When it comes to “customer service” have you really thought about who is your “customer”? Of course the obvious answer is your residents and their families as well as prospective customers and their families. But you may be limiting yourself and even endangering your image and reputation if you only direct your customer service to these limited groups of people.
Taken from material used for SLU Customer Service Certification:
“to ensure that service excellence permeates your community, you and your employees need to consider a braoder range of customer groups. For example:
- Current residents and their families
- Prospective residents and their families
- Employees
- Co-workers
- Volunteers
- Referral Sources
- Vendors
Everyone who interacts with and within your community is a customer. That is because everyone who interacts with and within your community forms impressions about your staff, your services and each other.
Even the mailman has a perception about your community. His perception is based on how he is greeted every time he walks into your residence. When people ask him about your community, he bases his answer on how he is treated when he is in your building. If the receptionist greets him every day with a big smile and a warm hello, his perception is probably good. If he is not greeted warmly, he probably has a more negative perception of your community. We call these interactions ‘moments of truth’” (Customer Service in Assisted Living; A Leader’s Guide to energizing Your Team, SLU)
Employees and co-workers are an important “customer” that can help or hurt your reputation. Are your employees happy? How do you know? What do they say about your community outside of work? Will their comments leave a good or damaging impression to whomever they are speaking? When looking for an opinion or referral to a community, who better to ask then someone who works there? And if that person is constantly dogging their administrator, their supervisor, co-workers, policies and/or working conditions, who wants to live there??