In many situations, people’s first reaction to a perceived problem is to find a way to throw some money at it.  When trying to generate increased traffic, leads and consequently new residents or clients this might mean investing in additional advertising avenues or increasing your spending with current print and online channels.  Before you do this, step back and invest time in reviewing and improving your current internal systems.  Make sure to look at the following, for starters:

“Lead Entry Points” – Potential residents and clients can walk through the door, call you on the phone, e-mail through your site or a portal that houses your information, or even ask any member of your company questions at a grocery store.  Make sure you identify all of the people that come in contact with leads.  Give them firm guidance on questions to ask.  Along with personal data, needs, timing and contact information identify the source of the lead and carefully track these sources.   This will allow you to make sure you are spending your dollars in an efficient way.  It’s great to get the lead, but it’s huge to know the origin.  Your advertising dollars may be paying off and you won’t know until you stop and the leads dry up.  Don’t let this information get lost in your hurry to get them in the door for a tour or consult.

“Get them to the right person” – In a lot of cases, the person receiving the lead will be responsible for taking them through the process.  If not, make sure all entry points know where the lead should be directed.   This MUST be done in a timely manner, as competition is fierce.  Everyone is very busy and those not directly involved in the marketing process have other priorities.  Give clear guidance on how to process leads quickly and get them to the right person, while still maintaining tracking of the leads.  Make it simple, but stress the importance.  A lead is a terrible thing to waste!  If there is a way to financially incent all involved, do it!   It is a worthwhile investment.  There are many lead tracking systems in the market.  Most can fit into your budget and will help you track crucial marketing information.

“Close the File” – Make sure every lead is closed.   It’s easy to figure out what to do with the information of a lead the turns into a client.   What do we do with the rest of them?  Are they planning for the future?   Get them in the system as a follow-up with the correct timeframe and contact.  Do they have even the slightest future potential?  Put them on a newsletter mailing list or other method for future contact.  When certain a lead is no longer a “live”, purge it from your system.  It makes it easier to deal with quality leads and avoid making a bad impression through sending “spam” to uninterested parties.

We are all trying to do more with less these days.  As such, we must maximize our assets, which in many cases means training all involved in the process and updating systems that are in place, without investing additional dollars.  Before making drastic changes in spending, invest time in reviewing and upgrading what is already in place.  Whether you are a small home health provider or large retirement or care community, it’s worth the investment.