🤝 Outreach Domain: Overview

📁 Return to 📣 Outreach Category

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Next article: 🏆 VSL's 7-Step Outreach Checklist ➡️

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↖️ Access ⭐ Operator Duties Quick Reference Guide

 

 

 

Community Outreach is essential in maintaining high occupancy and means regularly connecting with referral sources to ensure they refer applicants to your homes in sufficient numbers to keep your beds filled. 

 

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📚 Outreach Category Contents 

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📣 Outreach Function: General

• 📣 Outreach Function: Overview
• 🌐 Digital Marketing
• 📰 Print Media
• 💡 Filling Beds | Tips & Tricks
• 📔 Identity and Brand Standards & Logo Policy

💬 Communication Standards

• 💬 Communication Policies

🤝 Referral Sources

• 🤝 Types of Referral Sources
• 🗂️ Referral Database Management
• 🎁 Guest Funding Sources: Grants, Scholarships, etc.

🖇️ Outreach Activities

• 🔎 Area Survey
• 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 In-Person Outreach Activities
• 📞 Remote Outreach Activities
• 🏟️ Community Engagement Events

 

 

Article Table of Contents 

1. 📚 Outreach Category Contents 

  

This is our introduction and overview article to Community Outreach. Community outreach efforts focus on two core goals, occupancy, and impact. It is essential in maintaining high occupancy levels in your homes and means regularly connecting with referral sources to ensure they refer applicants to your homes to keep your beds filled. Community outreach also serves to provide a network of resources and services that you can offer to your residents either directly or through recommendations. 

  

As an opening comment, word-of-mouth is the key to keeping beds filled, and this is accomplished by making sure the homes we offer to our residents are safe and healthy environments for recovery. Our focus should always be on supporting our residents and addressing concerns quickly. Beyond this, community outreach is your way of reaching the broader recovery community to spread the word about what Vanderburgh House does and what you can offer to support those in early recovery. A good reputation, combined with continuous outreach to the broader recovery community, should keep residents coming through your door. 

  

    
 

📚 Outreach Category Contents 

Please prepare for this training by carefully reviewing the articles below. Most of these articles are intended to be introductory articles. 

   

📣 Outreach Function 

  

Outreach Resources & Responsibilities 

• What does VH do by default? 
• Vanderburgh House Website Home Page 
• Sober House Directory 
• HubSpot pre-loaded with companies, contacts, and referral sources 
• Staff Support 
• Training Resources 
• What does the Operator do by default? 
• Provide all available outreach contacts 
• Once trained, all community outreach 
• Do you offer Outreach Services? 

Vanderburgh House offers new home outreach services for a fee. Typically, this fee is $6,000, paid up-front upon engaging Vanderburgh House to do a new home outreach duty package. 

• Who do I reach out to if I need help? 

We have several staff members that are here to support you. This includes our Outreach/Communications Coordinator, our Intake Coordinator, and our Digital Marketing Coordinator. All three of these staff members can help you directly with Outreach. Please contact your designated Operations Manager first so they can pass you along to the best person available. 

• Who does my outreach? 

As the Operator, your role in community outreach is to make connections and maintain relationships with referral sources and community members. This can be all on you, or you can involve your House Mentor, Guests, and Affiliates. 

  

1. Connect with each assigned contact in 💻 HubSpot frequently 
2. Connect in person with each assigned contact once per three months 
3. Update the HubSpot database with outreach activities completed 
4. ✔️ Order Marketing Materials as needed 

 
 
 

 Marketing Information 

It’s important to understand what marketing practices can help your home in regard to reputation and resident interest. By now, you’ve already named your home, a business listing was created on Google, and your home is featured on the VH website. 

What's next? Go to the 🌐 Digital Marketing and 📰 Print Media articles to learn about a few other things that you should be prepared to do on your own for your sober house, as well as some of the things that we can help with along the way. 

While Vanderburgh House conducts extensive marketing efforts, Operators play a key role in the marketing that supports our outreach. Familiarize yourself with what is expected of you. 

  

  

🤝 Referral Sources 

A referral source is any organization or individual who has or may refer a resident to a Vanderburgh House home. These referral sources are organized in 💻 HubSpot. Each referral source is typically assigned to one Operator in the HubSpot system, allowing for some exclusivity over referred residents. Relationships with referral sources are maintained by Operators according to our Operator responsibilities and schedule of required duties. 

  

Our marketing and outreach efforts focus on Placement Professionals. General marketing of Vanderburgh House through web and social media supports our referral relationships but isn’t our focus in terms of marketing resources. 80% of residents come from either word-of-mouth or primary referral sources like placement professionals. Marketing and outreach must focus on these sources. 

  

Placement professionals: These are individuals who work in organizations that refer residents directly to sober houses. The types of referral sources would include clinical organizations (rehab, detox, CSS, TSS, etc.), legal organizations (jail prerelease, probation and parole departments, public defenders, etc.), and other organizations like halfway houses and residential programs. The Placement Professional could be a case worker, transitional support liaison, director, parole officer, or other position in one of these organizations. 

Remember that in Massachusetts and other states, only homes certified by the local NARR affiliate can accept referrals from state-funded organizations. 

We cannot stress enough the importance of maintaining strong relationships with Placement Professionals by conducting regular 📂 Community Engagement Duties. Their referrals keep Vanderburgh House open. You must strengthen your relationships with primary referral sources at every opportunity. 

Building your referral base is crucial to maintain occupancy. Review the 🤝 Types of Referral Sources.  

  

Note: 

• Placement professionals are often too busy to research a home and often go off word-of-mouth and habit 
• Placement professionals may be too busy to be bothered working hard to transition patients to housing 
• It is easy for a disgruntled resident to harm our reputation by speaking poorly of us, always be mindful of reputational risks! 

  

Guest Economic Value 

• Avg. resident will stay 3 months (Average length of stay) 
• Avg. rate is $160 per week, plus $200 intake fee 
• Based on the average length of stay in the homes the expected average income from each resident's stay can be estimated at $2,280 
• This is, of course, assuming that the house has capacity for a new resident 

Referral Source Economic Value 

• Referral source economic value is simply the sum of residents that they refer times resident economic value. 

  

  

  

  

  

🖇️ Outreach Activities 

Outreach activities include any activity that is taken by an Operator or Vanderburgh House staff to build or maintain a relationship with a referral source. There are a variety of outreach activities, including the list below. Each of the major categories (remote, in-person, and events) is covered by its own articles. 

Effective outreach: Effective outreach requires face-to-face meetings, communication, tours, presentations, and any opportunity to connect and share what we do with potential referral sources. 

  

1. 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 In-Person Outreach Activities 
   1. 👨‍🏫 Presentations | Opportunities to engage at a referral source's location. 
   2. 📍 Tours | Engagement at an Operator's home. 
       
       
2. 📞 Remote Outreach Activities 
   1. 📞 Telephone Outreach 
   2. 💻 Virtual Meetings 
   3. 📧 Emails 
       
       
3. 🏟️ Community Engagement Events 

  

  

📍 Visit the Location 

The best way to conduct outreach is by visiting their location in lieu of a phone call.  

Do a visit to their location, invite them to visit our homes, or email information to them. In the event a visit cannot be coordinated, call them back within one week to follow up. 

Conduct any scheduled in-person meetings and leave them with our marketing packet, invite their clients to our homes for a tour or for an open house. Leave a stack of applications so they don’t have to print them. 

  

Frequency of Communication 

Each Operator is assigned contacts on HubSpot software. These contacts are either added by each Operator or by Vanderburgh House staff and “assigned” to a particular Operator. This ensures that each important contact we have in a given area or serving a given gender is linked with an Operator in that area who can serve that gender. 

On all assigned HubSpot contacts, we ask each Operator to conduct one form of remote outreach activity with each on a regular basis at a minimum of once per month. This contact can be through either a telephone call or email. We ask this to keep our relationships with contacts current. 

Use common sense when maintaining a relationship with a referral source. If a referred resident has an issue – call the referral source and talk to them about it. If the resident has recently celebrated an accomplishment (3 months sober, 6 months sober, etc.), this should be communicated to the referral source. When a resident moves on from our home into independent living, this should also be communicated to our referral partner if appropriate. 

Quality and honest interaction, as well as making a connection with them at least once every two weeks, is important. When they refer someone over to us, a status update should be given one week, two weeks, and one month following the residents’ move-in. Application status should be communicated to the case worker, and even bad news (application denial, resident termination) should be shared immediately. Face-to-face meetings should occur with primary sources around once per month. Reasons for meetings or communications may include: 

Top Referrers: Regular calls or check-in visits should be made to top referrers. Being at the forefront of their minds is important. Make sure to familiarize yourself with the tiers of referral sources. 

  

Best Practices 

• As needed based on occupancy, periodic meetings and calls with placement professionals are important. 
• Try to maintain service relationships between the referral source and the resident (keep providing outpatient services, for example). 
• Many contacts change positions and organizations often – turnover makes it difficult at times to maintain good referral relationships with organizations – make note of all position changes on HubSpot. 

  

Communication Standards 

Start by reading our guide on communication standards. It is important to stress the importance placed on the structure and offering a quality product. Caseworkers should all know your policies on random urine drug screens, curfew, guests, and other policies in place for residents. Caseworkers should be asked what they consider when referring to a sober house. Ongoing efforts should be made to include these in operations as well as marketing and communications efforts with referral sources. 

Outlook: Outlook offers a calendar feature that makes it possible to invite others to join the meeting that is set with an outside organization. This helps maintain continuity between staff members to ensure that meetings with outside providers are conducted. 

Print Media: You should support face-to-face interactions with professionally designed marketing materials, including rack cards, tri-fold brochures, business cards, sticky notes, and other branded materials. For first contacts with new placement professionals, we typically provide a packet of materials included in a labeled folder. Refer to our 📰 Print Media article to learn more. 

  

  

  

  

 
 

🎓 Outreach Training 

We need to greatly simplify this section 

  

  

🗂️ Outreach Introduction | Training Module 

  

Welcome to Outreach Training, Stage I! This article will cover preparation for Outreach Training, as well as a training agenda to following during the Initial Outreach training meeting, which typically takes place through Teams. 

We will generally split the Outreach Training into two parts, or modules, so as to reduce the pressure or not present too much information. The rest of this training will be described in the article ✔️ Outreach Training | Stage II where you will see the full outline for your Outreach training meeting. Take your time to read this article (and linked information) and go through these items with your Outreach Coordinator during your Community Outreach Training Meeting during ✔️ Outreach Training | Stage II. 

This article details the first stage of Outreach Training. Here you will learn about the basics of preparing an Outreach plan, building basic lists for a referral base, and making Outreach calls or contacts through email. 

  

Please take a moment to review the articles contained in the ⚙️ Outreach category. 

Now is a good time to begin thinking through your community outreach plan. Who will be your referral sources? Who do you know for possible clinical referrals, such as detox/rehab/CSS/TSS/halfway house/other clinical organizations? Who do you know in the legal system, such as those in probation or parole departments, drug courts, or other organizations? Do you know anyone else who will be a good referral resource? Start to think through who you may know, and write down names, phone numbers, email addresses, and organizations. We will refer back to this list soon. 

  

Access 💻 HubSpot Software 

  

Earlier, we confirmed that you had access to our software systems, including HubSpot. Now is a good time to log in to HubSpot and explore. Read our article on HubSpot and how to use the software as you get to know the system. 

Search through Companies and Contacts and see if you recognize anyone. Soon, we will work with you to get all of your contacts in the database and begin work reaching out. For now, simply familiarize yourself with the software and features, and build your list of potential referral sources. We’ll get to the rest later. 

  

List Your Community Resources 

  

Now that you have a handle on communications and marketing standards and have started a list of your referral sources and professional connections, we’ll need you to begin compiling a list of local community resources beneficial to your residents. 

Sober house residents need to access all sorts of resources, and a successful sober living home will help them get what they need. Start by making a list of basic services in the area, including healthcare, employment, recovery, and other services. These organizations should include recovery organizations, clinical and medical services, but also include a list of local entertainment and recreation establishments which could serve your residents. A sample of this information can be found on our Worcester Recovery Resources page. (fix hyperlink) 

Shortly, we will connect with you to publish this list on our website for the benefit of your residents and the community itself. Just focus on making a list for now – no further action needed. 

  

  

Successful outreach is the most effective way to ensure your houses maintain a steady stream of guest referrals. It is also excellent in building and maintaining quality relationships with a variety of community organizations. 

  

  

🗂️ Outreach Activity | Training Module 

Successful outreach is the most effective way to ensure your houses maintain a steady stream of guest referrals. It is also excellent in building and maintaining quality relationships with a variety of community organizations. 

This is Stage II of your Outreach Training. Please read through and review these items with your Outreach Coordinator during the meeting. Future training events may be scheduled if necessary, and feel free to reach out to your Outreach Coordinator or Operations Manager with questions at any time. 

  

  

Community Outreach Training Meeting 

  

This section is used as a guide for your training meeting with your Outreach Coordinator. 

This training event should take about an hour, usually taking place on Teams, following the agenda below. 

  

Outreach Training 

  

1. Discuss where we are in the process of opening a home and in Operator training, establish goals, etc. 
2. Review the role of community outreach 
3. Review 📝 Types of Referral Sources 
4. Review 📂 Community Engagement Duties, including: 

1. ✔️ Calls 
2. ✔️ Emails 
3. ✔️ Tours & Presentations 

1. Review 💬 Intro to Communications, including 

1. Use of LinkedIn for outreach 
2. Use of Facebook for outreach 
3. Ensure you have both accounts updated with our recommendations 

1. Review existing 💻 HubSpot records, make note of any familiar names or organizations 
2. Try adding a few contacts from the list you started earlier 
3. Review and add tasks on the Tasks tab in Teams 

  

New Home Training 

  

If you are getting ready to open a home, we will need to conduct a few additional items during this meeting. 

1. Review the 🏠 New Homes category fully. 
2. Discuss responsibilities for New Home Outreach: 

1. If Vanderburgh House is conducting this is an add-on service with additional cost, involving a 10-week outreach project which is conducted by Vanderburgh House 
2. If not, we will need to get going on outreach right away. 

1. Schedule follow-up training event one week away 

  

As we approach the date of a new home opening, we will work internally to build out HubSpot as thoroughly as possible. For now, our goal is to get you familiar with HubSpot and have you add the contacts and companies you know for now. 

  

Do You Have a Home in Place? 

  

  

If you have a home in place, you have homework to do! 

If you have a home in place (ready to open, already open, or even a month out), during the week following your first training meeting with your Outreach Coordinator. 

1. Contact each one of your assigned companies to gain new contacts. 
2. Add new contacts in 💻 HubSpot 
3. Document all outreach activities, including 

1. Log a Call when you connect with someone on the phone. 
2. Log an Email when you connect with someone by email. 
3. Log a Meeting when you conduct any in-person outreach events. 

1. Prepare for your follow-up training event. 

  

Rewrite from here down to reflect actual training plan. 

  

• HubSpot Overview 
• what is where, what the hubspot dashboard is. 
• Companies and contacts are the main focus. 
• Filtering companies and contacts in the list (by contact owner, tiers, contact date, district) 
• explanation of tiers (1, 2, 3) 
• Adding companies & contacts 
• How to add them 
• What information is needed in the records, (i.e., first, last name, contact info, position) 
• Company information (website, company name, location, address, phone number, company tier info [program info, services offered]) 
• Company information should be sent to your Outreach Coordinator or marketing@vanderburghhouse.com so that it can be added to HubSpot. 
• You can add a company to a contact, or a contact to a company. 
• Connect contacts with companies 
• Making sure that the contact is added under the company that they work for/with. 
• Creating a new contact directly from the company page which automatically connects them. 
• Information needed: First, last name, email, phone, district, city, job title (position), contact owner (generally you) 
• Adding notes under contacts vs companies 
• Notes will link with both company and contact. You will learn how to put notes on both contact and companies, the differences between those two, but they will show under the "Activity Tab for both" 
• Contact notes don't connect across each other unless a meeting or call is created on the company and all contacts present are checked off. 
• Adding emails, phone calls, etc. 
• Emails, phone calls, and meetings are special kinds of notes which attach certain information. 
• Assigning Tasks 
• Isn't utilized much due to our use of the Tasks feature within Teams. 
• Tasks may be assigned by you or others to update information within HubSpot. 
• Difference between parent and child company, determining which. 
• If a company has other organizations subordinate to it, such as an umbrella organization like BHN, Adcare, Recovery Centers of America, etc., they are a parent company. Their individual locations are the child companies. 
• Child companies tend to provide very narrowed down set of services and have a different address than their corporate owners. 
• Phone calls script and practice outreach phone calls. 
• Where to find script in Teams. 
• General information about making phone calls. 
• Emails, practice emails and showing where to find email attachments and templates. 
• Where to find template emails in Teams. 
• Where to find Marketing attachments in Teams. 
• Given materials (attachments) as well through email. 

Outreach Training | Stage II Training Instructions 

  

This training activity takes place early on in the training of a new Operator. This will typically be coordinated by the person conducting the training of the new Operator but is completed by the Outreach Team. This may be a Teams or in-person meeting to introduce the new Operator to community outreach responsibilities, and to get the mind in motion thinking about referral relationships and organizations with whom to connect. 

You will work closely with your trainer and Outreach Coordinator to set a good time to start your Outreach training. 

  

Training preparation 

  

Start by conducting a Zoom call with the new Operator. Make sure you are prepared to demonstrate an outreach telephone call with someone, if able. Set aside at least two hours in order to cover all of the material. Try to schedule this call for during business hours to allow for live calls to be made during the call. 

This training, like most training, benefits from using a training model. We recommend the E.D.G.E. model, which stands for Explain, Demonstrate, Guide, and Enable. 

1. Explain - Explain the activity in detail. Provide them with written resources to review as to what they will be responsible for doing (i.e., Handbook articles). 
2. Demonstrate - Demonstrate what they will be doing, i.e., calling a referral source to let them know we have availability. 
3. Guide - Guide them in doing the work under your supervision. Let them conduct a call while you’re on a Zoom call with them and provide them with pointers. Let them know what they are doing well and where they can improve. 
4. Enable - Enable them to work independently by making sure they have the tools, knowledge, and confidence to do what is being asked of them. 

  

Virtual training 

  

1. Review the importance of outreach to build referral relationships. 
2. Review Operator outreach responsibilities and tiers of referral sources. 
3. Review HubSpot and tour them through the software. 

1. Show them how to search for company and contact records. 
2. Show them how to search for their assigned contacts and companies. 
3. Show them how to add notes to company and contact records. 
4. Show them how to use other features of the software. 

1. Review the list of assigned companies and contacts with the Operator. 
2. Explain what they are responsible for doing each month. 

1. One touch point per assigned contact per month. 
2. One face-to-face interaction with the assigned contact per quarter. 

1. Demonstrate the following activities. 

1. Outreach telephone call to a referral source and logging a note. 
2. Outreach email to a referral source and logging a note. 

1. Make sure they have Grasshopper set up and ready to make calls. 
2. Let them do an outreach call to one of their newly assigned contacts under your supervision, giving guidance along the way. 

1. A good goal would be for them to ask to set up an in-person meeting to share about the new home opening. Have them log a note recording the interaction 

1. Let them send a few emails to their newly assigned contacts using Screen Share 

1. Have them log a note recording the interaction. 

1. Review the importance of LinkedIn. 
2. Send them a link to the 10 tips for filling vacancies, if they ever run into trouble. 
3. Review with them that their goal is to complete the following: 

1. Reach out to all of their assigned contacts by phone and then email within the next week. 
2. Invite referral sources in for a tour or ask to meet with them at their location. 
3. Record all interactions on HubSpot. 

1. Set a time for a follow-up meeting, typically one week later, to check in on progress. 

Record notes from this Zoom meeting in the Vanderburgh Communities HubSpot tile for the new Operator. We do this to keep track of training progress with each Operator internally. 

  

New Operator Preparation 

  

Timeline: This activity should begin no earlier than 60 days from opening a new home, and no later than 30 days before the projected opening date. 

The goal of this section is the following: 

Train the Operator on how to use this information as they prepare to open their home. 

  

  

⚠️ Further Considerations 

MOUs 

• Treatment centers will often require an MOU, or Memorandum of Understanding in the referral process, due to HIPPA or other confidentiality or compliance concerns. 
• These documents are loose agreements that describe the nature of a relationship between the sober house Operator and the agency. 
• The primary purpose of this is to clarify and document the relationship, protect the confidentiality, and address any conflicts of interest. 
• Refer all MOUs to your Operations Manager to review before signing.