As home care business owners, we all operate on systems that we’ve so eloquently built in order to achieve proper care for our clients. Once we’ve mastered those systems and our care units are running efficiently and effectively, we naturally start to think about how to scale to the next level. In this series, we explore the key components to scaling your home care business while maintaining the highest quality care, optimal efficiency, and meeting your financial goals.
Today, we focus on knowing your strengths and weaknesses… and using that knowledge to grow your business.
First, a reminder. The care of your clients always comes first. It may sound intuitive, but topping the list in quality care, means we put people first. Getting priorities straight and walking the walk is essential to maintaining high-quality care.
We have been discussing some important tools we need under our belt to scale our home care business. But none thus far strike quite as close to the heart of the matter for a director, as this one does: put people over profit. Always.
I know why, but… why?
We will start with the easy ones…
It’s the Right Thing to Do
We are in the home care business. We care for veterans, grandmas, artists, uncles, doctors, CPA’s…. Humans who matter. We care for people. Profits will come and go, but the care we offer leaves a lasting legacy. People come to us at sometimes the hardest point of their lives, trusting us with the ones they love most. What is bigger than this?
You found yourself in this business for a reason, and this was probably it. Keep this sensibility in your sights, because it can be easy to overlook at least temporarily in a crowded space of concerns such as “hitting our numbers”, each vying for our full attention. Should we cut the quality of our care, because our expenses spiked last month? No. Should we cut a corner, so we can see more clients in a day? No.
These are easy answers now, but it gets harder. Remember this, because when the tides get tough in our business, and it’s easy to get disoriented with opposing demands, this must remain our guiding north star: people over profits.
There is Always a Way
Settling, compromising, and sacrificing are almost always avoidable. Even in the toughest of circumstances, a rigorous creative process of problem-solving can usually meet the moment. Fresh resources like temporary personnel, cost-cutting elsewhere, schedule changes, supplier changes, and negotiation are all viable ways to enforce a seemingly binary choice between people and profits.
Your Reputation Has No Price Tag
Doing the right thing when no one is watching is said to be the definition of integrity. And putting people over profits is a perfect demonstration of the highest of integrity. Doing the right thing, however, when your clients are sure to hear about it, is also good for business. Word travels at lightning speed now more than ever. From big to incremental, daily decisions, your record becomes your reputation. And your reputation is priceless. Doing the right thing may not make the news, but it makes an indelible impression on your audience.
Home care agencies are often sought by word of mouth- one family member and existing client who trusted you with their loved one, to another potential client, who loves their family member just as much.. You cannot purchase ad space in media that is more valuable than the words that your clients will use to describe your services in the bleachers at a high school football game, on the phone while cooking dinner, and at the water cooler. Your reputation hinges on your authentic record of compassion and integrity. It can take years to build a reputation, and a single mistake to jeopardize it. In our industry, we are nothing without our good name.
Invest in your business and its growth by ensuring that your decisions always put people over profit. It’s not only good business, but it’s the right thing to do.
We will say it today, and over this series: there’s nothing easy about growth. You’re not alone if it feels challenging. But if you establish early on where your strengths and weaknesses are, and set in motion a plan to optimize for your strengths and fill in where you are weaker, you have laid a critical foundation for growth.
