by Stephen Tweed

In February of 2023, we had our Top 5% Home Care CEO Mastermind Group in Marco Island,
Florida for our semi-annual get together.  Fifteen leaders from ten companies gathered to
discuss their big burning issues, and to share ideas and insights on how they are growing their
businesses.
One of our members made a very strategic point about her big burning issue.
“We need to be more intentional about what a good referral looks like.  We did an analysis of
our business, and 51% of our clients have a length of stay of less than three weeks.”

That led to an in-depth conversation about sources of referrals, and the dollar value of a client.
We calculate the dollar value of a client by taking the average monthly revenue times the total
length of stay in months.  According to Home Care Pulse, the average length of stay is 12
months, and four the Masters level agencies it is 16 months.  What is your average length of
stay?
The conversation also dug into the average hours per client per week, and the impact of
accepting clients with relatively few hours per week, hoping they will grow into clients using
many hours per week.  The group was clear.  As one member put it, “Short shifts rarely grow
into longer shifts with higher hours.”
Another member said, “Only one in one hundred short hour clients grow significantly.”

What do you know about your Client Mix?

Have you done an analysis of your clients to understand the average length of stay, the average
hours per client per week, and the dollar value of a client?  Have you analyzed your clients by
referral source to find out which referral sources are giving you the most valuable clients?
In today’s world of caregiver shortages, burned out schedulers, and inability to take new clients,
home care leaders need to be more strategic in looking at their sources of referrals.

Defining Your Ideal Client

Several years ago, we were working with one of the members of our Top 10% Mastermind
Group.  We conducted a study to analyze the dollar value of each and every client they served
in a calendar year. We organized them by referral source, and this led to a totally new
understanding of which referral sources bring in clients with the highest dollar value. It also led
us to a clearer understanding of family caregivers, and who is more likely to buy home care
services for a large number of hours per week over a long period of time. In another study, we
learned that when an inquiry comes into your office, 60% of the time the caller is the oldest
daughter of the client.  Another 20% of the time, the caller is another daughter.  We also
discovered that the ideal caller is a professional female who is 45 to 65 years old, earns over
$100,000 per year, is married with children, cares a lot about mom or dad, and has more money
than time.

How do you find this ideal caller?

By doing an analysis of your best clients and worst clients, by studying your list of clients by
referral source, and by getting feedback from your care coordinators and schedulers, you can
paint a clear picture of the clients who are easiest to work with, who require larger numbers of
hours per week, and who stay in your care for a longer length of time.

Learn more from OPE – Other People’s Experience

To learn more about how you can grow your business, attract more of your ideal clients, and
make your life easier, you may want to consider becoming a member of a Home Care
Mastermind Group.  If you are an independent company providing more than 1,500 hours of
care per week, you will want to take a look at the Home Care CEO Forum.   When you join a
Home Care Mastermind Group, you’ll interact on a regular basis with owners and CEOs of other
companies your size who do not compete with you in your local market.  You will discuss
opening the big burning issues that are blocking you from the kind of business growth you want.

Don’t delay. Take a look today. Home Care CEO Mastermind Groups.