Look Who's Talking: Care Home Customer Relationships

Article | Chris Guest, Customer Relations Manager, Blenheim House Care

The role of a customer relationships manager (CRM) may be new to some, and it was to me until late last year.

As the manager of our lifestyle team, I’d been asked to help our care home manage enquiries, but as the pandemic hit, we saw a dramatic decline in people looking for both respite and permanent stays at our home.

At the same time, restrictions on direct contact meant that our regular groups no longer enjoyed contact with residents and our community links started to dry up.

I was then offered the role of CRM. At first, I was hesitant about it, as I enjoyed the lively relationships I’d developed with our residents and their families. I feared the role would become a cold, sales-driven office job and I’d be glued to either a keyboard or a telephone, frantically trying to fill rooms.

With the support of my manager and Berkley Care Group, I understood that the role encompassed everything that I enjoyed about working in a care home.

I set up a network of stakeholders – Friends of Blenheim – to share positive support in our towns. Even with all the marketing money in the world, a home’s reputation can be dramatically impacted if the local community doesn’t know about or trust a home in their area.

The communities I work alongside are very varied, with stakeholders including town councillors, police officers, voluntary community leaders, and organisations such as Help the Aged, Dignity Champions and Alzheimer’s Alliance.

Balancing my work with such a diverse group of stakeholders is a skill that has really helped me to promote the home professionally and amongst the general public. It was essential for me to establish this positive rapport with our community if I was to increase our occupancy and, sure enough, enquiries started coming in again.

With the support of all our wonderful teams, we took our occupancy from 64 to 85 residents, the first time we had been at full capacity since we opened in 2013.

Increasing admission enquiries was one thing, but converting them to actual admissions was another entirely. Given that the pandemic restrictions were still in place, I established virtual tours.

This was the first point at which families could meet us, and although the environment was strange to most of us, it quickly became the norm. At first, admissions were slow but steady - although I knew that once the restrictions were lifted and families could meet me for a tour in person, we would see an uplift in converting enquiries to admissions.

As restrictions began to ease, I delivered breakfasts to emergency workers, volunteered at local youth clubs, met businesses to discuss dementia care, and eventually welcomed families for in-person tours.

This is where we’re currently at, and it’s a role I’m relishing. I run two tours of the home a day – sometimes more if needed, but I’m careful that the tours don’t become robotic and soulless.

I also run reviews with our families every two weeks, which has helped generate a marked increase in our Carehome.co.uk score. Because of that, we were recently recognised as a Top 20 Care Home in the South West.

With feedback being strong, reliable relationships being formed, and daily tours stemming from consistent enquiries, we are now at a position of high occupancy.

The dedicated CRM role has freed up our manager to concentrate on other aspects of the home too, such as reducing the number of agency staff, increasing supervision, and providing support for other teams in the home. It has also allowed her own relationships with our residents and families to flourish.

Building a strong rapport with companies and local leaders gets our home mentioned in many different meetings, keeping our name on the lips of those who can make important decisions – economically and socially. Community was, and will always be, one of our strongest drivers of enquiries. I feel that it is my duty to make sure our care home is a central hub for the town: Melksham is an age-friendly town, and we are one of its largest employers.

My role could easily be swallowed up with spreadsheets and telephone calls, so I partition a section of time for maintaining these community links. This may be a brief call to a day centre to share some of our resources with their members, or it could even be a quick run to the shops to deliver some vegetables to one of our community cafés.

The job also requires lots of empathy, as I’m often working with individuals who are near to the end of their life. Families must trust me, and I must be passionate about helping them. Supporting them through a myriad of questions is something that I’m genuinely proud to say I do.

On the flip side is the business acumen that I’ve developed: I report daily to the company and understand the workings of the industry in terms of budgets, forecasting and contracts. I’ve also been fortunate enough to be recognised with some wonderful awards in my new role, and as well as being a great confidence booster, this helps to enhance the home’s reputation.

Like most roles in a care setting, the CRM needs to be passionate about people first. I have found that other teams can support me if I need help with admin, a contract sending out or someone to step in to read a report – but I’m conscious that the most important aspects of my role are community outreach and forming reliable relationships with families who are coming to terms with their loved ones going into a care home.

Chris Guest

Customer Relations Manager, Blenheim House Care

Chris is the Customer Relationships Manager (CRM) for Blenheim House Care Home in Melksham, part of the award-winning Berkley Care Group. He is also on the advisory panel for leading welfare and lifestyle charity NAPA (National Activities Providers Association), a Dignity Champion and a keen part of local community engagement groups.

You can follow Chris on Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/chris-guest- 92ab92238