners, and many of the home care companies we provide our services to. Heading into 2018, Home Care Pulse will continue striving to grow the company in several ways and we challenge you to do the same within your own home care business. We want 2018 to be the year of GROWTH! This could be within marketing, growing your sales department, taking on more clients, growing your caregiver satisfaction, or partnering with more companies within your industry. Below are just a few ways you can grow your home care company in 2018 with links to great resources that will help you dive deeper into the how. I am confident these ideas will help guide you to your best year yet.

2018 Goals to Consider

Marketing

After listening to last month’s CORE Webinar, Modern Home Care Marketing for 2018,  I wanted to re-emphasize how important it is to focus on your marketing efforts if you really want your business to grow. Consumer behavior is proving the value of having a mobile-friendly website and shifting your focus to online and mobile. It is critical to make sure your Google listing is current and your business has been claimed. Using a third-party to measure and validate client and caregiver satisfaction and incorporating that in your online reputation management builds confidence and trust among consumers who are using the internet more and more to find the right company to care for their loved ones. These are key to growing your agency’s online presence and taking your marketing strategies to the next level.

Sales

In the Sales and Marketing section of the  2017 Home Care Benchmarking Study, it shows that agencies who employed full-time sales reps made $816,850 (annually) more on average than companies who did not.

Here at Home Care Pulse, we employ a full-time sales department and I know that our growth would not be possible without them. I am passionate about home care providers investing in a sales team when it makes senses financially if the truly want to have a strong competitive advantage. To learn more about whether hiring a sales rep is right for your business, read What to Consider Before Hiring a Sales Rep.

Training and Retention

You’ve heard it once, and I will say it again. Proper caregiver training leads to retention. Remember, caregivers will need consistent training sessions to keep turnover low. Adapt the content to be about current issues your caregivers are facing. Be creative to keep your caregivers engaged. Help them remember your WHY. Check out 5 Tips for Successful Caregiver Training for more ideas on how to properly and consistently train your caregiver.

What Home Care Pulse Is Doing

Benchmarking Study

We are always excited to share the latest data and trends that are taking place in the industry. As we are busily preparing for the 9th annual study, we would ask you to participate this year. This is a great way to see where your business is currently at after 2017. Start 2018 out by seeing where your agency can grow by benchmarking your agencies data by filling out the prep worksheet and then completing the survey open February 1st.  Not only will this help you keep a record of where you have been, but will help you receive the most accurate information in the upcoming Home Care Benchmarking Study. You can access the Prep Worksheet here, which is a valuable tool that will help you save time when taking the survey. It can also help you evaluate your business in an intentional and valuable way.

Best of Home Care® Awards and BestofHomeCare.com

Behind the scenes, we have been working diligently to improve our Best of Home Care website (www.bestofhomecare.com). In 2018 it will be revamped and ready to serve home care consumers and our customers better than ever. It is one of my most exciting product developments in the past 9 years and we can’t wait to share with you more information about it!  It will really change and improve the way consumers find care for their loved ones and help drive more business to our customers. Here is a hint on what the new site will contain, “Verified Consumer Reviews.” To learn who the 2018 Best of Home Care® Award Winners are and get a sneak peek at some of what’s to come with BestofHomeCare.com, join me at 2 pm ET on Wednesday, January 24th for a special webinar event. You can register here.

New Partnerships

Home Care Pulse is pleased to announce a new partnership with Carelike. With this partnership, our Best of Home Care award winners will receive a priority listing in Carelike’s home care agency database. Starting sometime early in the 1^st quarter of 2018, our partnership will include an added benefit to how your agency appears when health professionals search through the Carelike database. Carelike licenses its database to hospitals and organizations like Mayo Clinic and Alzheimer’s Association of America.  We’ll be sharing more details later about what this means to our customers, especially Best of Home Care award winners.

Helping Agencies Like You

At Home Care Pulse, our main priority is helping home care providers, like you,  look deeper into your business to understand how clients and caregivers perceive your company. In 2018, let Home Care Pulse help you achieve your goals. Through our satisfaction management program, we can guide you throughout the year and help you increase referrals, caregiver retention, and client satisfaction. To learn more about how Home Care Pulse can help you reach your 2018 growth goals, please contact a member of our Business Development team at [email protected] or 877.307.8573 to schedule your free demo. Don’t miss your opportunity to be recognized as a Leader in Excellence in January 2019. Sign up for both caregiver and client satisfaction management services by January 12, 2018, in order to complete the 12 months of feedback required for qualifying. I am confident it will be one of the best investments in your growth for 2018.

Best wishes,