Having a passion for work or for a hobby makes everything else somehow more interesting. I have a passion for contemporary glass art and Louisville is hosting the 40th annual International Glass Art Conference here this week with over 1000 artists, educators, gallery owners, collectors and museum curators coming to town to learn, watch, mingle, network and enjoy a shared passion. Read a bit about the conference and my involvement.
And forgive my inattention to all things work related as I delve into my passion and enjoy the over 30 exhibits around Louisville and Southern Indiana, and also the many friends and new friends who have the same love for glass art that my husband and I do!
This statement, which is has inherent in it an acronym for CARDS is one of the messages that Coach Charlie Strong, U of L’s new football coach brought to a luncheon speech at the downtown Louisville Rotary Club yesterday. He uses lots of ways to motivate and inspire his new team. Character and Responsibility Determine Success is just one of those.
Ranked last in the conference, Coach Strong is undaunted about his new team’s capabilities. He has put together a great coaching staff, covering all the bases, and he has put effort into recruitment snaring 4 out of the top 5 graduating high school football players in Louisville. So, for a man who is used to being ranked first, he just sees this as one hurdle that he can easily get over, and over which he has some control.
And he is focusing on education. 39 of the team’s players made over a 3.0 this last semester after some strict rules went into place about class attendance and grades equating to playing on this soon to be memorable team.
Enthusiasm, focus, dedication and drive seem to be components that Coach Strong brings with him. What a pleasure it is to experience positive and uplifting moments and to hear good news about predictions for the future. Coach Strong got two standing ovations from the mostly business crowd, and if he is as successful on the field as he is in front of an audience, then watch out Big East as those CARDS are coming back.
A great marketer once said, “In selling a product or service, nothing matters unless the product or service is truly remarkable.” And I have to tout our MOST program as it is truly remarkable. Some targeted marketing is just to get immediate attention. The MOST program is a resource library full of educational materials for those seeking to find care for a frail elderly person, or to find information on how to find care, or to find information on questions commonly asked about care. Thus, the marketing impact builds and grows the longer an agency is a member.
By offering a Web-based library full of operational, sales, marketing, recruitment and retention materials, targeted to home care, the MOST program members have access to highly professionally designed marketing and related collateral material as well as a team that implements the external communication of the material: we send our a monthly eNewsletter and update a member’s Web site with resources, links, and downloads. Read the rest of this entry »
Are you seeking ways to increase your revenue without having to hire more people? Would you make a small investment if it meant you could tap into tens of thousands of dollars in revenue? In 24 hours, you can find out how!
As a joint effort between Barth Holohan, MSW, MBA and Merrily Orsini, MSSW, two home care industry experts, you will be able to immediately begin earning revenue without having to invest much of your precious time. This turnkey manual of operations makes the service delivery easy to implement. Based on actual working partnerships between a private duty agency and retirement communities, this manual is a complete how-to with forms and materials developed.
On our free Webinar you will see how the manual easily guides you to:
select the right retirement facility to make the offer of services
make it work from an internal process
learn the nuances of how retirement communities market to clients and potential customers
You will hear feedback we have received from agencies who have already purchased the manual as well as from co-founder Barth Holohan on how he implemented this for his home care agency.
This could be the most valuable hour of time you have invested in a long time! You still have 24 hours to register!
It was May 18th 1980 when Mt. St. Helens blew its top. A friend of mine living in Portland on a houseboat at the time looked up to see a topless mountain where there once had been a pointed top. The power of nature, once again, proved to be beyond imagination.
There is a power in marketing that is really beyond imagination, but many do not understand it, nor take the time to really internalize what it means. Branding is the essence of blow your top off marketing. However, branding takes strategy, time, patience, measurement, and perseverance. It is not a quick fix to a dying business.
Introspection is the first step. Think about, study, and figure out exactly what your service differentiation (brand) really is. Do you pride yourself on being customer-friendly? If so, does everything you do—from the FAQ on your Web site to the length of time a caller spends on hold when inquiring on the phone—support this image? If not, revisit the essence of your service’s branding. As a reminder, here is what “branding” means. Branding is the perception of your business that is created at every point of contact with the public.
Our MOST program provides the opportunity for an agency to reinforce a brand image that is knowledgeable, helpful, resourceful and caring. Everything we do in that program is geared towards enhancing the home care agency brand, and, because we know the power of branding, we continue to help our home care clients succeed in this increasingly competitive world.
Have a good day today, and think about how much better it would be if you subscribed to the theory of using blow your top off marketing.
Revamping programs to meet customer demand is one reason businesses succeed. corecubedhas offered a home care specific industry program since October 2007, and in those 2 and a half years, the program has changed a lot. Even the strategy has changed, based on how the industry is changing. What started out as a regulated process for going to market, is now a Web-based library of marketing, sales, design, and recruitment resources available on a point system, based on the agency’s monthly payment.
What this means, is that we now have complete modules that are based on a 30+ home care themes (PPTs, press releases, brochures, resource tips and helpful information, Web links, Web banners) as well as many standalone items. What started out as targeting referrals within the industry has now become a robust resource for an agency allowing an independent agency (or a location of a franchise) to compete in this crowded home care market place with the very best marketing and sales material available anywhere. Communicating regularly is one key to staying in the mind of people who might need services, and the corecubed team implements the direct mail, the email eNewsletter (topical and VERY interesting and well read amongst the agencys’ email lists), so taking time to have regular communication with clients, families, referral sources and prospectives of each of those categories is not only done for the MOST program members, but also the communication adds value because of its helpful and informative nature.
Rising above the crowd is the theme of the next MOST Webinar that is sales oriented (disclosure) but also will take the attendee inside the Web-based resource library and showcase the content and material that has been developed. If you are a home care agency or if you have a friend who owns one, I suggest you either sign or direct them to sign up for the Tuesday, May 18th one hour free (3 PM Eastern time) Webinar now. The program is only offered to one agency in any geographic area because it is so good team corecubed does not want 2 people getting the same helpful information. The program maintains a 92% retention rate with our most successful home care companies using MOST and corecubed as their marketing partner. This is really a marketing program that is beyond belief in its depth and quality, and we are proud to say that we continue to listen to our clients and develop new ways for the MOST program members to compete and to rise above the crowd.
Calvin Borel is not called Calvin Bo-rail for nothing. If you watched the 136th running of the Kentucky Derby with a “seasoned” eye, you would have seen his strategy. He took the shortest route, right on the rail (bo- RAIL, get it?) and when he saw an opening in the stretch, he headed right through it and let his horse go. The rest, as we say here in the Bluegrass, is history.
Focus is what won that race. Alright, he is talented, skilled, experienced as well, but it is the focus that separated him from the others who did not win on Saturday. And it is focus along with persistence and determination that makes businesses succeed. Take a look at your agency’s or business’ marketing efforts, and ask yourself if you are approaching a) the right targets with b) the right message and c) the right way so they will respond as you are desiring. Read the rest of this entry »
New Revenue Opportunity Available for Home Care Agencies Via Innovative Services to Retirement Communities
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Louisville, KY – April 27, 2010 – Award winning entrepreneur and home care marketing expert, Merrily Orsini, MSSW, today announced the launch of a product that promises to open a potentially lucrative revenue opportunity for established home care agencies. In a strategic alliance with Barth Holohan of Continuum, the duo has created a how-to manual for private duty home care agencies to provide services to retirement community residents, thus avoiding a move to a higher level of care. Read the rest of this entry »
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About Merrily Orsini
Industry veteran and Private Duty Business Manual author, Merrily Orsini, MSSW, is a member of the Board of Directors for the National Association of Home Care and Hospice and serves as the Chairman of the Private Duty Homecare Association.
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