Home Care Marketing
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Hi, Folks! Thanks for tuning in to another edition of A Drink with “The Hurricane.” We’re moving right along in our month-long focus on time management and goal setting. In today’s episode, we’re specifically focusing on the goal-setting portion.
I’m taking a page out of my own Pastor’s playbook, something he discussed in church at the beginning of the year during prime resolution time. We’ve heard of setting smart goals before; but he noted it’s time to focus on setting SMARTER goals. My pastor cleverly outlined this into an acronym.
I highly recommend using this SMARTER acronym as we rapidly approach the end of this year’s first quarter? We’ll start with the first four.
Here are the first four SMARTER goals to focus on:
Specific.
I’d like to use a quick, personal weight-loss story to drive my point home on this. Not many people realize that I once weighed over 300 pounds. I lost more than 125 pounds and have successfully kept the weight off for the past 10 years. I was successful because of one key factor: I set a specific goal.
I realized that my own health would need improvement if I were going to be working in the healthcare industry. I noticed that some of the younger Home Care clients (i.e. in their 50’s and 60’s) all had one thing in common – they were overweight. Seeing them forced me to take a hard look in the mirror and change my own habits for a healthy life. That’s why I set a specific goal to lose 125 pounds, based on my height and bone structure.
Use this same “specific” formula for your home care marketing efforts. As you’re defining your referral goals, give yourself specific numbers to reach. If you’re currently generating one or two referrals a week, try upping the ante a bit to five or six referrals a week. That’s 20 referrals a month.
Now THAT’S a specific goal, which leads to goals which are—
Measurable.
Specific goals transition into measurable ones. These allow you to track your progress. During my weight loss transition, I’d hop on the scale noting my progress, sometimes three and five pounds at a time. I even measured when I gained a few pounds.
The same rules apply with Home Care marketing. If you have five referrals every week, measure your progress and ask yourself if you’re taking the necessary steps to accomplish your goals. Am I meeting face-to-face with my contacts? Am I doing those luncheons? Notice the steps you’re taking and try to gauge where you’re falling behind or what you can do to sustain your weekly numbers.
This leads us to the next smarter goal:
Achievable.
Make sure your goals are attainable within your means and business structure. In reference to my weight loss example above, I made sure to set the specific goal of losing 125 pounds given my height and bone structure.
Same goes for your Home Care business—The business goals MUST be achievable in order to succeed. If you recently started your business and have set your goals to earn more than $3 million by the end of this year, think again! That’s clearly not practical for a new business, especially one that’s just building its reputation and brand from scratch.
Achievable goals go hand-in-hand with the next smarter goal.
Realistic.
Can you actually see yourself accomplishing the goal you’ve set forth? Really think about this question for a minute as you consider your business structure and what’s going on in your life, even personally. It’s very rare to see a Home Care company go from earning $5 million in revenue to $10 million the very next year.
Keep these tips in mind as you review this year’s goals. Remember, the key is to setting SMARTER goals, not necessarily better or more elaborate than last year’s.
Tune in next week as we wrap up this month’s goal setting and time management session, with the final three SMARTER goals to focus on.
**We are taking viewer questions for some upcoming episodes of A Drink with “The Hurricane.” Please feel free to submit your questions/suggestions to us at info@homecaremarketing.net.**