Clients will select a long-term care (LTC) organization based on location alone if nothing unique and valuable is offered.

The best way to maintain a full census is to completely transform your organization
It starts with redesigning your core offerings and then moving outward. These reconstructive initiatives are an entirely new way of doing business that will enable you to offer customers a convincing reason to select your facility while creating barriers for your competitors. You'll create a specific value for your facility that other facilities will not take the time nor invest necessary resources to compete with.

It’s like driving a car with a chugging, smoking engine.  You can put some additive in the gasoline for a temporary quick fix of the broken engine symptoms.  The long-term approach puts a new engine in the car.  You can try some new marketing programs for a temporary spike in your census; but if your core business offering doesn't attract customers it needs revamping. In the long-run you would have saved money and time by reinventing your business first and then using the quick census growth tactics.  Let's dive in deeper into making the changes necessary for long-term success.

We can learn a lot about what changes to make by studying the differences between successful and struggling facilities
We have found that struggling organizations have similar problems.  Their employees resist change and their managers struggle to meet basic benchmarks.  There is no inspiring vision, and if goals exist they are basic operational goals in response to recurring problems.  The administrators invest most of their precious time fixing employee related problems. They have no time or energy left to make the changes needed to appeal to potential customers. These struggling facilities face crippling budget cuts, when they should be receiving extra rebuilding resources.

Successful facilities have a clearly defined
niche and big dream
They create and follow plans that help them achieve their vision. Their niche and vision plans are designed to generate a nice profit.  Most importantly, they offer unique, braggable, news worthy, cutting edge patient care.  They have become great managers through training, overseeing, rewarding and quickly letting employees go that don’t contribute to strict standards and vision. All of the employees know about the vision and they each help build it through their own personal efforts and through joint efforts of departmental teams.  There is an exciting positive energy running through the whole building. Big ideas are encouraged and flow freely. They have come to realize that profitability and customers are why the company exists and continues.  There is a stark difference between struggling and successful facilities. Ideas Coach has created a five step process for helping census challenged facilities become successful.

Step 1
Develop a Niche

Healthcare businesses that try to be everything to everybody are not nearly as effective as the ones that specialize.  For example, the hourly rate of a cardiologist is about five times more than a family practice physician, and they have more patients.  Specialists have a reputation for being more knowledgeable, experienced and effective. They make fewer mistakes.  That is why customers prefer specialists to generalists.

The same specialist principle that works for cardiologists also works for long-term care facilities
For example, let’s say your mother is hospitalized with congestive heart failure.  She is about to be discharged from the hospital and she needs to go to a long-term care center.  The discharge planner at the hospital told you about a skilled nursing facility (SNF) that specializes in congestive heart failure.  On average, their therapy, recovery outcomes and quality of life for patients with congestive heart failure are 67 percent better than all of their competitors.

They designed their therapy, care models and environment to make life significantly better for patients with congestive heart failure.  They are often mentioned in the news for their new breakthroughs in therapy and care approaches.  In fact, Cardiologists from around the world know about their innovative LTC organization and frequently refer their congestive heart failure patients for sub-acute or long-term care. 

The facility's specialized care is so remarkable that patients come from world wide to receive it .  Now, where do you want to send your mom?  To the brand new SNF right down the street from your home, or to the LTC center with the older looking building, 60 miles away, with the best long-term congestive heart care in the world? 

Reality Check Time
Right now you’re probably saying to yourself, “I can’t even get my CNA’s and nurses to answer call lights, there is no way I can create a world-class specialty”. Keep in mind that it takes time to build and promote a niche.  This is not one of the quick growth strategies we talked about earlier. You will need to believe that you can do it, get started and stick with it for the long-run.  In fact, the most difficult challenge you will face is your attitude and belief.   If you believe 100% that you can and will build a world-class LTC center, you probably will. 

Furthermore, what are your chances of survival, let alone success if you remain where you are now, struggling to perform basic operations.  You need huge changes now.  You don’t have time to wait for your basic operations to get under control before you begin.  That day will never come with your current systems. 

Making huge core operational changes based on your new niche is your best long-term growth move
This is not a new quick growth marketing program. It redefines everyone's job, excites everyone, and gives everyone a new reason to surpass basic operations and achieve your new niche.

We can help you create a niche that is appealing, achievable and profitable. The first step is to read our e-books. We would love to help you outsmart your competitors.

Step 2
Create a vision and plan around your niche

After your niche is selected it's time to dream and plan how it will take shape in your organization.  You essentially custom build your own image, operations and future around your new niche.  Keeping the niche in mind; what does your organization look like 5 years from today?  For example, Lets say your niche is specializing in Congestive Heart Failure. 

Your dream is to attract patients nation wide.  Now you create a Step-by-step plan. What do you have to do to go from where you are today to realize your dream in just 5 years?  We start with the big vision and work backward to daily action steps.

Become unique and valuable
Be aware: just being a caring organization; having good state surveys; smooth staffing; or meeting your census targets does not constitute a niche or inspiring vision.  All of your competitors have these same objectives.  Trying to sell that to your customers would be like Ford Motor Company trying to sell the same cars that they did in 1978 every year.  Then they run a huge ad campaign that says, “We put four round tires on all of our new cars”. 

Most LTC organizations offer nothing unique, remarkable, or news worthy. Think bigger.  Dream!  Think on a national or international level. Dream of the perfect LTC center for your own parents or yourself.

Sounds too big of a task and too risky.  As in, lose-your-job-if-it-fails kind of risky!  Not really.  Look at it this way,

if you don’t create something unique you will at best blend in with all your competitors.  The real danger is becoming invisible and irrelevant.  It’s sad how bland the long-term care industry has become.  A new building or remodeling tops the list as being " unique". 

A world-class healthcare example
The Mayo clinic has a world famous niche and they have some relatively outdated, unattractive buildings.  Yet, they give people a reason to travel the world to access their healthcare services.  You can do the same.  You must take risks to become successful. This is not a project of the month.  It’s a whole new way of thinking and working. 

Creating a really big dream for your organization builds hope and excitement
The vision-energy generated motivates everyone in contact with your organization.  Motivated employees, managers, referral sources, customers and communities will give their support, flexibility and hard work. The positive force gained by embracing a big dream propels the organization to success.

You will need that positive energy to make the difficult changes required for becoming successful.  Struggling LTC centers don’t have big dreams that they re-invent their entire organization around because they are too busy trying to master basics operations with the same systems and mentality.

We can help you simplify the difficult process of selecting and building an effective niche, vision, and plan.  We have created programs that will walk you through the process step-by-step.  It’s a very time consuming process, so the longer you wait; the greater your real risk.  Send us an email.

Step 3
Build Awareness

It would be silly to build a unique product and then not promote it. You’ve created a compelling reason for customers to choose you over your competitors. Now you need to let them know what you have to offer.

Most LTC organizations promote themselves inadequately, if at all.  They mistakenly believe that senior center bingo, church visits, and discharge planner visits are all they need for success.  It’s self-defeating that LTC organization will not think twice about investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in hiring additional nurses, equipment, renovations, even pay for outside lawn care services… but they refuse to fund an adequate promotional budget.   Seriously, nothing you do matters if the people who need to know about you don’t know you exist.

If I asked your target markets to “name the top two LTC facilities that come to mind” - would they mention your organization?  How about if I asked the local news media or older adults in your market the same question? How many of them would even know the name of your organization?

Most LTC organizations wait for local discharge planners to call.  The aggressive facilities send representatives to the hospitals and try to build relationships with them. If 80% of your referrals come from discharge planners and if they like your organization your marketing is not in a strong position.  

What happens if the discharge planners you love quit or get fired?  What happens if tomorrow her boss says "send all future LTC discharges to the hospital’s new LTC facility"?  What if your competitor builds a relationship with your potential patients before they got to the hospital and they demanded to go to your competitor, despite the attempts of your favorite discharge planners to get them into your facility?  Now what?  

A few good relationships with referral sources do not equate to a strong marketing position
A better move would be to create something unique that potential patients want, then cast a wide net of awareness amongst potential patients, patients' helpers, the entire medical community, and media sources…  Strive to impress the world rather than a hand full of referral sources.

If you're interested in attracting more inquiries from more effective awareness building techniques read our new e-book on Building Awareness.

How to work with a limited budget
We’re guessing that your promotional budget is rather limited - if you even have one.  So, the real question is how to become known with a limited budget. Furthermore, what messages will generate inquiries?   You don’t have to be a communications expert because we are, and we would love to work with you. With our help your valuable niche and high awareness levels will generate enough inquiries to keep your facility full. 

Step 4
Simplify the Sales and Admissions Process

Customers tend to take the path of least resistance.  In other words, if you make it easy for your prospective customers to do business with your organization - they will be more inclined to work with you.   Discharge planners are under strict time constraints.  The last thing they need is discharge hassles. They won't be calling your facility at 3 AM with a new patient from the ER if you’re unreliable with your weekend and evening admissions.  

We’re amazed how difficult long-term care organizations are to work with even when prospective clients want to use their services.  The phone isn't answered, the sales/admissions person is unavailable, calls are not returned, the staff acts as if prospective and new patients are an inconvenience to their real jobs.  Then, if the inquiring customer is still hanging in there, trying to work with you, they hear something like, “we can’t complete the admission until you get us the H&P from the patient’s physician…  In shock they respond, "The what? NO, really?!”

You’re too close to your own business to see what your customers see
We can objectively show you the perspective your customers have of your business.  Better yet, we can help you create an admissions process that makes it easy for customers to work with you. Let's get started today. We can be reached by email.

Step 5
Close More Sales

What most LTC facilities sell is not what customers need or want to buy. Sales training is critical to your long-term success. Take a look at your sales results.  What percentage of sales opportunities does your organization close?  Do you know how much revenue is lost on average with each lost sale? If our ideas and training could enable you to win just one of the sales you routinely lose - would it be worth hiring us to help you with your sales techniques?  We know how to boost your sales results with training and sample shoppers. Lets start the sales training today.  Send us an email.

We offer a must-read e-book on how to increase your census. The book addresses everything from branding, planning, marketing ideas and sales practices for assisted living facilities, nursing homes, and retirement communities. Click here to learn more.

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