How to Get Clients for Your Domiciliary Care Agency

Whether you’re just getting started or planning to expand, the message is clear either way: 

You need to learn how to get clients for your domiciliary care agency.

Of course, providing the best care for your current clients is crucial. But you need to think outside the box a little when attracting new ones.

Volunteering, networking, and using the internet are great ways to start. But that’s only scratching the surface.

Follow the tips below to know exactly how to get private care clients (or agency clients). 

What Is a Domiciliary Care Agency?

For those unfamiliar with the term, domiciliary (also known as “home care” in the UK) care agencies provide care services for people in need, specifically in their homes or residence.

Typical domiciliary care clients include senior citizens and disabled people. But it also applies to anyone who needs assistance to improve their quality of life. 

These agencies usually have an office team that works closely with qualified healthcare professionals.

8 Ways to Get Clients for Your Domiciliary Care Agency

We recommend taking the following steps to learn how to get private care clients (or agency clients).

Firstly, ensure your domiciliary carers provide the best care for your current clients.

Developing a reputation as a reliable, top-quality care agency is a surefire way to attract even more clients. 

Recruiting and onboarding the best carers requires time and resources. So make sure they’re at the level you need them to be. 
To maintain high-quality care, consider creating a recognition program. This way, you can reward caregivers who go above and beyond. It will motivate other staff members too.

You can do everything in your power to provide top-quality care. But the final judges will be governing domiciliary care bodies. They usually conduct inspections to assess the quality of care you’re providing. This will confirm whether you’re up to standard or not.

For example, the UK’s CQC (Care Quality Commission) rates all the country’s domiciliary care providers. 

The CQC has four ratings: Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement, or Inadequate. 

To measure each agency’s quality, the CQC asks five key questions:

• Are services safe?
• Are they effective?
• Are they caring?
• Are they responsive to people’s needs?
• Are they well-led?

Of the 9800 companies registered in the UK, only a few are rated as “Outstanding.” If you can join that small list, you’re guaranteed to attract many more clients.

Once your domiciliary care agency starts performing at its best, you can create a strategy for attracting relevant clients. You might find some leads by simply going online and posting some ads. But ultimately, it’s a shot in the dark. 

Putting together a list of straightforward steps will make it easier to find clients. Firstly, you need to decide which client you want to target. Do you want to specialize in a specific demographic (e.g., elderly care)? Or do you want to provide care for anyone?

At this point, you can start researching the best ways to target your audience and which channels you should use to reach them successfully.

You want a cost-reducing way to find clients for your domiciliary care agency, right? Then you need to create some kind of professional referral system. 

Word of mouth is a powerful way to get your agency’s name around. So having both current and former clients sing your praises can only do wonders for your agency. If you can seek professional referrals, then even better.

Building relationships with a couple of local doctor offices is an excellent place to start. If they see that your caregivers are doing good work for patients, they’ll recommend you to others. You can make professional referrals more official by providing printed materials, like leaflets.

There are many ways to get your agency’s name out there and build goodwill with the local community. Here are some examples.

Volunteer

Some of the best work your caregivers can do for your agency is volunteer work. You can show potential clients that your team cares deeply about the community. They’ll see that your staff will go the extra mile for absolutely nothing. For example, you can:

• Hold a gift drive for families in need
• Clean up public areas (parks, beaches, etc.)
• Host fundraisers for charities
• Organize blood drives
• Help out at soup kitchens.

Contact local community centers, food banks, schools, and churches for volunteer work.

Sponsor Events

Sponsoring events is a great way to get your name out there. A great example is senior events like Bingo games and foot races. You can also sponsor events for your potential clients’ children and grandchildren.

Speak at Community Events 

You can network by sending a delegation from your agency to local institutions. Here, they can speak in front of relevant audiences. This initiative makes your agency visible to the right people. It also establishes you as an authority on essential topics.

Appropriate locations for public speaking include churches, retirement homes, senior community centers, etc. 

Partner with Local Businesses and Professionals

Asking for referrals is great. But returning the favor can help you greatly in the long run. Partnering means recommending businesses to those who might benefit from their services. But it’s under the condition that they do the same for you. 

Some of the companies and professionals you can partner with include:

• Social workers
• Occupational therapists
• Skilled home nursing care facilities
• Hospices
• Nursing homes
• Social service agencies
• Assisted living facilities.

Today, it’s essential to use the internet to attract clients to your home care agency. Pay attention to the following steps when stepping into the online world.

Get a Website Up and Running‌ 

Having an official website adds more legitimacy to your home care agency. Your website should be: 

• Easy on the eye
• Simple to navigate
• Provide essential information for potential clients.

You only have a short space of time to capture readers’ attention. So the way you present information on your agency website is key. You should also check what competitor websites are doing to attract clients.

Speak in the Clients’ Language

You need the content on your website to speak to your clients’ needs. Ask yourself:

• Is your service flexible? 
• Do you provide top-quality care? 
• Are you a trustworthy agency? 

Potential clients are already asking these questions, so give them the answers as soon as they enter your home page.

Words are the best way to sell yourself. With 95% of consumers reading online reviews before they buy something, we recommend putting some customer reviews about your agency on your website. This shows the world the positive things people are saying about your services. This makes you more credible and searchable.

Also, getting your website to generate traffic and rank high in search results isn’t easy. Ensure your website’s pages are laden with keywords that potential clients usually search for.

Share Content on Social Media

A whopping 84.3% of the British population uses social media. And you want your agency to join that number. So it’s essential to have your own official accounts on social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. 

Social media accounts make your agency visible to a wide range of demographics. Sure, there’s less chance senior clients will see your social media posts (depending on the platform). But you might reach younger demographics who could also be clients.

Advertise Your Agency Online

There are more than 52 million “elderly care” searches on Google every year. With PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising, you can make your agency’s name appear at the top of Google’s results for “domiciliary care.” To do this: 

• Set a budget
• Target an audience
• Pay whenever someone clicks on the Google ad that directs them to your website. 

With PPC, you don’t need a contract. You can pause the ad whenever you want.

The internet is arguably the most effective way to promote your agency. So don’t ignore the power of easily readable, well-presented printed material. 

After all, many potential clients might still prefer getting information from newspapers and magazines over the internet. Sharing information this way creates a buzz and gets your name out.

You can use print-based materials to share the latest news about your agency.

Print-based materials include:

• Brochures
• Local newspaper and magazine ads
• Billboards and sponsored signs
• Flyers and leaflets
• Business cards
• Posters on bus stops
• Community bulletin boards
• Brand merchandise to share at events (notebooks, bottles, pens, etc.)

You can also use maildrop companies (like The Direct Mail Company) to deliver printed materials into letterboxes. Local newspapers can include your leaflets in future issues. And local shops can display them on their front windows.

As previously mentioned, you must ensure your staff delivers the best care for your current clients before bringing in new ones. 

Maybe you trust your current tools for reaching staff, training them, and handling workflows. But there are always better ways to make these things quicker and more convenient. After all, every second counts when caring for your clients.

Effective home care software solutions make it easy to:

• Deliver safe, controlled communication straight to mobile devices. This makes key information easily accessible.
• Ensure all staff is properly scheduled, providing carers with simple digital staff rotas.
• Recognize and reward carers for their hard work to boost morale, prevent caregiver burnout, and reduce turnover.
• Prepare carers for any situation with the most up-to-date, accessible training resources.
• Make it easy for carers to request anything they need (e.g., uniforms, time off, medical equipment, etc.).
• Simplify carers’ day-to-day with easily completable digital tasks, forms, and checklists.

There are many caregiver management software solutions available on the market. Do some research and see which solution is the best fit for your agency’s needs.

The Bottom Line on How to Get Clients for Domiciliary Care 

As you can see, getting clients for your domiciliary care agency is no cakewalk. But if you follow the above tips, you can start getting locals excited about your services.

As already mentioned, some of the ways to start bringing in clients include: 

• Maintaining the best caregiving standards
• Raising your networking game
• Giving back to the community
• Embracing social media and technology.

But don’t wing it! Build a clear strategy that puts some of these tips into action. Before you know it, your home care business will start booming!