Home Health Care services has a built in marketing method that far exceeds all other marketing techniques.   You may not have ever considered recruitment as a part of your marketing plan but take a closer look and you may be surprised.

Home care services that are covered by Medicare or Medicaid have a different clientele and will required a specific marketing plan to attain successful growth and viability.  On the other hand in home care service which is usually identified as private pay services as some additional opportunities and requirements for developing a successful marketing program.

In-Home care services are often classified as self pay (or private duty) and are paid by the patient or family directly for the services provided.   These services may be nursing care but frequently are non medical care in general. 

The very best marketing tool is quite frequently overlooked and often handled in such a manner that poor marketing is the result. 

This built in marketing tool for any in home care service starts with the recruitment of staff.   Your most valuable marketing tool is your employees who are in the homes of your clients providing the services your clients have contracted to receive.  

Not only do the employees have ongoing contact with the clients but very often interact on a frequent basis with the family members.   Knowing this why would you look for the cheapest labor for the job rather than looking for the highest quality with an appreciation for patient satisfaction? 

How to assure your employees are prepared to provide excellence in quality of service and customer service attention needs to be placed on several areas of human resources

• Well defined job descriptions
• Recruitment and Hiring process to acquire high caliber staff
• Employee orientation and training program
• Policies and Procedures
• Dress and conduct policy
• Competency testing
• Customer service training
• Marketing training

The basis for consistency in employee performance begins with the establishment of well defined job descriptions which incorporate the customer service attributes desired for staff interactions with clients.
Set pay levels consistent within your market area to assure you can attract the exceptional talent in the area for your positions.

Spending the time to advertise job openings and following a systematic approach of reviewing and screening applications for the best possible matches for the open positions will have a return on investment in the long run.    Once the best matched applications for the position are identified, schedule interviews with the selected applicants. 

The interview is critical and the trained interviewer will be able to draw much more from the applicant that just the answers to questions.   Does the applicant present well in all aspects including appearance, dress, conversation, confidence, and considerate and caring nature. Basically does the applicant exhibit the traits you are looking for in the client's home during the interview?   If the applicant fails in any of these categories the same or worse will be exhibited in the client's home which could be detrimental to any marketing aspiration you may have desired.

Develop an organized approach to new employee orientation and training.   The more information you provide regarding the business, expectations of performance including customer service the more you have set your new employee up to succeed and meet your service level  expectations.

Well written and clearly defined policies and procedures will serve as a tool to assure consistency between employees providing services.  

Excellence in Customer Service should be rewarded on an ongoing basis.   Positive feedback that is timely and specific goes a long way in assuring staff satisfaction which has a direct impact upon Customer Service.

Include marketing training for staff that will be in the client's home and interacting with various individuals associated with the patients care.

The small cost contributed to the enhanced recruitment and training effort will allow for increased patient satisfaction and excellence in marketing while providing services for your in home care business.