The Bidding Antidote

I have been searching for an antidote to the upheaval caused by competitive bidding and continuing cuts in reimbursements. Fortunately, like big pharmaceutical companies, I had access to data from human trials—by examining success stories from hundreds of companies—that gave me crucial insights.

The result is ready, and the antidote involves heavy doses of a larger customer base and greater efficiency.  Together, these elements can protect us from many of the underlying threats – negative press, Medicare cuts and the government’s misguided judgment about the value of homecare. But we must do more than just fight these threats. We must give our businesses much more attention. We must afford our offices and operations the same energy we devote to talking about industry changes.

We are blessed with a continually growing customer base.  Every day thousands more people find a new interest in what we offer. With that in mind, we must prepare for competitive bidding and treat it like an approaching disease.

Start by Increasing the Number of Customers You Serve

Finding new customers must come first. More customers mean more revenue and greater public awareness of our companies and programs. Most companies can handle a greater volume of customers without significant increases in expenses or staffing. To find new customers, use these ideas:

1) Think about advertising. Where do you advertise? Have you considered TV but not yet talked to any of the stations? Have you met with newspaper representatives to consider costs for that medium?

2) Are you are calling each week on potential referral sources?  List the new people you met with last week, or those you will be meeting with next week.

3) Have you asked existing referral sources for names and organizations that you can contact to discuss a program or clinical service?

4) Have you reviewed orders and found zip codes areas where you have yet to make a sales call?

5) Are you getting to know retail customers?  Have you asked for their contact information, or perhaps invited them to special programs in your store?

6) Do you continually remind staff that business is often built from the errors of competitors, and warn them not to send angry customers to competitors?

Customers are the fastest revenue generators I know. While they can reduce the pain of constant reimbursement changes, they can also increase the need for greater efficiency. That leads us to the second part of the cure.