Are Your Marketing Dollars Well-Spent Or Do You Not See A Light At The End Of The Tunnel?
July 16, 2021
5 Common Mistakes Made With Marketing Staff:
- There is no marketing orientation for new employees: This is pretty common. Since marketing stands alone in your agency, it often is not structured. Marketing staff tend to pick up information along the way. Maybe you have more than one branch, so they shadow another marketing employee a short time. This may help the new employee understand someone else's schedule and routine, but it doesn't help them develop what needs done in their own communities. A marketing employee should have assistance from supervisory clinical staff when meeting with a physician's group for presentations, but the follow up and follow through needs to be the marketing staff. We see many agencies where the marketing staff expects to have a nurse with them every time they are out. This is not only a huge cost, but not necessary. If your marketing employee wants a nurse with them every time they are out, then they aren't the right marketer for your agency. Marketing should not have to be by the buddy system.
- They have never seen a visit made: How can our marketing people understand what our business is if they haven't seen it in action? Now, I'm not talking one or two visits, but a variety that properly shows what your agencies does and provides. It shouldn't be just uncomplicated patients, but complex ones where you show how the clinical staff manage patients, families, and interactions with physicians as well as other providers.
- They haven't seen your pitch: Whether you have a marketing, business, nursing, or therapy degree, you as the administrator should be able to give the pitch. You should be able to help marketing staff understand how to read the room and guide what you talk about based upon who is there. Often times we see pitches that are the exact same regardless of who the marketing employees is seeing for a scheduled appointment. This means the marketing staff is giving the same pitch to the new physician in town as the one who has been giving you referrals for 20 years.
- You haven't seen their pitch: This piggybacks on the last bullet point. Sometimes, we take our marketing staff out to let them see us pitch someone a couple times and turn them loose. We do supervisions on all clinical staff yearly, why wouldn't we be doing the same things for the people out there selling the product we provide? Once, I was in an agency and went on a planned marketing visit to an MD office. This employee had been with this particular agency over 20 years. The marketing person told me after the presentation that she learned things about the agency she never knew on the presentation. This was a huge eye opener when I talked to the administrator about it. This individual had been the face of the agency for decades and didn't know the basic items about the services that were spoken about in the pitch. Don't assume length of time with the agency makes them better.
- We don't set an effective marketing plan in place: Often times, we see marketing staff who are given expectations as to how many contacts are to be made in a week or month, but it doesn't tell them the focus for follow up. Let's say Dr. Jones is new to town but not new to referrals to homecare and hospice services. So, we go in speaking the first time about what service lines we provide so this physician knows. What do you tell marketing staff about the plan for the the next visit? And, then the third visit? We need to have specific goals that guide the marketing staff as to what the focus of marketing efforts should be. This is a missing link. We also need to guide marketing staff to non-traditional marketing venues as well. Do they know what has been successful in your area in the past? Are you looking closely at the referrals you receive for frequent fliers? Do they always come directly from the doctor or hospital? Have you effectively found ways in your community to support other providers of services to your patients such as: the Area Agency on Aging, United Way, housing providers, or those doing home modifications? Have you talked to local fire departments and police departments about those emergent calls they seem to get frequently? Have you considered adding services based upon these contacts? Maybe you want to become a provider of ERS in your agency because your local EMS spends too much time picking people off the floor. You can see opportunities for referrals and additional service lines by just listening to your community.
Kenyon Homecare Consulting Can Help:
At Kenyon Homecare Consulting,
we can help you develop an effective marketing plan without breaking the bank in the process. We can guide you on non-traditional marketing strategies and help you understand potential opportunities for growth. Call us today at 206-721-5091 or contact us online
to see how we can help you maximize your marketing efforts.
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In an era of rising healthcare costs and widespread clinician burnout, healthcare organizations are facing a critical challenge: how to deliver superior patient care while maintaining a stable, motivated workforce and a thriving business model.
When a patient returns home after a stroke, the clinical landscape changes instantly. Survival is just the first hurdle; the real challenge lies in navigating the complex, often unpredictable journey of rehabilitation and long-term care. For home health and home care agencies and senior care facilities, caring for a stroke survivor requires more than help with Activities of Daily Living (ADLs). Stroke can affect a patient’s neurological, physical, and emotional functioning simultaneously. That’s why specialized, stroke-specific clinical training for caregivers is essential to improving patient outcomes, supporting staff retention, and strengthening the agency’s overall performance. The Multidimensional Complexity of Post-Stroke Care A stroke is not a singular event with a linear recovery path. Depending on the location and severity of the brain injury, caregivers may confront a baffling array of concurrent deficits: Physical and Motor Deficits: Hemiparesis (one-sided weakness) or hemiplegia (one-sided paralysis) completely alters transfer techniques. Improperly moving a patient can cause severe shoulder subluxation or skin tears. Cognitive and Communication Barriers: Aphasia (difficulty speaking or understanding speech) and dysphagia (swallowing difficulties) require immense patience and highly specific intervention techniques to prevent profound frustration or life-threatening aspiration pneumonia. Neurobehavioral Changes: Sudden emotional lability, post-stroke depression, or structural personality changes can easily overwhelm an untrained caregiver, leading to burnout or adversarial dynamics in the home. Without structured education, caregivers are left to rely on intuition. In complex neurological care, intuition is rarely enough to prevent adverse events. 4 Strategic Benefits of Specialized Stroke Education Investing in robust stroke-specific training programs transforms an agency's frontline staff from general monitors into clinical assets. 1. Drastic Reduction in Hospital Readmissions The first 30 to 90 days post-discharge are high-risk windows for stroke survivors. Educated caregivers act as the eyes and ears of the clinical team. They are trained to look past basic symptoms and identify subtle warning signs early: Recognizing micro-signs of silent aspiration during meals. Monitoring for deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in affected limbs. Identifying skin breakdown early on the hemiplegic side. Spotting the warning signs of a secondary stroke using the B.E. F.A.S.T. protocol (Balance, Eyes, Face, Arms, Speech, Time). Early identification allows for timely home health or physician interventions, keeping the patient safe at home and protecting the agency's rehospitalization metrics. 2. Safeguarding Staff and Patients (Risk Mitigation) The process of transferring a patient with dense hemiparesis requires precise biomechanical knowledge. Specialized education teaches caregivers how to support the affected side without pulling on weakened joints, how to properly utilize assistive devices (gait belts, sit-to-stand lifts), and how to manage one-sided neglect (where a patient completely forgets one side of their body exists). Proper training mitigates the risk of catastrophic falls and shields caregivers from debilitating musculoskeletal injuries, directly lowering workers' compensation claims and liability exposure. 3. Boosting Staff Retention and Professional Empowerment High turnover in caregiving is often caused by burnout and feeling unprepared for challenging cases. When an agency provides specialized clinical training, helping staff understand stroke-related behaviors and advanced transfer methods, it strengthens the caregiver’s role. Staff members feel empowered, confident, and valued as professionals rather than viewed as standard domestic labor. This professional dignity translates directly into higher job satisfaction and improved staff retention. 4. A Powerful Market Differentiator In a crowded marketplace, families and hospital discharge planners look for specialized expertise. An agency that can explicitly state, "Our caregiving staff undergoes advanced, competency-verified training in post-stroke neurological care, dysphagia management, and transfer safety," holds a massive competitive advantage. It builds immediate trust with families and establishes preferred provider relationships with local health systems and stroke centers. Building a Competency-Based Training Framework Effective stroke education cannot be a passive, check-the-box exercise. To truly impact care quality, an agency's training framework should combine foundational knowledge with hands-on validation: Neurological Fundamentals Core Focus Areas: Types of strokes, one-sided neglect, emotional lability, and aphasia communication strategies. Competency Verification: Written scenario analysis and communication roleplay. Mobility & Safety Core Focus Areas: Safe transfers (bed to chair), handling the flaccid or spastic limb, fall prevention, and skin integrity. Competency Verification: Hands-on return demonstration with a mechanical lift/gait belt. Nutritional Security Core Focus Areas: Dysphagia precautions, recognizing pocketed food, fluid thickening consistency, and aspiration prevention. Competency Verification: Direct observation of meal prep and feeding techniques. Conclusion: An Investment in Excellence The care of a stroke survivor is inherently complex, demanding, and volatile. Expecting caregivers to navigate these intricacies without targeted clinical education places an unfair burden on the employee and exposes the patient and the agency to significant risk. By prioritizing advanced stroke education, agencies and facilities do more than just improve compliance; they foster a culture of clinical excellence. The results are undeniable: safer patients, more confident and loyal caregivers, and a highly respected agency brand that stands out as a leader in complex home-based care. For in-depth education on caring for a person with a stroke, contact Kenyon HomeCare Consulting, which offers an 8-hour DSHS-certified continuing education course . Each chronic disease course includes a certification with a red-and-yellow flag guide that can be laminated for caregiving staff. To learn more, call 206-721-5091 or email gkenyon@kenyonhcc.com .
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