Keep your friends close…and your competition closer

So your agency is top-notch, delivering stellar senior care services to your clientele and reaping the benefits. Time to relax and run on autopilot, right? Think again!

While it may be easy to fall into complacency when your business is thriving, in today’s crowded aging care market, it’s important to always stay on your toes and stand over and above the competition. And the only way to do that is to KNOW your competition.

Think of the aging care industry as a chess match. One strategic and innovative move from your opponent and you could easily fall behind. It’s crucial to stay a step ahead and understand their strategy as well as you do your own.

That’s where a competitive analysis comes in; and keep in mind, there are a number of methods for analyzing your competitors, so it may take several attempts to gain the insight you need. A couple of options to try include:

• Identify what makes an aging care business successful, and then rate your competitors’ abilities to meet those factors. Be sure to include your own agency!
• Compare strengths and weaknesses in a variety of areas: scope of services offered, pricing, certifications, accreditations, customer reviews, technologies used, service area covered, niche, brand, website, collateral, presence in community, etc.

Either way, the competitive analysis should answer the following questions:

• What products or services do each of your competitors offer?
• What is the quality of those products or services?
• What are their primary and secondary service areas?
• What is your competitors’ market share? How many customers do they have?
• What are their competitive advantages and disadvantages?
• How do they/will they react to your market penetration?
• What barriers does your competition face? (Lack of quality personnel, changing technologies, operational costs, etc.)

As new businesses continue to enter the senior care market at a rapid rate, it’s more important than ever to assess the competitive landscape on a regular basis. Experts recommend conducting and/or updating a competitive analysis at least once per year. Be sure to also include secondary competitors who are not exactly like your business, but who compete regularly for your clientele. For instance, include assisted living facilities among your competition, and vice versa.

You may be thinking, “I’m already overloaded and running on fumes; I can’t afford to spend time on this when I need to run my agency!” But the hard truth is, you can’t afford NOT to if you want to grow your business. Truly differentiating your business from the competition is the key to success. This downloadable tool from Market Home Care can help you discern your agency’s niche so that you stand out from the crowd.

The experts at corecubed specialize in aging care marketing, with years of experience in strategic analysis and planning, helping aging care businesses just like yours to thrive and grow well beyond their expectations. Let us do the work for you, so you can concentrate on what you do best: run your agency!