Home Care Referrals
Marketing visits are essential for developing relationships with your home care accounts. But why do so many marketers struggle with these drop-by visits? In tonight’s episode of “A Drink with the Hurricane,” we look at ways to make your visits count – and the biggest mistake to avoid.
I love Tony’s enthusiasm in this dramatization after his “great marketing visit” that lasted for a good minute. We all know the importance of marketing visits and maintaining contact with each of our accounts. But a lot of marketing professionals believe it all boils down to a numbers game and seeing as many referral sources as possible. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
A short visit to your accounts is one of the biggest mistakes home care marketers make. It’s NOT a numbers game, so visiting as many accounts as possible isn’t the way to go. Your role as a marketing representative is to develop a professional referring relationship.
You can’t develop ANY relationship in 90 seconds (unless you’re on The Bachelor) — but in the real word, it just isn’t possible.
So let’s look at some ways we can extend visits with our home care accounts:
- Have a reason for dropping by – whether it’s an update on a client you’ve received or co-sponsoring an activity, you need to have a reason for showing up besides asking for a referral. So bring something with you or discuss a current referral. Either way, you’ll need a reason that will allow you to then ask for business later.
- Reference your last visit – Follow-up or continue a previous conversation. You can even bring something that you researched from your last call. This will help kick start the conversation.
- Connect with multiple contacts – don’t just see the one person who makes referrals. Say hello to several or all of the key contacts on the account. This gives you options in case someone is unavailable at the time of your visit.
- Small talk – this is more than just a skill set; this is how we typically communicate with EVERYONE. So talk about last night’s game, what your plans are for the weekend or the even weather. Small talk builds relationships and ultimately, trust.
- Be helpful – always look for ways you can help once inside, even if it means helping patients. If you’re in a SNF and a patient is in the hallway waiting to be brought to therapy, say hello and ask if you can help. This will give you a reason to introduce yourself to a therapist and strike up a conversation.
These are just SOME of the things you can do to separate yourself from the “numbers game.” Remember, it’s about developing a professional referring relationship with several, meaningful contacts. If you start using some of these tactics now, I guarantee you’ll gain long-lasting referrals.
Get to KNOW the account so the contacts will LIKE you and TRUST you to send you the referrals. It’s a winning formula for success. So start making your marketing visits count — Quality over quantity works every time!
