In the early 1900’s, the residents of Kitty Hawk, NC, scoffed at the sight of two brothers gazing up at sea gulls, egrets and herons gliding on the coastal winds.
The young men looked like fools, imitating their soaring sweeps with outstretched arms.
The world scoffed, but the Wright brothers were prying into the secrets of flight for the first time in human history.
They followed a path that others didn’t.
While other aviators were caught up with the technology of engines and contraptions, Wilbur and Orville Wright studied such things as the way that the birds curved their wings to turn, or lift up their heads while swooping in for a landing.
Focusing on the nature of a thing got them further.
Knowledge is better than power, Wilbur said in so many words when he reflected on the invention of the airplane.
As a home care agency owner, are you trying to power up your marketing outreach with more power, or more knowledge?
You’ve hired a marketer. They wear multiple hats, such as public speaker, networker … and hey, they might even do an intake or sub for a caregiver who didn’t show up.
But do they have the particular skills to find referral partners and follow up with them?
The referral partners I’m talking about are social workers and discharge planners. If you can make a good impression on these folks, they will faithfully send their rehab patients your way.
But how to do reach out to this gold mine of new clients?
Say no to the coffee maker
It takes work, and a knowledge of what to do.
Like what?
Like looking up the names of nursing homes and rehabs in your service area. Calling to find the names of contacts. Then talking to them, sending them emails, and using other touch points.
Let’s face it – phone sales is tedious, grinding gruntwork.
It’s not the kind of work that your marketer expected – and they might even resent you for it when you ask it of them.
Phone prospecting takes a particular set of skills.
And one of those is simply to persist in the task at hand.
Did you know that at least half of many sales books out there consist of motivating the salesperson? Just getting him or her to put in the daily grind of making the calls, and faithfully following the sales script? To keep calling when they get discouraged?
Let’s face it, in a typical sales office, a trip to the coffee maker is much more attractive than picking up the phone.
And yet when you hired your marketer, what were the qualities you looked for?
A bubbly personality, the ability to speak in public, and how to look nice in a suit.
But these aren’t the qualities you need in appointment setting.
They aren’t the qualities of the loner who can sit in an office for hours at a time, making calls – even though they face frequent rejection. The nerd who can manipulate spreadsheets, work with CRM software, or who know why a certain email has bounced.
… or know how to send a steady stream of automated communications to the prospect.
… or know what to say in their communications with them.
… or who have the patience to find the new social worker after the former one quit her job.
… or how to use direct mail through the postal service.
A sales system with grit and persistence
We at Savvy Senior Marketing know this stuff.
And we have the grit to find and keep up with these referral gems.
We have the software, the persistence and the writing ability to make a real connection with these referral partners.
Is your home care agency doing its work well? Do you make your clients happy with your services, and do an effective job for them?
If so, you are ready to grow.
Then contact us to learn more about our Client Acquisition Program. It’s a tested and proven system that finds and cultivates referral partners for home care agencies.
If your agency is doing well, and you can set aside one day a week when you or your marketer can meet with social workers and discharge planners, you are ready for an appointment setting program like ours.
The Client Acquisition Program has been used successfully in the Chicago area. We have the names of social workers in certain areas already that we can use for your agency. And we have a relationship with them.
We reserve geographical areas for each home care client. That means there are only so many client-territories in each metro area that we can serve.
Your service area might still be open.
Contact us to learn more about the Client Acquisition Program. It very well might be the best investment you’ve made in a long time.
Why not bank on the success of a proven program? Use knowledge rather than power.
