![Can You Compare Your Senior Living Employees to Disney Employees?]()
by Diane Masson | Sep 30, 2012
In the last six weeks, I have been to Disneyland five times. Am I a little crazy? I certainly hope so and try on a regular basis to truly enjoy living in paradise. After a series of interactions last night, I was forced to take an overall look at how I was treated by Disney employees.
The happiest place on earth did not have happy employees last night. 75% of the employees were grumpy, sullen, crabby, tired and worn out looking. What a surprise, when it seemed that most Disney employees had a sunny personality when I have visited in the past.
There was not one smile on any parking attendant at the parking lot. I waited 20 minutes to pay and should have been greeted with a smile, but it did not happen. At the tram, no smiles – only frowns. Going through the bag check, only weary and sullen expressions. When I arrived at the park to go through the turnstile, the employee actually yelled at the person in front of me! No kidding folks, she said, “Can’t you read the signs? Mickey’s Halloween Party entrance is over there!” So that meant I was in the wrong line too and changed lines, before I got yelled at too.
After I made it into the park, they were handing out trick or treat bags and I headed to the left, but I was reprimanded to instead head to the right. Now my husband and I were in and heading down main street and it suddenly hit me that it was not the happiest place on earth tonight. What happened to the famous Disney experience? I thought that when each “cast member” comes out “on stage” to their position, they smile and leave all their own personal negativity and family challenges in the break room?
We headed to Space Mountain (transposed into the Galaxy Ghost for Halloween) and the fast passes were already gone for the day. To make matters worse it had an 80-minute wait, so we went to the Haunted Mansion (transposed into the Nightmare Before Christmas) and it had a 45-minute wait. Now I was grumpy and I have NEVER felt that way at Disneyland before! Had all the negative employees affected me? No one had said to have a wonderful night, enjoy Mickey’s Halloween Party or I am glad you are here – NOTHING!
What happened at your senior living community today? What percentage of your employees were “Happy” or “Grumpy”? Everyday I wake up grateful that I can help seniors improve their lives by moving into the Continuing Care Retirement Communities that I represent. I know they will have a better life than being isolated in their own home. Winter is coming and so many seniors don’t drive in the dark. They will be literally trapped in their homes after 5 pm each night. Plus seniors will live longer with more nutritious meals and the connectivity of other residents is what us humans need to grow and keep our brains sharp. Okay, I will shut up, because I am preaching to the choir…
Every retirement community has at least one grumpy employee. The question is what percentage of grumpy employees do you have? This could be affecting your occupancy. If your residents and staff don’t look happy, prospective senior residents see that and don’t want to move in. Residents at my CCRC communities said the number one reason why they moved in was because of the friendly residents and smiling staff. Do your residents say this too?
The good news to my Disney experience was that we went on Pirates of the Caribbean and then I was back to the happiest place on earth. We saw the best fireworks of my life and later on only had to wait 20 minutes for the Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain.
Diane Twohy Masson is the author of “Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full,” available for sale at Amazon.com. If your curiosity is piqued to inquire on Diane’s availability to speak at a senior housing conference (CCRC, independent living, assisted living, skilled nursing or memory care) – please call: 206-853-6655 or email diane@marketing2seniors.net. Diane is currently consulting in Southern California for Freedom Management Company, the proud debt-free owners of Freedom Village in Lake Forest and The Village in Hemet, California. For more information: Twitter: @market2seniors Web: www.marketing2seniors.net Blog: http://marketing2seniors.net/blog/
![Burnt Pizza Can Be Like Senior Housing – Does this describe your Community?]()
by Diane Masson | Sep 17, 2012
At the Seattle airport, Wolfgang Puck had some beautiful pizzas in the display window. I ordered one and mine was well done – almost burnt. Should I have taken it back? I ate it. It was good enough…then when I walked by the display window again…I had to look…the display had a burnt pizza. Why would anyone showcase burnt anything? If you make pizzas, how hard is it to make them perfect (I was in the pizza business for 3 years early in my career)?
How are you showcasing your retirement community? How is your phone being answered? Is it answered within one or two rings? When guests arrive at your community how are they greeted? Does the receptionist stand to greet them? Are guests offered water on hot days and coffee on cold days?
Are first impressions a priority for your organization? Or is everything good enough? Is your 85% to 90% occupancy good enough? What would it take to go to 95% or 100%? How are you differentiating yourself from your competitors? Is everyone in the neighborhood, just getting by and just good enough? Why not stand out from the senior housing pack and go above and beyond? How about exceeding expectations? What about giving a WOW experience?
What does it take to give a WOW experience? Sometimes it is only a 5% to 10% difference, but it takes a team approach! Some communities are making changes and watching the occupancy grow! What is making the difference?
1) Pull in the driveway of your community with the eyes of a customer on a regular basis.
2) Have someone mystery shop your community to find out how guests are greeted by telephone and in person.
3) Offer refreshments to guests.
4) Find out what the prospect’s needs are and why they came today.
5) Listen!!
6) Ask open ended questions to discovery their needs, wants and desires.
7) Listen!!
8) Invite them on a tour tailored to their needs.
9) Every staff they encounter needs to be smiling and welcoming to them.
10) Introduce prospective residents to key staff.
11) Check in with them to see if what you are showing them addresses their needs and if they can picture themselves or their family member living at your senior living community.
12) Ask for the deposit and determine next steps…don’t be pushy…it is in their best interest to have a plan for his or her future, so the children will not have to put them some place in a crisis situation.
Your senior living community has a choice to be the best you can be with first impressions or just be good enough – an almost burnt pizza…
Diane Twohy Masson is the author of “Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full,” available for sale at Amazon.com. If your curiosity is piqued to inquire on Diane’s availability to speak at a senior housing conference (CCRC, independent living, assisted living, skilled nursing or memory care) – please call: 206-853-6655 or email diane@marketing2seniors.net. Diane is currently consulting in Southern California for Freedom Management Company, the proud debt-free owners of Freedom Village in Lake Forest and The Village in Hemet, California. For more information: Twitter: @market2seniors Web: www.marketing2seniors.net Blog: http://marketing2seniors.net/blog/
by Diane Masson | May 14, 2012
There seems to be a new sales tactic to show future residents the brochure and floor plans – before touring the senior living community! This makes no sense to me. Most people cannot look at a floor plan and decide to give up their 3000 plus square foot home of 30 years and just move into a smaller sized 1000 square foot apartment. Some professionals or retirees were former realtors, designers or architects – these folks would most likely be capable of picturing all their worldly possessions on a 8 ½ by 11 inch – floor plan. So let’s just assume the rest of the people can’t visualize a space based on seeing a retirement community floor plan.
Some senior living sales people actually asked me if I would like the bathroom placement or closet placement here versus there. What?!? I asked them to show me in person. They seemed surprised that I needed a real visual. Others showed me one bedroom and two bedroom floor plans and wanted me to select my favorite floor plan to determine what to go see in the building – nuts! Be a better sales person and figure it out for me. Ask better questions to learn about my lifestyle and needs.
Senior living floor plans are a tool to help someone visualize the placement of furniture in their apartment home. Use it after the prospective resident has already seen and has expressed interest in a certain style apartment at the retirement community. A floor plan can be a helpful reminder of what you saw an hour ago. But if they want to see the apartment in person one more time – please take them back to see it again.
Diane Twohy Masson is the author of “Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full,” available for sale at Amazon.com. If your curiosity is piqued to inquire on Diane’s availability to speak at a senior housing conference (CCRC, independent living, assisted living, skilled nursing or memory care) – please call: 206-853-6655 or email diane@marketing2seniors.net. Diane is currently consulting in Southern California for Freedom Management Company, the proud debt-free owners of Freedom Village in Lake Forest and The Village in Hemet, California. For more information: Twitter: @market2seniors Web: www.marketing2seniors.net Blog: http://marketing2seniors.net/blog/
by Diane Masson | May 7, 2012
Please enjoy this published article I wrote for seniorhousingforum.net for my friend Steve Moran. – http://seniorhousingforum.net/
Here are my top 10 positive and negative first impressions after touring 15 senior living communities in 3 days. (Part 2)
By Diane Twohy Masson
My top 10 positive first impressions of touring 15 senior living communities were talked about in Part 1. My goal was to put myself in the shoes of the adult boomer child looking for the right retirement community for an aging senior parent. What would be his or her overall impression after viewing 3 to 5 senior living communities in a couple of days? Now, in part 2, let’s talk about how some senior living communities chose to put their proverbial foot in their mouth and some of the reasons why they did not make a good first impression for this adult boomer child.
What were my top 10 negative first impressions of 15 senior living communities?
1) Driving up and seeing a weed filled garden, the lawn too long or the building in any type of disrepair. (If they can’t weed the garden on a regular basis, maybe they won’t be able to take good care of my mom on a consistent basis.)
2) A sea of people in walkers and wheel chairs staring at me as I walked in the building or looked in the dining room. If they were having a stimulating dining room conversation with their fellow residents or staff, they would not even have looked up at me (instead they were bored and ALL looked at me).
3) Bad smells – from walking in a dining room and knowing someone needed his or her depends changed to smelling that old building smell.
4) No activities happening and the residents looking bored.
5) Having a resident say the food is bad (this literally happened).
6) Being shown an apartment that was not rent ready with equipment lying around or was being used as a storage room. This was surprisingly very common!
7) Not being offered a cold refreshment when it was 90 degrees outside. This happened at half the communities.
8) The majority of marketers sat me down and started grilling me on my mom’s medical needs. It was all about medical questions and they didn’t focus on her as a person or my concerns as an adult child.
9) Seeing a resident eating alone in the dining room.
10) Experiencing a receptionist on the telephone, hold up her finger to me to wait, say something rude to a resident, hang up, roll her eyes and then ask me what I wanted…
Most of these negative first impressions can be easily corrected with good management and coaching the senior living marketer. Even the best communities out there can’t predict what some of your residents would say to a tour. But if your residents don’t look happy – what can your team do to redirect the seniors into an engaging activity? Look around your retirement community with the fresh eyes of an adult boomer child. What do you see? Can you say that all of the first impressions of your new future residents are great?
+++++++++
Diane Twohy Masson is the author of “Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full,” available for sale at Amazon.com. If your curiosity is piqued to inquire on Diane’s availability to coach your senior living marketing team (CCRC, independent living, assisted living, skilled nursing or memory care) or have her put on a sales retreat for your organization – please call: 206-853-6655 or emaildiane@marketing2seniors.net. For more information: Twitter: @market2seniors Web:www.marketing2seniors.net Blog: http://marketing2seniors.net/blog/
by Diane Masson | Apr 27, 2012
Please enjoy this published article I wrote for seniorhousingforum.net for my friend Steve Moran. – http://seniorhousingforum.net/
Top 10 positive and negative first impressions after touring 15 senior living communities in 3 days. (Part 1)
By Diane Twohy Masson
My goal was to put myself in the shoes of the adult boomer child looking for the right retirement community for an aging senior parent. What would be his or her overall impression after viewing 3 to 5 senior living communities in a couple of days? What community would rise to the top and be their first choice?
What were my top 10 ten positive first impressions?
1) Smelling freshly baked chocolate chip cookies when I walked into the lobby.
2) As I drove up seeing perfectly manicured lawns, a good-looking building and some colorful flowers out front. (Flowers in pots by the front door looked great.)
3) Some kind of “wow” when I entered the lobby that would direct my eye to the beauty of the community and not see the walkers and wheel chairs. An example was seeing a gorgeous/expensive flower/plant arrangement on a circular table as I entered the lobby. Another retirement community had a beautiful living room area with a fireplace, a FRESH flower arrangement on the coffee table and happy residents conversing.
4) Having the receptionist stand to greet me with a smile and a handshake.
5) Being offered refreshments immediately (I was parched from all my touring!)
6) Having a marketer tailor the tour to the needs of my mom. They would bring each community space to life by painting a picture on how my mom would enjoy using it (based on her capabilities).
7) Being introduced to important staff that would be caring for my mom. It was especially impressive if they said, “We would love for your mom to live here.”
8) Having a housekeeper or caregiver smile at me as I walked down the hall. It gave me the impression that they were happy to work there and would smile at my mom.
9) Hearing the residents being called by name and looking happy.
10) Seeing vibrant activities taking place in a variety of community spaces.
First impressions are everything to an adult boomer child trying to evaluate the best place for his or her senior parent. What first impressions are your senior living staff and community giving out? Would you want your own mom to live there? Could you sleep at night, knowing your own mom lived at your community?
Next week:
Diane Twohy Masson’s top 10 negative first impressions in touring 15 senior living communities in 3 days and how some senior living communities chose to put their proverbial foot in their mouth will be coming in part 2.
Diane Twohy Masson is the author of “Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full,” available for sale at Amazon.com. If your curiosity is piqued to inquire on Diane’s availability to coach your senior living marketing team (CCRC, independent living, assisted living, skilled nursing or memory care) or have her put on a sales retreat for your organization – please call: 206-853-6655 or email: diane@marketing2seniors.net. For more information: Twitter: @market2seniors Web:www.marketing2seniors.net Blog: http://marketing2seniors.net/blog/
In the last six weeks, I have been to Disneyland five times. Am I a little crazy? I certainly hope so and try on a regular basis to truly enjoy living in paradise. After a series of interactions last night, I was forced to take an overall look at how I was treated by Disney employees.