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Sales Tip of the Week: Encourage Referrals!

Whatever you do, make sure you are constantly encouraging clients, staff and friends to refer to your agency. Here are a few ways to do so:

• Ask them! - Develop your own technique, with which you feel most comfortable. It never hurts to ask!
• Reward referrals - Thank employees with a dinner-for-two, flowers, fruit baskets, etc. Send thank you letters, or call referral sources and thank them for trusting your company. Try to send an unusual card, that will be saved or displayed, with your name, logo, address, and phone number in full view. Or give them a magnet or coffee mug with your logo. They will look at it every day.
• Keep in touch with referral sources - Let them know how the person whom they referred to you is progressing under your care.
• Refer business to them - Everyone likes to feel that he or she is getting what he or she wants or needs. For example: if you are getting referrals from an Assisted Living Facility, ask if you could have your nursing staff visit the facility for the purpose of orientating your staff. Often facilities will rely on Home Care staff to refer or endorse Nursing Homes or Assisted Living Facilities.
• Believe in your quality and service level - If you don't commit to quality, why should anyone refer you?
• Seek out referrals from competitors - Some of your best referrals can come from your apparent "competitors." For example: other Home Care companies may not be able to fill the shifts or service a particular geographic area. If you can set up reciprocal referring relationships, you may be surprised how much this can help your business.