Welcome back! This article focuses on marketing and referral Sources. Marketing may not, currently, be top of mind for your agency. It’s difficult to want to market if you already have more clients than your caregivers can staff. Keep in mind, that it is always good to be able to choose which clients your agency serves. It’s better if you don’t have to keep serving a difficult client just to keep a caregiver’s hours up. So your marketer must keep your sales pipeline full.
Also, you don’t want to ignore the relationships that you’ve built up with your Referral Sources. It’s important to maintain a presence in your area. So let’s talk about how to use route management to market most efficiently and effectively. Planning out your marketing routes is important with high gas prices, especially if you have multiple locations.
Several factors can be used to plan your routes.
Location
You don’t want your marketers driving from one side of town to the other, wasting gas and time. When planning your routes, consider the geographical locations of your referral sources. Group them based on proximity to minimize travel time and maximize the number of visits your marketers can make in a given area. This approach not only saves on transportation costs but also allows for more face-to-face interactions with potential clients and referral sources.
Priority
Determine the priority of your referral sources based on the volume of business you receive or expect to receive from each source. Identify your top-performing referral sources and allocate more time and resources to nurture those relationships. By focusing on high-value sources, you can maximize the return on your marketing efforts and ensure that you are dedicating your resources where they are most likely to yield results.
Frequency
Set the frequency of visits to your referral sources based on their priority level. Regularly engage with your referral sources to maintain a strong presence and foster ongoing relationships. Be sure to track your referral sources for each new client and caregiver you start to ensure that you are providing the necessary support and reinforcing the value of your agency’s services.
Marketing Events
Take advantage of networking events or charity events related to your industry or causes aligned with your agency’s values. For example, if there is a recurring meeting on a specific day and side of town, plan your marketing activities in that area to maximize exposure and capitalize on the networking opportunities presented by such events. Participating in industry gatherings and community initiatives can help you expand your network and increase brand visibility.
Availability
Consider the availability of your primary contacts when planning your visits. Ensure that you schedule your visits at times when your contacts are most likely to be available for productive interactions. By aligning your visits with their availability, you can maximize the effectiveness of your marketing efforts and ensure meaningful engagements with key decision-makers.
Counties
Consider the availability of your primary contacts when planning your visits. Ensure that you schedule your visits at times when your contacts are most likely to be available for productive interactions. By aligning your visits with their availability, you can maximize the effectiveness of your marketing efforts and ensure meaningful engagements with key decision-makers.
For help with planning your routes, our agency used a tool called RouteXL. This tool showed us the most efficient way to map out each route between the stops we planned to make.
Tiered Referral Sources
We rated our Referral Sources using a three-level tiered system to decide how often to drop in on contacts at each Referral Source. Below you’ll find an example:
- Class A) Top 10 accounts: We made sure to visit these Referral Sources weekly (or more than once a week for select sources), along with Skilled Nursing Facilities and Hospitals that are usually referred to us.
- Class B) Top 20 accounts (11-20): We went to these Referral Sources every other week. We also included Hospitals that we didn’t have as much traction at, and some Assisted Living Communities and Independent Living Communities in these routes.
- Class C) Top 40 accounts (21-40): We saw these Referral Sources every month. We also included any Hospitals, SNFs, ALC, and ILCs not in the A or B categories on these routes.
Using planned routes on set schedules allowed us to market more strategically. The routes let us see each Referral Source often enough. One final piece of advice before I end the article, don’t overwhelm your Referral Sources by showing up too often. Your contacts there have to make sure that they are fulfilling their duties as well.
For more information about our services and how we can assist your home care agency with marketing, visit our website at www.seniorcarebusinessadvisors.com. You can also call me directly at 678-340-3649 to set up your Free 30-Minute Consultation. We look forward to hearing from you and serving your agency!
*Disclaimer: We are not endorsed by or affiliated with the Alzheimer’s Association in any way. However, they are a great organization, and if you would like to donate, you can visit their site here. Additionally, we are in no way endorsed or affiliated with RouteXL.