What does it take to build a senior care business that can grow without losing the people-first approach that makes great care possible? Caring Senior Service Director of Franchise Development Del Salinas joins Joe Carter on the Franchise Growth Show to discuss the systems, people, and leadership behind a scalable home care franchise. They explore everything from building the right team and retaining caregivers to franchise support, profitability, and making the transition from hands-on operator to business owner.
Podcast Transcript
Joe Carter: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Franchise Pro Show. I’m your host, Joe Carter.
Today, we’re talking about a category that is growing very fast: senior care. But growth alone doesn’t always create value. In service-based franchises, especially in care, your ability to scale comes down to people, processes, and consistency — not just demand.
Revenue is a byproduct, but value is the ultimate objective. And value is created when your system can deliver consistent outcomes without being dependent on a single operator.
Today, I’m thrilled to be joined by Delfino Salinas, Director of Franchise Development at Caring Senior Service. Del, welcome to the show.
Let’s jump right into it and start with a little context. Give us a quick overview of your role and your path into franchise development.
Del Salinas: I’m the Director of Franchise Development with Caring Senior Service. I’ve been with Caring for about eight years now, and I didn’t start in this role.
I started in a different department, working with owners on staffing their businesses and client acquisition, and then transitioned into franchise development.
My direct experience with owners and their office teams, our clients, and our caregivers gives me good insight into what a day in the life looks like and what it takes to get to a point of high-level execution.
Joe: I love that. Especially in senior care, it’s not always just about the model. It’s about quality, compliance in some ways, and the ability to scale.
From your experience working with those operators, what separates senior care franchise brands that scale from others that may stall?
Del: It really comes down to following systems and processes. Every franchise system is going to say that, but as an individual, you first have to decide which system is best for you. It has to be a good match. Do you feel confident and comfortable working within the system and with the people?
Like any other organization, the people are what make it. Caring Senior Service has great people. We have great owners and great office teams. We’re very hands-on and have a lot of interaction with our owners. That’s part of the culture of who we are.
That helps you scale, especially when you get to an area where you hit a plateau and need to accelerate from there.
We’re also constantly looking for ways to improve execution and make the experience better for our clients, caregivers, owners, and office teams — everything from maintaining that personal touch to working with AI, automation, and other technology.
Joe: I love the fact that you said systems, because you’re absolutely correct. Systems can deliver consistent care, but without those systems, growth can create breakdowns.
There’s certainly strong demand in senior care. The number of people reaching the age where they may need senior care continues to grow. So where do brands get it wrong when they try to scale too quickly?
Del: It’s often deviation from the system and process.
The need is there. There’s nowhere in America where there are enough home care businesses. We’re going to continue to find more opportunities to provide care.
But when somebody gets to a place where they’re seeing a high level of success and then tries to deviate or do something differently, that can create challenges.
As you scale, you also have to change how you manage your business. You have more team members and more office staff. You may be growing into different communities. At the same time, you can’t lose the personal touch that makes this business what it is. It’s all about relationships, and you have to keep that a central part of the business.
A lot of franchise systems start at a small scale, and as they grow, they have to get back to the systems and processes — the tried-and-true fundamentals that got them there.
We made a focused effort a few years ago to get back to fundamentals. I think you’ll find that in any organization: sometimes you have to come back to what got you there, reevaluate it, modify it where needed, and then scale.
Joe: I couldn’t agree more. I call it blocking and tackling, using a football reference. If you can’t block and tackle in football, you’re probably not going to win many games. A similar concept is true in business, especially in franchising.
High demand can showcase growth, but it can also hide operational weaknesses if you’re missing those fundamentals.
What does real franchise development look like inside a service-based model like yours?
Del: It starts with listening. It’s understanding why somebody wants to get into this business and then helping them understand and navigate the process.
We want anyone who is interested to get a good picture of what it’s going to take to be successful in this business and make sure it’s a good fit for them and for us.
Joe: I love that. It’s not always just about opening more locations. It’s building repeatable processes and systems, training your team so they feel comfortable executing them, and then delivering a consistent experience to your clients.
Unit economics are generally one of the biggest things a potential franchisee wants to talk through. What has to be true at the unit level for a senior care franchise to be viable?
Del: At the unit level, it again goes back to the system, the processes, and staying true to the staffing model.
For us, it’s having the office team in place so they can execute their daily, weekly, and monthly tasks. That might sound simple, but that’s really one of the hardest pieces of the business: having the right people in those roles and, first of all, making sure you actually have somebody in those roles.
Like any business or organization, you might find yourself in a position as an owner where you’re doing multiple jobs. It’s difficult to wear more than one hat when there are specific things that need to get done. You physically can’t be in two places at once.
You have to take a step back and focus on the people piece — having those roles staffed and then validating that people are doing what they need to do.
That’s really what this business is all about. It’s not just the clients and caregivers. It’s your office team and what you build around them.
Joe: The team delivers results. Having the right team accelerates results. Having the wrong team decelerates results. And you can have the right team doing the wrong things and end up with some mixture of both.
What are the things that are done to ensure a franchisee is actually profitable rather than simply operating?
Del: There are some black-and-white metrics that we look at.
The business is simple. I won’t say easy, but it is simple: get caregivers, get clients, and provide care.
Over 35 years in business, we’ve developed systems and processes around those things. You have to consistently execute the tasks within those systems.
That includes going out and talking to people in your community. Many people don’t know about our business. Nobody teaches us in our 30s, 40s, 50s or even 60s that someday we might need home care. Usually, something happens to a loved one or to ourselves, and suddenly we need this type of care. It’s brand new to people, and they don’t know what to expect.
You need somebody in the community who is educating and sharing information so that when the need arises, people know who they can call.
To become profitable and scale, you have to manage the business side of it. You have to grow your hours — hours are a key metric in home care — and you have to grow awareness of your brand in the community.
Our roles within Caring Senior Service focus heavily on that community engagement: going out and visiting referral sources and educating people.
A lot of people don’t know what home care is until they need it. They may not understand how the service works or how they’ll pay for it. It can be confusing and even upsetting when they learn that certain services aren’t covered by insurance and may require out-of-pocket payment.
Families are trying to understand what it will take to keep their loved one in a place where they can remain healthy, happy, and home.
So scaling profitability is really about educating the community, having team members available to provide great care, and focusing just as much on your staff as you do on your clients — maybe even more.
That can be hard. People have lives outside of work. They have families, health concerns, kids, school, other jobs, and transportation issues. You have to understand what that looks like and be compassionate with your team.
Joe: I love that: process discipline, leadership, teaching, coaching, understanding your team, and then retaining clients once you have them. All of that creates the capacity for a scalable, profitable system.
Where do most operators underestimate the complexity of your model?
Del: The biggest thing is really the people piece. Again, I’ll go back to “simple, but not easy.”
A lot of people who are leaving corporate America or coming from other professional roles may have never worked with hourly employees or people from different socioeconomic backgrounds. They have to understand what that looks like and understand the complexity of people management.
It goes back to compassion for your team and recognizing that caregivers are only working for you when there’s a client who matches their skill set, availability, and the part of town where they can work.
For example, maybe a caregiver is a parent and something happens with their child at school. They have to go pick up their child, and now they can’t go to your client’s home.
The correct response should be, “Take care of your child. We’ve got you. We’re going to take care of your client, and let me know how everything goes.”
It shouldn’t be, “Can’t somebody else pick up your child?”
We understand there’s a business to run, but you also have to understand that your caregivers have lives and responsibilities outside of work. You have to show compassion.
That can be frustrating for a business owner or somebody managing clients because you want to provide great service and continue growing the business. But the most important piece is the people piece, and that’s hard.
You have to have backup plans upon backup plans and contingencies for when things happen. At the end of the day, you have to understand that your people are incredibly important.
Joe: I couldn’t agree more. In this type of service-driven system, quality, compliance, and consistency matter, but your team is ultimately where the buck stops. If they’re doing the right things, you’re probably getting the right results. If they’re doing the wrong things, you’re probably getting the wrong results.
Del: And I’ll piggyback on that. You’ll hear a lot of times that there’s a caregiver shortage or a recruitment issue. There are plenty of caregivers. What we often have is a retention issue.
Not every owner is naturally the best boss or manager. Again, it goes back to managing people.
Joe: One hundred percent. There’s an old saying that people don’t leave jobs; they leave managers or leaders. It’s been around for decades, but there’s still a lot of truth to it.
What helps create consistency at the leadership level and team level across operators in a very people-driven business like this?
Del: The first thing is going back to compassion — having compassion for this business.
When we talk about franchise development and understanding someone’s “why,” that compassion isn’t just for the client. It also has to extend to the caregiver, office staff, and community.
That piece really helps guide success, retention, and growth.
Then it’s following the systems and processes. I could say that all day, but the question becomes: How do you validate it?
We have objective metrics within our system. If you’re doing the things you should be doing, those metrics help show it.
It’s having conversations, reviews, certifications, and ongoing training. Ongoing training is part of our culture. It’s also having engagement and activities between owners, caregivers, and office teams.
You need those touchpoints so you understand what your team knows, what they don’t know, and what they need.
Joe: I absolutely love that, especially the ongoing training. It’s not just training when you’re a brand-new hire or a brand-new franchisee. Ongoing training allows you to scale with intention.
Obviously, you’re in franchise development, but something a potential franchisee looks at isn’t just the development side. It’s the support side.
What does strong franchisor support look like in practice?
Del: In practice, it looks like regular communication — early and often.
People don’t know what they don’t know. A new owner coming in really has no idea what they’re stepping into.
We come back to two things: Do you have passion for the business, and do you want to follow the model and the system?
Part of what we do is walk you through every part of the business step by step.
You meet with me at the beginning, but then throughout our discovery process, you meet our team. Once I hand you off, you continue working with that team.
We have a very strong, deep team within Caring Senior Service. Our touchpoints and interactions with our owners are extensive.
Support looks like regular communication, ongoing checkpoints, checking in, and asking questions. It has to be a two-way engagement. The owner has to want to engage with us as well and understand that part of joining a franchise system is getting that support, following the systems and processes, and validating that you’re doing things the right way.
Our owners work with our marketing team, business development team, accounting team, training team, and teams supporting client and caregiver acquisition.
It’s about working with all of those teams, understanding the objective metrics that help validate success, and utilizing the franchise system and all of the support available to you.
That’s what a good support system looks like.
Joe: A franchisee selecting your brand is one step of the equation, but the other side is you ensuring that this is the right person for your model.
What do you look for in the right franchisee for Caring Senior Service?
Del: The first part is listening. I mentioned earlier that I need to listen, but it also has to be someone who listens — someone who can take direction.
We want someone who listens to understand and who feels comfortable and confident with our systems and processes.
Again, the business is simple, but someone has to want to do the work.
This is a 100% relationship-driven business. You have to want to build those relationships, and you have to listen.
You have to understand what your clients are saying. You’re talking to people who may be going through distressed, emotional times as they deal with a loved one who is approaching the end of life or experiencing a difficult transition. They’re looking for help and support, and you have to be compassionate about that.
At the same time, your caregivers are going through things in their lives, too, and you need to be compassionate toward them.
We’re looking for people who have a passion for all parts of the business.
Joe: Alignment matters more than background. Generally speaking, a brand is looking for somebody who can follow systems, manage or lead a team, and execute the system consistently. It sounds like that’s exactly what you’re describing.
How do you filter out potential wrong-fit operators early in the process?
Del: It’s having conversations to understand their “why” and then sharing what the reality is going to look like.
You might have somebody who has a great heart for providing care. That’s awesome. We find a lot of people who have that but may not have the desire or ability to really manage the people side of the business.
That’s one of the hardest parts of the business: managing people.
So we’re very open, honest, and realistic about what a day in the life looks like.
We make sure candidates understand that they’re not just a business owner. They’re part of their community. They’re part of their caregiver family. They need to understand the trials, tribulations, and excitement that their clients and caregivers are going through every day.
As we share that with our owner candidates, we get a good understanding of whether that’s something they’ll be successful with and, just as importantly, whether it’s something they actually want to do.
We’re very open and honest upfront about what to expect.
Joe: On the opposite end of that, what attracts a strong operator to a brand like yours?
Del: Again, it starts with the people piece.
I’ll tip my hat to our marketing department. We have some great content out there, and people who do their due diligence see a lot of great feedback from owners and clients.
Those who do their research see that our success comes from our people.
Strong candidates start with proper due diligence and research. They want to understand what they’re potentially buying into, and then they ask the right questions: What makes you different from somebody else?
For us, there are really a few pieces.
One is our people. I’ve talked about that multiple times already, but our people make us who we are. It has to be a good fit for them and for us, so understanding our culture is a big piece.
Then there’s understanding our model. We have 35 years in business and systems for what it takes to bring a caregiver through the process from start to finish, bring a client through the process from start to finish, communicate with families, and manage all of those different pieces.
Joe: Strong operators are generally looking for predictability, a strong level of support, and the capacity to scale. You touched on all of those, but the people piece is really how you ensure those things happen.
As a broker myself, I try to get the clients I work with to begin with the end in mind. What does the exit look like on the back end of this potential investment?
At what point does a senior care franchise become attractive from an investment or valuation standpoint?
Del: Being profitable, of course, is going to be a big part of that.
And to your point, we start with the end in mind. When someone is talking with me, we bring up their exit strategy.
How long do you want to do this business? What is your “why”?
Are you doing this because you want a profitable career where you can do something you love and find rewarding?
Are you looking to build an asset and eventually sell that asset?
Or are you looking to build something for your kids and create generational wealth?
Usually, it falls into one of those three buckets.
It makes sense for us to understand their “why” so we can work with them toward that goal.
Usually by their third, fourth, or fifth year, owners may be running well and reaching a level of profitability where they could potentially attract somebody who wants to enter the business and purchase their investment.
If it’s 10 or 15 years down the road and they’ve built their brand within the community to a very high level, the business can become very attractive to somebody looking to enter the space.
There’s also the growth in the senior population that we talked about earlier. When you have a system that works, a model that works, revenue already coming in, profitability, and people in place, it can be very attractive for somebody to walk in and take over.
Joe: Anybody trying to create long-term value — whether that’s recurring revenue, residual income, or an asset they ultimately want to sell — is generally looking for recurring revenue streams, low operator variability, and strong client retention.
If somebody follows the system and executes well, they can create a high level of value through your system.
Where do owners sometimes leave value on the table? Where do you see disconnects when they’ve reached that third or fourth phase, they’re profitable, but they want to get to that next level?
Del: Like any business or organization, it’s easy to get sucked into the whirlwind of the business. It’s easy to become so involved in the day-to-day work that you’re working in the business instead of stepping outside of it and looking at what’s going on.
You can be very successful managing 20 or 30 clients and get to a point where you’re profitable and performing at a high level.
You can become very focused on your clients and their families, and that can be great. With our systems and processes, you can reach a point where you’re performing very well and things are running smoothly.
But making that next jump can take almost as much effort as when you first started.
To make that next jump into another territory or another stage of growth, you have to take a step back, pull yourself out of the comfort zone you’ve created, and reevaluate: What is it going to take to double or triple what I’m doing right now?
It goes back to the people piece — adding personnel, doing the training, and modifying your own role.
A lot of owners in this space enjoy that one-on-one connection with their clients and caregivers. To scale, you eventually have to remove yourself from some of that. You have to develop people who can do what you do and train them to do it.
There are pros and cons to that. You may love having one-on-one time with your clients and caregivers, and you may already be doing very well from a profitability standpoint.
The opportunity to scale is there, but your role has to shift. You begin managing a larger organization, and there’s only so much time in the day. You can’t personally touch every part of the business anymore.
As an owner, you have to make a decision about what you want that role to look like.
Joe: That transition from operator to owner is a challenging one for plenty of people. But in order to get to a truly scalable system, you have to be able to make that leap. It may be uncomfortable, but they don’t call it growing pains for nothing.
Del, this has been a great conversation.
My biggest takeaway is that there’s tremendous demand that’s only going to increase in the senior care space. But demand alone does not build a franchise or a scalable system.
Ultimately, it’s the system — and the people who execute that system — that makes it work.
In a business like senior care, where consistency and care matter, you don’t get the luxury of scaling without that structure in place.
Without the systems, you don’t scale. Without scale, you don’t create value. Revenue is a byproduct. Systems create value, documentation protects it, and accountability helps sustain it for the long term.
If you’re serious about building a scalable, sellable franchise, Caring Senior Service is absolutely one you should take a look at. Reach out to Del and his team for more information.
Thank you to everybody listening, and thank you to Del for joining us today. I’m Joe Carter, and we can’t wait to see you on the next episode. Have a great day, everyone.