Mastering Home Care Business Success: Sales Strategies and Building Relationships with Dale York

Unlock the secrets of a thriving home care business as Dale York, the entrepreneur behind Cardinal Home Care, joins us to share the sales strategies that catapulted his business to success amid the pandemic. Witness a tale of unwavering dedication as he unfolds the power of community bonds and warm leads. Dale's insight into the necessity of becoming a familiar face in the industry and the delicate art of balancing office management with active fieldwork is nothing short of inspirational.

This episode peels back the layers on the emotional investment of building and maintaining business relationships, especially when faced with the bittersweet reality of client turnover. Discover how a solid team can anchor an owner's venture into the world of networking, brand visibility on social media, and the relentless drive to ensure staff welfare – a mission that fuels Dale's vigorous pursuit of new opportunities. We explore the strategies that keep Cardinal Home Care's heartbeat strong, from the intricacies of fostering trust through regular care facility visits to the savvy targeting of high-margin services.

In our final chapter with Dale, we look into the game-changing realization that patience and personal connections are the cornerstones of business growth. If you've ever wondered how to transform every handshake into a lasting impression or how the role of a passionate owner can outshine any salesperson, this episode is your blueprint. As Dale reflects on his profound passion for his work, it's clear that the heart of home care is not just in the services provided but in the joy and challenges of the journey itself. Join us for these compelling insights, crafted to inspire and guide any aspiring home care entrepreneur.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Today I interviewed Dale York.

Speaker 1: 0:03

He is the owner of Cardinal Home Care.

Speaker 1: 0:06

They're located in the Fairfax area and the reason I thought Dale would be a good interview and I was right is because he also, just like some of our other interviews, is out there in his community showing his face, getting in front of people, shaking hands, looking people in the eye and really participating.

Speaker 1: 0:32

His method of sales is maybe not as organized, but you're going to find out what really works for him and his sales strategy, or what has happened in his sales strategy, is really interesting. If you really listen hard, you're going to find out that most of the time when he calls on someone it's a warm call, it's not walking in cold. So you're going to see that in this interview and he'll tell you how he does that and why he does that. So overall, this is a great interview with a brilliant home care agency owner who actually started, got licensed with his home care agency like three months before COVID, so they have already been through some of the toughest times and now does really well. But this is another owner who is a salesperson who is very involved in being the face of the company. So take another lesson from a seasoned veteran in home care and learn more about sales strategies that you probably haven't thought of. So with that, I give you Dale York.

Speaker 2: 1:53

It was December of 19. We got licensed.

Speaker 1: 2:06

And then that first year. You know we got some cases here and there was um, but it also is a testament to your um persistence in what you do and that's getting out there. And I mean I guess during COVID you probably couldn't do what you do right now.

Speaker 2: 2:15

But get on her client. I had no idea who this person was, so she liked the caregivers and I said, well, can we meet for coffee? And she said absolutely. So she asked me she goes, listen, nobody wants short shifts. And I said, well, can we meet for coffee? And she said absolutely. So she asked me she goes, listen, nobody wants short shifts. Like I got a four hour case, if you want it, I was like sure, we'll try it out. And really that's kind of how it started, because the company that she worked for would call and say hey, you know, michelle said that you were able to help her with a client. Can you help me with one of my clients?

Speaker 1: 2:48

Um, but, when did you start? Like I'm out here, I'm going to do this every day, or several times a week, and I am going to make connections everywhere in this community.

Speaker 2: 3:00

You know, the first year we um, we did pretty well our first year. The first year we did pretty well our first year. My strategy at the time and I think it's still my strategy now is we had a client that lived at an assisted living. I had no idea that she had a care manager. The care manager called one day to check in on her client. I had no idea who this person was. So she liked the caregivers and I said, well, can we meet for coffee? And she said absolutely so. She asked me she goes, listen, nobody wants short shifts Like I got a four hour case, if you want it. I was like sure, we'll try it out.

Speaker 2: 3:41

And really that's kind of how it started, because the company that she worked for would call and say hey, you know, michelle said that you were able to help her with a client, can you help me with one of my clients? But I was doing everything, valerie, I was doing scheduling in the beginning, I was doing the onboarding, I was on call, I mean you name it. I was doing it, onboarding, I was on call, I mean you name it.

Speaker 1: 4:14

I was doing it. It was like a three ring circus. Yeah, I know, trust me, I don't know how any of you do this all day. It's just, it's a crazy business. I mean, it's rewarding, but if there wasn't a reward, a human element of this and a reward to it, no one would do it. So it's got to have more rewarding moments than chaos, insanity, negative moments. It's just, you know, taking care of people.

Speaker 2: 4:36

I think the reward I mean, obviously you know, if you're going to run a business and you want to be in home care, I mean you have to have somewhat of a servant's heart Um, but I think we just saw growth and revenue growing and I was like, well, I guess I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing. Um, so I think at the end of the day yes, I was running around 12, 13, 14 hour days but I think at the end of the day to hear, hey, good job, my mom's happy with the caregivers to hear the care managers call and say, hey, can you help us with this? I mean that was rewarding in and of itself.

Speaker 1: 5:22

That was rewarding in and of itself. And today, how would you describe your week? What kind of? Or do you make a plan? Or do you have a plan before you walk out the door? Sunday? Sunday night, do you sit down and say here's what I need to do? Or Friday afternoon and Monday do you have a plan? Or are you just hmm?

Speaker 2: 5:44

I need to get better with that. I think one of my downfalls really, I think one of my downfalls is, I think I just kind of wing it Um and I think I mean I it got me pretty far, but I don't think it's going to keep getting me far if I don't kind of change some of that Um, so no, I don't think it's going to keep getting me far if I don't kind of change some of that. So no, I think I sometimes have a game plan Like this week I'll set up appointments for next week, yeah, okay, but if there's holes in my calendar, you know I'll go into the office where I probably should be out marketing. I don't know, I mean, it's just that we took a big hit with ours around the beginning of the year January, february. We lost maybe I don't even know 25, 30% of our business. It was, it was really bad.

Speaker 1: 6:47

Is this from passing away, people passing away or moving?

Speaker 2: 6:52

Actually, both we had people moving out of state. They moved from their homes into local communities, they passed away, and it was a lot of 24-7 care that we had gotten from care managers. So I think we lost like seven or eight clients, but they were like big ticket clients and so that's kind of caused me to like all the social media posts that you see. Um, I was talking, I was talking with my social media lady and she's like we just need more. She's like you know, help me, help you, kind of a thing. So that's why you see all of that.

Speaker 1: 7:33

Well, I mean it's it's obviously caught some folks' attention. I think the way you're using LinkedIn to tag people or businesses that you're around, or tag the people once they're up, I guess you can go back in and tag anybody you want, and that I mean. To me, that's what it's all about from a digital perspective, but you actually making that connection, that's what everybody should be doing. Now there's another piece of this that that is apparent to me, and that is that you must have a pretty nice staff back at the office that you can trust, because you're not bogged down. Now, today, you can go out and do this stuff. You know there are some owners that can't get out of the business so that they can go do stuff. They are still, you know, mired down in the scheduling and the, and I know that's normal when you're starting up, but it looks to me like you've set yourself up operationally so that you can get out of there.

Speaker 2: 8:35

So, um, I'm pretty much an open book. I mean, you can ask me anything and I'm happy to share anything with you. So we were probably it was mid-year, I don't even remember a couple of years ago and I was probably around like a million and a half and I was going nuts because I was so busy and a friend of mine said you got to hire a scheduler, like you got to get somebody, because now you're going to lose money because you can't do everything on your own. So I wound up hiring somebody that I completely trusted and I think that was that was the main thing. Most employees that we have working for us have never worked in home care. I mean, they're, they're good people. Most of this job you can teach and train, so, um, so I run around. My wife does all of the billing, so she was around since day one.

Speaker 2: 9:32

Obviously, um, I have an office manager who was my original scheduler, and then we have an HR person, an admin person, a scheduler. I mean there's probably like six or seven of us and it's afforded me flexibility. But on the flip side, I don't take that with a grain of salt, because I could go home and cut grass or do something. It's a beautiful day out, but all of these employees are expecting a paycheck and so, right, like they've been really good to me, and how can I let them down? So when I'm out here meeting people and going to events and posting things and trying to get business, it's really because, like a business collectively, like I love these people, that I work with right. So how can I let them down and be like, oh, our hours have dropped. Well, that's okay, they'll come back up. But I don't want to be one of those owners where you know hours go down, you let somebody go, you bring them back. You know that's just not, that's not fair.

Speaker 1: 10:44

No, I, as a business owner myself, I get it. I mean, as we grow, that's it's wonderful, and I want to step back from doing the day-to-day stuff. But I also feel a huge responsibility to the 20 people or so that help manage and run this business. They have to get paid, and so I get it. I get it. You're out there because you have a feel of a heartfelt responsibility to the folks that help make this successful behind the scenes, so I get it.

Speaker 1: 11:14

I couldn't just sit here all day either. You know I got to be doing something to help with the business. But I also know that if those people weren't the reliable, trustworthy people that they are, you wouldn't be able to leave the office. So that's a testament to them, right? You hired the right people to substitute for you and to really do more than you can do. So you're in the Fairfax area I know you probably serve a lot of Northern Virginia and um. Do you have a specific um, like a radius that you go out in? Are you in like a 20 mile radius of the office? Are you marketing?

Speaker 2: 11:58

you're going out and meeting with people there or I think I mean Fairfax is kind of right in the middle in Northern Virginia. So, um, if you looked at a map, we would go from, um, like from Fairfax, to Old Town, alexandria, which is right along the Potomac River, and then on the other side, going west, would be leesburg. So I I would say it's maybe 20 miles, like one way, 20 miles, the other maybe yeah, not to, I mean, but you're not.

Speaker 1: 12:34

You're not deriving 50 a 50 mile radius to go visit with folks. I mean you're. I mean 20 miles is big enough. I mean that's a fair enough, big enough market, considering you're in a pretty dens, whether it's independent living, memory care assisted living, whatever it's been.

Speaker 2: 13:06

I've been over there a lot and the feedback that we've gotten from directors of nursing is I feel like you care because you're just checking in on the residents. So when they refer to us or if a care manager refers to us, I probably go a couple times a week to be honest with you. Is that too much? I don't know. I mean you could say you should be marketing and doing something else, which probably. But on the flip side there's a customer service and there's a um, like a care component where I feel like, ok, you're going to be in good hands with Cardinal because they're going to take care of you. Yeah, so I mean we a lot of direct. Half of our business I would say almost half is probably referrals from directors of nursing, and I would say probably the other half maybe not half, maybe like 40 and 40 would be like care managers and then we get random leads through the website, but I would say the vast majority are either DONs or care managers.

Speaker 1: 14:19

And do you remember, do you have a methodology in your head? Know you say you wing it, but I know you just probably something you do to to get past the gatekeeper and to get to that director of nursing. And maybe it all just kind of comes because you got the care manager who referred you to the person. Then you get to meet the director of nursing because they went into the nurse. I mean, maybe it all just kind of rolls together, but how did you get to that director of nursing?

Speaker 2: 14:47

So this is what's frustrating. So I'm not good with I don't know how to just like cold call or make things happen, like, truly like. That's why I I think we talked offline a little bit about my reaching out to um another coach because I don't know how to really get into rehabs. Their doors are closed. That's not my strategy. So like, if I have a new client at a community, then I'll meet that director of nursing, I'll meet the staff and then I'll ask you know, hey, one of your sister properties. Is there someone there that you can refer me to? I've got a lot of caregivers looking for work. And they'll say oh, yeah, call Gladys, she's over. Do you guys have sunrises where you are or bright views? So like, good example, like we're taking care of somebody at a community and one of the nursing supervisors I know works at a bright view.

Speaker 2: 15:51

And I said, hey, I said who's your DON? I said I've got tons of caregivers looking for work. Can I reach out to your DON? She's like oh, yeah, her name is Janet, give her a call. I said, well, she's not going to know me. Do you mind if I just said that you referred me to her? And she's like oh, absolutely, she's really nice. So in my subject line I put you know, referred by Amy, and then when the director of nursing opened it up she was like oh yeah, come on in next week we can talk. So, um, like that's been my strategy, but like going into a rehab and just kind of cold calling, I feel like I'm just another number that just calls on them Like there's, there's no relation, there's nothing there.

Speaker 1: 16:32

So it sounds to me like you kind of use connection to reach out to a connection like a spider web. So you've got this person can help you reach out to this. You're using your connections to reach out to more connections and to make more connections.

Speaker 2: 16:47

I am. But where I am now is like now I need to somehow like. Now I need to somehow um, like I. I feel a little dead in the water right now, to be honest, because I've made tons of connections in like some of the Fairfax area, loudoun County, like I know a lot of people but I'm trying to like the. The pipeline's been slow, so I'm trying to keep these connections going and I feel like I've lost some momentum. Like cold calling. How do you that? That's just not. I don't know how to do it. I would love to learn, but that's not where I am right now.

Speaker 1: 17:26

Well, I wish I was not yeah, no, it's tough.

Speaker 1: 17:29

It's tough and especially if I don't know what your former life was before you opened a home care agency. I don't remember that, but I but I know that most of us who get into this probably maybe didn't have a sales background. We weren't salespeople. I'm certainly not a salesperson, but having a salesperson on my staff, I can see the inherent difference between someone who knows how to sell and me, the inherent difference between someone who knows how to sell and me. So I so, for instance, you know Don Fiala, annette Ziegler and Lisa Marcella on our team. They know how to get past, they know how to walk in cold and they know that, even if you walk in cold and I'm happy to share some of those videos with you but if you walk in cold, the you know it's, it's time. It takes time. You got to get past the person at the front desk. You got to know them by name. You got to make sure that they're comfortable with you before they're gonna throw you over the you know fence to Marcy or whoever it is that you really want to talk to. So it is a time, a patience and definitely a work of art. So, but it does happen and I think that, well, in the courses that Dawn and Lisa and Annette teach, they talk about leave behinds a lot, and I think you do this anyway with the folks that you know and you know know you might bring them a little something, or you know, sponsor an event or whatever and um, and that, so that that's something that they teach as well.

Speaker 1: 19:02

Um, I, the person that I talked to before you was, is very interesting in his approach as well.

Speaker 1: 19:09

He takes, uh, he's only been open five years, which is is a pretty long time, but I mean, you know, his philosophy is that he's out there every day but he's making connections not just with the facilities and communities, he's also in the Rotary making connections. In Rotary sponsored a little league team. What he's trying to do locally, he's in Bergen County, new Jersey trying to do locally. He's in Bergen County, new Jersey, which is gigantic and very populated, but is make sure that people know that he's there to give back to the community in more ways than just senior facilities and that he's very active in volunteerism and that's not an immediate payoff by far, it's just another way to do things. And he doesn't have a salesperson either, and that would be my next question to you Do you think you'll ever at some point, hire someone to take over some of the sales and marketing, maybe a seasoned home care salesperson? I mean, I don't know, is that in your plan for the future?

Speaker 2: 20:17

Yeah, I mean absolutely, I was planning on doing something. Earlier this year, when our numbers were really high, I was like, okay, I think I'm in a position right now like this is good, I don't want to stop what I'm doing. But. But I was like, okay, me and another salesperson, everything would be fine, um. But then when our numbers went down, I was like, ah, shoot, so is it on the radar? It will be when the numbers get up a little bit more. Um, and so I mean we have some holes that we have to fill, some deficits that we have.

Speaker 2: 20:56

I think a lot of people that I talk to enjoy having a business owner come around, like myself, and you probably experienced that too. Like they like talking to the owner, yes, and I've had to buffer myself with some conversations if. If it's not needed, then I'm like, no, you can talk with them and I get other things to do. But I think referral sources, like the fact that I'm very engaged, which has been very helpful. But yes, I mean I do intend on hiring a salesperson when numbers get up a little bit more.

Speaker 1: 21:35

Well, I think, coming out from behind I say it this way because I'm in digital marketing, but I'm the digital side but I say, come out from behind your website and be that person and be that face of the company. Or have someone in your organization, be the face that you can trust, that's always there, that they can count on to come around and check on, just like you said, check on that person who just signed up for services a week ago. Be that, be that. Have someone in your organization that can be the face of the company. It's hard when you're first starting out, but the more you get into this, the more you know that people want to be able to trust you. And if your face is the one they see and they do see you out there, you know shaking hands and taking pictures with all the people in the community they know you're not hiding. You must have a pretty good service. That's trust and authority. You must have a. You must be doing something right because you're not afraid to walk into this independent living community and know that your caregivers are doing the right thing. So I think that it is important that the owner gets involved and if that is not their plan from the beginning, then they need to have someone in the company who serves as the face of that organization. I think that either way, that's really important. So, and they do like people do like to talk to the owner and you know, I don't, I don't, that's, that's okay. But you're right, there are certain administrative things that we try to give to the administrative staff. But, yeah, I agree with that. So, but I you know, getting in, getting the 24 hour cases back. I think one of our videos recently talks about Don just did one and I'll share it with you. That is all about getting back into those 24 hour cases, because that's where the margins are and how to get more of those from her point of view, and that might be helpful.

Speaker 1: 23:27

But I know that what you're doing is very valuable and, if for no other reason, the Cardinal Home Care name is one that is branded to these people. They know you, they know your logo, they know your name, they know when you walk in the door, even if it's somebody else that walks in the door with your business card, they'd be like oh, yeah, yeah, dale, so you're doing the right thing. I can, I can see how you can run out of places, or you've been to XYZ place five times. You really going to go back today, or you know, I can see how it would get once you've done this for a while. You feel like you're in a place of, okay, who can I visit this week? Who's who am, am I doing? But but you're doing the right thing.

Speaker 1: 24:15

So the only difference in that, in you and the person I interviewed before is is just and I think you already do this, but I it's just that he he looks at it as a community involvement, kind of giving back, and you do the same thing, but he's he's not focused on the facilities at the moment.

Speaker 1: 24:36

That's his next step, but they do really well without that, because Applauses, home Care is just so well known in that county because he's everywhere sponsoring things and showing up at events.

Speaker 1: 24:49

I think he also is very specific with one or two senior centers in his area and he constantly is putting on programs for them with not himself, but with he had a belly dancer come in, I mean, and teach, you know, and he had like a bunch of people show up for that. He's having a historian come in and talk about the history of Bergen County and George Washington's involvement. I mean things that you wouldn't think are home care related, but are so engaging to his community and so interesting to the seniors who've lived there their whole lives that that's really making an impact. So there's a million ways to skin a cat, but I think you know, and I'll be happy to share Also, I'll share his video with you as well. I just got that edited down, so you know those are some great ideas too, but I know that what you're doing is valuable, because I see it and I wish everybody would do what you're doing.

Speaker 2: 25:51

You know, I think this industry is an amazing industry. I will say in Northern Virginia it's somewhat cutthroat, I don't know how other areas are, but I love it. Like I could imagine like people say like would you sell? And I'm like to do what? Like, what would I do if I sold? Right? I mean, I think you have to really love what you do. Um, I think you're always growing, you're always trying to figure things out. I think that you know there's good days and frustrating days, like everything else in life. Um so, um, yeah, I mean I have. I really have no complaints at all. I mean, if I, if I had to look back and you know, thank God for what I have, I mean I have nothing to complain about other than, you know, some silly things that happen here and there and some frustrations, but nothing that can't be overcome.

Speaker 1: 26:44

Absolutely Well. I appreciate you giving us some insight into your week and your day and your strategy or your wing in it, Cause I think that it really shows how much you care about the people you work with and the community you're working for.

Speaker 2: 27:00

Well, thank you.