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Adam's Advice: Know & Connect with Seniors (Steps 1-5)

To successfully market your services you MUST know your audience...and know them well. When you take time to understand the dynamics of the Senior market, you can resonate with the very people who will become your biggest fans and promoters. For the next three weeks, we'll cover 15 steps to understanding and connecting with seniors, that are key to your agency's growth!

For today, the first 5 steps are below:

1. Trust - Above all else you must have the trust of the client before you can build a long and lasting relationship with them. This should be a major cornerstone of your agency's mission and vision; you must build trust in everything that you do. Always deliver on your promises. Your word is your bond and the Senior holds this concept near and dear to their heart. Your entire agency must make promises that are:
• Clear and Understood
• Consistent with how your agency delivers its services
• Honest
• Reliable
• Sincere
• Individual/Personal
2. Security - Seniors are concerned with their security, and since your staff is entering their home on a frequent basis you must make sure that your clients feel both comfortable and secure with your staff. You can create a significant competitive advantage simply by putting in place practices and policies that will enable your clients to achieve this feeling of security and maintain it.
3. Independence - Seniors overwhelmingly elect to stay in their homes versus assisted living or long term care facilities. Why? Because they want to keep their independence as long as they can. Many times that first call they make to a home care agency is the first time they are admitting that they can no longer go it on their own. Word every advertisement, handle every in home evaluation, every communication, with understanding that their tremendous desire is to preserve and protect their independence.
4. Courtesy - This should be a given, but, it is often overlooked to an agency's detriment. Start by hiring people for their attitudes. Make sure that they were raised to say "please" and "thank you." Include courtesy training in your orientation and as a major part of your ongoing customer service program. Courtesy must be practiced - and that means by everyone at every level of your company! And keep in mind, Seniors do not like to be called by their first name - unless they have given you permission to do so.
5. Family - The most compelling single emotion that can be evoked in dealing with Seniors is family. Always be respectful of their families. Include the family in major decisions and keep them up to date with how your client is faring. It is a rare instance when you come across a total scrooge who doesn't have a soft spot somewhere for their family. Find ways to assist your clients with communicating with the family. With so many families spread across the country today, it is essential that you have processes in place to make the communication of your client's condition to their family (with their permission, of course). Helping your clients celebrate children's and grandchildren's birthdays or other special events is always a good idea. As time progresses with the patient, you may find yourself dealing with the family more and more. Wouldn't you like to already have a long and favorable history with the family before that happens?

We'll dive into Steps 6-10 next week!