Creating the right first impression with prospective residents and their families

The decision to move a loved one into a care home is a tough one for any family – taking months of careful consideration to choose where best suits the individual’s needs and requirements. Picking a home is a huge responsibility, so potential residents and their families are likely to shop around to see which the best option is.

With financial pressures ever apparent in the care home sector, it’s more important than ever for care home groups to do what they can to set themselves apart from the competition. The most obvious way to do this is through the delivery of exemplary customer service, and this starts from the moment a care home receives a new residential enquiry. And yet, not all care homes are currently getting this crucial first contact right.

Where care homes are currently falling behind?

Care home groups are focused on delivering excellent care with stretched resources - the pressures of which often mean new enquiry customer contact and service is not a top priority. This can lead to potential residents and their families often receiving less care and attention due to resource constraints, which can result in prospective customers looking elsewhere – after all, first impressions really count

At Echo, we understand both the importance of the decision to place a relative into a care home, and the role care homes themselves need to play in assisting and supporting families, so we recently conducted some research of our own into the sector.

In our mystery shopper exercise, we contacted a number of UK care home groups, posing as a first-time customer, to see how they dealt with initial customer interactions. We found that more than half of the organisations did not meet the enquirer’s needs, or answer their query, in a professional manner upon first contact. It was also disappointing that over 65% failed to offer the prospective customer the opportunity to visit a home, while 45% didn’t attempt to capture the individual’s information – meaning they would have a hard time following up with them.

Beyond our research, it’s a well-known fact that within the sector, much of customer contact is undertaken on a transactional basis, rather than a proactive attempt at engagement. Teams are often only trained to complete basic tasks, such as arranging calls between prospective residents’ families and care home managers, or looking up nearby care homes. Having staff that are solely focused on a task-based approach, who are unable to deliver a more holistic service, is not effective customer service and can be damaging to an organisation’s reputation and occupancy rates.

So, how can care homes improve their customer service approach?

The care home sector is a challenging marketplace where customer service can be a real competitive differentiator. This means that ensuring those who are the face, or the voice, of your organisation are able to effectively answer queries, dispel worries, and comfort those families going through an unsettling and confusing time, is of the utmost importance.

In order for this to happen, robust staff training must be put in place. Care homes can choose to go down one of two routes – they can either outsource some, if not all, of their customer contact to subcontracted sector specialist advisors, or they can instead invest in internal up-skilling. Regardless of which route they choose, there are a number of things organisations can, and should, do to create a truly great experience for potential customers.

Employing the right people

When it comes to engaging with a family member who is moving a relative into a care home, it’s imperative that staff are both knowledgeable and empathetic, so they’re able to have sometimes difficult conversations in a sensitive manner. Employing those with the right skillsets, and empowering them to deliver a great service, is easiest done where recruitment practices and assessment centres are tailored specifically for this purpose. Those recruited must develop a deep understanding of the customer as an individual, their family circumstances, and the needs and requirements of the prospective resident in order to match their specific needs with the right home

Regular contact throughout the customer journey

Ensuring regular and proactive contact with prospective customers is crucial for engagement. Keeping the lines of communication open and being proactive will go a long way – if a potential customer is due to visit a home, it is good practice to give them a call a few days ahead to remind them of the upcoming appointment and ensure they have all the information needed ahead of the visit. Follow-up calls are also recommended as they can offer people a chance to ask any questions that they may have thought of since the visit, or forgot about on the day, allowing potential customers to make fully-informed decisions.

Adopting a more holistic approach

It’s crucial for organisations to move initial contact with potential customers from a transactional, task-based interaction to a more holistic one; streamlining the customer journey. Something as simple as being able to book an appointment to visit a home at the first point of contact can be much more effective than providing a glossy brochure, or transferring the call to a specific care home to handle. A reliance on needing to speak to a specific individual at a care home in order to gain in-depth and detailed information can cause delays for the enquirer, should that person not be immediately available. A well-trained team of customer service advisors who are consistently available during the times prospects what to get in touch, and via their contact channels of preference, will enable care home groups to deliver a more effective and personalised service.

The care home sector is a competitive one and homes increasingly must do what they can to stand out from the rest. An effective enquiry management strategy, which puts individuals’ needs and wants at the forefront, is crucial - but this can only truly be achieved by an empowered and empathetic workforce. Families placing relatives into homes need to have the support of knowledgeable staff who can give practical advice whilst also lending a sympathetic ear – whether this is delivered via a specialist outsourcer, or by a well-trained internal team.

By Karen Banfield, contact centre director at specialist outsourcer Echo Managed Services