As a new nursing home administrator – or maybe you’re just taking a new building – you have to find out what level your staff is on, especially the individual who is marketing the nursing home.  You know your census depends on the quality and census development ability of your Marketing Director.  Believe it or not, sometimes you run across someone who has either never been trained properly or has become too complacent...

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...

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...

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...

In the past week, I have had a unique opportunity to observe a facility with another company fall to the pressures of survey.  The facility had a rough history – staying out of compliance more than in.  A few IJ’s later, CMS has pulled the plug on their Medicare/Medicaid provider agreement.  They lost their certification.  What this means is that they have to discharge all their Medicare and Medicaid residents.  They have...