2019 is just a few weeks away, and as it is getting ready, we should be as well
As we get ready, in just a few short weeks, to embark on a new year, we need to be prepared to sustain our business and provide the services to our clients for which we are known. We must generate the new business leads and identify opportunities to support our efforts, find clients who want and need what we offer, build upon our reputation we have been working to establish, and continue to remain strong among those clients we already have served. We must position ourselves correctly to be noticed and appreciated for what we offer.
Because there are many aging in place professionals – and growing all the time – it’s easy to blend in and not stand out from the others who offer similar or related products and services. Some of the many professionals who are found in this space are remodelers, general contractors, designers (interior and kitchen or bath), occupational therapists (OTs), physical therapists (PTs), case managers, durable medical equipment providers (DMEs), assistive technology specialists, trade contractors (carpenters, plumbers, and electricians, among many others), suppliers (doors, windows, plumbing fixtures, lighting, flooring, cabinets, counters, and hardware), and others. The entire list of possibilities includes dozens of others.
So, we must stand out and rise to the top of our field if we want the public to notice, contact, and engage us, and we need to be prominent if we want to attract the best strategic partners to work with us in serving our clients. The stronger we are, and the better the quality of the jobs we perform, the more our reputation will grow, and the more in demand we will be.
Both in terms of differentiating ourselves from the other professionals for who we are as a business entity and what we offer our clients, and in building relationships with the public and our strategic partners, we must allow the public to appreciate how we offer stronger and higher quality solutions and alternatives than others they may be aware of or want to consider.
We know that there are people who can make promises to clients about what they can do but then have trouble delivering on those promises. We also know that people can put a lower price on their services just to get a job. Neither is helpful to the public or the marketplace we serve. We need to be diligent about telling our story and focusing on how we address the needs of our clients – backed up by testimonials.
The people that we might serve have the right to know that they are working with the best team available – us and whomever we assemble to help us. We know that we can’t deliver a total package for our clients by ourselves so we search out and identify the best talent in the marketplace to complement what we offer and work with us to deliver a top-notch solution for our clients.
Whatever it is that we do, we need to find other like-minded professionals from other fields who agree to assist us in being the best aging in place services and solutions team in our area. This doesn’t just happen. We have to put some thought and effort into it. However, it will pay off tremendously – for our business and for the marketplace. Everyone will hold us up as the standard for others to emulate and attempt to match.
This is the time to get started if we expect to hit the ground running when the 2019 bell sounds. We have time to get ready, but we need to use our time wisely. We should scour our marketplace looking for the best talent to surround ourselves with as part of our delivery team and discuss the possibilities with them. Little-by-little, we will build and assemble our team.
In addition to getting our team ready, there is another important task that needs to be accomplished before the new year. We need to consider exactly what it is that we want to be known for and then perfect it. It may be what we already have been doing. Then again, it may go in a new direction. Part of this may depend on the collective strengths of the professionals we assemble to work with us as our delivery team, or we may decide to find a team to help us deliver and execute the business model we already have developed.
Getting ready for the new year will pay large dividends for our business, our strategic partners, and the clients we serve – many of whom we don’t even know about yet.