Add Value and Increase Sales!

In these economic times, customers are looking for more for less. Many have cut back on many items, even quite possibly their healthcare. By adding extra value with your products and services you can grow your revenue and give your patients more bang for their buck. Here are some easy ways you can add value to increase your sales.

Free Trial and Super Size
Never under estimate the word free. Clients love free samples or at home free trials! Offer samples of your latest pain relief cream. It will encourage more retail sales and they just might love that sample they tried. If you are carry a new line of lift chairs or braces, allow customers to try it at home for free for 30 days. Once the can't live without it, you ring up the sale. Another idea is to group products together to increase the perceived value of getting more for less. Examples could be a new wheelchair comes with a free wheelchair tote bag, a comfort pillow, and maintenance plan.

Showcase
Your retail areas should be easy to navigate with organized shelves, signage directing clients to their areas of interest. Take a tip from department stores and add a magic table. These are draped round tables that highlight a product or promotion. Allow customers to experience your products before the buy. Customers will be more inclined to purchase if they know what they are getting.

Goodwill
Tie your services and products to a charity or other socially responsible effort. Align with a cause that reflects your business and customers, such as breast cancer awareness, going green, sleep apnea, or lung cancer. Choose to donate a portion of service and product sales. Customers will feel better purchasing more if they are helping others. Your business benefits by increasing sales, creating goodwill, and increase PR opportunities.

Details Matter
Don’t forget the devil is in the details. Make sure your location is clean, warm, and inviting. Call customers by name and pay attention to their individual needs. Not all customers are alike and the cookie cutter approach to customer service does not work. Be sure to listen to the patients' needs and tailor your response to best serve them. Do weekly follow up calls for any in-service home appointments or deliveries. Not only does this provide customer feedback, but it builds a stronger relationship.

Adding more value in your offering will make customers feel their business is appreciated and builds loyalty. Share your tips below on how you have added valued to your offering and increased your sales. Small steps can have a big impact!

Business Resolutions for 2011

As the year comes to a close, many of us reflect and start planning for the future. Many personal resolutions are made, such as losing weight or spending more time with the family. But what about making some resolutions for your business? Although there are many unknowns looming our industry (healthcare reform, competitive bidding, ACO's and so much more), the biggest asset going for you is the demand for your services. Healthcare is a need, and with an aging population, the need is growing. Now is the time to take stock of what was successful this year and what efforts didn't live up to expectations. From there you can create new goals for 2011 to help drive a successful new year.

Proactive Planning
Many businesses take a haphazard approach to business planning. Owners and directors can get caught up in the day-to-day and forget the benefits of pre-planning. Review what programs work this year and what didn't. Why was one offering a success... was it the timing, the marketing message, or the offer itself? If a program didn't work, was it due to lack of customer interest, poor staff involvement, or non-supportive business partners? Review these ideas with your team. Create a list and decided which programs to launch this year. Being proactive makes the year less stressful, empowers your team, and gives you goals to strive for. The biggest benefit is keeping everyone on the same page. When you are all working from the same script, things come together.

Increase your Offering
These days one trick ponies aren't doing so well. By increasing what you offer to your patients and customers, you increase your value and customer retention by meeting more of their needs. If you are a DME, why not increase your retail line to add more complimentary products. These can include canes, braces, support hose or compression socks, or even lift furniture. This will increase your inventory investment, but retail products can turn a larger profit to help supplement medicare/medicaid reimbursement issues. If you are lab, expand your test offering, or a clinic, expand your hours of operations. Think of your target customer and how you can meet more of their needs. Again review your thoughts collectively with your staff. Ask for their insights and brainstorm ideas. Research each idea and evaluate its potential success. Pick your winning idea and roll it out for the new year.

Partnerships
Today more than ever businesses are pooling resources and working together. Talk to your neighboring businesses or other healthcare offices you work with. Try co-hosting an event to tie in both your services and drive businesses both locations. You could host a brunch or coffee clutch party. You can partner with a local hospital and offer a free educational seminar on various medical topics such as heart health, diabetes, or helping a family member who needs long term care. Provide an introductory discount offer, a small free gift, or free information packet. Promote the event with postcards and emails to your customer base and use local advertisement methods to get the word out. There is power (and profit) in teamwork.

These are just a few ideas to get you started. You will be amazed at what taking some time to reflect and plot out future goals can do. Setting a focused agenda for the year will keep you and your team on track to make a successful and profitable new year. Cheers!

Take your daily dose of accreditation!

Last year accreditation was top of mind for every home healthcare provider. The rules of the game changed requiring anyone dealing with Medicare reimbursement to become accredited. Even thought the writing was on the wall for while, many HME provides waited until the very end to become accredited. The mad dash was on and the accreditation race begun. Now the dust has settled.

With their status secured, most HME's are comfortably back to business not thinking too much about accreditation. Most await until their next re-survey round before they will get back into accreditation concerns. Why make accreditation a fire drill for you and your team? It leads to more stress and more work that can be completely avoided. Additionally accreditation checks could occur before a re-survey date. Inappropriate billing errors, fraud investigations, or a possible complaint can lead to an accreditation check. Avoid excess stress and make accreditation a daily maintenance activity just like locking up the building and turning off the lights.

A daily dose of accreditation does not need to be overwhelming. Items include having a defined process for daily patient paperwork, keeping accurate data records, and monitoring the data. Look at the cleanliness of your facility for patient and employee safety. Make sure you are covering equipment, tagging, and appropriately marking clean, dirty, and repairable equipment. Keeping accreditation top of mine is more about being educated and paying attention to details.

What is your facility doing to take their daily does of accreditation? Share your thoughts below!

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