Archive for June, 2009
Price Point Strategy: Risky for the Long Term
The coffee wars are on, and according to The Boston Globe, McDonald’s is making headway.
The fast food giant launched its “McCafé” coffee chain in Melbourne, Australia with plans to offer the coffee brand in all of its 14,000 U.S.-based stores by the end of this year. Public reception of the McCafé brand has been surprisingly positive. In fact, McDonald’s has unseated Dunkin’ Donuts from the donut chain’s Number Two slot as the most-preferred coffee retailer. No surprise that Starbucks holds the top position. (more…)
Know thine enemy – or in this case – thine competitor
When it’s you vs. them, it’s crucial to know who “they” are.
The business world is competitive by nature. In this economy, it’s positively cutthroat – in a professional, may-the-best-man-or-woman-win kind of way. Getting ahead of your competitors doesn’t require you to carry a dagger under you cloak, but it does mean you have to keep a shrewd eye on your rival’s every move – and adjust your marketing plan to compensate when necessary. (more…)
When it comes to crisis communications, don’t panic!
Never is an agency under more stress and strain than during a time of crisis. Unfortunately, many agencies fail to develop and follow an adequate crisis communications strategy. The results of such an oversight can be disastrous.
But why is a predetermined strategy a necessity? What constitutes a crisis? (more…)
45 Life’s Lessons from a 90 Year Old
Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio
“To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I’ve ever written. My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:
1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone… (more…)
Struggling With Recruiting Quality Caregivers?
So much of running a home care agency is wrapped up in the day to day minutia of working with clients, administrative tasks and, of course, all important marketing tasks to build up new client business. However, we know that the core of any successful home care business is its caregiver team. Without quality caregivers, there are no quality services available to seniors. I speak frequently at industry events and a recurring theme I hear is that home care agencies continually struggle with recruiting quality caregivers. They either don’t have the tools or simply don’t have the time to develop them.
After I thought about this for awhile, I turned to my arsenal of home care agency tools and created several new products that I think many of you will be able to use…and all based around recruitment! From training resources to caregiver orientation, save valuable time with these new products!