Last month, we talked about how important an analytical mindset can be to understanding a senior care franchise opportunity. But in an industry as personal as senior care, you need more than cold analysis when you’re thinking of buying a franchise. Succeeding in senior care also requires a strong sense of your clients, your caregivers, and yourself. Before committing to a senior care franchise opportunity, it’s important that you’ve done this personal groundwork.

Understanding Your Clients

In any industry, there’s only so much that numbers can tell you about your target market. That’s especially true in senior care, which requires a level of personal understanding found in few other industries. Caregivers are invited into seniors’ homes, provide seniors with company for hours at a time, and often assist with deeply personal tasks. Under these circumstances, you need to truly know your clients to properly serve them.

Once you’ve launched your agency, you will get to know individual clients through care consultations. But before you perform your first consultation, you should have a strong sense of what matters to seniors in your area. What are their values? Their personalities? Their likes and dislikes? What are they looking for in a senior care agency?

One-on-one interactions with local seniors and soon-to-be-seniors are a great way to do find out this important information. You may also wish to develop client profiles to better understand your target market. Additionally, remember that families play a huge role in care. In most cases, you will be serving your clients’ family members as much as you are serving your clients themselves. You should know the concerns of your clients’ children as well as you know the concerns of your clients.

Understanding Your Caregivers

Your ability to attract, support, and retain quality caregivers is a big part of turning a senior care franchise opportunity into a thriving business. You cannot provide quality care without quality caregivers. What’s more, your caregivers won’t be able to support your clients without adequate support from your agency. Before starting an agency, you should have a good sense of who your caregivers will be and what they need to do quality work.

When researching senior care franchise opportunities, you may wish to speak with other franchisees about the strategies they use to maintain a high-quality team of care providers. Having a strong understanding of what makes an agency attractive to caregivers, what allows caregivers to do their best work, and which strategies work best for preventing caregiver turnover will allow you to make the most of your senior care franchise opportunity.

Understanding Yourself

At Visiting Angels^®, we believe that a senior care franchise opportunity can only be successful in the hands of someone who’s in care for the right reasons. Senior care is a highly lucrative business right now, and some entrepreneurs are attracted to the industry by dollar signs. But for care to be successful, it needs to start with compassion, with empathy, and with a desire to improve the lives of others. You also need to have the drive and commitment that building a new business demands, particularly in the first 18 to 24 months.

If you don’t think that you have these qualities, senior care might not be for you. But if you do, then we hope you’ll contact Visiting Angels to learn more about our senior care franchise opportunities.

Call 800-365-4189 or contact Visiting Angels online for detailed information on our senior care franchise opportunities.