With that being said, you may feel that you’ve reached a ceiling in terms of your earnings and you’re wondering whether you can boost your profits. There are several ways to do this when starting a home care business and we show you what they are below.
Increasing non-medical home care business profits
A non-medical home care business is required to provide the client with assisted daily living activities such as cooking, shopping, dressing, bathing, socialising, physical activities, medication giving and more. If you would like to boost your profits, there are several strategies you can adopt to give your business the boost it needs. Here’s how.
Customer acquisition: Customer acquisition is a critical part of any business. Without customers, your business is a mere shell. But how do you gain more customers? The answer lies in marketing. Marketing is a way of getting your business noticed by the right people and making your offering so attractive when compared with the competition that they choose you over them. Marketing may involve having a webpage through which you display your services and prices; it may involve getting customer reviews as reviews are today’s equivalent of word-of-mouth marketing; you could build and use your email list to offer clients new discounts; you could promote referrals by giving both sides some type of incentive; you could opt for the more old-fashioned way of acquiring customers such as flyers; and lastly, there is the establishment of strategic partnerships with local doctors, care homes, insurance companies and more.
Bill for more hours with prepaid packages: Your non-medical home care business probably already has established service packages. But one way to boost these is to offer them as prepaid packages so that your customers pay for the service first prior to its actual delivery. This is going to save you a lot of headaches down the road as you won’t have to spend money on debt collection and chasing unpaid bills.
Tier your pricing structure: You can also implement flexibility in your pricing structure by, for example, tiering it and offering long-standing clients lower rates for longer service provision and charge clients who only want a service over the short-term a higher price. One example of this is if the service you typically charge costs £20 per hour. For clients that wish to use your services over the short-term, say one month, you can charge the fee of £20 per hour. Those that wish to have an even shorter service can see their fees go up to £23. Meanwhile, clients who stay with you for three to six months can see their costs reduced in the region of £17 per hour. This is just an example of the tiered pricing you can use and is by no means an indication of what you should be charging your clients.
Build your brand: Building a brand goes hand in hand with your marketing efforts and it refers to your business’ reputation in the market and how you are perceived by your clients. This can take years to achieve but a strong reputation is invaluable. You can do so by striving to become a market leader. Consider giving talks at local community forms and events. Become an authority on the subject. Meet as many people as you can and talk to them. And if you’re faced with a situation of a customer complaint or negative customer service, be sure to nip it in the bud as quickly as possible so that it doesn’t spread like wildfire on the internet.
Caregiver retention: While there are millions of caregivers in the UK, the market is certainly not saturated due to the high and growing demand for such services in homes around the country. However, due to the nature of the job, some caregivers may feel thinly spread owing to a variety of clients they may have to see to and they may consider withdrawing from this career. The costs of replacing non-medical home care caregivers is very high and retaining your existing caregivers is a must. Do so through continuous dialogue with them, training sessions to ensure they provide the right service and keeping communication channels open so that expectations are clear.
Customer retention strategies: Once you’ve built your customer base, you’ll also want to retain them. This can be done by engaging in an effective dialogue with them to see where you can improve. Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback – whether individually, through annual surveys or other tools. Another option to retain existing customers is to offer them attractive discounts so that they do not veer off to the competition.
Wondering why to invest in a non-medical home care business?
Buying a care business for sale is probably going to be one of the most rewarding things you do with your time. But after all, it’s a business and you need to ensure you’re running it profitably. If you feel that you’ve reached a ceiling when it comes to gaining more clients, you are not alone. However, there are many strategies you can employ to ensure you acquire new clients and keep existing ones happy.
