Exploring Insurance for Your Senior Care Business

When Debbie left the home care office last Monday, she was looking forward to an afternoon with her favorite senior, Mrs. Smith.  Instead she slipped on the kitchen floor while cleaning up after lunch and broke her arm. Fortunately, her employer had the foresight to protect both the business and herself by purchasing an insurance policy suitable for that business' needs, including employees injured on the job. By facing the risks associated with your home care business, assessing all your particular insurance needs and understanding the complete range of coverage available, you'll be assured you are purchasing a policy that will cover you if something unfortunate happens. Keep reading for some tips on purchasing insurance for your home care business:

Check Legal Requirements Locally

Even though you will not be offering medical services to the seniors you serve, there are usually safety and security issues involved in entering private residences and spending time with the elderly in their. Each state imposes its own particular requirements for business insurance coverage. All have basic minimum coverage requirements, but these minimums are different from state to state.  If you have franchises in multiple states, check the requirements in each one by contacting the State Insurance Commissioner's office for this information.

Assess Your Business' Needs

Some business owners unwisely decide to save money by enrolling in the minimum amount of insurance coverage they can legally carry because it is the least expensive.  This is a poor choice, as one claim that cannot be covered by your insurance has the potential to put you out of business. Instead, you should assess your business' needs accurately and realistically.  Each franchise's needs differ based on many factors including the services your business will be providing, the numbers and types of employees you will hire and the various risks associated with the business' daily functions. 

Shopping for Insurance

Speak with several insurance agents or brokers to gain a complete understanding of all their plan offerings to see which will best suit the needs of your senior care business. Get multiple price quotes on these plans. Don't hesitate to ask in-depth questions and shop around.  Take the time you need to find the best policy for your needs.  

By covering your non-medical home care franchise with a well-researched and all-inclusive insurance policy, you have financial and legal protection should any claims ever arise. With this coverage, your home care franchise can survive accidents, damage claims and other emergencies while continuing to offer excellent care to your seniors.

Smaller Markets May Mean More Success for Franchise Owners

One national franchisor recently made an unexpected and surprising discovery when new franchises were launched in small markets instead of the usual larger metro markets. These franchises all got their businesses started faster, hit their goal numbers quicker and did nearly 60 percent more in revenue in their first half year of operation than larger metro market franchises did.  Upon further study, the franchisor discovered three reasons for this trend. 

Making Community Connections

One franchisee deliberately chose a small market thirty miles from Nashville, Tennessee because he felt he would have an easier time making a useful impact right away within a small market rather than a major one. He was right. His franchise quickly became established and well-known in that community.

Businesses such as elderly care franchises are usually able to become quickly established within their local communities as they are, by their very nature, people- and service-oriented. In smaller markets, they become fixtures in the town by establishing contacts with referral sources and easily making community connections which serve the business well.

Reduced Competition

The fact that smaller markets see faster success times for their franchises is not just a matter of their connections in the community. It is also due to the reduced competition they face in their market. Another contributing factor is that existing competitors seem more willing to work with each other.  A new franchise's top referral source may be a competitor who is unable to meet client demands.  Sometimes another competitor refers business to a new franchise because they are transitioning out of their business.

Availability of Human Resources

Although the national economy is improving, there are still many people searching for work. Franchises located in smaller markets find that hiring employees is easier, particularly for caregiver businesses. Small markets have a solid available workforce from which to hire the dozens of caregivers needed to staff their franchise. 

Franchisors have had so much success with establishing fast-growing franchises in small markets that this trend can no longer be ignored.  Senior care franchises are perfect candidates for experiencing similar start-up success in small markets as they are community service-oriented businesses at heart.  If you are planning to buy a home care franchise, plan for success by setting up shop in a smaller market.

Choosing a Territory for Your Home Care Franchise

After you decide to purchase a home care franchise, one of the critical first steps in establishing your business is to select the territory in which you will operate.  A great deal of serious consideration and considerable demographic research goes into making this decision. Consider both the short-term possibilities and the long-term potential for your new franchise within any potential territory.  Once your franchise is established in your chosen territory, you will be devoting a significant amount of time to relationship-building within that local community.

Demographic Criteria to Consider in Selecting Territories

It is natural to lean toward selecting a territory near your own home. Unfortunately, the demographics of your area may not be well-suited for business success. If you live in a community populated primarily by young urban professionals, for example, you will have little to no client base.  Some new franchise owners are drawn to areas of higher income residents, but that choice may yield no clients if the age demographic is younger adults. A well-to-do area does not guarantee clients.

Consider, instead, choosing territories populated by a significant number of older homeowners who have been in their homes for decades, more than likely raising their families there. Such territories may be further away from your residence, but the longer commute is compensated for with a successful and thriving business.  Remember that many of the individuals who will benefit from your home care services have reached the last years of their lives and are now on reduced income with little or no money. It may actually be their adult children who hire you.

Potential franchise owners who thoroughly study territory demographics must learn each one's geographic boundaries, if any rival franchises providing similar services are present, how many residents in the area's population are 65 or older, and what potential sources of client referrals exist in the territory (i.e. medical offices, social services, welfare offices).  You must also be aware that demographics can be misleading and, at times, even incorrect. Check information from multiple sources whenever possible.

Home care franchises exist to provide in-home care for the elderly with everyday tasks, meal preparation, socialization and many other types of activities. This allows seniors to remain independently living at home longer.  An elderly care franchise owner who plans to establish a flourishing home care business will choose a territory with a population large enough to need and hire the company's services.

The Importance of Maintaining Your Home Care Franchise Blog

Since most consumers go straight to the internet when they want to find a particular company offering a service, more and more businesses are establishing a presence on the internet each day. This is true for almost all industries, including the home care industry. 

It makes sense to start by creating a website, but there’s more than just setting up a website and leaving it alone. This is where blogging can make a big difference to how you come across in a competitive field.

Blogging Benefits

Here are some reasons you should add a blog to your website:

• You and your staff come across as approachable and down-to-earth
• Blogging offers an opportunity to demonstrate how experienced and knowledgeable you are
• Writing a blog is an effective SEO tactic
• A current blog post shows your company is operational

Obviously, when it comes to home care you want to be both professional and personable. Empathy and skill must go hand-in-hand. A blog allows the writer to show an emotional side while remaining professional and focused on a relevant topic is a major plus.

A blog isn’t purely informational – one can use SEO as a way for search engines to recognize home care blogs and websites, which help home care franchise owners rise in search engine results. With enough time and practice, there is the potential to rank on the first page of large search engines like Google. It’s important to keep your blog updated and relevant to your business, or else Google and other search engines may not give your blog the proper credibility

The Payoff Will Come

Writing a blog is a fantastic idea, but the results won't be instant. Patience will be rewarded over time, especially since many other companies don’t utilize the opportunity to blog. Without allowing enough time one cannot determine whether this tactic would have worked, but experts say it's important to keep writing. Consistency leads to success.

If you don’t feel like writing new, newsworthy blog posts for your home care business, you can always rely on a professional marketing and SEO company to do so for you. Make sure the company understands your business and the voice that you wish to write in before paying them the big bucks, however. 

Don’t underestimate the power of blogging as both an informational tool and SEO tactic to help grow your home care franchises.