How Can Your Home Care Agency Increase Referrals Using a Web Based CRM?

Proper information management is critical to building relationships with customers, and relationship building is critical to home care success. In the past it was hard for home care agencies to keep track of up-to-date activities of their sales representatives, gain insight into their standing with referral sources, track sales data, and analyze territory progress.

Thanks to the power of today's technology, home care executives today have at their disposal all the means necessary to manage information and strengthen relationships with customers. The newest CRM technologies are Internet-based so the data is automatically upgraded, fully supported (no need for an IT person) and can be integrated with existing patient information management programs.

Tina Walters, a regional sales manager for Franklin, Tn.-based Guardian Home Care, is the type of manager who likes to stay on top of her sales representatives, business but not micromanage them. Her goal as a manager is to get her sales reps to think better strategically and provide them with the tools and motivation to tactically put their plans into action and succeed.

Walters credits Guardian Home Care's recent company-wide implementation of a customer relationship management (CRM) application for making her job a whole lot easier - and efficient. Having a CRM in place has helped her, as well as her sales representatives, better manage accounts, boost productivity, save time, and increase referrals.

"My sales reps have a tool that they can use to optimally manage their accounts, expenses, and time," Walters says. "I am able to monitor at a glance a sales rep's weekly calls, referrals, admits, and budget spent to date. This allows me to trend data patterns for performance management."

In the home care industry here are some options to look for when seeking out a CRM system. Whether or not users are immediately given a populated local database of targeted referral sources for each territory so that sales reps can get started quickly. Also, be able to classify each account based on categories such as physician, ALF, hospital, and discharge planner, and rate those accounts using a ranking scale. They can take advantage of the application's Sales Zone System, which guides them step-by-step through the sales process, guaranteeing continuity and best practice in the sales cycle. The application should contain an optional expense reporting function that alerts the sales rep as to when they have reached the limit of spending on a referral source.

CRM refers to the processes and tools a company uses to manage customer relationships in an organized way. Most home care agencies have always had some sort of CRM in place whether it be paper-based or software-based. The downside: Information eventually became outdated, lost, stolen, damaged, or deleted, leaving managers in a mess of paperwork and spreadsheets with virtually no way of tracking the history of an account. Staff turnover often meant the loss of valuable information associated with accounts. That's quickly changing, thanks to CRM applications that track, manage, and store data through a web portal - data that stays with the agency long after the sales representative has left, saving that agency time, money and accounts. With CRM in place, sales reps have the structure and guidance they need to optimally perform their jobs, resulting in increased job satisfaction and reduced sales force turnover.

Adam Bishop, Founder of PlayMaker CRM. At Last! A customer relationship management (CRM) tool that is specific to home care. playmakercrm.com/free-trial playmakercrm.com/free-trial