In the fiercely competitive world of home care, every moment between application and shift assignment can define success or struggle. Agencies that master their pipelines—evaluating partners with precision, converting leads with clarity, recruiting caregivers swiftly, and retaining top talent—unlock steady growth and unwavering client trust.
Yet, the path is often littered with pitfalls: fragmented onboarding processes that leave applicants adrift, inconsistent communication that erodes family confidence, and recruitment strategies that drain budgets without delivering results.
By embracing these insider tips, agencies can streamline operations, cultivate resilient teams, and foster lasting relationships with both caregivers and clients. From setting clear evaluation criteria and under‑promising while over‑delivering on client expectations to implementing seamless scheduling tools that get caregivers on the clock within days, these pointers will revolutionize your approach.
To shed some light on the same, we interviewed a home care industry expert to bring his perspective on insider tips to optimize your home care pipeline.
Who Did We Interview?
Jerry Halsell has been in Senior Care since 2018. During that time, he has amassed a plethora of experience and knowledge in numerous segments of the industry.
He brings experiences including marketing for NSF & ALC facilities. He has ‘hands-on’ experience in the agency side as a marketer, in-home consultant and administrator. His past few years have been spent in recruiting home care agencies on a national level network to generate family referrals and coaching/consulting agencies on Best Practices for communicating, marketing, networking and family conversions.
Let us now delve into what he has to say about insider tips to optimize your home care pipeline:
STABILITY – How long have they been in business? If relatively new, what was the background of the owner? Were they affiliated within the Senior Care industry? What was their tenure at whatever they did? You will want retention as it’s less expensive to keep an agency than invest in finding new ones.
Will the agency (owner) adhere to your core values to represent you to the families? Will they abide by Corporate Rules and Regulations? New agency owners are like sponges – they soak up everything you teach them. However, more seasoned owners will feel they’ve ‘been there, done that’ and must have a strong franchise business coach if you bring them into your network.
WHY? – What is/was their ‘why’? Did they willingly tell their story (with enthusiasm)? With the demographics of Senior Care and its future, many will start an agency just to make money.
Anyone in the home care business knows if you are in it for the money, you won’t last long. Yes, you can make money and should, but you must be a people person and caring to stick it out. This applies to the owner, staff and caregivers.
Processes – This is crucial. When adding an agency to your network, you want to know if they have processes in place/will incorporate your processes and do they have the staff/team in place to perform them?
If you refer families to them or generate families via franchise marketing, CAN they effectively communicate with families to attain an in-home consultation and then CLOSE the deal? Some would tell me “Your leads are bad” or they tell corporate trainers “Your brand isn’t working for me,” yet other agencies in your network are having success.
Back Office – The internal side of Processes. This is key, especially if the owner is an “absentee owner.” Does the owner/manager hire people that are truly “onboard” with their goals or are they having to spend time convincing their staff to see their vision? Do they intentionally employ team members and not just staffers to fill a spot?
The first step to profitability is saving costs, cutting the bleeding, etc. Does their staff take ownership of the agency’s goals? You can discern their situation by your conversations with the owner(s) and how they talk about their staff. Do they have excitement and speak of good morale or are they stressed due to their staff?
The ‘cardinal rule’ for clients/families is to initially set the right expectations! After all, expectations, without explanations, lead to exasperations. In short, under promise and over deliver!
It is estimated that about 40% of home care clients/families will change agencies in their first 6 months! Thus, their initial setup with reasonable expectations is key.
Of those families that switch agencies, consistency is their #1 complaint. Families will be patient on care plans and even billing issues, but an agency must have a strong plan – and this includes a contingency plan – to secure consistent shifts and very few caregiver changes. It is wise to slightly incorporate two primary caregivers that the family member is comfortable with.
Finally, QA visits are a must. This is the best way to proactively prevent negative situations. A quarterly call from the owner is stellar.
On the surface, preview their website, online presence on several formats. Are they proactive or going to wait for YOU to do all the work? Do they monitor metrics like response times, conversion rates, billing hours trends? These will be key factors in your business model but having these key metrics in place will likely make them a better fit.
This is perhaps the proverbial $64 question. It certainly is the #1 strain on agencies. A lack of caregivers is the #1 concern to prevent agency owners from feeling they can invest in the tools to grow their business.
Whether they are a new or seasoned owner, this may be your best opportunity to bring them onboard as every agency needs help in caregiver recruitment. They will try anything – including your formula and processes. If they are successful in this area, they will be more prone to adherence to other corporate rules and regulations.
There are entire courses, webcasts, podcasts, seminars and books written on this topic. But for the scope of this series segment, I will recommend a few areas of focus that optimize both recruitment and retention.
In Recruitment, keep it simple and quick. The biggest factor in losing applicants is likely the time from applying to their first assignment. There are many systems/programs available to streamline the process from application to onboarding then scheduling the new caregiver. You must make it easy and smooth for the applicant. They often cannot go more than 1 week without a paycheck. So, getting them on the clock is vital.
One complaint from owners is applicants ‘ghosting’ them for their interview and/or onboarding/training. I recommend letting them select their scheduled time from a Calendly type app, so they have some ‘ownership’ in the process. They are likely working another job, so need to work on their schedule – not yours.
Again, we could write a doctoral thesis in addressing this core issue for an agency and not scratch the surface. Coming from the agency side, I will sum it up in ONE word: APPRECIATION.
We all know people like to be appreciated, but caregivers seldom come into the office to interact with the staff, much less the owner. They don’t take part in many of the office festivities like birthday cake days, etc., so they feel unappreciated and isolated. Birthday and work anniversaries should always be noted.
Slack message boards/groups, a private FB page. etc,. are ideal ways to post accolades, let them share unique tasks and events with their clients, etc., to boost morale.
Gift cards/gas cards are effective and affordable rewards for not missing shifts, taking extra shifts or referring a potential caregiver. Most agencies honor a Caregiver of the Month, but I venture to say almost every caregiver does something ‘right’ during the month.
This is a unique question depending on which side of the desk you are on. Coming from BOTH sides (agency marketer/administrator and nationwide agency acquisition and consulting), it can be a win-win situation for both sides.
Simply, allow your service offerings to cater to the family’s needs and budgets, within reason. All too often, the agency is frustrated by short shifts and low weekly hours. While it is not profitable for some request, if a family needs to start with low hours/days, just GET IN THE HOME!
As an agency employee, I would simply price shorter shifts at a higher rate. Once you justify the rate by explaining to the family the logistics and financial imposition in finding a quality and consistent caregiver, they will understand.
As an agency recruiter and when coaching, I would hear “they only wanted 1 day, 3 hours,” so the referral from Dr. Jones is no good. What is the key step here? GET IN THE HOME!
Almost every family will increase their billable hours once they see the value of the care offered. The family caregiver will appreciate the hours they are relieved by the IADL duties.
Finally, for business development, whether it’s more referrals, more conversions or more billable hours, NEVER forget to research all available or potential revenue sources. Third party payers can increase your revenue more directly than all of these factors.
You already have the caregiver, the plan of care and the family contract, so this one extra step is the single best option for increasing revenue yet costs you nothing to achieve…how’s that for ROI?
As Jerry Halsell’s insider perspective demonstrates, optimizing your home care pipeline is less art than science, demanding deliberate criteria, clear expectations, and seamless processes.
By rigorously evaluating agency stability and cultural fit, underpromising while overdelivering on family promises, and deploying streamlined scheduling tools to get caregivers on the clock in days, agencies can convert leads more reliably.
Coupling swift, applicant‑centric onboarding with genuine appreciation and data‑driven QA cycles fosters both recruitment success and caregiver loyalty. In a sector defined by urgency and compassion, implementing these battle‑tested tactics isn’t optional—it’s the blueprint for sustainable growth, consistent quality, and lasting client trust.
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