Quick & Easy LTC Marketing Research & Analysis: How to Complete a Market Study Today, we’re going to go over a quick and easy way to do market research for you to determine the viability of a new niche program for your facility.  Now, you can pick any niche – bariatrics, trachs, etc.  You just have to locate the statistical resources for your research.  I have selected an Alzheimers/Dementia unit for the purpose of...

A common problem I have heard is that the Marketing Director in the nursing home doesn’t  exactly know what the volume of sales calls he/she should be producing.  The answer is simple:  Whatever number fills your beds with new admissions.  Ok, that was not really an answer, was it?  What you should be focused on are the calls that generate viable referrals for your building.  It is easy, however, to make less calls than what is...

One of the mistakes that many of us make when our facility is census-challenged is to begin taking and admitting whatever referrals we can get.  This can create tons of problems in your facility.  Obviously, a good rule of thumb is to ensure that clinically you can take of the patient, that financially they have a payor source, and you’re not going to lose money on them.  However, there are other factors to consider.  Namely, is...

I attended a seminar the other day on healthcare marketing.  One of the focuses was to break down your types of calls and define what the key elements are.  So, today, we’re breaking down a nursing home marketing cold call and how we get past the gatekeeper. One of the first things to realize is that the relationship with the gatekeeper can be just as important as the one with the actual referral decision-maker.  If you screw up...

Usually nursing homes and home health agencies can be found at opoosite ends of the spectrum when it comes to referrals.  Nursing homes want the referral to come into the facility for rehab while home health wants the referrals to go home with their services.  I recently found a way to partner with home health care agencies that I hadn’t thought of previously. Many times home health patients may be too expensive for the home health...

Earlier today, I received a question from someone who is about to step into the role of a Regional Marketing Director and will be responsible for the marketing and census development of multiple facilities.  She asked if I had any ideas on where someone would start if they were entering such a role.  Here is my response: “…Sure, I have a few things that may help.  Some of these may be slightly redundant as you already have...