Nurse Next Door Home Care Franchise

John DeHart's Blog

3 Reasons Why a Franchise Model Helps Deliver Consistent Customer Service.

Recently one of our home care  franchise partners brought to our attention a competitor that was defaming our brand online and questioning whether our franchise model really helps deliver consistent customer service. Here is the link: http://www.eldercarehomehealth.com/Choosing_an_elder_care_provider.html.

Scroll half way down the page to see how they’ve actually posted a photo of one of our branded cars and questioned the qualifications of some of our franchise partners (interestingly enough they are referencing some of our most successful and caring partners). When we realized how serious the implications were (this competitor actually questioned our trust!) we were definitely taken aback. But it got me thinking about why we decided to franchise our concept in the first place – something we thought about for 5 years before doing it. Instead of asking our competitor to take down the post (our lawyers were confident this was defamation) we decided to bring attention to it so we can get a conversation going.

Here are the top 3 reasons why we decided to franchise Nurse Next Door from a service perspective. We’d love to hear your thoughts on this one!

1. Consistent customer service: our home care franchise system allows us to systematically train and monitor our customer service across Canada. We can standardize all of our touch points and hold our franchise partners accountable to their customer service scores. We call a sample of our clients from across the country each month to gauge customer experience and can quickly see if any one area is underperforming. We use the same customer service monitoring system as Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Southwest Airlines and many other world-class companies.

2. Centralized 24/7 call centre: One thing our franchise model allows us to do is centralize our call centre (unique within our industry) so our clients across the country have reliable 24/7 access to the help they need. This is probably the toughest part of the business but having this centralized has allowed us to deliver fanatical customer service. With us, when mom has an emergency at 2am, you know you’ll be able to reach a live person with us, not just an answering service.

3. Truly national brand: One thing a lot of families can attest to is the difficulty of caring for family members from afar. One clear advantage our franchise system has brought is that a caregiving daughter in Toronto can easily arrange for care for their aging mother in Victoria. With a national brand, no matter which location you call up, you know what to expect. At the end of the day, competitors will always try to hurt our brand. All we can do is stand by our systems and service and let our customers speak for themselves. We want to hear from you!!

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18 Comments

  2. Sean Costello

    From my semi-qualified perspective as the grandson of my 100 year-young grandfather, the son of a parent afflicted significantly by MS, and an average person with some experience in the delivery of service, it is my belief that a person who engages a professional home care provider is seeking to fill a gap in the life or lives of one of their loved ones – possibly even for themselves. The need may not be medical, and the need may not have an element of direct urgency.

    IMHO, what is likely to be delivered, one visit at a time, is a sense of peace, comfort and companionship. In order to provide these human services, either in response to an acute incident, or for more chronic reasons, one does not need the in-depth career training that the RN designation requires – they need to be human. A good human, a loving human, a caring, sharing and responsible human. I posit that how the caregiver is internally wired, and how they engage and treat others in their everyday life is more important in preparing them for this role than any particular technical training they may have brought with them to the interview. Not saying that RN designation isn’t helpful and valuable, but… it needs to be weighed and properly prioritized.

    Restated, I propose that a typical home care customer is seeking to increase or improve the quality of life of a loved one, and that to do this requires the right kind of person to be behind ANY amount of training they may have. When I read the article’s paragraph about the non-RN people that were working with Nurse Next Door, I couldn’t help but laugh at how poorly I believe the competitor is reading the tea leaves of life. Here, quoted, are the histories of the first three folks spoken about:
    – most recently worked with a well known international coffee shop,
    – another worked at a call center,
    – another at an airline

    Ummm, is it just me, or does this not read like a DREAM TEAM of customer service providers? Lets see… after some undefined time in these very-customer facing, lots of personal interaction, hectic paced, problem solving and empathetic roles, they chose to – this is important – they CHOSE to stay in the front-line service delivery field, and get down to the business of helping people. Sounds like these three are wired to please, and that they were ultimately hired/accepted reaffirms that suspicion. What about the 4th person?
    -and another is a Commerce school graduate who specializes in entrepreneurship.

    This makes perfect sense: “do what you do well, and hire someone else who can effectively and efficiently do what you don’t do well”. So, we have three people-people, and one to make it sustainable.

    I’m not a NND customer, I’m not related, I’ve never met any staff or customers of either of these companies. I feel that I am somewhat qualified to speak to this however, not because I’m an RN and I have technical medical knowledge (although I must admit, my other parent was one, and so I do sort of get what it takes…), and not because I’m an expert on franchises or systems, but because I expect that when I one day need home care, I’ll probably be a little cranky about it, and I’d like to know that the person dispatched to help me isn’t simply technically trained, but that they have self-assessed themselves as WANTING to be in the personal service care industry, and are willing to be trained as required – isn’t that what it’s all about?

    On the topic of franchising: sustainability through tried and true processes. Why must you insist on paying to learn every lesson yourself, firsthand? Seems to me like that isn’t the best way to get down to the business of providing care and comfort, Mr. RN. But that of course is just me.

    Thanks for reading.

  3. Jennifer Kuzie RN

    I am a Registered Nurse and the Franchise Owner of Nurse Next Door Edmonton.
    I work with the entire network of Nurse Next Door locations and Heartquarters
    team to provide care for clients who range from 1 day old to 107 years old.
    Every Customer has access to this network which includes RNs, Physiotherapists,
    Gerontologists, a Minister, Customer service specialists, Human Resourse Specialists,
    Palliative Care Specialists, and hundreds of people who have personally helped their
    own loved ones through a multitude of situations in Communities across Canada.

    It takes a lot more than an RN title to be able to provide specialized care for all of these
    clients not to mention to run a business that provides WOW customer service and Admires
    its staff.

  4. Kelly Baker

    I am a proud Nurse Next Door franchise owner. I am not embarrassed nor am I ashamed to say that I am not an RN. I have the utmost respect for my RN-friends, and they have respect for me; we make a great team.

    I have 20 years of experience in managing businesses, people and caring for people, along with a Masters Degree; all of which have well-equipped me to handle the aspects of owning and managing a world-class brand such as Nurse Next Door. Our co-founder, John De-Hart has outlined many of the great reasons that it makes sense to trust us (from a franchise model) with your care, or the care for your loved ones.

    I assure you, as would other non-RN owners in this fantastic oganization, that I have many highly skilled RNs on staff. Every one of our clients has his/her care managed by our RNs as needed, and every one of our clients has access to the full sprectrum of our services (from companion-level care to palliative care RNs, and everything in between). We do whatever it takes to bring peace of mind to our cliens and their families, 24/7. When the services of an RN are needed, an RN is there. We’d rather provide specialized and unique care to our clients; they only pay for an RN when an RN is needed. Not only do our clients and their families appreciate that, but so too do our staff, whom we admire every day.

    Nurse Next Door is there to Make A Difference – we strive to make lives better every visit, every day. Our caregivers do that every time they greet a client. The Nurse Next Door way is a kind, caring way to care for your loved ones, in a consistent fashion, regardless of what city you live in.

  5. Alyshia Vogt

    As the proud Nurse Next Door Franchise Partner for Victoria, BC I would love to share my thoughts on this competitor’s uninformed description of us. Here are my ideas on what type of business owner it takes to run a Nurse Next Door Franchise. -John, would you agree?

    I am a Registered Nurse who graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing with honors. On top of this education I also have two years of pre-med, awards received for top student and many hours of volunteer work and experience in Geriatric Nursing. Since staring my franchise I have also spent many hours giving back to my community. I am a proud Rotarian, volunteer board member of the Family Caregiver’s Network Society and as chairperson for a ball and silent auction I helped to raise over $8000.00 to give to a local charity to help children with disabilities to be able to attend summer camp. I don’t mention all this to “impress”, instead I share this to show you that Nurse Next Door truely did their homework before “selling” me a franchise. I know that this is not an exception to the case as every franchise partner is an “A” player in whatever background they happen to come from.

    Ken and John (our cofounders) were looking for something specific when exploring the idea of having me join the team as a Franchise Partner. Sure they were happy and impressed with my nursing credentials, training and experience but it really wasn’t only that that which led them to offer me this oppurtunity.

    In the beginning I had assumed that being a Registered Nurse would be a huge asset in terms of running a great homecare business. Sure it’s great that I can do a fantatic assessment, personally case manage the care of my clients and fill in for nurses and caregivers when they are sick. Sure my nursing education gave me other skills which are helpful in leading a business, but these skills are not exclusive to nursing.

    In the beginning being able to fill in as an RN was important, but now I recognize how my personal development in other areas has really been the key to operating a World Class Homecare Franchise in Victoria. My success as a business leader really has nothing to do with me being a Registered Nurse. Don’t get me wrong; I do love being a nurse and respect all nurses for what they do every day! I am just hoping to illustrate that being a great business leader is about more than just being a great and competent nurse.

    What I have learned over the years as a Nurse Next Door Franchise Partner is how key it is for me to be focused on running the business versus working “in” the business. When I am busy providing the case-management and nursing care I am taken from my true focus as the leader of my team. (luckily Nurse Next Door knows how important this focus is so they have built the systems to make things run smoothly and to provide world class scheduling so that I am not spending my time scheduling as well). If I was too busy scheduling, casemanaging or providing nursing tasks how could I focus on becoming fantastic at hiring and managing the BEST caregivers and nurses in our market? Who would be leading my team? Who would be sharing our vision and values to ensure that EVERY employee is providing service at the level that I personally would if I was caring for each client myself!?!?!?! If I focus only on my own nursing practice I am doing my business a disservice. I believe being a franchise system is what really gives us our EDGE in terms of providing consistent service!

    We are not a company that is focused just on the “tasks” of giving a bath, providing wound care or changing a cathetor. Instead we are focused on providing personalized, consistent care with WOW customer service which the “tasks” are just a part of. (an important part, just not the ONLY part). Therefore our team needs a strong and passionate leader to educate, monitor and coach our staff to be the best of the best.

    We provide Peace of Mind to our clients and their families by having dedicated Care Designers who have the time and focus to communicate with the client’s family, doctor and others who may be involved in the client’s care. While my team is busy providing the services AND nursing I am then able to monitor our client satisfaction and use that information to continuously improve our systems and training.

    Also just to clarify: Yes, we still ALL provide the casemanagement, and Registered Nurses (even the Franchise Partners without Nursing degrees).

    I now know why Ken and John picked me to be the franchise partner for Victoria, BC. It wasn’t just for my RN degree nor my financial investment. They chose me because
    -I committed to them that I would live and breathe our core values
    -That I have the passion to lead a team that is engaged and caring
    - That I have committed to hiring the best Nurses, caregivers, homemakers, live in caregivers and companions.
    -They chose me because I have committed to creating raving fans of our clients and caregivers by providing WOW customer Service
    -They chose me because I am one of the most passionate nurses about Seniors and their needs on an individual level and on a population level. I have made the choice to take part in the building of a fantastic company that I believe will have a big part in the future of healthcare in Canada and the world.

  6. Paul Girard

    I think many of our competitors are trying to do a good job. That’s about as much time as I’m willing to spend thinking about our competitors.

    Instead, our Nurse Next Door South Okanagan franchise spends its time and resources (with significant help from the rest of the franchise partners and franchisor) on how to be better.

    My mother would say this: There are two ways to have the tallest tower. You can knock down everybody else’s tower, or you can go out and build the tallest tower. If I’ve been raised correctly, I’ll know what’s right.

    We remain humble as we continue to follow the Nurse Next Door core value approach. We are building the best place to work as a caregiver, and the best place to receive care as a client. My mother is proud of the business I own.

  7. Kim Fraser

    I think what is at issue here is the expert care and supervision of Registered Nurse-led organizations compared to those that are not RN-led.

    RNs have a different kind and higher level of education compared to other caregivers. We look at risk differently, we look at care provision differently, we are holistic and comprehensive. The message is that clients and families ought to take time to investigate who is providing their loved ones care and who is supervising the individual providing that care. The best caregiving organizations have RNs responsible 24/7. Licensed Practical Nurses are also approriate for supervison, have appropriate education to supervise many aspects of care delivery and they should be working within interprofessional teams include RNs.

    Home care is a growing entity, we are all obligated to educate the public on how to access the safest and highest quality of care for their loved ones–care that is supervised by appropriately educated Nurses.

    Key questions the public outgh to ask when choosing a private home health care provider are: will a nurse supervise or provide my care? How long have you been in business? Are you accredited (Accreditation Canada is the main body who assesses health care organizations in Canada)? Do you work with your local health authority under contract? How do you supervise caregivers? Who will do my assessment? What kind of education does my caregiver have?

    Kim Fraser, RN, PhD
    Assistant Professor (Home Care Researcher)
    Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta
    And, Co-Director, We Care Home Health Services Edmonton (since 1992)
    //a franchise under We Care Health Services, Inc

  8. David Russell, MBA, CSA

    Wow, what an amazing display of ignorance. #1) though its the exception rather than the rule, Ive met many RN’s that I wouldnt allow to care for my dog EXCEPTION not the rule, but just being an RN doesnt mean you’re compassionate, thorough or professional. #2) The OWNER of the company doesnt need to be an RN, they DO need to have some business sense, we have 3 Nurses in our ownership group and all three are exceptional nurses and none of them provide care…#3) the majority of people that dont use a professional service do it themselves…is she suggesting they arent competent enough? #4) much of the “non medical care” is non medical care…therefore using an RN is over selling at least and gouging at worst in my opinion. The fact that NND is a franchise means that at least twice a year over a hundred smart people with a variety of expereinces from business to nursing and everything in between, (Many being Certified Senior Advisors) come together for education and brainstorming….try that with a small shop….therefore we dont look for best practices…we develop them!! #5) Being national (regardless if we are a franchise or not) gives us the power of numbers and the ability to care for clients beyond provincial borders, which we have done on three occassions, which allows for continuity of care. #6) Franchise Partners dont sell franchises, one individual in HQ does….must have been some sort or erroneous assumption she was making there.

    Any corporate lawyer would advise this “RN” how unwise it would be to publish defamatory remarks that are unfounded.

    All in all……the clients say it all….and Ive never heard one say they didnt feel that they were in excellent hands.

  9. Jennifer Kuzie RN

    I think that there are some basic questions to ask any company when they enter your home:
    -Are you qualified (education and Training)?
    -Are you Insured (WCB, liability, Unemployment)?
    -Do you have a criminal record?
    -Are you fit to work?
    -Do you have references?
    These are the questions that I ask Handymen, Plumbers, Maids…ect.
    But when it comes to the care of a loved one who is Vulnerable due to their Health I expect a lot more
    -Will the Caregiver get along with my loved one? Will you replace them if they don’t?
    -Will the Caregiver treat my loved one with Compassion and Care?
    -Is there a replacement if the Caregiver is ill?
    -Will there be consistency of Care? Or will my love one have a stranger in their home every day?
    -Will the Caregiver Show up? On time? Every day?
    -Is there a Health Professional Managing my loved ones Care? Will that Manager frequently change?
    - If I call on Sunday at 9pm will I have fast and Easy access? Can my loved one call at any time of the Day? Can I call at any time of the Day or Night and get a response? When I call will they know who my loved one is? Will they be able to help?

    Calling every company in your loved ones community to get these answers is not practical for everyone especially in emergency situations. I am sad to say that many companies cannot even answer the basic questions (I know because I have called). The reason that so many of our clients are so happy to refer us to their friends is because they trust the answers for all of the above questions will be the same in EVERY Nurse Next Door across Canada .

  10. Brian Buckley

    I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it. ~ George Bernard Shaw

    Yes I run a Nurse Next Door franchise. No I am not a Registered Nurse. My role is to assemble the best team that I can to provide world-class care to the customers in my territory. This role requires skills that are not part of the Registered Nurse curriculum. Of course some RNs have the skill set to do this, but it is not a specific requirement of their training.

    We employ over 60 people to provde peace of mind to more than 200 new clients and their families, doctors, social workers every year. Some of our clients only need us for a short while, others need our help ongoing. About 25% of our staff are nurses – RNs or LPNs. Our staff is supervised by nurses. When we establish a care plan for a client we make sure that the appropriate level of care is provided. Nobody pays for an RN when they only need a little help preparing meals and running errands to remain independent. If a client’s health or needs change we are there immediately to re-assess and make sure that they have the appropriate level of care.

    Our clients are referred to us by other clients, doctors, nurses, social workers, public health units (RN Case Managers), Veterns Affairs Canada … We continue to get these referalls because we have developed credibility for being competent, caring, and quick to start service. To my knowledge we are the only private health care company in Canadda that is performing VAC would treatment in Canada. This treatment is done by a wonderful, experienced RN who works for us. The order was written by the client’s surgeon, who monitors his progress with regular check ups. By doing this treatment in our client’s home we are saving about 90% of the costs that would be incurred if he needed to stay in hospital. The team lead at the plastic surgery unit (an RN) who called and asked us if we could provide this service was thrilled to find out she could discharge him the next day.

    With the population of seniors doubling in the next 20 years we don’t need to go out and throw mud at our competitors to get more business. We’ll just keep doing what we do – providing excellent customer service, being competent, caring, compassionate, and quick. My recommendation to anyone in bisiness is to learn what you can from everybody (especially competitors), and pay more attention to your own business. Throwing rocks at mine just makes you look bad.

  11. Carol Lange, MBA

    My first thought when I read John’s blog was, “wow we must be having a big impact in our communities for a competitor to target us like this” (otherwise why bother to single us out with a photo?) My second thought was – you sure don’t know much about the people at Nurse Next Door across Canada!

    As the owner of the Nurse Next Door Maple Ridge/Mission franchise, I can assure my clients that our Care Manager is a licensed nurse, and that just for our small area, we have 18 LPN’s and RN’s on our Care Team. Whenever an RN is needed on a case, they are brought into the Care Designing process.

    What bugs me is the suggestion that I am not qualified to manage a home healthcare business because I am not an RN. I am not a nurse, but I bring 16 years of business experience working at Johnson & Johnson in the area of diabetes care, an MBA, and importantly I am the daughter of a mom who has dementia. I have over 10 years of management experience, as well as Process Excellence training, have hired and coached top notch staff teams, and have been a part of delivering the highest standard of customer service. I absolutely have the right experience to head up a home healthcare business in my community – one cares passionately about its clients and staff, one that will always “find a better way” to do things for our clients, and one that is sustainable and will be here for years to come.

    I have also lived the experience of putting care in place for an elderly parent, and so I have walked in the shoes of most of my baby boomer clients, all of whom are struggling with what to do when their parents have a crisis.

    Being part of “a franchise system” means I can confidently tell my clients they have access to a huge network of resources, sound business systems, and high standards of care and service. But being part of “the Nurse Next Door franchise system” means I can enthusiastically say that when they choose Nurse Next Door, they are choosing the most passionate, most caring, most client-centered, most staff admiring, and most solution-finding home healthcare company in Canada!

  12. A Social Media “Win” |

    [...] say that we had a social media “win” this week. If you read my past blog post ” 3 reasons Why a Franchise Model Helps Deliver Consistent Customer Service”, you would know that last week, we encountered a home care competitor who defamed our brand [...]

  14. Gary Bell

    To date I don’t need the services you provide but have now booked marked for when the inevitable does come. I did want to applaud you on how professional your approach, to an all to common practice, was. In reading your blog (via Twitter @ChristineatMP) I stayed focused on your message and didn’t even bother following the link to the offender. I am certain that this will serve as a model for business owners, as it has for me, going forward.

  15. Chris Burdge

    John, kudos to you for taking the high road and using social media channels to draw attention to this issue. It appears to have already paid off in spades (lots of free editorial) and may end up having the opposite affect for your competitor – bet they didn’t think of that.

    I know many companies are afraid of this sort of thing happening if they decide to create a social media presence. What they don’t realize, and what this case demonstrates, is that it doesn’t matter whether you have a presence or not, people and other businesses will talk about you. Interestingly in this case your competitor decided to do it right on their website. Although they don’t appear to have a social media presence.

    I will be using this as a case study in my workshops (I assume you don’t mind). I would also like to talk to you about having you speak about your business and social media experience at a conference I produce in Victoria. Social Media Camp is a two-day conference on June 3-4, 2011. http://www.socialmediacamp.ca

    Cheers, Chris

  17. mike

    Very interesting post.

    I am going to take issue with you on this but I believe your concepts can hold true if the Franshises themselves were more able to uphold high standards.

    In terms of your first point, Consistent Customer Service
    I was a franchisee of a leading national non medical franchisee. They have around 400 franchises and are based in Pennsylvania. I was considered on of their leading franchisees in terms of revenue. We were in the top 5% within their system not just overall, but we also ranked very high compared to other frnachisees with similar or greater length of service. I was happy with their training program when i bought the franchise. They tought me how to sell the business, the basic concepts and then provided great ads for us to utilize as we wanted. However, as it relaters to your point, in 7 years of business, I never had a single visit from the Franchise. Since i didn’t have any complaints, maybe they figured it wasn’t a good use of my their funds, but I do not believe there is uniform customer service with Franchisees. I know there isn’t with my former franchisor, but where i do business, franchisees might share in ads and marketing materials, but there operational systems are not uniform. The similarity amongst many franchisees in a system in terms of how they set up their operations, is not mch different than the similarity amongst different franchise operations or independants. It is basically how does the owner operate. Uniform strict policies are not the norm in the non medical field. Consequently, the independant has a service advantage. Weather the independant is saving 2% or 6% of their top line revenue by not sending it off to a franchisee, they can spend more on customer service than the frnachisee can.

    Point 2 relates to a centralized 24/7 answering system. I am sorry but I do not feel this is better. My agency does not use a service, but rather employs individuals to work for my agencies so we handle our phones and operate the business 24/7. No middle man, just straight to the company that will solve the problem or deal with the callers needs. In fact, my former franchisor frequently was unable to return my call within 15 minutes let alone that of a non owner of the company.

    Point 3 – I believe you are correct. Franchsiors do have an advantage of name recognition on a national basis. So I will give your argument 1 and the independants 2. In the end, it really only matters the skill of the operator. The franchisor is not going to make hirinig decisions, decide on office structure or make day to day decisions how to handle issues. I am grateful I was able to terminate my Frnachisee relationship. I offering higher quality services as an independant than we ever did as a franchisee.

  18. admin

    Hey Mike, thanks for the thoughtful response. Two things:
    1) We dont provide a 24/7 “answering service.” We provide a 24/7 scheduling and ion call system, which is far different. We actually perform ALL of the scheduling functions for our clients and caregivers (and franchise partners). This leads to:
    2) standardized and consistent customer service across all of our locations. Because we control a huge element of the interaction with our Franchise Partner’s clients (and caregivers), we have a high level of control over the customer experience. Add to this that we can ensure our Partners customers get help (by someone who knwos who they are) 24/7, and the fact that we measure customer service at every location on a daily/weekly/monthly/quarterly basis, and we have a pretty good control on the experience.

    Finally, good fo ryou for leaving your system. No visits in 7 years? We see each Partner a minimum of 3x per year.

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