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How to Increase Positive Reviews for Your Senior Home Care Business

Posted by homecare

Have you invested in a senior care franchise and are now having trouble obtaining new patients? You are not alone, as many new business and franchise owners experience a similar situation. Luckily, the cause is often simple and easy to fix. First, you must ascertain whether your previous patients have been satisfied with your senior care services. If the answer is “yes,” then the most likely explanation is a lack of positive search engine reviews. We are talking about reviews on websites like Yelp and Google. 

To let potential patients know about the quality of your services, you need a variety of positive reviews across multiple websites. We can help you achieve this goal. Read on to learn how to easily increase positive reviews for your senior care business and thus gain new patients. 

Claim Your Business Online

Before you can start increasing your senior home care franchise’s positive reviews, you must first officially claim your business online. To do so, search your business’ name or address on Google Maps and click “Claim this business.” You will then be prompted to fill out all necessary information, such as an address, phone number, website, and photos. Once this step is complete, your business becomes viewable on Google, at which point you can finally start receiving reviews. 

In addition to being viewable on Google, you should expand your business’ presence to other websites as well. Such websites include Yelp, A Place For Mom, Aging Care, Senior Care, to name a few. With multiple websites containing positive reviews about your business, patients are much more likely to enlist your services.

Invite Satisfied Patients to Write Reviews

After creating an online presence for your senior care franchise, it is now time to start increasing your positive reviews. You might have many patients that love your services, however, if they don’t express their satisfaction, your online credibility suffers. Therefore, it is important to invite all of your patients to post an online review of their experiences. Make sure to ask this of every patient as well as the patient’s family members who also oversee your care. It will not take long before you have several high-quality reviews across multiple credible websites. 

Provide Feedback and Clarity to Reviews

Now that you have received some positive reviews about your franchise, you should strive to provide feedback to each review. This is especially important for those that express criticism, as you have an opportunity to provide explanations. For example, if you receive a negative review from a past patient, it’s not the end of the world. Rather, simply apologize for their unsatisfactory experience, and explain what you will implement to avoid similar issues in the future. 

Always Remain Respectful and Courteous 

Above all else, when replying to reviews, always be respectful and courteous. If you receive several positive reviews, humbly provide your appreciation. Likewise, you should remain respectful and gracious even when faced with criticism. The last thing you want for your business’ presence online is to give rude, angry feedback to negative reviews. Doing so can severely damage your franchise’s credibility. 

Start Your Franchise Today

These tips for senior care businesses are guaranteed to increase the number of positive reviews that you receive online. At A Better Solution In Home Care, we are proud to give others the opportunity to start their own senior care services. After joining our team, we give franchise owners all the tools needed for success in this market. With specialized training by our expert team members, your financial stability is guaranteed. 

So, start improving the lives of seniors while also investing in your financial future today. Contact us on our franchise website for additional information. 

Senior Care Franchise Owners: 3 Strategies to Provide Excellent Care

Posted by homecare

Owning a senior care franchise can be a very rich opportunity for both personal and professional growth. It allows you to be your own boss. In other words, you call the shots and make the big decisions that will shape your business. You can decide where to focus your energy and financial resources, which will determine how the community perceives you. One of the  things that will have the biggest impact on the success of your business, is your staff. How you choose to fill your positions should reflect the vision you have for your franchise. The road to growing a business will look different for everyone. However, the very heart of any new franchise should be a common mission: to provide accessible and exceptional senior care. 

Below are the top 3 best strategies you should consider to bring your senior home care franchise vision to fruition. 

1: Hire the Right People 

Any home care agency is only as good as its staff. You can have a solid business plan, the best intentions, and the strongest resources, but if caregivers on the front lines aren’t providing excellent care and making meaningful connections with the clients you serve, your business won’t get off the ground. The process of onboarding the best caregivers should be three-fold:

The Screening Process

Implementing a thorough screening process is a key component in ensuring the competency of your senior care services. Your caregivers need to be qualified and equipped to perform their duties. At its core,  a comprehensive employee screening process should include a complete background check, thorough employment history review, and personal and professional reference checks. This allows you to get a holistic view of the applicant and take note of any red flags or inconsistencies.

The screening process should also include a mandatory competency test to ensure the prospective hires can provide the level of care for the standard you set. When you decide to move forward with the strongest candidates, it’s beneficial to put them through a trial period on-site, so you can assess their skill set in a real-life care situation. 

Looking Beyond Their Skill Set

When selecting the best team to serve your seniors, it is important to consider personality. While skills can be taught, personality can not. And having the right skills and the right personality for senior care really go hand-in-hand. Your caregivers need to make meaningful connections with your clients to create both a positive experience for them and higher levels of retention for your business. As the leader, you need to vet your candidates to make sure a passion for helping seniors is at the heart of their work. It needs to be the primary motivator if you want to build a team of exceptional caregivers with a shared philosophy in the level of care they offer. 

Caregivers with specialized training are much more marketable, making your business more marketable. Caregivers are expected to have a certain set of skills and be competent to perform them. However, employing a few caregiving staff that have specialized training or experience can make your agency stand out from the competition. For example, being able to offer caregiving professionals with special training in conditions like Alzheimer’s can appeal to families seeking care for loved ones suffering from dementia.  

2: Hire the Right Administrative Staff

Having great caregivers on the front lines is essential. Though, having an effective and organized administrative staff on the back end is just as important. Administrative professionals are true assets when it comes to running your business efficiently. They are responsible for keeping meticulous records, which is crucial in senior care services. They need to be technologically proficient, have excellent written and verbal communication skills, and regularly take initiative to step into leadership positions. 

Computer skills are a foundational skill in any administration job. Nevertheless, the right admin staff will be comfortable in learning new software programs, performing website maintenance, and managing social media accounts for your business. We are living in a progressive, tech-based world. So, your administration needs to be adept at navigating new programs. They also must possess a readiness to learn about new systems and upgrades to enable your franchise to offer the best quality of senior care. As the owner of a senior care business, you wear many hats. Therefore, you need an office staff that is highly organized, pays fine attention to detail, and takes the initiative to get things done when you aren’t available. 

3: Take an Active Role in Client Care 

Franchise ownership will keep you busy. It is easy to become overwhelmed with the day-to-day operations and fall short of making meaningful connections with the clients. Carving out time to make personal connections will serve you and your business well. This could mean regular check-ins with clients or their families via phone call, scheduled home visits with the assigned caregiver. By doing so, you’ll be able to observe how things are going. You can also reach out with satisfaction surveys, sponsor local community events that appeal to, or serve, the senior population. Greater interest in your clients will lead to more investment in your services. 

Making an Impact 

Franchise ownership and operating senior care businesses presents many opportunities for personal and professional growth. There are resources available to help you decide if this business path is right for you. Reach out to A Better Solution in Home Care to know more!

Senior Care Business Owners: What to Do When Caregivers Get Burnout

Posted by homecare

Most caregivers in the senior care business burn out after less than one year. Caregiver burnout is a very serious issue. It results in unhappy clients and higher turnover. Burnout is also incredibly expensive. But you can stop it.

The first step is to know what caregiver burnout is. You need to know the symptoms of caregiver burnout. Then, you need to know the steps you can take to fix the problem. Here is how you can recognize caregiver burnout and fix it.

Remind Them Why They Became a Caregiver in the First Place

Reminding a caregiver why they wanted to become a caregiver is one of the biggest motivators you can tap into. While it can be difficult to care for patients on a daily basis (that is unless your patients are having fun in their golden years!), coming back to the reasons they became a caregiver in the first place can help them enjoy and embrace this part of their job. Any time they feel stressed or overwhelmed, make a list of the reasons why they chose to start caring for others in the first place.

Other Ways to Help Employees With Caregiver Burnout

Connect Them with Support Groups

If your caregiver feels stuck in a rut in your career, have them reach out to other caregivers. This can be done through hospital support groups, online communities, or more locally by going into local nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

Caregiving support groups are an excellent way to connect with like-minded peers and find productive ways to deal with the stress of the job, and stay motivated through the process. The most important key is to do something that makes your caregiver feel positive about continuing their work as a caregiver. When we treat ourselves roughly, we pay for it in more ways than one!

Exercise

Caregivers often feel that they don’t have enough time in their day to exercise because they work long hours. However, it is fundamental to make time for fitness.

Exercise not only keeps you healthy, but it will help you relax and de-stress. The key is to find time amidst your busy schedule. This is crucial, especially when things are hectic at the job or there are patients suffering from severe conditions.

One way caregivers can make room for exercise in their day is by planning ahead of time; save time for an exercise session as these moments could actually be where you’re the busiest. Even just a walk around the neighborhood during lunch would suffice!

Rest Well

To be effective at your job, ample sleep is key. Good sleep practices can determine how well you do your job. Before bedtime, try some of these common tips: having a consistent nighttime routine, avoiding prying electronic gadgets that give off artificial light in the 60 minutes right before bedtime, and aiming for eight hours of shuteye every night.

Set Goals

Goals are excellent ways to stay motivated in your daily life. There’s no such thing as a little goal or a big goal, and you should set them to help hold yourself accountable for certain things that you want to improve in your personal life.

Don’t be afraid to set goals related specifically to your work because everyone could find some way of working smarter and better! For example, some basic workplace goals can be interacting with more patients throughout the day, finding methods to destress at work, or eliminating those time-wasters that make us feel frantic and hurried.

Take Breaks

A recent study has shown that taking regular breaks can help you feel more motivated and focused at work.

While it’s true that finding time to take breaks can be difficult when you work in senior care services, you have to be creative in arranging your day to take the downtime you need. For example, try scheduling a break for yourself every couple of hours or hire respite care so that you can get away from your responsibilities for a while. You’ll feel refreshed and recharged when you return to work.

Take a few moments every morning or during lunch to stop and breathe in deeply, then focus on the positive things that are happening right now. You can’t do away with stress altogether, but you can change how you deal with it!

Why Choose Us

If you looking to start or improve your home care services, then please check out our franchise and business opportunities. In A Better Solution In Home Care, we specialize in providing customized assisted living for seniors. By fully evaluating the needs of each individual client, we can find the specific solutions that are best-suited to help them remain independent for as long as possible.