Most of the care groups we meet share a version of the same story. Care is good. Inspections are fine. Staff are loyal. And yet the occupancy mix is not where it needs to be, with too many beds filled by local authority placements and too few self-funding families choosing the home.
The families who could afford your home, and would benefit from it, are either not finding you or are finding you and slipping away before or after the showround. In our experience the cause is almost always one of three things.
1. You are invisible where families look
Families search locally and specifically. 'Dementia care near Wetherby'. 'Nursing homes with a garden'. If your Google Business Profile is incomplete, your website does not have a page for each home and your directory listings disagree about your phone number, you are not in the shortlist. It is that simple.
2. You sound like everyone else
Open five care home websites in your area and read the first paragraph of each. 'Compassionate care in a homely setting'. 'Person-centred support'. Families cannot tell you apart, so they choose on price and gut feel. A clear reason to choose you, backed by evidence, changes the conversation.
3. Interest is lost after the enquiry
This is the one that hurts. Marketing did its job. A family called. And then the call went to voicemail, or the showround was a tour of a building rather than a conversation about their mother, or nobody followed up. Doubling conversion is usually cheaper and quicker than doubling enquiries.
Where to start
Mystery shop your own homes this week. Call as a family would. Fill in the form. See what happens. Then look at your Google Business Profiles. Those two exercises will tell you more than any dashboard.
If you would like a structured version of this, our Marketing Review and Action Plan does exactly that across your group and tells you what to fix first.