“Poisitioning Our Aging In Place Business For The New Year”

It doesn’t matter when we plan for our success as long as we do the planning, but since we are just a month away from a brand new year and a clean slate of activities, why not take a little time now to make sure that we enter the new year positioned as the business we want our potential clients to see?

We can keep doing what we have been doing if it’s working for us and we are satisfied with it, or we can tweak our process a little to become more aligned with what we think the marketplace wants and expects from aging in place specialists and service providers. This is true regardless of what we consider ourselves to be – contractors, remodelers, consultants, custom builders, occupational therapists, physical therapists, counselors, suppliers, equipment specialists, assistive technology professionals, renovators, designers, architects, planners, or dozens of other professionals.

We have a few questions to explore and answer for ourselves to make sure that the way the public sees us is the way we want to be seen. If we are not creating the right impressions through our marketing, we run the risk of underserving the people we can help or not being noticed enough to be effective. We all have a valuable service to provide. We need to make sure that the public understands what we do and how we separate ourselves from similar businesses. Then it’s their choice.

As we get ready for the new year, we want the public and the people we are going to be working with to help us identify those who can use our services – strategic partners and referring professionals – to understand both what we offer and how we are different from every other company that might offer similar services in our marketplace.

We should determine what makes us special in our market space – what do we do that clearly is unique or at least different than others provide? What makes us appealing to people who might want to work with us or use our services? What can we honestly say differentiates us from our competitors?

If we are having difficulty thinking of anything that really separates or sets us apart from the competition – something that gives the consumer a compelling reason to use us – or if we have to work really hard to come up with something, how do we expect that our potential consumers are going to be able to do so? If we look the same as our competitors to the marketplace, how do we expect to stand out enough for people to choose us as often or more than they select others?

We must establish a name for ourselves – even f we are just getting started. We can begin with our CAPS training as making us different than the rest, but that will only start the conversation with potential clients or get us noticed.

If there are other aging in place specialists or renovators in our market who are competing for a particular customer’s attention, there needs to be something else that makes us different in their eyes. Otherwise, there is no overriding reason why someone should choose to work with us over another company or provider. In essence, any company would be just as good as any other.

We may have to look a little harder at what we offer, but there must be something we do – training, services, reputation, memberships, skills, team members, or years in business, for instance – that truly sets us apart and makes us special when compared to others who offer similar services as we do. We can’t rely on our customers figuring out why we are special or coming to this conclusion on their own. We need to help them see this – through our websites, social media, word of mouth marketing, and other forms of branding and promotion.

After we attract someone to select and engage us to help them with their solution, there will be no question that they chose wisely. It’s getting them to understand this before they work with us so they will be so inclined to use us. When they tell others about their experience, this will help also.

Now is the time to determine how we want people to remember us and know about us, what we do that is noteworthy enough to create that separation we seek, and how we are prepared to provide services that simply aren’t done or available from any other company the consumer might want to consider for their issues. This is how to position ourselves for success in the new year.