Community action brings personal and business rewards, say the franchisee owners of Walfinch home care Hampton, Twickenham and Virginia Water.
Lyn Leagas and business partner Angela Pinto are well known faces in their area. Lyn says: “I volunteer at the local hospice charity shop and Angela joined the Rotary. Recently the Hospice and Rotary put on a charity fashion show in Shepperton where we volunteered our services, as well as the Rotary had their annual race evening where Angela worked and sponsored a horse.
Lyn says: “We love being involved in community events, including having stalls at local fetes and fairs. It’s fun, but also a very effective way to market our service. It brings us new clients as well as carers get to meet us, so when we are recruiting they are already getting to know our name and reputation.
“Carers are not always easy to find in an area like ours, so having a good reputation and being well known in the community makes us more attractive as an employer.”
Lyn, Angela, and business partner Michelle Doyle, combine care and business experience, and launched their Walfinch branch just 18 months ago. They now employ at least seven carers, and are recruiting constantly, as they have grown with an excess of 20 clients.
The community marketing strategy relies on visibility and word of mouth. Lyn says: “It makes for a busy life, but we have won some great community supporters who do a lot of personal marketing for us.”
“Send them to me!”
Lyn says: “The wife of one of our clients is well known in the area and if anyone mentions that they are looking for care she refers them to us. She also told us: ‘If anyone wants to know what your services are like send them to me!’”
Lyn and Angela have also forged links with the managers of local retirement homes. “We have become firm friends and they refer people to us often,” says Lyn.
£1m in three to five years
Lyn says: “We love the care industry because it enables us to change lives in our communities, but to extend our care to as many people as possible we need to build a successful business. Walfinch CEO Amrit Dhaliwal tells us that it’s possible to achieve a £1m turnover in three to five years, and we believe that is perfectly realistic, with the support we get from Amrit and the Walfinch national office team.
“Longer term our financial goal is to be the highest-earning branch in the Walfinch franchisee network.”
Amrit says: “Personal contacts are much more powerful than any type of advertising, and can cost nothing.
“Lyn and Angela know that rather than passively waiting for personal recommendations to arrive, raising their business profile is the best way to help their business grow faster and help more people.”
For further information about Walfinch home care Hampton, Twickenham and Virginia Water, please see: https://walfinch.com/branches/hampton/