While this past year may have presented many challenges and obstacles due to COVID-19, it also created many opportunities, especially within the home-care industry. HomeWell Care Services, one of the nation’s leading at-home care providers, not only embraced these problematic circumstances but experienced steady growth. By Cindy Charette
While this past year may have presented many challenges and obstacles due to COVID-19, it also created many opportunities, especially within the home-care industry. HomeWell Care Services, one of the nation’s leading at-home care providers, not only embraced these problematic circumstances but experienced steady growth. The executive leadership team – having a combination of broad knowledge, expertise, and experience – was already well prepared for anything, as this talented team is always thinking two steps ahead.
By focusing first on unit economics, HomeWell was able to weather the storm and come out on top by finishing with a tremendously strong year. Casey McCleskey, CFO of HomeWell, stated:
“When home care was established as an essential service, business took off from there, and we experienced steady, record-setting growth throughout the whole year. In fact, our 2020 system revenue was up 12% over 2019, which is phenomenal considering the environment we were in last year.”
HomeWell signed on 16 new franchise owners with three expansions, totaling 31 new territories awarded in 2020. For the year 2021, HomeWell’s business goals include signing on an additional 20 new franchisees. In the fall of 2019, trajectory goals previously set by leadership were to establish 125 unique locations by 2024, and HomeWell is pleased to announce they are still on target for reaching this record.
According to Brandon Clifford, senior vice president of development and franchise services for HomeWell, when COVID-19 hit hard in the early months of 2020, the company message to existing franchisees and employees was still encouraging and positive. “This pandemic has highlighted the need and awareness of home care.” Clifford added: “We really rallied the system around a ‘this is our moment’ type of atmosphere during a pandemic. That’s what home care is built for, to service people in need when they have to stay home.”
Crystal Franz, HomeWell’s CEO, said: “We had this hunch that home care could come out on top if we just continued to stay focused and not let the chaos of the world interrupt our business processes. We have seen record-setting growth in many facets of our business – the pandemic has certainly highlighted the need for home care. It has brought tremendous awareness to home care, what it can do within the overall health continuum and how it can help families. The fact that we stayed our course and kept moving forward, coupled with that heightened awareness, has really set us up for some significant growth. We don’t see a ceiling at this point.”
In franchising, focusing on unit economics by tracking initiatives ultimately affects a unit’s profitability, making it key to each franchisee’s overall success and the entire franchise system. When faced with the roadblocks that arose from the pandemic, HomeWell’s leadership team got to work by navigating through required changes and guiding each franchisee through shifting to a virtual way of doing business. Fortunately, HomeWell had already begun transitioning to virtual operations in 2019, such as virtual discovery days and virtual sales and recruitment processes, which better positioned them for what was to come their way.
Clifford stated: “Everyone says the old saying that luck happens when opportunity meets preparation.
I think HomeWell is an example of that. We were able to have a successful year in a pandemic because we were well prepared for anything. You have to be that way in business.” Clifford added: “Our owners got into this business because yes, it’s a tremendous opportunity to make a good living, but it’s also the desire to take care of people. What bigger issue was there in our lifetime when people needed care and compassion other than the pandemic that was front and center in 2020?”
Even with an increased demand for home care due to the pandemic, HomeWell continues to attract and retain top talent, beginning with its carefully selected executive team and corporate staff. This culture continues to flow through franchisees who are trained to recruit quality agency staff hired to focus on identifying and addressing the needs of HomeWell’s consumers. With this system in place, HomeWell has become a trusted brand known for bringing peace of mind to their clients and their loved ones.
For more information on a HomeWell Care Services franchise, visit homewellfranchising.com.
– Cindy Charette