Many successful franchisees focus on gaining new clients. However, it’s just as vital to retain new customers.
Patient retention is a crucial metric. You can use it to indicate how well you’re running your franchise. Typically, successful franchisees have a fairly easy time retaining a good percentage of their customers.
You don’t have to guess at how to keep customers loyal. Instead, follow the helpful homecare client retention strategies below!
1. Focus on Ideal Caregiver and Patient Matches
All caregivers should meet a client’s health-related needs. It’s also important to strive for patients to enjoy spending time with their caregivers.
For example, a client may have allergies or sensitivities to strong smells. In this case, sending a caregiver who enjoys wearing sprays and perfumes could lead to a negative client experience.
As you continue working with caregivers, you should gain a deeper understanding of your staff’s personalities and which clients they will fare well with. You’ll notice this homecare client retention strategy happening as clients continually give positive feedback.
2. Include Patient Outreach as a Client Retention Technique
A patient’s homecare appointment may conclude once a caregiver leaves. But that doesn’t have to be when your franchise stops speaking with patients. Encourage close business-client relationships through regular client communication.
Patients often value the opportunity to share their feedback. Additionally, this simple strategy can also give family members the chance to give positive or negative feedback.
Not all clients will respond to your requests, and that’s ok. Most will appreciate that a company values their opinions, making it an effective client retention strategy for homecare professionals.
3. Utilize Referrals
Companies in nearly every industry benefit from client referrals. A referral occurs when one person lets another know about a business or what it offers.
According to Nielsen, 84% of people trust recommendations from individuals they know. You can likely remember purchasing a product or service after hearing good things about it from a friend, family member, or co-worker.
As your homecare franchise continues providing top-notch service and creating happy customers, let them know their value by asking for referrals. Using this client retention technique properly can strengthen current customer relationships while fostering new ones.
4. Gather and Use Employee Fee
As mentioned earlier, client feedback is vital. However, not all client retention strategies for homecare franchises involve patients. It’s also crucial to learn how caregivers and other employees feel about the company you manage.
No one will know your business like its employees. As you oversee the big-picture aspects of your business, your employees help put your plans into action. Along the way, your caregivers and other workers will learn the positive and negative aspects of their jobs.
Letting employees share what’s going well and what needs improving can yield valuable insights. After making certain business-related changes, your company may experience a noticeable uptick in retained customers.
5. Try to Keep Clients and Caregivers Paired
Trust is a cornerstone of certain great homecare client retention strategies. Customers are more likely to remain loyal to a reputable business than one they deem untrustworthy.
A way to instill trust in your patients is by letting caregivers complete repeat visits. These visits earn rapport with patients. Plus, it’s better in many patients’ minds than receiving care from a new person during every homecare visit.
Realistically, not every initial patient and caregiver pairing will be perfect. However, when you find two people who mesh particularly well, ensure they remain scheduled together. This can be a powerful client retention technique.
6. Get Involved in Your Community
Sometimes, your company may struggle to gain referrals because not enough people and companies know about it. Thankfully, that’s easy to fix.
Engage with local organizations and communities. Companies or organizations of interest may include pharmacies, senior centers, or medical equipment suppliers.
Social media searches and local websites will also list information about upcoming events your franchise can attend or sponsor.
7. Be Active on Social Media
As you know, social media is popular. It can also be an impactful homecare client retention strategy. However, it’s not only popular with younger generations. Senior citizens and their adult children typically spend lots of time on social media. Facebook, Instagram, and similar platforms can let your franchise:
• Foster deep connections through interactions
• Introduce itself to the public
• Let people stay updated about your business
• Build a name for itself as an online authority
A major way to set yourself up for success as a franchise means choosing the right franchisor. 1Heart Caregiver Services gives franchisees a path toward owning a business while doing something morally positive that benefits their communities. Speak to our welcoming team to learn more about our franchise opportunity.