I’m going to start with asking for the business. One of the things that we are working for is referrals, right? And there’s nothing worse than going into a place and trying to get a referral by saying, “Hey, do you have any referrals for me?” Sounds salesy. I didn’t want to say it. I’m sure you guys don’t want to say it.
So we have to come up with other ways to say things. I am very, very big on verbiage. I’m very, very big on painting a picture in people’s minds of what things could look like. And so when I would go in and ask for referrals I always focused on painting a picture of what that referral could look like. Painting a picture of who they might be working with right now. Families they might be seeing. Patients that might be in there because of things. Concerns that they have when patients are discharging.
Those are the types of things that I tried to highlight when I was asking for the business. Now I’m going to preface this by saying I didn’t just start out going to all of my accounts, stopping in and asking for a business every single time. These are things that I said once I had that know, like, and trust relationship built with them. These are things that I said once I was able to meet with one or two people to deliver an in-service. Or your ideal lunch and learn is where you meet with all key contacts in there. And they have already agreed to given me a trial period because that’s when I now have permission to check in on them and ask for referrals. Up until that point, I wasn’t far enough along in the relationship.
So let me give you some examples. Here we go. One thing I would say, maybe if I’m going into a rehab, I might say something like are you discharging anyone in the next couple of days who you are concerned might be a fall risk once they get back home. That’s going to give them an opportunity to be, “Yes I do actually.” And they may potentially say, you know what, Jen, I do have somebody. Let me talk to the family. Let me see if I can give their name and information to you and I’ll get back to you. Or maybe they’ll send you right down the hall. Okay, maybe not under COVID, but I am confident places are going to be opening up soon. Maybe they’ll send you right down the hall, go to Room 211, I want you to talk to Mr. Jones because absolutely he can be a fall risk.
The other question you can ask. Very similar situation. Do you have anyone who came to you as a result of a fall? That would be an ideal candidate for our fall prevention program. Phrasing something like that. How about, “Can I help you transition anybody home this week?” They’re going to have discharges. You are just trying to get them to allow you to educate people about your services. You guys, there’s so much overwhelming information to know and understand as you’re navigating the senior care industry. People don’t know about home care and it costs nothing to be educated about home care.
And that’s really what we’re trying to allow our referral sources to do. They don’t have to talk about any of the money. They don’t have to talk about the services of what we provide, how they provide them. They just have to know and understand that we can help them with these situations that I’m asking for right now.
Another thing you might want to say is, “Is there anyone I can talk to today about extra support at home that would make things a little bit easier for you.” If you stood in front of them and did an in-service correctly, when you are chatting with the social workers, one of the things that you should be doing is I… a referral to me, can make your job easier. I can hook them up with home health because I have a power partner that I work very closely with in home health. I can hook them up with hospice services if they potentially need that. Because again, I have a power partner that I’ve been working closely with in hospice.
These are why power partners are so important. If they need durable medical equipment, if they need a commode, a toilet riser, anything, grab bars for the shower, the bathroom, I, guess what, have a power partner at a durable medical supply company that I work very, very closely with. So I can help you set up services for somebody you might be transitioning. These are things that are going to get you referrals.
