While speaking at a national home care franchise conference, I was asked to differentiate between the market leader and the company where I was speaking. I thought too long, and the questioner said, “Time’s up!” Later I thought about this, as corecubed, my integrated marketing communications company, has many home care and elder care clients. Obviously positioning (differentiation) is difficult in a market where most services seem the same. Marketing collateral should reflect the level of corporate commitment to the franchisees, or a stand alone company should care enough to create a visual and key messages that truly resonate with their customer base focusing on what they do best and their business/customer philosophy.

So, the differentiator comes in two ways: 1) is the contact with the company from the phone answerer to the aide or person who provides the service and 2) the delivery of service, the timeliness, the meeting of the demand, the quality of the care.

At a workshop yesterday at the National Association of Home Care conference, a CPA gave part of a workshop on starting a private duty business, and he said that price was the most important factor in determining selection of a company for home care.   My 18 years of experience tell me that it is not price alone for most people. It is service, reliability, relationships, and assurance that a job will be done correctly and that care will be compassionate and fulfilling.