During the admissions process for home health, hospice, and home care agencies, there are several common problems that can make it difficult to close deals and get to "YES". Learn how to overcome the common problems that hold back hospice and home health agencies from growing admissions.
In this post, we provide strategies for improving your sales and marketing efforts, including effective communication, relationship-building, and differentiation.
The greatest takeaway we want agencies to understand is that the easier they can make their process, the faster clients and prospects will be able to make a decision. Growth Solutions Consulting Director, Melynda Lee, says it best:
“You want to be the easy button. You want your referral partners standing in their doorway waiting for you to get there because they know that you are going to take these problems off their plate and make their life easier by helping them transition their patients into your care. That's the difference in building relationships on trust and confidence vs. just waiting for referrals to come your way.”
Keep reading to understand why your agency may feel stuck because of a flawed or incomplete hospice/home care admission growth strategy and how to unlock its greatest potential.
4 things holding your home health and hospice agency back from boosting admissions/referrals
- Missed opportunities
With the increasing demand for home care, home health, and hospice care, agencies must invest in sales and marketing training to avoid missed opportunities and improve their chances for growth. Training in effective communication, follow-up, and relationship-building can help agencies make a positive first impression and convert more leads into clients. SimiTree offers various services regarding hospice sales and marketing/ home health sales and marketing training.
Another key topic to consider here is your marketing message: is your brand clear? Do you have a strong internal and external strategy? Learn more about why messaging matters and how to find your niche in care at home. Nailing your growth strategy means getting your marketing right.
2. Asking the wrong questions
Effective sales and marketing training for home care, home health, and hospice agencies can help their staff ask the right questions to understand clients' needs and build trust. Overcoming common objections, empathizing with the client's situation, and strategically targeting service offerings can be crucial in getting to "YES" and driving growth.
3. Feature dumping
In a crowded market, agencies must differentiate themselves by articulating their value proposition and problem-solving capabilities, not just their features. Your intake team or first point of contact may need sales and marketing training specific to hospice, home health, and home care and should focus on developing listening and empathy skills, demonstrating value through success stories and outcomes, and providing a personalized approach to care.
Agencies that master these skills are more likely to close deals and achieve sustainable growth. Learn more about our growth solutions offerings that can help you identify your differentiators and develop your value proposition.
4. Not getting deep with data
Do you have insight into critical market characteristics and changes? Do you understand referral patterns and relationships? What is the temperature of your competitors?
If you are unsure about any of these, you may not be able to provide all the information your referral partners and patients need to ensure they make the right decisions when choosing you over another similar agency. You should look into SimiTree’s Market Analysis Platform, also known as MAP. To stay competitive and to be able to sell yourself, you better be able to quantify the current and trending market share of all providers and determine where you sit with your referral sources and who else is capturing business from them. This could all be possible with a free demo of SimiTree’s MAP.
So how do you fix these problems? Whether you are an agency celebrating your 10-year anniversary or a startup looking for tips, grow your agency with these keys to success.
Talk to an expert today
We hope you found this article useful. As always, our experts are here to help. No matter the size, budget, or unique needs of a home health or hospice agency, SimiTree’s growth consultants deliver recommendations and training for smarter, more effective sales strategies and market approaches. In some of the top success stories, clients have seen growth that doubled referrals and admissions in less than a year. Contact us with the form below or visit our Growth Solutions page for more information.