Prepare to rev up your home care business engine, because this podcast episode is fueled with the high-octane insights of Annette Ziegler, who knows a thing or two about accelerating growth from $1 million to a staggering $4 million. Together with your seasoned host, Dawn Fiala, we're igniting a conversation that's packed with digital marketing prowess and a treasure trove of strategies to enhance your private pay sector prowess. Whether you're a home care veteran or just starting out, get ready to turbocharge your approach with our proven tactics and community wisdom.
As we navigate the complexities of acquiring 24-hour home care clients, we're not just crossing state lines from Arizona to New York; we're crossing into uncharted territories of marketing mastery. Discover how to create compelling discharge packages that resonate with facility staff, and why caregiver training guides are revolutionizing both caregiver confidence and agency reputation. Trust us, with the battle-tested strategies we're sharing, your home care services will be the talk of every healthcare facility in town.
Don't just build a home care business; construct an empire of trust and strong partnerships. This episode is about more than just care strategies; it's about embedding yourself within the community and becoming the trusted partner that facilities and families rely on. From the heartwarming celebration of healthcare workers with Occupational Therapy Month to the savvy communication tips that keep you top-of-mind, we're dishing out the playbook on how to ensure your home care business not only grows but thrives. So, tune in and let us guide you through the home care hustle with grace, grit, and a whole lot of growth potential.
Prepare to rev up your home care business engine, because this podcast episode is fueled with the high-octane insights of Annette Ziegler, who knows a thing or two about accelerating growth from $1 million to a staggering $4 million. Together with your seasoned host, Dawn Fiala, we're igniting a conversation that's packed with digital marketing prowess and a treasure trove of strategies to enhance your private pay sector prowess. Whether you're a home care veteran or just starting out, get ready to turbocharge your approach with our proven tactics and community wisdom.
As we navigate the complexities of acquiring 24-hour home care clients, we're not just crossing state lines from Arizona to New York; we're crossing into uncharted territories of marketing mastery. Discover how to create compelling discharge packages that resonate with facility staff, and why caregiver training guides are revolutionizing both caregiver confidence and agency reputation. Trust us, with the battle-tested strategies we're sharing, your home care services will be the talk of every healthcare facility in town.
Don't just build a home care business; construct an empire of trust and strong partnerships. This episode is about more than just care strategies; it's about embedding yourself within the community and becoming the trusted partner that facilities and families rely on. From the heartwarming celebration of healthcare workers with Occupational Therapy Month to the savvy communication tips that keep you top-of-mind, we're dishing out the playbook on how to ensure your home care business not only grows but thrives. So, tune in and let us guide you through the home care hustle with grace, grit, and a whole lot of growth potential.
um, we'll go ahead and, valerie, you're going to be up first. But well, you ready, I'll go ahead and ready go in the slides okay okay.
Speaker 2:So housekeeping, oh, go back one, sorry. Okay, there you go. Yeah, so housekeeping is just um, um, basically keep your lines muted, unless you're talking that way. We know I say this every time. I know that most people are trying to be healthy, but if you're going through the McDonald's drive-thru we can hear you. I'm your lies muted. Anyway, share stories, experiences and tips. Please share, please, you know. Wave at us, holler at us, raise your hand, uh, or just unmute your line. And tips please share, please, you know. Wave at us, holler at us, raise your hand or just unmute your line and say, hey, I have a story or I have a tip or I have an experience, and we will gladly listen to what you have to say, because you guys, this is a participation meeting.
Speaker 2:Ask any questions you want. If you have a question and you want to just type it in the chat, go ahead and we will go through the questions. We'll stop periodically and go through, make recommendations. If someone else has a question, tell us what you want to know. So we go through lots and lots of topics and I'm going to show you that in just a second. But if there's something that we haven't hit that you really want to know. We'll work on it. Yep, all right. Oh, introductions, let's let you guys go first. Don Fiella, you go.
Speaker 1:Okay, so I'm Don Fiella. I've been in home care for close to 20 years. I have worked as marketing, marketing manager, recruiting, retention, operations manager. I've worked in both the franchise system and independent, an independent home care agency. I guess I love all of home care, but probably my favorite is growing the business and the private pay side. At my last company we got to 3.5 million in just under four years in private pay. So we're sharing all of that with you here. Lisa is out today. She will be back. No, nobody get upset, she's still with us. She's just off today and we have somebody really wonderful to introduce to you. Her name is Annette Ziegler. She is another one of us Home Care in the Trenches gals she has been. She worked at Touching Hearts. I'll let her introduce herself. She's going to be helping with Mastery Circle, helping with the home care sales training. If those of you who are in that course, you probably met her already this week. But go ahead, Annette, tell us all about yourself.
Speaker 3:Hi everybody, happy Friday. I'm new to ASN Well, not really new, because I'm touching hearts. We used ASN and all their services and it's fantastic. But I'm working for ASN now and I services, and it's fantastic. But I'm working for ASN now and I, for the past seven years, worked for a non-medical private pay home care company and I mainly did the marketing, but also everything else. So you know I know what, know what you're doing, know how your days are, and I also worked in senior living for 13 years. But I'm really looking forward to sharing all my knowledge and how I helped our company grow and working alongside Don and Valerie and Lisa, and um, that's about it.
Speaker 1:Great and and tell us about the revenue that you you had shared on the classes.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we started. When I started there seven years ago it was a $1 million, um million business and we grew it to a $4 million business and you know, doing a lot of the things that we're training you to do, and it's just so important and it can be done. You know, don says it often sometimes you get discouraged but you just got to keep going. I, my owner, would always say to me when I got discouraged, pedal to the metal, annette Constantly said that and he just would get me going and I just I put the pedal to the metal all the time. It's always in my head.
Speaker 1:Yeah, great. Great Thanks for sharing and welcome aboard, valerie.
Speaker 2:I'm Valerie Van Boeven. I'm the co-owner and founder of Approved Senior Network. I'm a registered nurse by trade. I always tell everybody I'm 200 years old in nurse years kind of like dog years there's nothing you can say or do that will shock me in this human life. There is nothing. I've seen. All the things and people are weird, but anyway, the things and people are weird so, but anyway. So I do not do in-person or hands-on nursing anymore, but we've owned this business since 2016 or no since for 16 years, since 2008. And I am more of the digital marketing gal, so I'm here to for all things, tech and these ladies are your in-person sales and marketing experts, so it's a great mix of things that come together. Oh, it's me.
Speaker 2:How to watch the meetings you've missed, all right. So if you have been around for a while, you know Continuum Mastery Circle is an every other week live Zoom call and we also keep all you know. We send you the replays of all the videos. Some people only can watch the replays because they're busy on Fridays and they're out marketing, and so I want to show you how you can go in and see the replays, because all of 2024 is in there. We started in mid-January and so there's several, you know lots, lots to go back and watch. So I'm going to show you that.
Speaker 2:So, first of all, we have a forum and I realized that some people are like, oh you know another thing to log into. But let me tell you, if you go in there, it's all people just like you who are trying to market their business or market for a business, and there are lots of sales and marketing questions digital marketing questions, you name it and you've got these ladies and myself who are in there answering your questions, helping you find things, giving you ideas, and there's other people that chime in and they will tell us all the cool stuff that they have already done and show pictures. So you get some great ideas from the forum. So I would highly recommend logging in there and taking a look around. So you go to homecaresalesforumcom, the email address that we've been sending you all your reminder emails to. That's the one you want to try to use, and then your password. If you don't know it, just use the forgot password feature and you can reset your own password.
Speaker 2:All right, so once you log into the forum, there's several ways to skin this cat, but if you want to see all of the Continuum Sales Mastery Circle videos. All you have to do is go to learning. Now, on a phone this looks a little different I think it's at the bottom, but on a desktop there's this, there's discussion, learning and people, and you can go to the learning. And when you click on that, you can go to the next slide. You will see this right here, something along this line 2024 Continuum Sales Mastery Circle. You might have other boxes Everybody looks a little different but this is the one you're going to look for for Continuum Sales Mastery Circle. You might have other boxes Everybody looks a little different, but this is the one you're going to look for for Continuum Sales Mastery Circle, and when you click on it it'll open up and you can see everything that we've done since January.
Speaker 2:So when you click on one of the sessions, it'll open up. I think is the next slide show what it looks like. No, it doesn't. Anyway, when you open, when you click on one of these, it'll open up. There's the video of our meeting. The PDF of the slides is there for you, so you can download the PDF and all of the links that Dawn shares with you and she goes through these slides. Those are all live in that PDF. So all you have to do is open the PDF and click on. You know whatever thing it is you're wanting to look at, and it's a live link and it'll take you to wherever that is. So download the PDF, you get all of the slides, you get all of the links to everything that you might need to market and, of course, you can rewatch the video if you want to.
Speaker 1:And Valerie does a good job of putting the titles here, so you know exactly what we covered in each. You don't have to remember. Oh, when did they cover 24-hour home care?
Speaker 3:She's real good at putting that in there.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, go back and watch anything you've missed. In fact, we've started a three-part series on how to get 24-hour home care clients, how to get 24-hour jobs out of SNFs versus tiny little jobs, and also how to continue to you know, survive when you lose 24. So it's a three-part series. We're in part two. So if you missed last time that video, is it? It's already there, right? Valerie has that, right. Oh, yeah, yeah, so it's already there from the last time. Go back and watch. I'm going to do a quick snippet review today because it makes sense to kind of start from the beginning if we're going to start in the middle. So we're going to review quickly what we covered a little bit last time and then we'll dig into what we're going to cover this time. So if you weren't here last week, make sure you go back and I'm glad Valerie just covered all that so you know how to go back in and watch it. So we will do a quick review of where to market for 24-hour private pay clients. We did all of that last time, but I will go through it quickly, not deep dive, because there's still a lot to cover today how to turn 24-hour private pay referrals into 24-hour clients, because sometimes we go and we don't get it signed. So we'll talk a little bit about what's involved there. And then next time we're going to talk about ensuring billing stability despite losing a 24. When you lose a 24, it just it's so painful. I don't know. I'm looking at faces that I can see it's very. Not all of you are on my screen, but you just, you just feel so defeated. So we're going to talk about that too. And when does that happen? Like, what time of year? Cause there is a pattern I've been doing in a long time and there there is a little bit of a pattern. So we been doing it a long time and there is a little bit of a pattern. So we'll get into that next time. And then, of course, we have our May, june and July leave behinds that Lisa has created. They're beautiful and we'll roll through those too. And again, all the links that you see here are going to be in the PDF that is sent to you after not today, but it'll be probably Monday sometime this weekend. All after, not today, but it'll be probably Monday sometime this weekend, all right.
Speaker 1:So quick review where to market for 24 hour clients. Um, and I, I did ask Lisa and I've asked Annette, I and I've said this, I think, in some of the training classes. So some of you are in the training class are going to have to hear this piece again. Um, it's interesting. I'm from Arizona, lisa's from California, annette is in New York.
Speaker 1:None of us knew each other prior to working here and we've compared notes. We have done it. We have sat down and compared where is the best place to go. How do you do it? Annette has sat through the whole training video sessions. It's 12 hours of video training.
Speaker 1:I wanted to get her feel like tell me what's different in New York. Nothing's different Guys, nothing's different. It is the same. There are rules and regulations. Annette's caregivers can't do hands on In Arizona. It's the wild west. We do whatever we want. There's no law, there's no rules. It's just wild and crazy. But unless you're Medicaid, then you have some rules. But either way, that part's different.
Speaker 1:Yes, but as far as how to market, how to get the referrals, all of it's the same and I kind of thought it might be, but really shocked. I mean, all the way from the Arizona to New York, I mean we're talking, all the way. It's the same. So that's good. That's good for all of us, because you're learning things that we've all tried and we've all done and some of it worked and some of it didn't. We're sharing the stuff that worked with you. So where to market for 24-hour clients SNFs, skilled nursing facilities, rehabs, hospice agencies, hospice nurses, hospice marketers You're going to get some 24 hours in other places. Obviously that's possible, but these are the places where you're going to get most of them. So, skilled nursing facilities and rehabs they're discharging from a recent surgery or illness. That's why it's so good. Again, please go back and watch the video.
Speaker 1:We get into all of these, all of these reasons why a SNF is a good place and why they need 24 hour care when they discharge from a SNF. These are some of the handouts that I've used to get the social worker to understand why they need 24-hour care when they discharge, and I think I'm covering this again a little bit today. If you want to take these and change them, you have a Canva link down here and a Google link here. You can get a free Canva account. Canva is going to allow you to change colors and some of the wording on here. The Google link will also allow you to change these bullets and your logo and your contact us information.
Speaker 1:This one is meant for the social workers and this one is meant for the patients. They can go back and forth. But patients, like a big eight and a half by 11, they all need to understand what's going to happen when they get home and that is how you get the 24. You get them to the social order to understand. They need 24 to begin with, and then the patient also needs to understand that and the family members. We help reduce readmissions. That's another reason SNF should be referring to you.
Speaker 1:We can put together a discharge package. We talked about this. Just saying the word discharge package, they relate to that, they understand that. It means something to them and they think, oh, they have a discharge package. That's the home care agency I want to use because they get it. They're discharging, like it's something mentally just happens when they hear you say you have a discharge package, do you need to do the flat rate? No, you don't have to do a flat rate for a discharge package. Again, go back and watch. We talked about the math of this and how it works, taking that off, and you can, through Google, just take the flat rate off If you don't want to deal with that piece of it. You can still have a discharge package without a flat rate and you can even change these bullets out based on what you do after somebody discharges.
Speaker 1:You also need to tell people you specialize in 24 hour home care. I lost a 24 hour job to 24 hour home care company. They were called 24 hour home care Brilliant name, brilliant name. I quit getting these 24s from a social worker who was giving to me to them very often. And she goes oh well, 24 hour home care is here now and they specialize in 24 hour home care. And I went oh my gosh, oh, are you kidding me? So now I'm going to have to start telling people I specialize in 24-hour home care, if that is the kind of business I want from them. So you need to be reminding them that this is something that you do.
Speaker 1:The quick caregiver training guides you have a link to the folder for these quick caregiver training guides. These can be used Again, watch the video. I think I'm talking about this again later on today. These can be used for families. This can be used for caregivers. These can be used to get you referrals out of skilled nursing facilities. So this is the Google link. There are 13 different diagnoses and this is a Google link to take you to the folder in which they are all held. Again, remember, you have to hit file, make a copy to be able to edit any of our documents. You will not be able to edit the original documents. So in Google it's file, make a copy and then you'll have your own copy that you can edit.
Speaker 1:Hospice agencies are a great place to go as well. You can market directly to a hospice agency, get to know the nurses, get to know the marketers. They are a great source. Now, those jobs aren't going to be as long maybe as some other 24 hour jobs, because they're hospice patients, but this can be a really good way to get some 24s in the door. And we have a hospice handout for you to give to the hospice reps. If you do an in-service or a lunch and learn at a hospice community or hospice company, you can use this. And again, you've got your Google and Canva link here. So when the PDF slides get sent to you, all these links are hyperlinked. You can click right on them in the PDF and go right to the document. Okay, so now we are caught up, so getting 24-hour job referrals from SNFs and rehabs instead of smaller job referrals in the SNF, ptod.
Speaker 1:They don't know what happens after discharge. There's no way for them to know. They don't go to the home to see the patients, the clients. When they get home they don't see that. We see that and you know. All of you are in different places in your home care career. Some of you are new, some of you haven't signed a job yet, some of you have been to hundreds of homes and so you probably can relate to this and I also talked to Lisa and Annette about this the first few days home from rehab are the hardest. It's not because and when you say this to a social worker you need to be clear to say it's not because they were discharged too early, because that's the first thing the social worker is going to think oh, you're going to tell me that I'm discharging too early. That's not the problem. They could be there a month and still have this problem.
Speaker 1:There's lots of reasons. I think the biggest one is confusion. My mother-in-law had a hip replacement last summer and this girl, this woman, is sharp. We were in the hospital, she went to the sniff, she thought she was still in the hospital and then when we got her home, she still thought that she was in the sniff. She just I don't know she, she doesn't have dementia.
Speaker 1:She was on some meds, but it's just very confusing for them when they're moving from one place to another, so they're disoriented. That's a big piece of it. Another piece, though when they get home, the bathroom's further away, the bed and furniture are lower, so they're having to really move around a lot more to get up and down. If they're on in a walker wheelchair, they're having difficulties moving through the carpet. Now they're doing more on their own. There's overall confusion. There's met adjustments. Just changing a med can be can change so much and make them confused, and they're having side effects and and that's different. Or maybe they have a new condition and they're having side effects, and that's different. Or maybe they have a new condition that they're trying to adjust to. I've had many clients come home with you know now they have to take blood pressure medication and getting that blood pressure medication right. If it's too low, too high, then their blood pressure is too low and they feel like they're going to faint.
Speaker 1:I mean it's just a scary situation all the way around, but they do. Usually when they get home from discharge the first few days they are usually worse than when they were in the SNF.
Speaker 1:They degress a little bit and it may not take a few days but it takes some time they need, especially if they're going home completely alone or with a spouse that's not capable of helping them. They're going to need a lot of help those first few days. So once a social worker understands this and doing a lunch and learn or an in-service about this topic is a great idea Once they understand this, they're more apt to go. Hmm, I probably should send everybody home with home care, right, I probably should. So the discharge package that I talked about a little bit ago you're kind of building a schedule that works within their budget. Whatever that flat rate is that you come up with, and you might do a 24 the first day and it might be a 12 the second day, I don't know. Whatever works for you or for that family member. They need eyes on them after they get home, and so painting that picture, educating the social workers about that piece, is so important. They're really surprised Sometimes when we go into the home the aftermath of what happened is still there too.
Speaker 1:I mean, some of them fall, call 911 and we get there and the coffee's still on the floor and their cell phone might be on the floor, maybe something broke. I mean, imagine walking back into that as the person that that happened to. It's just a lot. It's a lot. So, after being in hundreds of homes through the years, this is what I've seen. Does anybody have anything to add? Annette, do you have anything to add?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think also too. I feel like a lot of the patients in you know the rehabs being discharged, you have a misconception because they're getting home care that the social worker is, you know, assigned to them, but they don't realize that the home care might not be there for a few days or, you know, and they only pop in a couple of times a week. So I always kind of would talk to them about that and say, you know, they're not going to be there for a few days, we could be there right away, you know, get you to your doctor's appointments, get you your meds, get you all set up. So that's one thing I found they were they, they kind of always they said, well, I'm getting home care, but they didn't realize it was just somebody popping in a couple of days a week, the home health.
Speaker 1:Yes, the home health. Home health, yeah, and I've had people say that to me.
Speaker 3:OTPT the nurses. That's what I meant.
Speaker 1:I have. I have home health, I don't need home care and but the home health only comes for an hour to two, like two, three days a week and it's not scheduled like it's scheduled but it's around what they've got going on it's not, it's kind of like the cable guy not not to be disrespectful, but they have lots of patients to see and so they've got to fit them into their schedule and it's geographically is how they're getting there. I mean, they're not going to bounce from one part of town to another. It doesn't make sense. So it's on their timeline, not on usually the patient's timeline. They try to accommodate, I'm sure, but it doesn't always work out that way. So this is a really good way to get them to understand what is happening after people get home and how we can be there to support Us. Being there also helps to reduce readmissions, and so that's also and we talked about that last time. So go back and watch that. That's also going to be a really key piece to this.
Speaker 1:So does anybody have any questions? I did see in the chat some topics that you guys would like us to cover and that those are good. We will definitely do that. Something about spring Do you mean to leave behind Corey? No, I said that earlier when you said you noticed trends for people dropping oh when they yes, yes, right, okay, okay, um, all right.
Speaker 1:So we'll keep going. If nobody has any questions about this, we will keep on moving. So the quick caregiver training guides I've used these for years. The reason that I used them was because I was frustrated with my caregivers. I don't know how else to say it. I love my caregivers, they're wonderful, but and it wasn't really their fault so I have one on Alzheimer's. I had there's 13 different ones the one on Alzheimer's.
Speaker 1:We used a lot when a caregiver gets out to home with a patient, a client with Alzheimer's and the adult daughter who's nervous about leaving mom there who has Alzheimer's, with this caregiver, right when the caregiver walks in the door, she hits the caregiver with you know what to do with my mom? She has Alzheimer's, you've been trained right, you understand, and the caregiver is just like deer in the headlights. No, I don't. I mean, I've had so many of them do this when they sat through an hour of Alzheimer's training. It's just like, oh, but it's because they've been hit with the daughter who's freaking out. They're just steering the headlight. It scares them. So I thought wouldn't it be wonderful to give them a quick refresher about Alzheimer's right before they go see an Alzheimer's client. Same with hip replacement post-surgery care, fall prevention. There's 13 different ones, and so when somebody is assigned a hip replacement surgery client, I send this to them the day before they go. It is a quick one to two page what to do with someone who's discharged with a hip replacement. Don't bend them more than 90 degrees, don't let them turn their toes in like all the things they're not supposed to do, things to watch for what kind of services that caregiver might be providing this person. We have them on chemo hospice just 13 different ones. So it was wonderful, it's going great. I mean, the caregivers love it, I'm feeling more confident, it's going great.
Speaker 1:Well then, I was out marketing to some social workers and I have these great relationships and they would give me these tiny little jobs, tiny little jobs. And I thought what is going on? I've proved myself, I'm here, I've done all the things, what's going on? And I thought you know what? They probably don't feel like my caregivers I haven't talked about caregiver training they don't feel like they are capable of doing the big stuff, because when someone has hip replacement surgery, that's a lot to think about when you are taking care of that person, same with Alzheimer's, all of it. So I thought I'm going to bring in some of these quick caregiver training guides and I'm going to show them to social workers and see what happens.
Speaker 1:So I brought in the hip replacement and the social workers went crazy over it. They're like, can I have this? I want to give this to the patients when they go home. I don't have anything this good to give to the patients when they go so they know what to watch for. And I'm like, yeah, you can have. It's got my logo phone number. You got it. Of course, you can have as many as you want. And so now I'm getting calls. Are you the hip replacement home care agency? Are you the post surgery care home care agency? So it worked.
Speaker 1:So not only are these great for caregivers, you have to convince the social workers that your caregivers can handle anything. And this is a great way to do it. Keep them in your car. When you pull up in front of an outpatient surgery center and you want to go talk to them, bring in the post-surgery caregiver training guide. You're going into a memory care unit, bring in the Alzheimer's one. If you're going into somewhere where they've done surgery a SNF bring in the hip replacement, so you guys have access to this folder. They're all in here.
Speaker 1:Here's one on fall prevention. Again, if you want to make it your own file, make a copy, name it, and then you can edit. You won't be able to edit before then. So it's going. It goes really well with the caregivers too. Of course, if you're going to market that you're doing this, you have to implement it with your caregivers. So that's going to be an caregivers too. Of course, if you're going to market that you're doing this, you have to implement it with your caregivers. So that's going to be an important piece. So, again, they need to feel confident in your caregiver's ability to handle just about anything. So this is how you get them to trust you and understand that, and the fact that you've gone to these lengths to make sure your clients are safe is going to speak volumes to these.
Speaker 1:Social workers, and other home care agencies aren't sharing this with them, and you are. It's going to set. This is a great way to differentiate your company too. You have to have a differentiator. The market's saturated. There has to be something about your company that is different than all the other home care agencies, and it's not enough to say my caregivers really care, or my staffing people go above and beyond. They don't go home until everybody's staff Like. That's not enough. It has to be something really, really different, and this can be the thing. So feel free to use it if you want to use it as a differentiator too. To use it as a differentiator too.
Speaker 1:Any questions about the quick caregiver training guides? Nope, okay. So how do I turn 24-hour private pay referrals into 24-hour clients? So you don't always know they're gonna be 24, right? Social worker just says this person's going home, they're gonna need help. So you don't know that it's gonna be a 24. So of course we don't wanna gouge people and make somebody do a 24 that doesn't need 24.
Speaker 1:That is not at all what I'm saying. We would never. We're ethical people, we would never do that. But most people coming out of a SNP unless they have a lot of family they have a spouse that's with it and not 95, you know somebody who can really help them they probably are going to need 24. It might only be for three days and then they taper down. Right, you don't have to do 24 for the rest of your life, but they might need 24 for a while. So I would go in there with this discharge, what happens after discharge for the patient. I would bring this with me so that they understand. I would talk through it with them, I would explain to them and when you say things like this is what I see when people come home from a snip, it's not because you discharged too early. Make sure you say that to them too. We don't want them going to the social worker and saying they're going to have a terrible time when I get home because you discharged me too early.
Speaker 1:So make sure you're clear. It's nothing that they've done here. Everything they do here is wonderful. This is typically this is what I see. That is going to place you as an expert in their eyes. You've been through this before. You're a home care expert. They're going to trust you because you're telling them when you get home, things are going to get a little tough for a little bit, like it's not. It's going to be a little harder than it is right now here in this moment. It's okay to have that conversation with them. So, depending on what they're discharging from what their family situation is, who's going to be helping them when they get home? They may need 24 hours. So have that discussion with them about what happens after discharge so to get them to turn into a 24 hour client the social worker, family members, clients must trust you and your services. So you've got to build that trust. Show them the caregiver quick training guide. If they have a hip replacement, show them this is what we give our caregivers. Talk to them about what happens after discharge and show them those clients, the specific ailment, the quick so hard to say quick caregiver training guide for whatever they've got going on Again. That's going to place you as an expert. It's going to help them trust you.
Speaker 1:The social worker, family members, client must see you as a home care expert. Those two things have trust and authority. You're an expert and they trust you. If those two things don't happen, you're probably not going to sign the job anyway. You may not even get the referral to begin with. Those two things have to happen. The social worker and family members must see you as reliable. Be consistent. If you say to them I'm going to call you tomorrow at 2 o'clock and it's getting close to 2 o'clock, it's not going to happen. You're just it's home care, we're all over the place. It's 145 and that call is not going to happen. And you know it's not going to happen. Text them, let them know. I know I was going to call you at two. I have something going on with a client. I will you know. I will call you later. Let them know it before you miss your time with them. Be consistent, be reliable.
Speaker 1:Anything that you do with a social worker, family member, you are. They're going to equate that to how the company works right. So if you're not calling back, you're not showing up. You're not doing the things, they're never going to trust that the service is going to be good. Anything that you do, how you dress, how you behave, all of that is equated to the services you provide. So if you're a rock star, they're going to expect the services to be wonderful. Social worker and family members and clients must see you as their partner, not just a resource. So that's going to be really important too.
Speaker 1:So when you sit down with that adult child because the adult child and many of you have been doing this a while you tag team right, mom and dad don't want services. Never, ever did a senior go. Can you come be my, be my company? I want a caregiver. It's very rare, maybe happened twice in 20 years. Please, please, please. Can I have sign me up for home care if they almost never want it? It's the adult child and you tag teaming and persuading them and so they need to see you as a resource. You're gonna the daughter is gonna say my mom is never gonna agree to this, this.
Speaker 1:She's never going to agree to this. They. And then I would say to her none of them ever agree to this. Your mom is not the only cause they're. They're so relieved to hear that not one senior that's ever had home care has ever wanted it to begin with. They're so relieved. They always think their mom is going to be the troublemaker. But you don't know her, you haven't met her. She might be nice to you, but I'm telling you she's not going to do this.
Speaker 1:I, I almost every assessment. That's how it starts. Don't worry, I've done this before. I will explain to your mom why she needs it. It's not forever, it's not for the rest of her life. We're not going to take away her independence. It'll be okay, trust me. We're in this together.
Speaker 1:That's the partnership you're forming with the adult child and it just happens naturally when they see you as an expert and they trust you, they want to hand you this problem. Not that their parents are a problem, but what's going on is a problem for them. They've never done this before. They want to hand it to you and know that you're going to lead them through the dark alley and they're going to come out the other side and everybody's going to be okay. That's what they need from you. That's how you become a partner with the family members For the social worker.
Speaker 1:The way you become a partner instead of just a resource is full circle marketing. So the referral comes in. Anytime you get a referral from a social worker, whether it turns into a job or not, you must acknowledge this referral. You can thank them in person, that's fine, but you should still follow up with a handwritten note and sometimes, probably every third or fourth referral, I bring them a cookie, a muffin or something, something fun. Not every single time, because that looks like bribery and they could get in trouble from their bosses, but a handwritten note goes a long way and I always put in there thank you for trusting me. Thank you for trusting me with your patience. Okay, so always, always, do the thank you. So full circle marketing.
Speaker 1:You're going to schedule the assessment in the facility with the family, if they can be there. So you want to do the assessment in the facility. You don't want to wait until they discharge by the time. You know, and another reason for that is the first three to five days are hard. We don't want them home first, we want to get home care set in place before they go home. So see the social worker. So she said called you, she texts you and she said to you or you might have stopped in to do a marketing visit and she's like hey, room 3B they need home care. Please go talk to them. So either way, if they've called you and said, can you come talk to 3B, you're going to drop everything and go talk to 3B, even if you're out marketing. You got to get in there and you got to get in there quick. They want this done.
Speaker 1:On your way to 3B, go see if the social worker's in her office and let her know that you're there. Ask her is there anything I need to know before I go in? Is there anything you want me to know? Anything you want me to cover? You know, get their feedback.
Speaker 1:Ask them if they're getting OTPT and speech therapy and the SNF. Are they getting any of those skilled services right now? If they are, go talk to O PTSD. Go talk to them. Find out what OT looks. Occupational therapy what does that look like? Are they going to be doing that when they get home? What does physical therapy look like? Are they going to be getting that when they get home Speech therapy, are they going to be getting that when they get home? So if they're getting it in the SNF, there's a good chance they're probably going to get home health. That's what home health is. Home health is going to go out into the home and continue PTOT speech.
Speaker 1:If they don't qualify for those services when they get home, everybody's nervous about that because they still need to be doing those exercises. That's where we come in. Even if home health is coming, it's really important that we understand what kind of exercises they're supposed to be doing. It's really important that we understand what kind of exercises they're supposed to be doing. Are we PT, ot, st? No, do we know how to do any of that? No, are we going to say we know how to do any of that? No, but we can get a diagram of pictures of the exercises.
Speaker 1:We can go talk to OT, pt, st, tell them that a caregiver is going to be coming in to the home. This is after you've signed the client. They're going to be coming into the home and so can I see the exercises? Can I bring the caregiver here to see the exercises? Will PT and OT and ST be in the home If they're coming. I want to schedule my caregiver while you're there. Can we coordinate that for one time? That's what you do and then you talk to the director of nursing, if you're able to.
Speaker 1:One thing. You're doing here you're doing full circle marketing, but you're also infiltrating this facility. Everybody in there is going to know who you are and they're going to know you care and they're going to know you do a deep, thorough job at this. This is serious for you. Get the DON's feedback. Just you know. Is there anything you can tell me about this patient? When you're talking to anybody in the SNF, they're a patient, not a client. They're called patients. Report back to the social worker your findings. So I signed the client. This is the schedule. I went and talked to PT, ot, st, director of nurse, whoever you talk to, and I'm adding all of it to the care plan. I'm going to bring the caregiver in on Tuesday to watch the exercises, or we're going to bring the caregiver in on Tuesday to watch the exercises, or we're going to coordinate home health coming into the home the first day. The caregiver's there to watch the exercises so we can make sure those exercises continue. So that's the full circle marketing.
Speaker 1:Ask the social worker when they think the patient may discharge. Let the social worker know you'll be looking for a caregiver now, because now you have more time to look for the caregiver because this person hasn't discharged yet. As soon as she knows for sure when the discharge is, it would be good if she shares this with you and you can let her know. I will be happy to share that with the family if you want. So you're offering to be the go-between. Unless you want to tell the family, I'm happy to tell them. Unless you would like to tell them, so get. Get from them what they prefer. Some of them love for you to be the go between because they don't have time. You know they don't have time to call and text and do do all the things. So some of them really appreciate it when you say I'm happy, you know when you. If you find out it's Tuesday, I'm happy to relay that to the daughter if you'd like. Unless you want to do that, just, you don't want to step on their toes, but it's a good thing to offer.
Speaker 1:Follow up with the social worker as discharge gets closer. Discharge can just change on a dime. It can just. It could have been that it was supposed to be Friday or Monday next week and now it's Friday in two days. So follow up with her, maybe a couple of days before discharge. Are we still in line to discharge on Monday? Is it still looking like it's going to be Monday? They appreciate that as well. Social workers text you to let you know discharge is tomorrow. Try to get a time because that's going to help your scheduling team. Let the family know what you know. Also, as long as the social worker is okay with you telling them, some of them will say no, I prefer to talk to the families. Then let them do that. Don't share anything that the social worker has told you to the family. If they prefer to be the one, most of them do appreciate you to be the go-between the social worker and the family like it. Just don't share anything that the social worker tells you. Don't overshare, don't overshare.
Speaker 1:And always support the facility. When the daughter says to you this place is terrible, my mom's been pushing her bell, Nobody comes in here, Don't agree with her, Don't disagree. Don't agree, Just be neutral, because if you, you join her in that you're not going to get another referral. So I just always say they're short staffed, Everybody's short staffed. It's a very hard situation that we're in right now in skilled nursing. None of them, they're all like this. Everybody is short-staffed. That's all I would say. I would not get into anything else.
Speaker 1:Follow-up in person. Have a note to leave in case you can't get a face-to-face with your social worker After service starts, maybe a couple of days after service starts, let them know. You know, Mary and the patient are getting along great. The caregiver and the patient are getting along great. Pt came in. The caregiver is helping with exercise. Just a little update, just a little card, little update. Okay, so what does full circle marketing? So we talked about how you become a partner with the adult child. Full circle marketing helps you infiltrate the facility, but it also moves you from resource to partner. It increases the trust a social worker has with you. It proves your expertise and willingness to go the extra mile. It will flatten your learning curve. I'll tell you what you are gonna learn so much from. I've had them say, oh, her file's back there, Go grab that, Take whatever you need out of there. And I'm like what? I mean I'll do that and I'm like sure.
Speaker 2:Okay, I got it, you know, and.
Speaker 1:I'm back there. I mean they may not do that because of HIPAA, but I have had social workers what you need out of the face sheets right in front. Make a copy If you need it, take whatever you need. The face sheet is just a one pager. There are little pictures on there and what's going on with them. Many of the social workers will just give you a copy of the face sheet. So you have their address, their phone number, contact information, medicare number, all that stuff. This will build confidence. The social worker sees you in action, invite. You can invite them to the assessment If you have time, if you'd like to come down, you know you're.
Speaker 1:You're more than welcome to come to any of my assessments you would like. You could be the company of choice, preferred relationship. You get to infiltrate the facility. Everyone should know you. It's the best way to make that happen.
Speaker 1:Always have a stack of business cards in your pocket because when you see D-O-N, she needs your business card. P-t-o-t, give them all your business card. You could even give them a brochure if you want to Demonstrate your follow-through and your dedication. They see that it shows you're easy to work with and their job is easier when they get you involved. This is the biggest piece. You're saving them time. If their job becomes easier because they got you involved, you're golden.
Speaker 1:Okay, do we have any questions? Nothing Are we good? We're good? Okay, okay, all right.
Speaker 1:So the partnership with the family again, trust. Let them see your heart Expert In this situation. I use that all the time, typically when this happens. Use lots of phrases like that so they know this is not your first rodeo. Be the go-between. Let them know you have a relationship with the social worker and rehab and you will be checking on the status of their parent Full circle marketing.
Speaker 1:Let them know you're going to be talking to PTO, tdon, whoever it is that they are working with in that building. You're going to be going in there and having a conversation. Set the expectation. What can they expect once they get home? Be real with them. Don't tell them it's going to be perfect. You don't tell them it's going to be terrible either. You know, but don't paint this. The schedulers don't like it when you've painted this big, beautiful, wonderful story of how a service is going to be and they just can't live up to that. So be real with them. Check in with the adult child if they're out of town to let them know how things are going after service has started. Just like you get the social worker a handwritten note or a voicemail or a text of how it's going, do the same with the adult child a couple days later. Annette, anything to add to this?
Speaker 3:piece. No, I just I think it's. I found, you know, getting a good relationship with the social worker. I would always go back and let them know how the last client was that they referred to us and they were like I go, oh, she's doing great, she's still with us, or you know, and they would love to hear that, because then they're knowing that you took a good, good care of them and you know they're doing well at home. So I found that was always good when I was stopping in maybe to see another patient, just when I talked to the social worker remember, mrs Jones, that we took last month for the 24-7? She's actually still 24-7 with us. She's doing great. You know, I think that's important to kind of follow up, because they like to hear there's so many patients, but sometimes they like to hear how they did. Yes, agree.
Speaker 1:I agree For sure. I always would have it written down to, just in case you didn't get that face to face. Just don't demand a face to face all the time to give them feedback, because if they feel like you're going to demand a face to face to give them feedback, they're going to quit referring because they don't have time for a face to face every time. So if you go in and you happen to run into it, you can tell them all of it or you can just leave, like a quick handwritten note, text, email, voicemail, something. If you don't get a face-to-face, all right, we are into our leave behinds. So May is Older American Month. We've talked about this one a little bit, hopefully in April. You guys have been handing this out. You still have time in April To celebrate Older American Month. We are going to bring by these large puzzle books, large print puzzle books. I heard they have them at the dollar store, so that's a great place. There's an Amazon link here, though, too. Remember, you'll need to bring these books in so, and not just one. So don't overcommit yourself. If you go to 50 places and they all want some books. I mean you don't have to bring them lots, but you need to bring more than one, so don't overcommit. If you leave this for them, it tells them to call or text you to participate, so the hope is that they're going to, you're going to get their cell phone number, they're going to text you. This can start building that relationship. It is also Parkinson's World Parkinson's Day. Oh, we've already missed it, april 11. We will keep going.
Speaker 1:I thought that was a monthly one occupational therapy month. So this is for the whole month of April, celebrating those occupational therapists. These people live in Smith, they're in sniffs, they're in home health, so that's where you can find them if you want to celebrate them. And they're helping people when they discharge for sure. So you could go buy a SNF and come in with some things for their occupational therapist to celebrate the month. Lisa found these great 12-pack insulated, reusable lunch bags, because PT home health is out running around all the time. These would also be really great for your caregivers. They're insulated, is out running around all the time. These would also be really great for your caregivers. They're insulated and some key chains that have some motivational quotes on them. For OT month, we also have national vitamin C. We want to vitamin C you stay healthy and you can bring a bag of halos with you. There's some hydration kinds of months, I think there's a slide for it, but for the hydration, even bringing a whole case of water and a couple boxes of this, you know just that you care about them. You know it doesn't have to be big, expensive things.
Speaker 1:Here is the flyer. So these are different. So this one is to announce that you're going to be doing this. So this is for now, april. Then when May comes and you bring the books, this is a flyer to attach to the books. So you have your. Hopefully they're going to come out. You're going to go in and you're going to say she asked for some books, I'm here to bring them to her. Is she available? We want a face-to-face this is part of why we're doing this. So hopefully she's available, she's going to come out. If she's not, even if she is, put this flyer on the top of the books with maybe a rubber band.
Speaker 1:And the theme for Older American Month is social connections and meaningful relationships help with overall health and wellness. Our care staff eliminates isolation, loneliness and neglect. So you're talking a little bit about your caregivers and what they do here, your phone number and everything's on there. Lisa also said it's a great idea on the books to put your logo on every book like a sticker, so that they know where the books came from. So the flyer goes on top. Hopefully you get a face-to-face. You can directly hand these to the social worker you could do this in assisted living, independent living, all over the place but you can leave them for them as well and this will be on the top so they'll know who they came from.
Speaker 1:May we have Mother's Day, so we're celebrating mothers. They don't have to be a mother to celebrate Mother's Day. If you don't know if they are or not, you'll have to decide if you want to do this or not. You're not saying they're a mother here. We're just celebrating Mother's Day. There's some cute painting things. You can put stuff in a bag. These flowers actually change colors. They're pens, so we just tried to make it fun.
Speaker 1:And for the moms out there, nurses week is May 6th through May 12th, so thank you for making all the difference. Our caregivers provide 24 seven, so we're thanking them, but we're also letting them know about our services. It's nice to tie some of these health observances to our services as well. And then we've got some shower steamers. These are great. Nurses absolutely love these pens that are can hook to their their scrubs. They love them and they're all like on an elastic. You guys probably see nurses walking around Valerie shaking her head yes, as a nurse of 20 of 200 years, is that what she said? So this is really fun for nurses. You get for you get 30 of them for 15 bucks. That's a good price. There's also some hand lotions. The hand lotions in the Roma could be good for Mother's Day too.
Speaker 1:And then May is skin cancer awareness month. Protect your skin from too much SPF. Fun in the sun. This is just a fun. And then May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month. Protect your skin from too much SPF Fun in the sun. This is just a fun. We have to just have fun with it too sometimes, and not be all business. That's when they start seeing you as a friend too. We have these stickers Once you've applied sunblock, they change colors when it's time to reapply sunblock, so they're very cool. They're very fun to give out, and so this will be a good one. And then there's little sun blocks, so this could be something really fun for May to hand out.
Speaker 1:June National Hydration Day is June 23rd. Water is life. You add the flavor, so I thought that was really cute. Stay hydrated on us. That's when you can bring by your water bottles and some of these hydration just the flavor of the water. We add the flavor. Also is Alzheimer's and Brain Awareness Month in June, and so all we have is now and that's their slogan, and so you could use some big puzzle books if you want to order some extra. And these silicone bracelets are really nice as a reminder for Alzheimer's Awareness Month and in June, national Lobster Day, june 15th.
Speaker 1:Snappy discharges Call us now Home in time for dinner. I love this one. Lisa is so creative, so this is a really fun one for June, and she's got some snappid Cheez--its and some harvest snaps to go along with it. You're reminding them that you're here for discharges, right? We can't say it enough. They have to remember Discharge. Think of me Father's Day. We don't want to leave out the dads, and even though many of our social workers are not dads, these are fun. And then we've got a bottle opener and some dad's root beer candy. A lot of social workers will just re-gift this to their husband it's wonderful, you've saved them some time or their father, so you can hand out something like that. It's cool to care. Keep cool on us Coming out with some Otter Pops.
Speaker 1:Of course they're not frozen. They're very, very cheap. You could even bring a whole box, probably, to some of your places. You could attach this to every one of them or put it on the outside of the box. They'll put them in the freezer. They'll give them to patients. They'll eat them themselves.
Speaker 1:It's just something fun and different and you just you need to stand out. You need to be doing things that help you to stand out and stay in front of them. Remember you're going every eight to 10 days A brochure and stay in front of them. Remember you're going every eight to 10 days. A brochure can't bring that. Every time. I have your brochure, thank you, I don't need any more. That's what they're gonna say to you. You have to have new things to bring every time you come and you're not gonna get a face-to-face.
Speaker 1:So when you leave things behind, they're like, wow, she's clever. And the more that they see you being consistent, that means you're reliable. They can count on you. You're here a lot and then you're putting all this effort into getting to know them and build this relationship. They're going to equate that to your services again. So it's important stuff. July 4th celebrate independence. We've got some pins and some flags, and then, of course, our Canadians stay strong and free. Happy Canada Day for July, and then also some Canadian pins and flags. So do we have any questions? I see some stuff in the chat, but sometimes we're just.
Speaker 2:Yes, can you give me an idea of how much an average spend a month is normal for these gifts? Oh, you want to keep it simple?
Speaker 1:Yeah, we don't usually spend over a dollar per thing that we hand out. Much an average spend a month is normal for these gifts. Oh, you want to keep it? Keep it simple. Yeah, we keep. We don't usually spend over a dollar per thing that we hand out.
Speaker 1:And so, depending on how many you're going to take I mean, if you have 300 people, $300, but you can't spend and shouldn't spend a lot of money they take social workers take like a code of ethics when they get hired that they will not be bribed. They will give out three brochures. Some of the companies say you have to give out three. So if you're spending a lot of money on this, like with one person, you're giving them twenty five dollar gift cards to Starbucks and lots of money. You can't do that like they. Their boss will get wind of it. Even if the social workers go with it, their boss is gonna figure it out and they're gonna all get in trouble and you're not gonna be able to come back.
Speaker 1:So keep it simple, keep it cheap. It's more about the thought that's behind it than it is about the what and just being clever. So it depends on how many people you're gonna see what the monthly costs would be. My marketers had $150 a month budget for their area, their territory, for this, this kind of stuff. So that gives you an idea, I guess. So that was 150 people that they would leave things for. Now that didn't include, like you know, a coffee here, a lunch and learn there. You know there's other things that are going on. This was just for this kind of stuff. I hope that answered your question.
Speaker 2:I think that I think that's a pretty good answer. I mean you, can you know if you're, am I muted? No, I'm not. No, you're good If you're only seeing 25 people a week or 25 organizations a week and you just want to to me what you want to make sure you count in and Dawn talks about this, has talked about this in other meetings, but we've other folks have found that this is a brilliant tip that she gives, and that is to make sure you always give the gatekeeper a little something.
Speaker 2:Don't leave the receptionist out If you give her the little tchotchke that you have, whatever it is, bring one for her, because the more you do that, the more she'll like you. Even though it's just a small gesture, it's like it's as if you care about her too, and that will help you have better conversations with her. Get past her. So this is one of the things that Don talks about and somebody mentioned that I don't know where it was, in the forum, probably that making sure you give the leave behind or whatever it is you're doing to the gatekeeper, the receptionist, the office person, is a winner, so don't forget them.
Speaker 1:Yes, and always call them by name. They do not feel important in that building. People are just shuffling by all day, not saying hi, not making eye contact, and what they're doing is important. They're important people, especially to us. So get their name and call them by name every time you walk in that building, every single time. And, like Valerie said, don't forget them. I just Kim just messaged in that she got these at the dollar store. Lay your worries to rest, call bride care. I love that.
Speaker 2:So they're little lays and lay your worry to rest.
Speaker 1:That is. I love that, and so were the lays a dollar. Was it a group of them for a dollar, kim, are you still?
Speaker 2:here? I don't know. Yeah, she's here. She even said donna whoop.
Speaker 1:Try that again. Kim, you had some background noise. She's muted.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she's muted now, but I think there was some background noise I, so it's probably like seven bucks for five or five bucks for five, I don't know. You can also order these If you don't wanna go to the dollar store or if your dollar store is not good. You can order these off of Amazon in bundles or you can offer. I like Oriental Trading myself. I know Amazon's easy because we all pretty much probably have used it, but Oriental Trading I have ordered from them for years and oh, she said sorry, six in a bundle for a dollar.
Speaker 1:Oh, my God, that's awesome. Okay, here's another one, stirring up referrals. Call BrightCare Home Care today. So that's cute too. That's so cute, oh so cute. So you don't have to whoop, you don't have to spend a fortune to do this.
Speaker 3:I was going to say, too, the I'm sorry the dollar store. Sometimes my dollar stores didn't have enough of things, but you can order online from the dollar store too. I didn't, and I used to do that a lot, and they would deliver it right to the store and I'd just pick it up, you know, if you needed like 50 or something, instead of going to five different dollar stores. So that's a little tip I learned.
Speaker 2:That's good. So then, drinksters are four in a pack for a dollar. See, so you don't you.
Speaker 1:You know you may not end up spending 150 a month depending on if you can buy it in bulk and and then, if you have leftovers, use them for another thing. Yeah, yep, definitely so, okay, well, um, we will get to part three of the 24 hour. There's a lot to cover, but I think you know the 24 hour jobs are really important to everybody. So, um, that's going to be. You know, we'll do part three next time. It looks like we have another chat. Give yourself a rest and let us be your eyes and ears for all of your speedy discharges. I like that. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Very cute.
Speaker 1:Okay, everyone. Well, happy Friday. Have a great weekend. Thanks for joining us today. Go back and watch last week if you haven't yet, or not last week last time if you haven't watched it yet, so that this one makes more sense, and then next week we will finish up the 24 hour how to get those 24 hour jobs. I hope this was helpful for everyone. We got one more chat, oh, okay.
Speaker 2:Great presentation. Thanks, ladies, and thank you, kim, for sending in that stuff. Please send us that stuff. We want to.
Speaker 1:we want to we love to see all the things everybody's doing. It helps everybody. Have a great weekend everyone. Thank you. Have a great weekend, Hi, John. Is Lisa available? She's not. She's out today, Tiffany. Oh darn Okay, Can I?
Speaker 2:ask you just a really quick question why don't we get off the meeting? And because we're recording. So why don't we get off the meeting? And cause we're recording, so why don't we get off the meeting? And then, uh, I'll call you Tiffany. Thank you, dawn, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Okay, bye-bye.