Written on May 20th, 2013 by tasha
Did you know, as of the 4th quarter of 2011, we crossed the threshold of having more mobile devices than there are people in the United States?
Are we all becoming robots (Androids)? No, at least not yet. But clearly smartphones and tablets have captured the hearts and minds of the populace. From students to doctors (yes DOCTORS!), over half the population is carrying what amounts to a computer in their pocket. And many people own more than one!
There is no doubt that smartphones and tablets are revolutionizing health care, making it ever more efficient to access electronic health records and input your notes on-the-go, out in the field. I can’t tell you how many booths at the National Hospice and Palliative Care Exhibit Hall were trumpeting mobile solutions.
But is all this mobile technology safe from a HIPAA point of view?
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Tags: HIPAA
Posted in HIPAA
Written on April 22nd, 2013 by tasha
[Sorry for the long absence in the blogosphere. This spring I had one family member with cancer, and another with recurrent UTI's. But everyone is now taken care of and I'm back in the saddle again. Many thanks to those who sent personal notes of support. MUCH appreciated!]
This post I’d like to talk about an interesting webinar that featured a strategy reported to increase admissions by 20%. I can’t say one way or another. What I can say, however, is that I think geriatric care managers, private duty home care companies and even hospices can benefit from more effective telephone practices designed to “convert” shoppers into serious clients.
The webinar, “Capturing the Caller” was put on by Stephen Tweed of Leading Home Care, an outstanding consulting firm in the home care industry. They consistently mix common sense and wise business savvy with some darn good applied research methodology.
The premise is that you don’t have to spend any more money getting more callers to phone in; you simply need to be more effective when talking to those you are already reaching. This means being very strategic and paying attention to training your front-line telephone answerers so they can be more productive.
For starters, do you know your calls-to-conversion ratio? How many “Lookie-Lou’s” ultimately end up signing on with your service? If you know your own ratio, do you know how you rank relative to others? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in GCM Marketing, Hospice Marketing, Private Duty Marketing
Written on February 18th, 2013 by tasha
Home care marketing and marketing for geriatric care managers is quite different from marketing the Medicare-reimbursed services of home health and hospice. As noted in our last blogpost on identifying your top priority referrers, the private pay professionals do better concentrating on trusted family advisors:
- Elderlaw attorneys
- Financial Planners
- Bank Trust Officers
- Geriatric Care Managers (for home care providers)
What makes these referrers special is that they have already pre-qualified the client in terms of income. Everyone would love to have the services of a geriatric care manager, or to have in-home help with their aging parents. But as a business person needing to stay solvent, you can only afford to work with those who have the financial means to pay for your services privately.
Trusted family advisors only work with upper income clients. Anyone they send your way is already someone who understands the private pay model and, at some level, has the potential to afford it. They might wish your prices were lower. Or they may decide they don’t want the service. But referrals that come from these professionals are people with financial means. Family advisors have done some of the screening for you.
This makes trusted family advisors your most valuable referrers. According to Stephen Tweed of Leading Home Care, these professionals deserve 60% of your business-to-business marketing attention.
The way to get their attention (and loyalty!) is to
- Save them time
- Save them money
- Save them energy or headaches
- Make them look good to their clients
So what does this actually mean? How does this translate to your marketing endeavors? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in GCM Marketing, Private Duty Marketing
Written on January 21st, 2013 by tasha
Whether you are a hospice or a geriatric care manager, a private duty company, or a home health agency, a large part of your referrals come from relationships with professionals. No small part of your marketing plan, therefore, needs to be devoted to what is called B2B promotions (business-to-business).
Just as you would with your B2C marketing (business-to-consumer), you need to research the demographics of your audience, determine what media/gadgets they use, and what need you can fill. And since no one has unlimited marketing resources, you want to determine which referrers are your most productive. These become your top priority audiences.
Most of your referrers are going to be college-educated professionals. They likely span a wider age range than your clients and their decision-making adult children. You may well have referrers in their 20′s, 30′s and 40′s, as well as their 50′s and 60′s.
In terms of gadgets, mobile is certainly becoming the medium of choice for busy professionals. Please refer back to my blog series on mobile and how to use it most effectively.
So that leaves the issue of “What need do you fill?”
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Posted in GCM Marketing, Hospice Marketing, Private Duty Marketing
Written on December 10th, 2012 by tasha
[Mom Update: Many thanks to those sending well wishes for my mom's recovery. Her progress from last October's stroke is remarkable. We had a brief setback around Thanksgiving with an infection that required hospitalization, so I apologize for being a bit behind in my blogging. But as elder care providers, I know you understand!]
As we cruise into the last few weeks of December, many organizations are gearing up for their end-of-year donations campaign. Just like retail, this month pulls in way more than its proportional share of revenue.
In a previous post, we talked about online giving. And certainly we’ve been running a series on mobile technology.
So what about mobile giving?
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Posted in Fund-raising, Mobile
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