Now that the world has returned to pre-pandemic marketing style, it is time for every single Home Care Agency business to get back out and start to develop relationships that lead to professional referrals. One thing I can share with you without a doubt is that in every single referral source the staff who was there before 2020 has almost all but completely turned over, and there’s brand new people in these positions of authority. Due to this, many of the referral sources we once were receiving business from are no longer working with Home Care companies. That means that there is ample opportunity to strike up a conversation and develop these accounts as they are currently not working with anyone. Going another level further, these new representatives have never formed a strategic partner before, and they will need a lot of guidance on how to fulfill such a partnership. All that said, it’s time for us to discuss several important key contacts that we must develop within these accounts to get these professional referrals.
Executive Director
The Executive Director (or Administrator) is the most important contact of them all. This is because they are the boss of the building. If you don’t have a good relationship with your Executive Directors, chances are you will not be able to go marketing to their building, and you will not be able to develop the relationship that leads to professional referrals. The way to get in tight with them is Executive Directors understand the importance of strategic partnerships. Therefore, your goal, in all the relationships you’re developing, is to try to form a long-lasting partnership that is mutually beneficial.
To create this partnership, you need to layout (in advance) what a partnership will look like. Make sure you set expectations for this partnership to produce referrals to your agency. Once you do this, then you want to discuss how you plan on fulfilling your side of the partnership. Discuss frequency of meetings and visits to their referral source, marketing initiatives to grow their patient census, and feedback on referrals made and the outcomes of those patients. These are the items Executive Directors are concerned with and this will help you to create a fruitful relationship.
Director Of Nursing
The Director of Nursing is my favorite key contact at a referral source, simply because they are responsible for all things medical for the patients that they are servicing. If I can establish myself as someone who will help to improve the quality of the lives of their patients that they are serving, that’s how I’m going to be able to win this person over. The other thing I love about the Director of Nursing is that they try to make sure that all the residents and patients that they are responsible for have access to every possible solution to support a successful outcome. Many Directors of Nursing understand the limitations of their staff, and they understand the demands and the needs of their patients. So much so, that if they feel someone would benefit from having care, they will make that referral all day every day.
To win over your Director of Nursing you’re going to have to be able to show proof of the outcomes of the patients that you’ve provided services for in the past. Having accurate documentation about your readmission data and the successful outcomes of patients with specific diseases and diagnosis that you’ve taken care of will go a very long way here. One way to accomplish this is to bring in a sample plan of care for someone you’re taking care of with a specific diagnosis. This will allow you to show just how detailed you are in your ability to provide support for your patients. Your Director of Nursing should be impressed, and this will make her feel more confident in working with you and sending referrals your way.
Admissions/Marketing
The Admissions Coordinator is the person whose job it is to grow the census of the building. There may be several different titles that carry the same responsibility: Community Relations Coordinator, Business Development, and Nurse Liaison; to name a few. But at the end of the day, if their responsibility is to grow the patient’s census, they are in essence a Marketing Representative from that business. Why are they important? Because they are trying to grow the census, and when you think about what I said with the Executive Directors earlier, forming a strategic partnership is very important to this individual.
There are many ways that we can support these individuals such as collaborating on events, promoting their events, going co-marketing, and doing other initiatives to help them grow their census. This is what’s in it for them. When asked “What’s in it for you” you reply, “I want referrals, and so I have a vested interest in helping you have the highest census possible, so you can send me more patients as a default”. This logically makes sense and they become open to the idea of working together. As time goes on, they will want you to get the referrals from their organization. They’ll even be able to give you a heads up when they have patients getting discharged home or a resident that’s in the hospital coming back soon and may need additional help. They can also help you get in with other key contacts not mentioned here. Bottom line, make sure that you are building a relationship with your Admissions Coordinators.
Now these three contacts are very important to the long-term success of developing relationships in your accounts. Every single one of the key contacts mentioned here can refer you directly, but they also will allow you access to the other contacts who can refer you that we will talk about in the next issue. Make sure you establish a relationship with each of these folks, and when you visit these accounts, you’re talking to them on every drop in visit whether you have an appointment with them or not. Drop in visits go extremely well when you are there to see one specific contact and you “drop in” to say hi while you’re there. This will greatly help you in developing the relationship that leads to long-term referrals which will grow your home care business.