September-October - New York State Association of Health Care

Volume VII, No. 5 September-October 2010
SPECIAL PRE-CONFERENCE ISSUE
Guerrilla Management Techniques
Use low pressure to get high productivity from your people
By Steve Savage
Steve Savage will be speaking at the HCP Annual Conference. He is an acclaimed sales and management strategist who
has helped dozens of companies dramatically increase their sales and profits. Steve’s strategies are based on a lifetime
of building companies throughout the Western Hemisphere. Steve earned a BA in philosophy from Wheaton College and
graduated Magna Cum Laude with an MBA in marketing from Michigan State University.
A
s a manager, you can get great productivity from your people by making them feel light-hearted, not tense.
Traditional managers put pressure on their people and operate on the basis of guilt. Guerrilla Managers put
enthusiasm into their people and operate on the basis of joy.
I remember my first manager, Ted Welch. He always made me feel good, even when I was having a tough time.
One week I was #1 in the company and he congratulated me with great enthusiasm. The next week, I called him
in a panic on Monday at 4 PM and told him I hadn’t sold anything all day. Ted started to laugh. Then he laughed
Continued on Page 3
In this issue:
HCP Conference
is October 26-29
Guerrilla Management Techniques
Long Island Marriott, Uniondale
Use Low Pressure to Get High
Productivity From Your People
Associates’ Corner
Sandata Technologies, Inc.
1
8
From “Relevancy” to Referrals
How Home Care Marketers Can
Increase Their Relevancy to
Drive Referrals
AWARE: Home Care Month
9
10
Register now at www.hcpconference.org.
Excitement is building for “...Bridges,” HCP’s Annual Management
Conference & Exhibition, set for October 26-29 at the Marriott Long
Island Hotel & Conference Center in Uniondale, NY.
HCP’s Conference is the ideal place for providers to build bridges
with colleagues and exchange ideas about the many issues facing the
home care industry.
This year’s two-and-a-half day Conference gives attendees the most
education ever—over 24 sessions with no repeat concurrents.
Continued on Page 3
Tools
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Tools
for the
Trade, September-October 2010
Page Guerrilla Management Techniques
Continued from Page 1
some more. In his slow, soft Tennessee drawl, he said, “Steve, you’re trying too hard. Just forget about sales.
Just go out there, relax and visit with the folks.”
That’s the best advice he could have given me. A traditional sales manager would have put pressure on me to work
harder, to try harder and to close more sales. Ted realized I was pushing myself to repeat my #1 performance
of the previous week. He got me off the hook by laughing and getting me to relax.
Conflict between salespeople and office staff
Three of us “guerrillas” formed our own company. We designed and manufactured products for schools that they
could resell in fund raising programs. We hired teachers and principals as our salespeople. One teacher named
Bob Aga ran a terrific fund raising program with our products and raised $12,000 for his school. We talked with
Bob about joining our company and calling on schools full time. He loved working with kids, and was enthusiastic
about a job where he could make a lot of money and still work with young people.
Bob was so excited about his new job that he would come into the office every day after school was out to tell
everybody about his results that day. School got out at 3:00 PM. Our offices and plant closed at 5:00 PM. Bob had
two hours to go around and talk to everyone, from our controller to our plant manager to our customer service
people. He bubbled over with joy every afternoon.
One day our controller, Bernard, came to me and said, “Steve, you’ve got to slow Bob down. He comes in every day and
talks to everyone in the office. We don’t have time for him. We are up to our necks in work. Tell him to stay away.”
Continued on Page 4
HCP 2010 Annual Management
Conference & Exhibition
October 26 - 29, 2010
Continued from page 1
Marriott Long Island
Hotel & Conference Center
Uniondale, NY
Five sessions offer Nursing Contact Hours on topics including diabetes & depression, telehealth and quality
improvement. The popular Private Pay Track is back with innovative presentations on marketing, legal and
business sessions to help providers take advantage of this rapidly growing segment of the home care market.
A strong lineup of nationally known speakers includes Keynote speaker Chip Madera discussing strategies to
ensure success in difficult times; humorist and author Ronald Culberson on using humor to reduce stress and
improve productivity; and trainer and coach Julie Jansen on building bridges and making connections to increase
personal and professional success. Steve Savage will offer an innovative presentation on unconventional guerrilla
management techniques, and marketing and public relations expert Lori Moshier will provide valuable information
on how to differentiate your agency in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Both of these speakers are
featured in this issue of Tools.
Exhibitors from across the country will be on hand with their latest products and services for home care providers. Many
exhibitors have also shown their support for HCP by sponsoring various items and events during the Conference.
This year’s Annual Awards Luncheon on Thursday, October 28 will feature special recognition of retiring HCP
President Phyllis Wang along with winners of both the paraprofessional and professional “Heroes in the Home”
Statewide Caregiver Award and winners of HCP’s traditional awards including the Richard Z. Steinhaus Award, the
Edna A. Lauterbach Member of the Year Award, Founders’ Spirit Award, Associate Member of the Year Award, and
Elected Official of the Year Award. The winner of the Edna A. Lauterbach Scholarship, sponsored by Community
Health Care Services Foundation, Inc. (CHC) will also be awarded.
Other Conference highlights include “Bridges to Paradise,” the CHC Fundraiser and Silent Auction on Wednesday
night that features a variety of vacation and travel packages, jewelry, hand crafted pottery and other outstanding
items. Proceeds benefit CHC’s educational programs and the National Kidney Foundation. Attendees will
experience the exotic ambiance of India at the Akbar Restaurant on Thursday evening during the HCP PAC Event,
“An Evening at the Akbar”—an unforgettable evening of gourmet ethnic and American cuisine and world class
entertainment.
For more information about the Conference and to register, visit the Conference Web site, www.hcpconference.org.
Tools
for the
Trade, September-October 2010
Page Guerrilla Management Techniques
Continued from Page 3
You can imagine Bernard, the controller. Grim, serious,
business-like—a total numbers guy. When he smiled, his lips
pointed down. He was a great controller and kept us three
“guerrillas” organized, but he did not like salespeople!
I replied, “Bernard, I appreciate your hard work and I don’t
want anyone wasting your time. However, I don’t have the
heart to tell Bob to stay away. He is doing a fantastic job,
he’s selling a lot, he’s full of enthusiasm and he feels like
we are one big happy family. I don’t want to destroy that
feeling.” Bernard grunted his disapproval.
Then I said, “I tell you what. Let’s make a deal. Instead of
having Bob come into the office, why don’t you and all the
other managers go out with Bob and call on our customers?
You would go out for just half a day and you would get a
much better sense of what our business is all about. That way
Bob will have the feeling that we care about him and you will
have a better idea of what our customers are thinking.”
Bombshell! Thud.
Bernard did not like that idea at all. “No way! I’m too busy.
I’m putting in 10 or 12 hours a day. I can’t spare any time
to go out and visit those crazy customers with that fanatical
salesman!”
We had a weekly staff meeting. Bernard, our dour controller,
was there. Arlene, our human resources director and Tom,
our operations director, also attended. We three partners
had to convince the other three people that they should
also become “guerrillas” and get out in the trenches with
the salespeople. We had hired them from large corporations
because we were young “guerrillas” and we needed their
executive experience. They had a lot to give to us. But we
also had a lot to give to them.
How to convince managers to get “out in the trenches”
I wanted to sell them on the idea, not pressure them into it.
So, I tried the old “soft” sell tactic. I began, “Mike, Dennis
and I continue to go out in the field with our salespeople two
days each week, no matter what the demands are here in
Continued on Page 5
Tools
for the
99 Troy Road, Suite 200
East Greenbush, NY 12061
Trade
(P) 518.463.1118 (F) 518.463.1606
www.nyshcp.org
Managing Editor: Claudia J. Hammar
Tools for the Trade is published bimonthly by the New
York State ­Association of Health Care ­Providers, Inc.
(HCP). Copyright © 2010 New York State ­Association of
Health Care Providers, Inc. All rights ­reserved.
Tools
for the
Trade, September-October 2010
Special HCP Pre-Conference Session
Improving Retention in
the Home Care Workforce
October 26, 2010, 9 am - 4 pm
Marriott Long Island Hotel &
Conference Center, Uniondale, NY
HCP Chapter Members: $125
HCP Members: $135
Non-Members: $235
* Complimentary lunch will be provided.
This highly interactive session will give you
practical strategies, tools and resources
that will help increase worker job
satisfaction and reduce turnover!
During the session you will:
• Evaluate your organization
• Diagnose retention problems
• Write a Retention Plan for your agency
This program is open to all agencies. For
agencies not participating in the Grant, price
includes the Oct. 26 onsite program and
access to two follow-up booster Webinars.
Click here to register!
This program is part of Community Health Care Services
Foundation’s (CHC) “Improving Retention in the Home Care
Workforce” Demonstration Project that has been underwritten
through a grant from the New York Health Foundation.
Presenter
Rhoda Meador, PhD, is the Associate
Director for Extension and Outreach,
New York State College of Human
Ecology at Cornell University and the
President of LifeWorks Learning, LLC.
Meador has investigated the impact of
professional development (coaching, mentoring,
improved interpersonal skills and innovative
management practices) and their relationship on
recruitment and retention of direct care workers in
long-term care settings.
Meador holds an MS degree from Marshall
University in Adult Education and a PhD from
Iowa State University in Family and Consumer
Sciences Education.
Page Guerrilla Management Techniques
Continued from Page 4
the office. We think it is vital for us to keep our eyes and ears open so we know what is going on in our market.
We want to hear what our customers are saying. We want to know our salespeople intimately.
“We would like you to consider going out with our salespeople for one half day. Just try it and see what you
think. If you think it was useful, then you may want some of the managers and supervisors that work under you
to do the same thing.”
Arlene was enthusiastic about the idea and immediately agreed. Tom did
not seem terribly excited but nodded his head. Bernard, who had already
told me “no,” grunted in dismay. He knew he was beaten. To make sure
it happened, we immediately scheduled each one of them for the next three
days, half a day each. There was no getting out of it now!
I asked them to come and give me some feedback as soon as they got
back. Tom was the first. He came back positively radiant. I had never
seen him so excited. He said, “Steve, those four hours changed my whole
perspective on our business. I saw how our customers react to our products
and I saw mistakes my people had made in packing and shipping. We will
correct those immediately. Also, I saw how hard Bob works and I have
new respect for him. We got to know each other better as we drove from
school to school and I understand why he gets so enthusiastic about the
service we are providing the schools.”
After everyone had
spent a half-day in the
field, we decided to
make this part of our
corporate philosophy.
Everyone would spend
one half-day in the field
every six months.
Arlene came in the next day. She was always upbeat, so I was not surprised when she told me how much she
had enjoyed the day. But she had also learned something. As director of human resources, she got a picture of
how lonely a salesperson can feel, and how detached from the company life can be when one is out in the field.
Learn more! Visit our booth at the HCP Conference!
Continued on Page 7
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Tools
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Tools
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Page Guerrilla Management Techniques
Continued from Page 5
In the office, everyone is together and she could create her magic sense of teamwork. She now wanted to give
that same sense to the salespeople.
Finally it was the turn of Bernard, the stern controller. He had not been looking forward to this day. But he managed
to get out there at 7:30 AM, when the school day began, and started making calls with good old Bob.
When Bernard reported back to me that afternoon, a dramatic change had come over him. The first thing I noticed
was his smile. Those lips that used to point downward in a grimace were suddenly pointed upward in a genuine
smile! Bernard looked happy! He acknowledged, “Well, Steve, I can’t believe it, but I actually had a good time.
It’s a different world out there. I saw Bob get up in front of 200 kids. He showed them the products and the
prizes—and they were actually screaming like they were at a concert. It was really fun. At another school, the
teacher showed us her invoice and the computer printout. She was confused by a few things on it. I immediately
saw a few things we could do to make it simpler and easier for her.”
After that, we quickly scheduled a time when each manager and supervisor, as well as each customer service
person, would spend half a day riding around with either Bob or one of our other Fund Raising Directors. Now
that we had the three top people convinced, it was easy for them to convince those that reported to them. After
everyone had spent a half-day in the field, we decided to make this part of our corporate philosophy. Everyone
would spend one half-day in the field every six months.
This became an article of faith with the company. We would insist that it be put on the calendar at the beginning of
each six-month period. This was the most sacrosanct appointment of the entire six months. Nothing was allowed
to interfere. You could not get out of it by saying, “I’m too busy” or “I have a meeting.”
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What were the results of this strategy? The company
became much more vibrant and customer-oriented. It had
started out as three “Mom-and-Pop: operations. My wife
Barrie and I had started in our garage. Dennis and Mike
had started with their wives in their garages. When we
were barely surviving, we did whatever it took to make
the customers happy. Now, with an ever-growing staff, we
needed to maintain that same enthusiasm and flavor.
No matter how big we got, we resolved to retain that
“Mom and Pop” spirit. Our sales grew because teachers,
coaches, band directors and PTA presidents loved us.
The reason they loved us was because they got great
service from customer service people who could talk to
them intelligently—because they knew what it was like
out there in the schools.
They also loved us because they got great products that
were well packaged, because our production people had
been out there to see how the products arrived.
They also loved us because our invoices and tabulation
of each student’s orders were so simple and easy to
understand, because our accounting and computer people
had been out there to see how the customers read and
interpreted those statements.
Our company established the reputation of being “easy
to do business with.” And our sales grew, doubling each
year, until we reached $60 million in six years and sold it
to Colgate-Palmolive. TT
Copyright © 2010 Steve Savage
Tools
for the
Trade, September-October 2010
Page Associates’
Corner
Sandata Technologies, Inc.
Harold S. Blue is Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman of Sandata Technologies, LLC,
a leader in Web-based information technologies for home care and social service agencies.
He has been an entrepreneur, senior executive and private equity investor for almost three
decades. For the past decade, Harold has started and been managing partner of three
different buyout funds. He has served on more than thirty public and twelve private boards
of directors, twelve audit committees, fifteen compensation committees and ten executive
or special committees, providing senior leadership to growing healthcare companies for
almost three decades.
Tell us about Sandata.
Sandata was founded in New York State over 30 years ago, and today we have over 250 employees and 1,800
home care agency customers all across the country. We have become an industry leader by offering agencies
software solutions in key areas—scheduling, billing, reporting, payroll, and time & attendance. We have a number
of software solutions, HC Plus, SHARP and ProHealth, and of course, Santrax Telephony, our time & attendance
solution. Even though we have expanded into other states, a substantial portion, but no longer the majority, of our
business continues to be in New York State and providers in New York are very important to us.
What’s new at Sandata?
This is an exciting time at Sandata. We have recently restructured the company and brought in a new
executive team, which has helped us become the industry leader—we’ve seen over 35% growth this year.
We acquired Health Systems Solutions, Inc. in March and have just completed the acquisiton of Medical
Management Technology Group, Inc. in Troy, NY. We have also recently won some very large contracts in
State of Tennessee and and Dade County Florida. Because of our long history in New York, we’ve been primarily
Medicaid specialists, but as we explore new markets and look to acquire new customers, we are broadening
our approach into the Medicare area.
What types of customers do you have?
We have all types of customers including home care agencies of all sizes serving Medicaid, Medicare, Hospice
and Private Pay clients. Additionally we service state governments and local municipalities, and managed care
organizations.
How do you view your products and services?
Our goal is to be an agency’s technology solutions partner—not a vendor that simply sells products and
services. We not only host software solutions that help agencies streamline key areas of their businesses,
we host the products for customers, so we become their outsourced technology partner. This helps reduce
their expenses because they don’t have to hire and train IT staff and take care of technical issues when they
occur or deal with other aspects of technology such as software patches and upgrades. That’s not their area
of expertise. We help agencies concentrate on providing care to patients within the home setting.
Can you tell us what you’re planning for the
future?
Well, of course we will continue to expand into
new markets and upgrade and add features and
functionality so that we continue delivering the best
possible software solutions for our customers. We
will also focus on what we do best—providing the
best technology solutions possible so that agencies
can focus on what they do best—taking care of
clients at home.
Tools
for the
Trade, September-October 2010
Associates’ Corner, a regular feature of Tools
For The Trade, highlights a particular HCP
Associate Member.
Page From “Relevancy” To Referrals
How Home Care Marketers Can Increase Their “Relevancy”
to Drive Referrals
By Lori Mosier
A
bout 5 years ago, I had an opportunity to conduct a focus group with hospital discharge
planners on what they considered to be “marketing best practices” for home care agencies from
their vantage point. One of the questions we asked this group yielded a very interesting response.
When asked “What do you feel is your biggest issue with home care marketers,” one of our group
members quickly responded, ”Oh, most home care marketers really have nothing to say that is
relevant to me or my patients.” The rest of the group concurred. We were a little confused by
this statement. How could home care services NOT be relevant to somebody whose main role was
to discharge patients home?
Additional probing revealed the true issue. It wasn’t
that they felt that home care was “irrelevant”. It
was that home care marketers did a poor job of
providing information that was useful and valuable to
the discharge planner—often simply reciting a “menu
board” of services.
The focus group indicated that they welcomed
marketers that could provide good information—these
were viewed as an educational resource. But they
viewed marketers that frequently showed up with the
same old brochure and repeated the same old message
as “time wasters.” They also indicated that they were
deluged with marketing representatives from a wide
range of services, and it was virtually impossible to give
their time to everyone who requested it. They were
continually faced with deciding who they would see, and
who they would not see.
Although this focus group consisted of discharge
planners, these findings seem to hold true of other
referral source categories including physicians and
skilled nursing facilities, as any experienced home care
marketer knows.
Tools
for the
Trade, September-October 2010
The reality of home care marketing is that it is
getting more and more difficult to gain access to
referral sources, but it is still essential to get access
in order to generate referrals. “The Relevant Home
Care Marketer” is a program that focuses on providing
solutions to the problem of marketing access and
motivating referral sources to refer. Here are just a
few tips that are provided in the marketing program.
Four Tips and Suggestions for Home Care
Marketing “Relevancy”
1. Make sure your collateral materials speak to
your referral audience
Most home care agencies have a tri-fold brochure
that they rely on to do their heavy lifting with referral
sources. Unfortunately, when you read the content
and look at the information provided, you will see
that most brochures are directed to the consumer,
not the referral source. Worse yet, the brochure
content is often interchangeable from one agency
to another.
Continued on Page 10
Page From “Relevancy” to Referrals
Continued from Page 9
For example, if you can take a competitor’s brochure,
cross their name out and insert your own and still feel
that the information is accurate, you have a marketing
problem! For consumers and referral sources, they
have no way to know how one agency is any different
or any better from another!
Even though you operate in a regulated environment,
there are still subtle, but powerful, things you do that
differentiate your agency from others. Make sure you
include those differences in your marketing materials
and the message you deliver to your audience.
Your “consumer directed” tri-fold is a great tool for
leaving in brochure holders in places where potential
clients and patients congregate, such as waiting and
resource rooms, lobbies, etc. However, your agency
still should have a separate collateral piece for marketing
to referral sources.
For example, if you are an agency that relies on
physicians for referrals, you may want to consider an
11 x 17 fold-over format for a collateral piece. This
is the format commonly used by pharmaceutical
representatives when they detail a physician practice.
Physicians have been “conditioned” to expect that
these “detail sheets” will provide them with good
professional information and will also have a call to
action that encourages them to write an order for that
product or service. Information to include in these
detail sheets could include common diagnoses that
may indicate a need for home care services, statistics
on home care services, billing for cert/re-cert, Medicare
guidelines and eligibility, etc.
2. Sometimes, less is best
Don’t fall into the habit of doing an “information
dump” on your referral sources. Remember, they
want better information, not just more of the same
old stuff! This includes those information packets that
are put together with pocket file folders that include
everything but the kitchen sink. They may have a
place somewhere, but for the most part that place
ends up being the wastebasket! Do you really think
referral sources have a place for that material when
they may receive 50 or so similar packets a month?
Probably not. This is not only ineffective, it can be a
major waste of money.
Rather, look for ways to deliver information in “smaller
doses.” These can be one sheet “service features” that
your marketers and liaisons deliver on a regular basis
to your referral sources. Provide information that can
be valuable to them and educate them about your
Continued on Page 11
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Tools
for the
Trade, September-October 2010
Page 10
From “Relevancy” to Referrals
Continued from Page 10
home care services. An example could be a sheet that explains your opening process, including information on
OASIS documentation, why that is required, how it is used, etc. A side benefit is that this provides marketers
with a reason to make follow-up visits.
3. Be prepared for your face-to-face encounters
A physician spends only ten minutes per patient, and even less time—three to six minutes—per marketing
representative. Their day is structured around short, controlled segments. Even though office staff are generally
the gatekeepers and they might eventually be individuals that your agency works with regarding referrals, the
bottom line is that you need to gain access and buy-in from that physician if you want to generate referrals from
that practice.
This means that your marketer/liaison must be prepared at all times to describe your agency, the services you
provide and reasons why a referral source should refer to your agency over others—all within three minutes
or less. Don’t leave this to chance or plan to just “wing it”—use a “best practice” from the pharmaceutical
industry that relies on highly “scripted” pitches to deliver the marketing message to physicians. Request that
your marketer/liaison develop a one minute “elevator pitch” and have them deliver it at your next staff meeting.
This information should be concise, organized and build a strong case to refer to your agency. If it does not,
go back to the drawing board and re-tool the message. Furthermore, have them develop three or four openended questions to ask their referral sources with the intent of encouraging the referral source to engage in a
conversation about their preferences, protocols and referring patterns.
4. Use a “specialty program” to gain access to referral sources
That first referral is the hardest one to get from any referral source. Sometimes you just need to give them
an extra little “nudge” or reason to refer. Specialty programs can be a great way to induce a referral source
to make that first referral because they offer a justification for deviating from a normal practice. Venturing out
and trying a new agency can feel risky to them, as there is always risk in trying something new. A specialty
program is one way a home care agency can outweigh the referral source’s perceived risk. Once you get that
first referral, it is then up to your agency to “wow” them with your services and follow-up in order to get the
stream of referrals to follow.
The concept of marketing relevancy for home care agencies is built on differentiating your agency from the others
and being viewed as an expert on all things home care related, and ultimately, a valued care provider for their
patients. Agencies that invest the time and intellectual capital in developing their marketing strategies with a view
to “relevant” exchanges with their referral sources are the ones that enjoy the greatest growth. TT
Lori Moshier will be speaking at the HCP Annual Conference. She is founder, owner and principal consultant
of Novaetus, Inc., a marketing, sales, public relations and customer service consulting firm. She has over 25
years experience in marketing and sales including National Sales Manager for a Fortune 500 provider of home
health and staffing services and Marketing Manager for a $4.5 billion dollar health care system with hospital and
home care locations across the U.S. Lori is a 1981 graduate of the University of Michigan and holds a degree in
Economics.
Tools
for the
Trade, September-October 2010
Page 11
Be a PR Pro and Raise Home Care
Awareness During National Home
Care & Hospice Month
By Travis Wattie, MPA
Travis Wattie is Assistant Director of Public Policy & Communications at the New York State Association of Health
Care Providers, Inc. (HCP). Travis has developed and executed statewide and national public relations strategies
for HCP since 2006, leading to increased public awareness of home and community-based care and HCP.
November is National Home Care and Hospice Month—the ideal time to build morale and recognize
your workers. It is also an opportunity to raise awareness about your agency and home and
community-based care outside the walls of your office.
Not telling the community about a home care aide who goes above and beyond the call of duty or
about a new service your agency provides is like making an ice cream sundae and forgetting to add
the cherry on top—it’s just not complete. The “public” in public relations means telling your story
to the broadest audience possible.
Whatever Home Care Month recognition program you initiate, a critical
component to its success is making sure people know about it, particularly
local media, public officials, and community members. Purchasing
newspaper advertisements and radio spots to spread the word is an
option, but buying media can be pricey. Focus on earned media, which is
a PR industry way of saying FREE!
PR Tip #1:
Don’t be afraid to use earned media to your advantage. It is a
powerful tool that anyone can harness with a little practice.
Public events should be posted in community events calendars that are
hosted by local newspapers, radio and television stations, and Web sites.
Putting notice in your agency newsletter is a must, and urging employees
to spread the word to family and friends is also helpful. If your public
relations plan uses social media such as Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn,
use these tools to help promote your event as well.
If you have not planned Home
Care Month programs, it is not
too late. Here are some simple,
tried-and-true ways to help
celebrate National Home Care
and Hospice Month:
• Host an agency open house
• Honor an exceptional worker
• Participate in HCP’s Home
Care Connect program
• Ask government officials to
issue a proclamation naming
November as Home Care
Month in your community
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If the event or initiative is closed to the general public,
you can still invite local elected officials and media.
Send formal invitations to city, county and/or Statewide
office-holders and encourage them to prepare remarks
for the event. Make sure to follow up with a phone call.
It can be a bit more challenging to have a media
presence at your event, but not impossible. Draft a
“Media Advisory” containing the “who, what, where,
when, and why” of your event. This should be short
and to the point, but also contain enough information
to pique a reporter or editor’s interest. Be sure to
mention that November is National Home Care and
Hospice Month, as this provides a relevant context for
your event. Don’t forget to list at least one, and no more
than two agency contacts for the media to contact.
Many organizations use media distribution software
to get their message to news outlets. Having access
to this type of service is helpful but not necessary.
Instead, create and update your own media list. Start
building this necessary public relations tool by visiting
www.usnpl.com for a listing of newspapers and radio
and television stations in your area. HCP’s Legislative
Action Center (www.capwiz.com/nyshcp/home) also
has media listings.
It will take some time, but search media Web sites
for email addresses and phone and fax numbers for
newsrooms. As the list is used and updated, it will
become more refined and useful.
PR Tip #2 – Sending press releases and media
advisories via email is the norm, but faxes are
accepted, too. Don’t forget to follow up with a
phone call!
After all that hard work, understand that media may
not attend your Home Care Month event. Newspapers,
radio and television outlets run with a lean staff, and
they can’t possibly attend every newsworthy event.
This does not mean that there isn’t an interesting
story to tell—so go ahead and tell it by issuing a press
Tools
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release, even if your Home Care Month initiative did
not include a planned event.
PR Tip #3: If you are hosting an event where
media are invited, it is important to have a press
release and other relevant information ready to
hand reporters—this is your press kit.
The title and first paragraph of any press release are
critical. A good beginning will make a reporter want to
keep reading. The title and first paragraph should be
clear, concise, interesting and local.
PR Tip #4: Reporters get news from across the
country, but often the local angle is what they
want. For example, mention the town or city
where your agency is located or the area where
an honored home health aide lives.
Include a quote from the organization’s leader. Be
positive and professional and don’t forget to include
the name, title and company name of the person
being quoted.
Write the story by focusing on the highlights. A typical
press release is no more than one page. If a reporter
wants to know more they will call or email the agency’s
media contact.
PR Tip #5: Think of yourself as doing the
reporter’s job. Write the story as if that’s exactly
how it will be printed in the newspaper. Many
media outlets, especially small weekly papers,
will print your story verbatim if well-written.
Don’t forget to send along a photo or two with
captions containing the names and titles of people in
the picture.
For tips on writing a press release and other
public relations guidelines, please visit HCP’s
Member Media Tools and Resources Web page
at www.nyshcp.org/content.aspx?id=1550&lin
kidentifier=id&itemid=1550.
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