QUARTERLY SPRING 2024 MSRP $19.95 ENERGY IS THE NEW CURRENCY Fueling Business Excellence In An Evolving Landscape How I MASTERED The Home Care Business COVER STORY Dawn Bransky Administrator/Owner at Benevolent Hearts Home Care Move Your Agency Into The New Year With A New Payer Source Mix PART 1 By Steve “The Hurricane” Weiss KNOW LIKE & TRUST Key Contacts At Referral Sources Most Intelligence Is Not Artificial Creating A Caregiver Recruitment Irresistible Offer Mastering The Mental Game Keys To Agency Success Unbelievable! How Google’s 2024 Update Could Make Or Break Your Online Presence! The 3 Key Components To Maximize Your Business
The
Unbelievable!
10 24 28 Move Your Agency Into The New Year With A New Payer Source Mix - by Julio Barea Most Intelligence Is Not Artificial - by Bruce Berglind Creating A Caregiver Recruitment Irresistible Offer - by Nick Bonitatibus
3 Key Components To Maximize Your Business - by Melissa Bagley 14 Know Like & Trust: Key Contacts At Referral Sources – Part 1 - by Steve “The Hurricane” Weiss 36 32
How Google’s 2024 Update Could Make Or Break Your Online Presence! - by Jeremy Fuller Energy Is The New Currency: Fueling Business Excellence In An Evolving Landscape - by Coleen Greco How I MASTERED The Home Care Business - by Dawn Bransky 06 18 Contents
Welcome
Evolve. Adapt. Transform. Thrive.
Welcome to Issue #9 of Home Care Evolution Quarterly!
Home Care Evolution Quarterly is for those home care business leaders who inspire to continuously learn in the industry. We exist to help you stay up to date on new trends and data from vetted contributing authors, all of who are experts in this industry.
This magazine is dedicated to helping YOU be on point in your:
● Sales & Marketing
● Operations
● Recruitment & Retention
● Financial & Multiple Revenue Streams
In this issue of Home Care Evolution magazine, the contributors and I provide you with current topics, breaking ideas, & practical strategies you will use to gain better ideas and solve bigger problems for new levels of success.
In this issue:
● Energy Is The New Currency: Fueling Business Excellence In An Evolving Landscape by Coleen Greco
● Move Your Agency Into The New Year With A New Payer Source Mix By Julio Barea
● Know Like & Trust: Key Contacts At Referral Sources – Part 1 By Steve “The Hurricane” Weiss
● How I MASTERED The Home Care Business By Dawn Bransky
● Most Intelligence Is Not Artificial By Bruce Berglind
● Creating A Caregiver Recruitment Irresistible Offer By Nick Bonitatibus
● The 3 Key Components To Maximize Your Business By Melissa Bagley
● Unbelievable! How Google’s 2024 Update Could Make Or Break Your Online Presence! By Jeremy Fuller
If there is a topic that is important to you that you would like to see in a future issue, please contact me directly.
Sincerely,
Steve "The Hurricane" President and CEO Home Care Evolution steve@homecareevolution.com 848-444-9865
"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." Matthew 6:33
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Energy Is The New Currency
Fueling Business Excellence In An Evolving Landscape
Coleen is a Joyologist. She provides a combination of mindset and nutrition coaching to people who feel stuck and want to reclaim joy in their life. As a motivational speaker, she works with individuals and corporations around the globe teaching folks how to reclaim their joy using the SNAP Method™. This proven methodology helps her clients remove limiting beliefs and connects them to their full potential. You can follow Coleen on IG to get connected: @thecoleengreco.
www.coleengreco.com
Coleen
Greco
As business owners, we have a drive and a passion that cannot be contained. We strive for excellence, growth, and efficiency. We balance demands for our time, our money, and our teams. We work diligently to keep a pulse on the ever-changing economy, political climate, and needs of our clients.
At the core of our goals, we share a common thread: to consistently deliver the highest quality product or service at a fair price, guided by principles of ethics and integrity. We pour our hearts and souls into our businesses, and just when we think there’s no more to give, we pour more.
Everything just described, everything you have, and everything you do can be distilled into one word. Energy . Energy is the driving force behind every thought, every action, every pivotal decision. Reading this article requires energy. Thinking about this topic requires energy. We are born with all of the energy we will ever have, ever need. It is an infinite supply. It is a premium product. As business leaders, the crucial question emerges – how can we optimize our energy to allow us to do everything we do? How do we fuel our bodies to allow the energy to move around our body as swiftly and efficiently as possible? If we can’t have more of it, how can we protect the energy we do have in such a way that allows us to accomplish our goals?
The best business leaders of our time had an investment strategy for their energy. These same leaders had a deep understanding
and respect for this “currency” exchange and, on a regular and consistent basis, rebalanced and restored energy as circumstances required. The question becomes, how can you take a page from their playbooks and protect your peace, avoiding burnout?
The first step toward treating energy as currency is simply having a sound investment strategy in place. Drawing parallels with managing financial markets, evaluating energy expenditure involves aligning it with the most impactful connections, ensuring it yields maximum returns. When we have $1 to spend, we want it
to perform. When evaluating your energy, how can you align it to the most impactful connections so it does the most for you? What steps have you taken to take inventory of your existing assets? Your relationships? Your employees? Your investors? Your clients? Your future clients?
Their families? YOUR family?
Start by documenting all of the assets asking for your energy on a daily basis. This list should be as comprehensive as possible because it is with this list that we then begin to prioritize and diversify these assets.
How do we do that?
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NOT ALL ASSETS ARE CREATED
EQUAL. Some may be asking for your energy with the intention of not returning any to you. Whether this action is in the form of money, time, your needs or wants. Once we can visualize the landscape of the energy consumers, we can begin to evaluate which need our energy on a daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis.
Remember. Not all assets are created equal!
Assign a numeric value to your energy. Energy consumers such as your investors would be assigned a high value, for example. That is a relationship that can only be managed by you. No one else. I recommend to my clients they come up with an A, B and C list.
A= relationships that can only be touched, managed, and engaged with/by you.
B= relationships that can be managed by someone else but require your oversight.
C= relationships that can be managed by someone else and do not require your involvement
And let’s not forget that your energy savings account needs consistent deposits. You’d never spend all of your revenue or your entire paycheck without saving some of it right? So, let’s start with that. Take 20% of your allocation and save it. PAY YOURSELF
FIRST! If you started off this way, then I’m really proud of you! Most people would see what’s left over and take that for themselves. Be the change you want to see! PAY YOURSELF FIRST!!!
You’ll soon be able to see that in order to keep your business, your relationships, your mental health, and the health and well-being of your staff in top shape, you have to have a healthy respect for your energy and valuing it as currency is a sure fire way to avoid burnout and keep your business on pace for continued growth.
As you begin to evaluate your relationships and prioritize them as an A, B or C relationships, also note they do not need to stay there. Maybe you have a relationship that requires monthly management but quarterly engagement from you. That’s ok! Or you have someone that you thought might be really strategic to your business in the beginning but ended up becoming an energy depleter and taking a lot from you without adding much value. This is a dynamic exercise and when done regularly, protects your peace and dare I say, protects you from yourself!
CURRENCY EXCHANGE
in exchange for something that directly benefits me.
3. Invest to grow: I’m going to invest my energy now, allow it to build and morph as the market changes with expectation of large reward.
Just like in the global markets, each currency has different values and so you can allocate your energy based on what fits your goals and objectives - both long and short term.
Like all sources of currency, the value changes on the day. Changes based on your health, your environment, the weather, the market – so many factors. I like to think of currency exchange in 3 different forms:
1. Forecasts and projections: I’m going to invest energy into this relationship without guarantee of a future payoff.
2. Day Trading: I’m going to give my time to a person or a project
RE-EVALUATION/RESTORATION
In every strategic plan and investment strategy, there comes a time where the plan requires reevaluation to make sure your plan is balanced and still working toward your goals. Set regular time aside to make sure the investments you’ve made with your time and energy are still serving you. It can be easy to get caught up in routines, but staying ahead of market projections and changes (seasons, deadlines,
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legislation changes, etc.) so when your schedule seems a bit more predictable, make sure you are rebalancing your energy, refocusing your time, and recommitting to your goal so that you can reap the rewards.
A few key points to remember when you are re-evaluating your energy investments:
1. Make regular deposits. Just as you would with your finances, reserve an allocation for selfcare. By paying yourself first, and truly investing in your own personal health and well-being, you are giving a top-quality product back to your family, friends, colleagues, investors, and clients. We very often pay ourselves last, and self-sacrifice yields sub-optimal results.
2. Rebalance/reclassify: sometimes, your energy allocation needs to be rebalanced or reclassified. An
energy investment that you thought might pay off became stale or failed to yield fruit. Reclassify this investment and make sure your energy is deposited into higher yield relationships.
3. Restoration: revisit other possible deposit areas for your energy for future opportunities. Sometimes it’s a matter of timing, and it might be time to make magic!
Seeing energy as currency is far more than a metaphor, it’s a way of life, and for business owners looking to stay on the path to growth, remain competitive, and realize efficiencies in their business, they have to visualize energy as their most important asset. Without your energy investment in optimal shape, cracks start to form in the foundation of a business, and competitors are waiting for those moments to swoop in and take over.
Proper investment strategy, deep knowledge and respect for how energy is exchanged, and consistent rebalancing of our investments are key checkpoints to master in the ever-evolving culture we live in today, where burnout and bankruptcy are commonplace. Rise above the statistics by putting these core checkpoints in place to make sure 2024 is not only profitable but also steeped in a purpose that serves you.
Social:
IG and FB: @thecoleengreco
LinkedIn:www.linkedin.com/in/ coleengreco/
YouTube Channel for my TV show and podcast “Joy Unleashed”:
https://www.youtube.com/@ thecoleengreco
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Move Your Agency Into The New Year With A New Payer Source Mix
Julio Barea
Julio Barea hails from Atlanta, Georgia by way of Ponce, Puerto Rico. He has spent his entire professional life in sales. The last 10 have been spent focusing on the home care business model. He has a commitment and deep passion for improving the quality of life for individuals in need of home care and community-based services. As Vice President of Sales for CareTime, AllyMS, and other brands, he is focused on helping home care companies and caregiver registries be more efficient, allowing them time to improve the quality of life and outcomes for their clients. When not working you’ll find him staying busy with his love for music, joined by his wife, 3 children, 3 cats, 2 guinea pigs, and a dog.
www.caretime.us and www.allyms.com
New year, new payer sources? Going into the new year, I have some aggressive goals, and encourage you to do the same. The best opportunity in home care that I foresee is to expand and build a diverse payer source mix. There are more payers for home care now than ever—and you deserve a bigger slice of the pie.
THE CURRENT PAYER LANDSCAPE
Private pay—care paid out of pocket—has historically been the largest payer of private duty home care services. It’s likely a big part of your business today. That figure has steadily declined across the board. Contrastingly, Medicaid and Medicare are the most critical payer sources for long-term care, but that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the entire landscape.
Other payer sources include the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), religious or cultural organizations (like the Claims Conference for Holocaust survivors), VA benefits, long-term care insurance, local charities, and more. States are continuing to see the value of home care services. Washington, for example, has implemented the WA Cares Fund, a public long-term care insurance program to help families access the care they need.
It has been an uphill battle trying to sit at the table with our peers in acute care. Non-medical services are among the lowest reimbursed direct patient care services available, despite the impact of these tasks on health outcomes. Now is a great time to demonstrate to referral payer sources (and of course, power partners) that home care is here
to help them and that it deserves reimbursement rates that correlate to the value of what caregivers do.
WHAT YOUR PAYER SOURCE MIX MIGHT LOOK LIKE TODAY
Every market is slightly different in what payers are available. The extent to which they cover home care likely differs too. Looking at the 2023 HCP Benchmarking Study, it looks like:
● 64% Private Pay
● 11% Long Term Care Insurance (LTCI)
● 7% Medicaid Waiver
● 7% VA
● 3% Medicaid (Direct)
Is your agency’s mix different? Rest easier knowing that there’s no silver bullet or perfect formula.
Even though private pay might be your preferred payer source, the decline in private pay business is a blessing in disguise. Clients have historically paid for care out of pocket, and that is not sustainable. Factors like advances in medicine and longevity, aging houses, and
declining birth rates mean that fixed incomes and rainy-day funds are not keeping pace with funds earmarked for direct care costs. The data shows that length of stay has decreased: clients use less care and not as long—and it’s not because their needs decreased. What is needed is a better mix of payer sources to ensure that clients can continue to receive the care and outcomes they need.
What does this mean for the overall market in 2024?
TRENDS FOR HOME CARE PAYERS ARE CHANGING FOR THE BETTER
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) didn’t just shore up health insurance gaps for uninsured individuals. It also acted as a catalyst to evolve and
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transform the way that home care is viewed by the healthcare system at large.
One example is capitation programs. At a high level, payer sources in this model pre-pay providers like hospitals a fixed cost or capitation per patient. This incentivizes providers to be innovative, creative, and patient-centered to lower costs while improving care quality: a winwin for all around.
Home care is a great way for acute systems to improve outcomes at a lower cost.
Capitation programs have—since the ACA—looked at home care agencies as a fulcrum for 1. decreasing care costs per patient and 2. preventing avoidable readmissions. Research has shown that health outcomes are most significantly impacted (about 60%) by social, non-medical factors, like your environment, social engagement, food, transportation, and more: the bread and butter of what home care agencies do day in and day out.
With that in mind, here are some other payers for you to consider:
● MCO Direct Contracting: 40
states have a program, see if your state has an MCO. If they have one, look into joining their provider network, and you’ll go through their credentialing process to make sure that their standards will be met.
Once you’re in their system, you can care for MCO (Medicaid) patients and receive payment directly from the MCO.
● Veterans Affairs: The VA is a great way to give back to veterans, and home care has been a staple of the care they provide. The VA is constantly looking for new providers, particularly in states with high rural population groups. The VA also has new opportunities to engage home care providers, like the VeteranDirected Care (VDC) program, and Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers (PCAFC), and more. The Elizabeth Dole Act passed the House of Representatives but hasn’t passed the Senate yet. This is all to say, there’s a lot of opportunity for home care providers like you to elevate your power partnerships with the VA.
● Medicaid Waivers: Medicaid Waivers are not age-based, and include older adults and people living with disabilities. A new KFF report showed that HCBS waiting lists
have included more than 700,000 people most years since 2016. What’s more, they also shared that the average waiting list time was 36 months. You can play a direct role in helping to push those times down.
UTILIZE CAREGIVER DATA TO QUANTIFY THE IMPACT OF YOUR EFFORTS WITH PAYERS
Payers are increasingly working with home care agencies like yours. That’s a cause for celebration. However, we have to continue to ensure that our voices are represented.
We see amazing patient and client transformations every day; home care brings families together while helping clients to maintain independence and a sense of purpose. What we need to do is document and quantify these outcomes.
If your agency has a client that discharged from rehab with mobility issues and your caregivers help them exercise and recover, you need to write that down. Share these stories on social media. Invite families into your office for a video or photo shoot.
Celebrate these transformations with your clients. And share the proof with your payers. When payers continue to be inundated with these stories and hard numbers, you’ll be able to better negotiate rates and work toward the value-based care transition. It might not happen today, but we need to be prepared.
How will your agency reinvent your payer source mix in 2024?
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KNOW LIKE & TRUST KEY CONTACTS AT REFERRAL SOURCES
Steve“The Hurricane” Weiss,
President
&
CEO
of Home Care Evolution, President of “The Institute for Dignity and Grace.”
Steve “The Hurricane” Weiss is a dynamic and entertaining public speaker, known for his expert knowledge in all things sales and marketing. From a young age, Steve has been driven to succeed and excelled across vastly different industries. Steve founded Hurricane Marketing Enterprises in 2012 with a goal to help other business owners around the globe. Steve’s passion is to lead business owners on the path to find people in need of their services and convert these prospects into clients. His company’s mission statement is to help business owners increase their census, revenue, and profits. With his dedication and hard work, Steve has developed a foolproof program that enables start-up companies to quickly get ahead of the competition while helping existing businesses experience an explosive transformation. In 2016, he co-founded and is currently the President of the Institute for Dignity and Grace with Nicole Peretti. Steve continues his mission of advocacy for the senior population by providing education and resources. His passion is always helping the senior population stay in their homes safely and age in place with dignity and grace.
https://homecareevolution.com/
Now that the world has returned to pre-pandemic marketing style, it is time for every single Home Care Agency business to get back out and start to develop relationships that lead to professional referrals. One thing I can share with you without a doubt is that in every single referral source the staff who was there before 2020 has almost all but completely turned over, and there’s brand new people in these positions of authority. Due to this, many of the referral sources we once were receiving business from are no longer working with Home Care companies.
That means that there is ample opportunity to strike up a conversation and develop these accounts as they are currently not working with anyone. Going another level further, these new representatives have never formed a strategic partner before, and they will need a lot of guidance on how to fulfill such a partnership. All that said, it’s time for us to discuss several important key contacts that we must develop within these accounts to get these professional referrals.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
The Executive Director (or Administrator) is the most important contact of them all. This is because they are the boss of the building. If you don’t have a good relationship with your Executive Directors, chances are you will not be able to go marketing to their building, and you will not be able to develop the relationship that leads to professional referrals. The way to get in tight with them is Executive Directors understand the importance of strategic partnerships. Therefore, your goal, in all the relationships you’re developing, is to try to form a long-lasting partnership that is mutually beneficial.
To create this partnership, you need to layout (in advance) what a partnership will look like. Make
sure you set expectations for this partnership to produce referrals to your agency. Once you do this, then you want to discuss how you plan on fulfilling your side of the partnership. Discuss frequency of meetings and visits to their referral source, marketing initiatives to grow their patient census, and feedback on referrals made and the outcomes of those patients. These are the items Executive Directors are concerned with and this will help you to create a fruitful relationship.
DIRECTOR OF NURSING
The Director of Nursing is my favorite key contact at a referral
source, simply because they are responsible for all things medical for the patients that they are servicing. If I can establish myself as someone who will help to improve the quality of the lives of their patients that they are serving, that’s how I’m going to be able to win this person over. The other thing I love about the Director of Nursing is that they try to make sure that all the residents and patients that they are responsible for have access to every possible solution to support a successful outcome. Many Directors of Nursing understand the limitations of their staff, and they understand the demands and the needs of their
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you’re taking care of with a specific diagnosis. This will allow you to show just how detailed you are in your ability to provide support for your patients. Your Director of Nursing should be impressed, and this will make her feel more confident in working with you and sending referrals your way.
ADMISSIONS/MARKETING
The Admissions Coordinator is the person whose job it is to grow the census of the building. There may be several different titles that carry the same responsibility: Community Relations Coordinator, Business Development, and Nurse Liaison; to name a few. But at the end of the day, if their responsibility is to grow the patient’s census, they are in essence a Marketing Representative from that business. Why are they important? Because they are trying to grow the census, and when you
think about what I said with the Executive Directors earlier, forming a strategic partnership is very important to this individual. There are many ways that we can support these individuals such as collaborating on events, promoting their events, going co-marketing, and doing other initiatives to help them grow their census. This is what’s in it for them. When asked “What’s in it for you” you reply, “I want referrals, and so I have a vested interest in helping you have the highest census possible, so you can send me more patients as a default”. This logically makes sense and they become open to the idea of working together. As time goes on, they will want you to get the referrals from their organization. They’ll even be able to give you a heads up when they have patients getting discharged home or a resident that’s in the hospital coming back soon and may need additional help. They can
also help you get in with other key contacts not mentioned here. Bottom line, make sure that you are building a relationship with your Admissions Coordinators. Now these three contacts are very important to the long-term success of developing relationships in your accounts. Every single one of the key contacts mentioned here can refer you directly, but they also will allow you access to the other contacts who can refer you that we will talk about in the next issue. Make sure you establish a relationship with each of these folks, and when you visit these accounts, you’re talking to them on every drop in visit whether you have an appointment with them or not. Drop in visits go extremely
well when you are there to see one specific contact and you “drop in” to say hi while you’re there. This will greatly help you in developing the relationship that leads to long-term referrals which will grow your home care business.
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How I MASTERED The Home Care Business
Dawn Bransky - PT, MSPT, BBA, CDP
Dawn Bransky has over 26 years of experience as a licensed physical therapist. Mrs. Bransky began her career by first volunteering and then working as a physical therapy aide while pursuing her undergraduate degree in business at the University of Texas at Austin. After graduation, she attended Texas Women’s University, where she graduated with a Master of Science in Physical Therapy. She is also a Certified Dementia Practitioner (CDP).
Dawn’s physical therapy experiences include time in acute hospital settings, outpatient settings, home health, Director of Rehabilitation for a skilled nursing facility, and Director of Rehabilitation and Owner for a licensed and certified home health company. While in home health, Dawn used her training and expertise as a physical therapist to provide rehabilitation to patients to allow them the opportunity to continue to live at home in a safe environment, and used her role as an owner to develop a culture of putting patient care first.
https://bheartshomecare.com
Istarted Benevolent Hearts Home Care in 2012 and experienced record growth over the first five years. Each year after that, we showed increased revenue, but the increases were small and different from where I had hoped. The business was consuming my time, and my family and team suffered. However, 2023 was different, and I want to share how our agency evolved over the past couple of years to achieve a record 41.6% growth rate and a solid team, freeing up my time with an improved worklife balance.
REVAMPING THE INTAKE PROCESS
Reporting revealed that our lead-toadmission conversion ratio needed to be improved. The referral numbers were there, but the admission was often lost somewhere in the process. With the assistance of our consultants at Home Care Evolution, we dissected the entire intake process and restructured it from who took the calls to who followed the referral and the closing. After retraining our entire staff on handling an intake call, we started an intake board, which we updated daily with the caller and client and details down to who was following the lead. We began to conduct weekly intake meetings to review pending admissions and staffing, which expedited decisions on accepting new referrals. The Agency Director was tasked to have daily calls with the business development team and took ownership of tracking each referral to admission. The Business Development Professional followed up with every intake and met with each family to close the sale, getting all consents signed. The Care Manager then coordinated the assessment immediately afterward or at another time suitable to the family to formulate the care plan. Utilizing the information we had prepared in advance in our intake meetings or by scheduling the Team Leads, we could
start new clients more expeditiously. The new process immediately impacted the conversions, and numbers increased.
HIRING A QUALIFIED AGENCY DIRECTOR
Whether you call it an Agency Director or Executive Director, every agency needs a solid professional behind the owner directing operations. As most entrepreneurs find themselves, I have always struggled with a work-life balance. Personality has much to do with that, but I needed to identify and change my operations structure to get to where we are today. Years ago, I decided that an Agency Director was imperative to our operation, but I never fully invested in finding the right candidate until recommended
by my peers in the Home Care Elite Academy. I then invested in and used a professional recruiter to find a more qualified and experienced director. This decision has proven the best approach and directly impacted my ability to have more freedom and a record revenue stream.
Handing over responsibilities to the
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Agency Director, involving them in mastermind sessions, and complete transparency is crucial to developing a successful Agency Director. This person must have strong leadership to not “replace” the owner but instead work together to achieve the overall goals. This person comes with a higher salary, but improved revenue and margins cover the expense, and the other benefits of shared roles and new freedoms are worth every penny.
HIRING THE RIGHT BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT PROFESSIONAL
for many years and feel that has been invaluable, but that couldn’t substitute the right person. After a lot of prayer, patience, and many interviews, we found someone who was driven and invested in their personal growth as much as the agency’s. I have finally learned to listen to my gut and peers, make those hard decisions, and stop accepting the status quo. Again, it takes a commitment to a higher salary to hire the right business development professionals. This commitment, paired with a strong marketing strategy, will pay dividends.
OFFICE HARMONY
Finding office harmony is often elusive. Letting staff stay onboard too long, poisoning the culture, can be the trigger to lose the “good” ones and suck time and energy from the owner. I would find my vacations interrupted by office drama and abrupt voluntary or forced separations. This last year and a half, I made many hard decisions to part ways with several long-term employees who were ok or even good at their jobs but came with disruptive personalities, causing constant riffs. I strengthened the team by separating
Early in my business, I identified that marketing was not my forte. I did not enjoy the day-in and dayout tasks essential to a successful marketing strategy. Sure, I could do it, which I did for several years with much success. However, I would need to be able to devote more time to marketing to take my business to the next level, making my role less enjoyable. I hired marketers through the years, some more successful than others. I subscribed to coaching calls to help oversee my marketing team
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from the toxic employees I had been keeping because I thought we couldn’t replace them. The additional responsibilities and new team members had the opposite effect of what I had feared. It provided existing team members the power to take on more responsibilities and fulfill personal goals. Since the changes, our culture, work-family, and work-life balance for the entire team have improved. I wish I had pulled the trigger years ago and realized that good job performance should not overrule behaviors or disruptive personalities.
THRIVING BUSINESS
To thrive and find happiness in our work, what we all want can be achieved by committing to be willing to make changes in comfortable processes and tenured personnel. If I had to attribute the growth to one thing, the restructured intake process was by far the most significant change we made. This was not easily achieved, and it took some time to get the entire team’s buy-in, but it paid off. Hiring a more qualified “executive” for two core roles also proved invaluable, and although the cost was significant, it allowed my entire team to have additional support, contributing to record growth. Initially, I thought I couldn’t afford to do this, but afterward, I discovered it was needed to find the elusive growth we were working so hard to achieve. Finally, establishing and adhering to the company culture and core values and parting ways with team members
who didn’t fit made for a more harmonious and productive team. After an employee has been given the expectation and opportunity to improve, if an employee shows they cannot meet those expectations or adhere to culture, make a change and don’t look back. These changes didn’t happen overnight, and we didn’t get everything perfect the first time, but with hard work, 2023 moved us forward.
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Most INTELLIGENCE Is Not Artificial
Bruce Berglind
After 20 years in hospitality operations, training, and franchising, Bruce Berglind opened a New Jersey ComForCare in 2003 and was a charter member of that brand’s franchise advisory board. In 2009, he began providing operational support to a neighboring franchisee. Three years later that concept had become Frax, a business that Bruce further developed after selling his agency and relocating to the Midwest. Frax sold in 2022. In 2019, he partnered with Plamen Ratchev to launch an additional venture – SwyftOps, which quickly became a top-5 choice in homecare operating software (2022 and 2023 Home Care Pulse Surveys). Bruce lives near Wichita, Kansas with wife Kathy and their 16-year-old daughter, all of whom are unapologetic Disneyphiles.
www.SwyftOps.com
Wisdom is at risk of getting lost in the noise of artificial intelligence (AI). It’s too early to comingle the two. Remember wisdom? It’s our individual organically head-grown, genuine, subjective slice of intelligence, borne from knowledge and experience, that leads us to insight, imagination, judgment, discretion, and compassion. Unlike calculable or measurable facts, your wisdom differs from mine and ours from others. This is what makes wisdom perhaps both the highest form of intelligence and the most difficult aspect of intelligence to replicate via artificial means.
This article is not cautionary in nature – you can expect no conspiracy theories or doomsday hysterics here. I leave those concerns and discussions to others. Rather, there is a decidedly much more optimistic school of thought. Eliza Kosoy, a researcher in MIT’s Center for Brains, Minds, and Machines, believes, “With enough data and the correct machine learning, machines can make life more enjoyable for humans.”1
Does AI exist yet? To a small extent, yes. AI is here, but there is much more to come. A Google search for “types of AI” reveals a disagreement as to how many there are and how each is defined. It’s a fluid area of study that is expanding rapidly. Arguably, one of the more interesting possibilities is known as artificial general intelligence (AGI). AGI “is the ability of an AI agent to learn, perceive, understand, and function completely like a human being.”2 Current publications remind us that “no true AGI systems exist; they remain the stuff of science fiction.”3 Regarding when legitimate AGI may make its debut, Oxford professor Max Roser, director of Our World in Data, concludes, “There is large agreement in the overall picture. The timelines of many experts are shorter than a century, and many have timelines that are substantially shorter than that.”4
If not AGI, then what type of AI does exist now, and how long has it been here? Although the recent popularity of ChatGPT may make it seem that AI is a new conversation, some may be surprised to learn that AI was formally conceptualized almost 70 years ago. In 1955 a group of Dartmouth researchers anticipated artificial intelligence as, “every aspect of learning or any other feature of intelligence can in principle be so precisely
described that a machine can be made to simulate it.”5 ChatGPT is a generative form of AI which is an example of a broader AI type called artificial narrow intelligence (ANI). ANI is less sophisticated than the AGI mentioned above. In reality, “This type of artificial intelligence (ANI) represents all the existing AI, including even the most complicated and capable AI that has ever been created to date.”2 Clearly the suggestion is that further
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developments will be plentiful and substantial.
Although in its infancy, I am confident that AI will positively affect all homecare operating software, including ours at SwyftOps where AI already has an incrementally increasing foothold. Agency workflows, and the experiences of those who provide care and those who receive care, will advance correspondingly. These improved workflows and experiences will improve efficiency and quality for us all.
But to what extent and how soon will AI advantages influence our industry? Perhaps not as quickly as we might be led to believe. Some have been too quick to apply the AI label to their efforts, whether as an innocent unawareness or as an intentional ploy to exploit the marketing sparkle of the latest “new and improved” gimmick. Stephen Khan, executive editor of The Conversation International, explains, “decision-making systems, automation, and statistics are not AI. To qualify as AI, a system must exhibit some level of learning and
adapting.” So, while the results of sequential, circumstantial, or problem-solving algorithms may be useful and indeed remarkable, such processes are not necessarily AI. Therefore, contemporary software capabilities such as pairing caregivers with clients based on multiple attributes (“matching”) or behavior probabilities based on historical data (“predictive scheduling”) are likely not AI at all. In fact, most competent homecare operating systems have had these features in place for years.
After evaluating present and future operational capabilities of ChatGPT and its alternatives, SwyftOps has chosen to use Azure OpenAI as its generative conversational AI tool. Among its advantages, unlike ChatGPT it is HIPAA compliant.6 A current iteration of this technology within SwyftOps is an ability to refine answers from clients on social history questionnaires into easy-to-read summaries that help caregivers and clients become better acquainted.
Homecare professionals will benefit from ensuring that their core operational system provider is truly AI wary. It may be just getting started, but AI has progressed sufficiently to qualify a passive stance as reckless. Meanwhile, it’s important to understand that there is a responsive aspect to AI preparedness. There is much yet to be revealed. One
can map the routes and prepare the railroad beds but cannot fully lay a network of track for a train of unknown gauge/width. The AI winners in homecare will be those who adopt a measured, moderately aggressive approach. That is, those who are purposely positioned and ready to deploy emerging AI breakthroughs as they become commercially viable.
We and our competitors have yet to exhaust the technical opportunities of automation, to say nothing of AI. Our journey is just beginning, and the extent to which it will take us is new territory. But perhaps we can begin to imagine some of that territory if we try – if we rely on real intelligence – genuine knowledge and experience – that is, if we allow our wisdom to inform us.
1 Carolyn Blais (MIT School of Engineering) “When will AI be smart enough to outsmart people?”
https://engineering.mit.edu/engage/ask-an-engineer/whenwill-ai-be-smart-enough-to-outsmart-people/
2 Naveen Joshi (Forbes) “7 Types of Artificial Intelligence” (June 2019) annotation added https://www.forbes.com/sites/cognitiveworld/2019/06/19/7-types-of-artificial-intelligence/?sh=24a803a9233e.
3 Cameron Hashemi-Pour and Ben Lutkevich (TechTarget) “artificial general intelligence (AGI)” (November 2023) https://www.techtarget.com/searchenterpriseai/definition/ artificial-general-intelligence-AGI#:~:text=AGI%20in%20 computer%20science%20is,the%20stuff%20of%20science%20fiction.
4 Max Roser (Professor of Practice in Global Data Analytics at the University of Oxford) “AI timelines: What do experts in artificial intelligence expect for the future?” (February 2023) https://ourworldindata.org/ai-timelines#:~:text=Some%20 think%20that%20it's%20possible,experts%20come%20 to%20similar%20conclusions.
5 J McCarthy (Dartmouth), M L Minsky (Harvard), N Rochester (IBM), C E Shannon (Bell Labs) “A Proposal for the Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence” (August 1955) //efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/http://jmc.stanford.edu/ articles/dartmouth/dartmouth.pdf.
6 Steve Alder (HIPAA Journal), “Is ChatGPT HIPAA Compliant?” (December 2023) www.hipaajournal.com/is-chatgpt-hipaa-compliant/#:~:text=ChatGPT%20is%20not%20HIPAA%20compliant,covered%20entities%20and%20business%20associates.
© 2024 Aegle Technologies LLC dba SwyftOps
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Creating A Caregiver Recruitment IRRESISTIBLE OFFER
Nick Bonitatibus
On a mission as the owner and founder of Digital Champions, Nick Bonitatibus helps home care agencies generate more sales, attract more referral sources, and hire more caregivers using the power of video. His mission is to empower and cultivate leaders dedicated to spreading comprehensive education on senior care, fostering a compassionate and informed community that advocates for the well-being and dignity of our elderly population.
www.thedigitalchamps.com
Are prospective caregivers eager and excited for the opportunity to join your team? If not, then you should keep reading…
Home care agencies continue to embark on a new world of recruiting challenges that continue to rise. As these changes emerge, agencies need to evolve with the times.
Many business owners make the mistake of thinking more applicants will solve their problems, but this is often not the case. From a client perspective, if you get more leads does that mean more sales? No, because you still need to get them to schedule a consultation AND get them to sign up for services. The same goes for caregivers! Think of it like a boat that is filling up with water. If you keep trying to get all the water out of the boat before plugging the holes, then it is a never ending battle. So, what can you do?
The key is focusing on skills and strategies that will convert the great employees that are already applying to your organization. When you implement the right techniques, it will not only increase your interview show up rate, but it will increase hires. Once you lock in the “sales” process for caregivers, then you can spend more time and resources on driving traffic to your caregiver recruiting funnel. To convert more caregivers, we need to create your Caregiver Irresistible Offer!
Before we dive into the different pieces of your proposal, we must first discuss the importance of leveraging technology and automation. If your agency does not adopt these tools, you will not be able to sustain your business in this market. There are a ton of great companies that provide this service, and it is extremely
affordable. By leveraging automation, you will save your recruiter 20 hours a week which will allow them to focus on higher quality tasks of recruitment and retention. If you have not done this yet, then you should stop reading and go do that now.
Your Caregiver Irresistible Offer is broken into a few different parts, but for the sake of time we are going to just go over a few of the core pieces. One thing to note about these principles is that they can be leveraged in multiple areas of marketing your home care business.
1. THE HOOK
In a world of so much digital stimulation, we need to do everything we can to grab the attention of our
posts, and videos. It is always the first thing: the top of the flier or brochure, the subject line, the first line in the text or image, or the first sentence spoken. Effective hooks allow you to grab the attention of your viewer so you can get them to the core of your message.
Great hooks speak directly to your target audience OR they create curiosity to take the next step whether that is reading on, continuing to watch, or opening that email. For example, if you create an amazing email, it does not matter if they don’t open it and so the subject line is the most important piece. Creating successful hooks is a skill set to develop but there are a lot of resources online to help you out. Take
audience and that is why hooks are essential. These attention grabbers should be used everywhere from print materials, emails, social media
the extra time to think of attention grabbing hooks in everything you create, and you will see immediate results.
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2. THE PROBLEM
What is your ideal candidate struggling with? How does working for your organization help to solve their problem or are you just another agency? In some cases, you can create a hook that addresses their problem. For example, “Tired of being just another number?” Notice how this example is targeting existing caregivers and their pain point. If you want to go in the more positive
route, you could say something like “Wake up and know you are making a difference” or “More income and more impact.”
When you understand what your target wants then you can better
deliver messaging that will resonate with them. Selling is problem solving! When you can be the solution to their problem then you will begin to attract and convert more high level care professionals.
3. THE OFFER
The offer is based on all the benefits and features that create a value stack for your prospective
number? Do they feel a part of your team? Do you have regular recognition and appreciation events? Prioritizing this will not only help to hire more caregivers, but also retain your existing team members.
Another part of your offer includes growth which can be in the form of education as well as an opportunity
applicants when they become part of your team and should showcase you as the solution to their problem. There are a few different areas that are designed to hit on different aspects of the caregiver psyche. Most people think money is the most important thing, but caregivers are willing to take less for a positive work environment. Are you treating your employees as expendable and just another
to advance in the organization. If you have a scheduler who was once a caregiver, then that is a great story to share.
Many agencies are doing a lot of these things already, but fail to market it. If you are waiting to talk about culture in orientation, then that is already too late. If you are doing all these great things, then you need to show it!
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4. THE PROOF THIS IS THE DIFFERENCE MAKER! Agencies “say” they have great company culture. Agencies “say” people love working for them. However, if you want results then you need to PROVE IT!
One of the most powerful marketing materials for attracting top caregivers,
in addition to client and referral sources, is social proof! There are a few core ways that we can showcase social proof The fir st and most obvious is with testimonials which can be highlighted in written form and in video format You can see video examples at www thedigitalchamps com/examples
Another option and the most overlooked is content that showcases your company culture and employee experience. This could include photos or videos of caregiver appreciation, holidays, or any other employee activities or events that you have throughout the year. This evidence of a positive work environment can also be used in marketing automation throughout your recruitment process and should be illustrated on social media. If you are waiting to
showcase company culture during orientation, then it is already too late!
TAKE MORE PHOTOS!
There are a few more sections that you may include, but this should give you a good head start and action items to build out your offer.
In conclusion, it is essential to remember that recruiting is selling and by improving this process will maximize your efforts in this tough market. Navigating the challenges of caregiver recruitment demands a nuanced approach beyond the mere influx of applicants. Crafting compelling hooks, addressing caregiver problems, presenting a comprehensive offer, and providing tangible proof form the blueprint for a successful caregiver recruitment strategy in the everevolving home care market.
For more on this and other home care educational content, subscribe to our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/@thedigitalchamps.
THE 3 KEY Components To Maximize Your Business
Melissa Bagley Business Coach, Home Care Evolution
!"#$%%& '&(#")* +,-" .&/" .,&01 2$31 +,-" .&/" 45,#63$,7* 1&% 89: )"&/% ,; +"Ķ&/" $7<6%3/) "=>"/$"70"? @1" 06//"73#) 2,/A% ;,/ +,-" .&/" 45,#63$,7* 21"/" %1" 0,&01"% +,-" .&/" owners and their team with their marketing, operations, recruitment & retention needs !"#$%%& 1&% "=3"7%$5" "=>"/$"70" &7< %600"%% 2$31 &## #"5"#% ,; +,-" .&/" .,->&7$"% ;/,- %3&/36>% 3, "%3&B#$%1"< CD9: !$##$,7 E,##&/ F("70$"%G 1,-" 0&/" 0,->&7$"% &0/,%% the country.
!"#$"% #$& '()# *&+ ,&(-). )$& $() /-&(#&0 (%0 0&1&'23&0 )&1&-(' /2(/$"%4 /'())&) +"#$ 526& 7(-& 812'9#"2%. (%0 ") %2+ :&"%4 2;&-&0 #2 $9%0-&0) 2* /'"&%#)< 5&- most popular classes include, but not limited to, “How to Market During Lockdown,” “How to Market After Lockdown,” and “Marketing Strategies using Medicare.gov.” Melissa 21&-)(+ #$& 6(-=&#"%4 > :9)"%&)) 0&1&'236&%# 2* #$& /263(%, #$-294$29# #$& 2?/&) in Florida
https://www.homecareevolution.com/
Have you ever wondered why businesses like Starbucks, KFC, or even Netflix are so successful and what they did to continue to grow their business year after year?
These three companies all have something in common, they focused on the small percentage of their business that profited the most, while reducing the losses of the biggest percentage of their business. There are three major components of your business, and if you focus on these three components, then you are guaranteed to maximize your business.
The first component is your product. What product comes to mind when you think of Starbucks, KFC, and Netflix? Coffee, Chicken, and Movies right! So, what type of product should a Home Care owner focus on? Your Caregivers! Every Home Care is different, and there are a number of things that may make a company different, however, the most important thing should be your caregiver. And every home care company employs different types of caregivers based on their
experience, knowledge, training, passion, commitment, etc. And the level of caregiver you hire should be parallel with the type of client you are providing care for. This almost becomes a trickle effect, if you are doing it the right way. How many products, or types of caregiver (based on level of care) do you hire & employ in a month, six months, or a year? What are the sales & profit for the various levels of care provided to a client needing this type of caregiver? The best way to do this
is to have a care level range and a caregiver level range. Then your services should match up with the client care needs (care level) to the caregiver’s experience, knowledge, & training (Caregiver Level). I recommend having three Caregiver Levels, this should be based on the client’s care level, and the experience, knowledge, and training required to provide the proper care for your client by the caregiver. See example of this below.
1 year experience caring for a senior with 3 or more chronic medical conditions
• CNA license CPR License
Experience & knowledge on how to collaborate with other vendors in the home (ex: Home Healthcare, Physicians, DME, etc)
• Minimum of 1 year experience with medication oversight & understanding common medications
• Knowledge & Training on the use of DME equipment (walker, wheelchair, cane, transfer chair, gait belt)
Knowledge on how to recognize & Report Abnormal observations
1 year experience with working with noncompliant clients
• Available to work a minimum of 20 hours per week 4 hours per day, 5 times per week
Minimum 6 months experience caring for a senior on Palliative or Comfort Hospice Services
• Minimum of 6 months experience caring for senior with middle stage medical conditions
Knowledge & training on fall prevention Knowledge & training on wound care oversight & the use of wound care equipment
• Minimum experience and training on how to deal with non-compliant, difficult and somewhat combative clients
• Knowledge & training on preventing readmissions
• Minimum 6 months caring for a senior in a Memory Care Community or Skilled Rehab Facility
• Available to work a minimum of 30 hours per week, 6 hours per day, 5 times per week
Minimum 6 month experience caring for seniors on Hospice services for end of life care
• Minimum of 6 month experience caring for a senior with advanced medical conditions
Knowledge & training on the use of hoyer lift, oxygen, tube feeding equipment, electric bed & equipment needed
Minimum 6 months experience caring for a senior needing full assistance and help with transfers and ambulation
• Available to work a minimum of 60 hours per week, 8-12 hours per day, 5-7 times per week.
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CAREGIVER LEVEL 1 CAREGIVER LEVEL 2 CAREGIVER LEVEL 3
The second component is your customer. For Home Care Agencies, our customer is our client, and every home care agency will see many different types of clients and their caregivers will provide them with various levels of care. The type of
CAREGIVER LEVEL 1
• Has 3 or more Chronic Medical Conditions
• Needs help with 3 or more activities of daily living (ADLs)
• Discharged from a Hospital or SNF within 30 days
Considered “homebound” and requires a taxing effort to leave the house
• Receiving Home Healthcare services at home
• Lives in an Assisted Living Senior Living community
• Unable to drive
• Medication oversight
• Assistance with home therapy Needs a minimum of 20 hours of care, 4 hours per day, 5 times per week
caregiver you hire determines the type of client you are able to provide care for, or at least that is how it should be the way you are recruiting caregivers. You wouldn’t want to hire a caregiver with no experience or training for a client that is on
CAREGIVER LEVEL 2
• Has been diagnosed with early stages of Alzheimer’s or Dementia or having memory issues
Recently fallen within the past 30 days
• In a Memory Care Senior Living Community
Receiving Palliative Care or on Hospice services for comfort measures (not end stages)
• Non compliant with medications or the use of equipment
• Wound care oversight
• Needs a minimum of 30 hours per week, 6 hours per day, 5 days per week
hospice services, right? If a client is on hospice services, then you should hire a caregiver that already has experience with caring for a senior that has been on hospice, and has knowledge and training on how to provide the type of care needed to
CAREGIVER LEVEL 3
• Full Assist with all Transfers & ambulation
• Can not be left alone
• Receiving Hospice Services, end stages
• Combative, wandering, & needing redirecting
Bed bound or hoyer lift required
• End stages of Alzheimer’s or Dementia
Requires thicken liquids
• Needs a minimum of 60 hours per week, 12 hours per day, 5 times per week
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keep them safe and comfortable. You also wouldn’t want your business development liaison to bring in referrals that may need minimal care, but your recruiter is hiring caregivers with years of experience and training on how to care for someone with complex medical conditions. Therefore, your customer needs to align with your product. In this case, you would want to match a caregiver who is at a Caregiver Level 2 with a client at a Care Level 2, in order to have the best outcome. See the chart below for an example of a client care level range based on their medical conditions and care needs. The third component is your market position. Market position is the ability to influence consumer perception regarding a brand or product relative to competitors. The
objective of market positioning is to establish the image based on your brand or product, so that consumers perceive it in a certain way. How can you determine what consumers perceive your target market would be? Take a look at what kind of clients you are receiving from your referral sources, from your google ads, social media pages, and word of mouth. This will help you determine what your company is known for currently, because it’s based on the type of clients & caregivers you are currently receiving & providing care for. Think about Starbucks, they are known for their coffee. Therefore, their focus is their coffee. That is why every season they discuss new coffee flavors and have different foods that complement their coffee products. Most people don’t think of them for
their egg bites, but they do sell them, it just isn’t what most consumers perceive Starbucks to be the expert at producing.
In conclusion, you need to focus on growing & perfecting the top 20% of your business, this is the type of client that is holding your company above water and keeping you in business. You also need to ensure that you reduce the losses from the remaining 80% of your business, this would be the additional services that you provide. With the focus on these three components and perfecting everything you can in these areas, then you are guaranteed growth year after year.
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UNBELIEVABLE How Google’s 2024 Update Could Make Or Break Your Online Presence!
Jeremy Fuller
Jeremy has over 23+ years of web design and SEO / digital marketing experience based on getting a return on investment. He has launched 5 startups, has extensive experience with web design and digital marketing for home care agencies, and has deep knowledge of digital marketing psychology.
After learning how to optimize his own marketing campaigns through conversion optimization, heat maps, SEO, Google ads, Facebook ads, and learning everything there is to know about copywriting and marketing the psychology behind it, he has gone on to generate millions of dollars for clients.
Jeremy manages Grow Home Care Marketing, a digital marketing agency that employs a proven growth formula specializing in digital marketing for home care agencies. Jeremy is a sought after speaker in the digital marketing space for senior care events.
https://automizegrowth.com/
Every home care agency owner needs to be aware of the changes coming to Google in 2024. Lots of home care agency owners need to understand these changes because the marketing agencies currently providing their Search Engine Optimization and Google ads management services may or may not be on the cutting edge of things and just deliver “SEO” as usual. So, I have bad and good news for you. You can win #1 rankings by understanding some of these basic changes Google will be making in 2024 and beyond.
The good news is that if you are aware of these changes, you can make informed digital marketing decisions in 2024 to compete and outperform other home care agencies on Google. The bad news is that if you don’t do anything about these new Google changes you will slowly start to see your digital leads decline or fall off a cliff completely.
So, let’s jump into some of these changes Google is making in 2024 to their search engine. There are roughly 9 new things we need to be aware of and I will cover 2 main ones in this article. If you want to read about all 9 new things you can check out our website to read the full list with all the details.
The 2 big changes to be aware of are:
• SGE - Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) is an innovative AI-based search interface that aims to enhance how users interact with search results. It uses generative AI to provide concise, informative summaries of search topics, allowing for more natural, intuitive query responses and unlocking new types of questions. SGE represents a significant evolution in Google’s search capabilities, emphasizing content relevance and quality
over traditional keyword density, and is part of Google’s ongoing efforts to integrate AI more deeply into search
• E-E-A-T - This isn’t about food, but it’s like Google checking if the information is healthy and good for you. E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. It means Google makes sure the answers you get are from people who really know what they’re talking about.
So what does SGE and EEAT even mean and man oh man I am probably talking over your head and your eye balls are rolling right about now. Let’s break down in easy to understand terms what SGE is and how it can be applied to work for you to outrank your competition on Google.
Think of Google’s Search Generative Experience, or SGE, like a super-smart assistant for your Google searches. Normally, when you ask Google a question, it gives you a list of websites that have the answers. But with SGE, Google does something extra. It uses advanced AI (Artificial Intelligence) to read through all those websites and then gives you a quick summary of the best answers.
It’s like if you asked a really smart friend a question, and they read a bunch of books and articles to give you a simple, clear answer. SGE is designed to make searching on Google faster and easier, giving you helpful answers without having to click through lots of websites. This is great for anyone using Google, not just those who understand SEO. But instead of listing lots of websites it will summarize a few websites and provide a link to maybe one or two websites instead of many. This is good on one hand because if you have optimized your website for SGE it will get lots of traffic and thus leads!! On the other hand, if you haven’t optimized your website to get featured by Google in their new SGE index you will start to see your leads drop considerably.
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Ok so SGE will summarize websites and only list a few examples and thus lead to less clicks on your website unless it has been optimized for SGE. Got it?
Alright let’s understand
Google’s E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness). It is part of Google’s strategy to be the best search engine in the world by only showing and listing the BEST OF THE BEST. Let’s put it like this, if you needed heart surgery or say brain surgery, would you want the
3rd best heart surgeon in your region or the #1 best heart surgeon or brain surgeon? Well, heck, yes, I would want only the best. And Google understands this and doesn’t want you using other search engines to find the best businesses. They want you to use them.
So, one method to find the BEST OF THE BEST and show you, the searcher, those businesses is to look at the businesses Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness and calculate each one of those categories and give
you, the business, a rating. Based on that rating it will help or hurt your business ranking…
1. Experience: Google looks at whether the people giving information have real-life experience in what they’re talking about. Like, if someone is giving health advice, are they a doctor or a nurse?
2. Expertise: This is about having deep knowledge in a specific area. Google wants to make sure that the person providing information isn’t just guessing but knows a lot about the topic.
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Example screenshot of Google’s new SGE search engine.
3. Authoritativeness: This means being recognized as a leader or an authority in a particular field. It’s like when everyone knows a teacher is great at teaching math.
4. Trustworthiness: This is about being honest and accurate. Google checks if a website is truthful and provides correct information.
So, E-E-A-T is Google’s way of making sure that when you search for something, the information you get is from people who really know what they’re talking about and can be trusted. It’s like having a filter that helps you get the best, most reliable information from the internet. So, one thing we
will be rolling out for our clients considering SGE and Google’s E-E-A-T is to try our best to create knowledge panels for them that Google will then use to power these two things. Again, these aren’t the only two new things that Google is rolling out in 2024, the rest of the list is on our website, but these two things alone will have a massive impact on incoming client and caregiver leads.
As the business owner I wouldn’t recommend trying to figure this out on your own, but I do believe you need to know about these changes and confirm your SEO / Google ads agency is doing what they need to do to prepare for these changes.
Here is the shortlist of what your SEO / Google marketing agency should be doing:
1. Develop High-Quality, Relevant Content
2. Optimize for User Experience
3. Leverage Structured Data and Schema Markup
4. Focus on Building Authority and Trust (knowledge panels)
5. Adapt SEO Strategies for AI Integration
I have the full list of what you need to confirm that your digital marketing agency is doing on our website.
Navigate the Challenges of Caring for Aging Parents
BEST-SELLING BOOK SHOWS YOU HOW
This book, which already reached bestseller status on Amazon, is designed to help the millions of individuals and their families who must navigate the challenges of caring for aging parents and outline their options.
“Why We Care” provides essential insight into choosing a home healthcare agency from those in the industry, along with stories from real people who found solutions to help their parents age in place with the dignity and grace they deserve.
“This book was written so that we could tell the story about home healthcare for people who need it and the families who have to make that decision,” said Steve “The Hurricane”™ Weiss, co-author of the book, co-founder of the Institute of Dignity and Grace, and CEO of Hurricane Marketing Enterprises.
The book was co-written with home care agency owners and professionals, Haytham Najjar; Lynn Marie Houghton; Sandra Dougherty; Vikki Kalitsi; Judy Loubier, PT, CSA CDP; Nicole Peretti; Krista Gaul; and Kunu Kaushal, CSA. Published by the Institute for Dignity and Grace, “Why We Care – Choosing the Right Home Care Agency” is available on Amazon ($17.99 and Kindle version for $4.99).
Everyone will eventually need some type of home healthcare services and choosing what form that care will take can be overwhelming. “Why We Care – Choosing the Right Home Care Agency,” provides readers with essential information in a positive way on aging parents, aging at home, and aging with dignity and grace.
Proceeds of the book go towards The Institute for Dignity and Grace.
40 Buy your copy from Amazon here. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/ B075SJ99P3/ To buy wholesale as gifts to your clients and industry partners, call us at 732-414-6155