The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world as we once knew it. While it is a time of adjustment for all of us, there are critical steps your home care agency can take now to strengthen relationships, stay productive, and establish plans for the future. The following tips can help your agency weather this crisis, and any others.
- Communicate Routinely with Your Whole Team. Equipping your entire team, including caregivers, with updated, reliable information is crucial, as it keeps everyone on the same page, builds unity and morale, and establishes trust during a time of uncertainty.
- Focus on Existing Referral Relationships. With social distancing, sales staff must now be creative in communications over the phone, through email, and other electronic mediums to showcase how your agency is prepared to meet needs and resolve problems. This involves:
- Being a good listener;
- Being empathetic; and
- Asking how you can help.
- Wear Different Hats. Sales staff may find they now have extra time to assist the agency in other capacities. This allows knowledgeable staff to channel their talents to other areas of the business, while providing professional growth, cross-training, and the chance to be more in tune with the services they are selling. Sales staff can
- Help operations where needed.
- Call clients or caregivers to check in with them about their services and overall wellbeing.
- Help with recruiting and the hiring and/or orientation process.
- Use This Time wisely. A smart way to take advantage of this time is to use it to plan and assess your current sales processes. What has been successful? Are there opportunities for growth or further outreach? Focus downtime on constructing a plan that allows you to hit the ground running when the current crisis is under control.
- Prepare for Post-Crisis. Use this time to create a plan for the potential influx of new clients, establish a plan for outreach for those recovering from COVID-19, and get ready to resume face-to-face sales meetings once social distancing rules are relaxed.
MOST can help your agency with professional home care sales coaching and support, as well as a full range of home health marketing ideas and materials to help your agency better help those in need of care. Contact us online or call us at 800.370.6580, x3, to get started.
