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Do You Take Advantage of PR or Public Relations Opportunities?

Do You Take Advantage of PR or Public Relations Opportunities?

Posted on by MDSadmin

PR or Public relations should be in everyone’s marketing communications tool kit.

As a Senior Living Consultant working with many Senior Living clients over the years, this is one form of community promotion that tends to be over looked the most. So what exactly is PR? PR or public relations, the noun, as defined by Meriam-Webster.com is as follows:

the activity or job of providing information about a particular person or organization to the public so that people will regard that person or organization in a favorable way

OR

the relationship between an organization and the public

What is PR?
PR iDo You Take Advantage of PR or Public Relations Opportunities?s different from advertising in the fact that in advertising you pay for the privilege of controlling the timing, placement, and message associated with it. While with PR, since it is generally free, the control lies in the hands of the writer and media outlet providing you the coverage. I once heard that “Advertising is what you pay for, PR is what you pray for.”

There are many forms of PR. Most of the time the words PR conjure up images of events at opposite ends of the spectrum. Either a publicity stunt where someone is doing something that is outrageous and crazy to call attention to themselves, their company or their mission, or a company spokesperson trying to put a positive spin on a potentially bad situation that has arisen for the company.

Examples
An example of an outrageous PR stunt would be similar to the flash mob dancing troupe a few years ago that held an impromptu performance at Grand Central Station, it ended up netting them 28 million YouTube hits and a lot of media exposure. An example of positive spin on a bad situation would be the aftermath of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. There have been subsequent news conferences and advertising campaigns trying to convince the public, that the gulf coast is now better than ever.

The kind of PR I am talking about is somewhere in the middle of these two extremes. The press release, media tours, special events, sponsorships, public service/public interest stories are all form of PR that your company/community can use to build brand awareness. These types of PR also show that your brand is part of the greater community and can generate loyalty in a larger audience.

Put PR To Work For You
One of the great things about PR is that it is happening all around us and while we get the intended message, we don’t realize the company or brand is promoting itself to us. Instead of thumping our chest telling everyone how great our company and/or products are through advertising, PR is a subtle way of getting a company name out by providing useful information and activities to others.

PR is also a way to have others validate you as an expert. The general thinking of readers or viewers is that they surely wouldn’t be quoting you or doing a piece on you or your company/community unless you were an authority, the best and most knowledgeable in your field.

November Public Relations Webinar
As part of MDS’ “Plug-In and Prosper” Webinar Series, the November 18, 2015 webinar will be “Generating Public Relations for Your Community”. The webinar will focus on the meaning and use of public relations and why it’s important. I will discuss PR as part of a well-rounded marketing communication plan, the benefits of PR, and how it can enhance your relationship between your company and the public.

So mark your calendar and join me on Wednesday, November 18 at 1:00 pm (CDT) for this important webinar.

I look forward to having you join me for this complimentary monthly webinar! You can also check out our past webinars on the Moore Diversified Services YouTube channel!

Registration Link

Roy Barker is Director of Special Projects at Moore Diversified Services, a Fort-Worth, Texas-based organization specializing in Senior Living operations analysis, marketing development, and investment advisory services. Roy is an authority in the field of employee turnover analysis and retention strategies.

Do You Market For Human Talent? Part 2 of 2

Do You Market For Human Talent? Part 2 of 2

Posted on by MDSadmin

How Often Are You Recruiting For New Top Human Talent?

It is easy to form a perception that talent should only be recruited when there is a position vacant in your company, but unfortunately, that kind of thinking is not very helpful to your company. You should always be recruiting and finding top talent so that they are ready when positions open up for any reason.

Don’t Rely on the Internet Alone

The advent of the internet and job boards was thought to be the end- all- be- all for recruiting. But, it has proven to be a double edge sword when it is the only method used. The great thing about internet job postins is that you can cast a wide net by broadcasting your current job openings to many individuals that may be looking for employment in your town, or even across the country. The downside is that you can be flooded by many applicants that are not anywhere close to being qualified for an opening in a specific position.

Now, relate this to your community’s marketing department for new residents. Can your community just post an advertisement saying “We have rooms available”, and the right person shows up and there you go, you have a new resident? Not quite, or there would be no need to have a sales and marketing team. It should be considered the same with community staffing. It takes a lot of work and effort to find the right fit for the community, both for residents and staff.

Always Be Recruiting

Do You Market for Human Talent? Part 1 of 2It’s important to augment the posting of job openings through portals such as Indeed, Career Builder, or others in this category. Talent Mangers must actively recruit to find the best employees available for the many different job functions within the community/company. This includes giving talks throughout the community at different functions and gatherings of people like civic clubs, high schools, junior colleges, colleges, and other professional organizations throughout your operating region. It is very important to educate as many people as possible about the existence of your community/company, that it is a great place to work with many opportunities besides those of just direct caregivers. Target programs and organizations can include, but are not limited to, those affiliated with business, nursing, culinary, and hospitality.

LinkedIn is also a great place to gather potential contacts for professional level jobs. LinkedIn should be used to identify individuals with skills that will be beneficial to your team now and in the future. Don’t limit yourself to just those that may currently hold positions in the Senior Living industry, but look in other industries for transferable skills as well. Establish casual relationships in the beginning and watch how they interact with others in their peer groups. Do they post timely and relevant material? Do they have original thoughts? How many connections do they have (a peek at how good they might be at networking and recruiting prospective residents)? Do they seek out and participate in continued education opportunities? LinkedIn will also let you glance into the individual’s employment past. With this feature, it is easy for an individual to write anything they want with little to no cross-checking by others, so proceed with caution. Trust, but verify. Once individuals are identified as potential employees who could be an asset to your team, then it is prudent to reach out and make a connection with them.

Start an HR newsletter to keep current employees and those interested in working for your company informed of current happenings within your company/community. Not necessarily resident-focused, but more about job openings, training, and highlighting employee accomplishments. The added communication will go a long way in both employee retention and recruiting efforts. While this form of communication usually will not lead to instant gratification in the recruiting of other professional individuals, it will build a pattern of contact that over time will lead to candidates keeping up with your company. If they like what you have to say, it will leave them with the sense of wanting more information about company activities and available openings.

So get out from behind the desk and computer screen, and endeavor into the community, market yourself, your industry, and your company for great talent. A great side effect is that while you are getting the word out of your community/company, simultaneously you just might accidentally uncover a prospective resident or family member looking for a loved one.

Make your company an employer of choice, not an employer of last resort!

 

Roy Barker is Director of Special Projects at Moore Diversified Services, a Fort-Worth, Texas-based organization specializing in Senior Living operations analysis, marketing development, and investment advisory services. Roy is an authority in the field of employee turnover analysis and retention strategies.

 

More Wage Pressure Could Be On The Horizon!

More Wage Pressure Could Be On The Horizon!

Posted on by MDSadmin

In a proposed plan by the White House, more exempt employees will be eligible for overtime compensation.

More Wage Pressure Could Be On The Horizon!

Not long ago I wrote a piece on the impact of increasing wages through both higher minimum wages and entry level wages in Is Your Business Prepared for the $15-An-Hour Entry Level Worker? Now, you should not only consider the impact of rising wages for hourly workers, but also potential wage impacts related to exempt employees. The proposed plan by the White House would raise the threshold of wages in which exempt works are eligible for overtime compensation.

The Proposal

A recent White House Proposal will increase the number of exempt employees eligible for and entitled to compensation for overtime work beginning in 2016. The new regulation increases the minimum pay for overtime-eligible exempt employees from $455 a week to $970 a week, or $23,660 to $50,440 on a yearly basis.

Currently, hourly and salaried employees making under $455 a week or $23,660 a year are generally eligible for overtime compensation for hours worked in excess of 40 per week. If this proposal goes into effect, it will increase the eligibility for salaried employees making up to $50,440 a year to be eligible for overtime compensation. This will more than likely have an effect on most department managers and some administrative personnel currently employed at senior living communities who have previously been ineligible for overtime due to their exempt status.

Changes To Be Considered

If the proposal is approved, this will create a need to start doing a few things differently for the exempt employees making under $50,440 per year. The first thing would be to start tracking these newly eligible employees’ time closely, even if they work off-site or from home. If the employee consistently works overtime, the changes that can be considered will include: whether to institute a no more overtime policy, increase the employees pay to $50,500, or convert them to an hourly rate and adjust for overtime normally worked.

Policies for communicating with these employees during off hours by phone, text, or email will also need to be evaluated. It would also be prudent to consider the impact of employees who might cover for others due to no-calls, no-shows, or other absences. If the coverage situation happens at the end of the scheduled work week, then this employee would more than likely have already worked enough hours to be eligible to an overtime situation.

Definitive Action is Needed

It may be tempting for management and employees alike to take a laid-back view on this emerging situation. If you don’t get anything else from this article, the one piece of information you should remember is this: I can assure you that you will be better off planning ahead for the proposed rule change. Don’t be tempted to procrastinate, and don’t simply make a handshake agreement with an employee and think that nothing needs to be changed because everything will work out in the long run. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out, and the cost can add up.  The cost of the overtime work, penalties, time other employees will spend on this, and possible litigation will cost you more than it would have to initially just do be prepared from the start. Not to mention the hassle of having the Labor Department in your business for goodness knows how long.

Be Proactive

Let MDS help you evaluate the possible impact of wage increases in your community. I can work with you and your team to calculate your financial expose based on potential changes in over-time regulations for exempt employees. A proactive approach will allow us to develop alternative pay plans and work schedules to minimize the financial and service impact on your organization.

While we don’t know where minimum and entry level wages will eventually land, I will also help your team run “what-if” scenarios based on several factors to estimate the impact of multiple levels of increase. Putting this all together will help guide management’s approach to evaluating and setting monthly service fees, and service packages designed with minimal impact to the organization, its residents, and staff members.

Don’t procrastinate on these important wage-related issues. There is still plenty of time to design a well-rounded solution that has minimal impact to your organization.

 

As an update to the entry level worker pay story, the New York Wage Commission has endorsed the planned hike in fast food workers to $15 per hour.

 

Roy Barker is Director of Special Projects at Moore Diversified Services, a Fort-Worth, Texas-based organization specializing in operations analysis, marketing development, and investment advisory services. Roy is an authority in the field of employee turnover analysis and retention strategies.

Strategic Planning Series Webinar Recordings

Posted on by MDSadmin

 

I want to thank everyone who joined us for our Strategic Planning Webinar Series.  If you missed the opportunity to participate live, here is your chance to view these recordings.  These webinars contain important and helpful information to remember as you finalize your Strategic Planning journey for 2015.

We are busy putting together some new webinars that you will not want to miss.  These can help you take your organization to the next level.  I am currently planning for late January or early February.  Watch our blogs and newsletter for more information. To sign up just enter your email in the box on the left hand margin.  Also, please send me an email with any suggestions you might have for both blog and webinar topics. Let us know what your specific challenges are and I will try to accommodate as many requests as possible.

Below you will find links to MDS’ recent Webinar Series on Strategic Planning, both Parts I & II.  The images are linked to the MDS YouTube page, so just click on the image of the webinar that you want to view and it will open up the presentation video in a new window for you.

Part I Part II

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roy Barker is Director of Special Projects at Moore Diversified Services, a Fort-Worth, Texas-based organization specializing in operations analysis, marketing development, and investment advisory services. Roy is an authority in the field of employee turnover analysis and retention strategies.

Strategic Planning Webinar

Posted on by MDSadmin

Moore Diversified Services presents Plug-In and Prosper Webinars:

A STRATEGIC PLANNING SERIES
Part 1 – Where Do I Start?
Thursday, Nov. 6
1:00-1:30 p.m. (CST)

 

At Moore Diversified Services your success is our goal. We are committed to equipping our clients with tools and strategies to make their businesses successful. As we close out fiscal 2014 and approach 2015, MDS would like to offer a special, COMPLIMENTARY webinar series on Strategic Planning.     Plug in with copyright

Join Roy Barker, Director – Special Projects at MDS, for “Part 1 – Strategic Planning: Where Do I Start?” as he answers this question and provides insights into strategy planning.   Topics will include:

  • Selecting a team
  • Employee Buy-In
  • SWOT Analysis
  • Data Driven Indicators
    • Operations
    • Marketing
    • Employee Turn-Over

Space is limited. Don’t miss out on this special opportunity to learn from a company with over 40 years of experience.  Click here to view webinar flyer

REGISTER TODAY!

Gold Is So Yesterday ... Go Platinum!

Gold Is So Yesterday … Go Platinum!

Posted on by MDSadmin

A guest on an NPR show I was listening to the other day mentioned the “Platinum Rule” in the context of how we treat others. I had no idea what they were talking about. Now, after a little research, I can see that I’m very late to the party. This is a concept that has been around for some time. For those of you who may be living under a rock, like myself, the Platinum Rule now trumps the Golden Rule. 

The Golden Rule is, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” The Platinum Rule, however, is, “Do unto others as they would like done unto them!” What a novel concept. While the Golden Rule sounds good on the surface, it is really kind of self-centered. This would mean that we think we know what is best for everyone else because that’s what we like or we want. While this could be very true, it could also be the furthest thing from the truth.

With people we have just met or known for a short time, we may not know exactly what they want. This is the beauty of the Platinum Rule. It causes us to shift focus from us to them. It forces us to try and determine what the other person really want or likes. It forces us to be an active listener and maybe even ask some questions. This also meshes well with one of my favorite Covey teachings, “We must first seek to understand.”

Different Personality Types

Dr. Tony Alessandra has written a book entitled The Platinum Rule. I just discovered this book and have not had time to read it. But, some information that I gathered from the website is that the book goes into detail defining personality types. According to the author, there are four basic personality types followed by tendencies of how these particular types of people behave and react. This is the first part of satisfying someone else, understand what makes them tick and what they might respond to. Then we can set about how to better relate to others and the different personality types, in trying to give them what they want.

I will not get too in-depth here, but did want to make a few observations about the concept. This concept should apply to all aspects of our lives from personal to business. Imagine the changes in our current relationships when we let all of our assumptions go and give careful thought to what others want and need.

The Platinum Rule in Business

The Platinum Rule can easily address two major components of a successful senior living operation – company culture and resident-centered care/lifestyle. Company culture is so important that Peter Drucker once said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Companies in other industries, such as the Container Store live by the principals of satisfied workers and satisfied customers. They usually rank in the top one of two best places to work and their customer service is off the charts.

I recently made my first visit to one of their stores and was very impressed. The employees were all very happy and they worked together to help me with my needs. The other important aspect is all the employees were sales people. While they didn’t work on commission, they did ask if I had this or needed that and were quick to recommend other services and products. This was not done in a hard-sell manner, but more in a helpful, we want you to have the best experience possible sort of manner … which I did!

Paradigm Shift

Can you imagine for just a minute how the residents of your community will feel when you make that culture shift? Really seeking to understand what they want or need and not just giving them what you think is good because it’s what you want based on your own values and beliefs.

Think of the possibilities if each and every one of your staff members had this attitude. You will have the happiest residents in town. Now think about what putting the same effort into understanding what your staff members want. Again, really taking the time to seek to understand what it is that they want. What do they need? Not only will you see an increase in customer satisfaction, but you will also see marked decreased turnover. While both of these will also improve your bottom line, think of the referral pipeline you will create. Not only for those wanting to live at your community, but the best workers wanting to work at your community.

If you ever have any doubt about what your staff or residents want or need, just ask! Yes, it’s that simple and both groups, in the right environment, will be more than willing to share their thoughts. Just ask and really listen to what the response is. Seek first to understand and then implement programs that the staff and residents want … not what you think they might want!

 

Roy Barker is Director of Special Projects at Moore Diversified Services, a Fort-Worth, Texas-based organization specializing in operations analysis, marketing development, and investment advisory services. Roy is an authority in the field of employee turnover analysis and retention strategies.

Employee Training and Retention: The Debate between Expense and Investment – Part I

Employee Training and Retention: The Debate between Expense and Investment – Part I

Posted on by MDSadmin

Most employers have some form of training implemented for their new employees and some even have programs designed for ongoing employee development. If asked, many employers, if not all, will say that training and employee development is important. But when truly evaluated, many employers do not provide adequate training or employee development to realize the advantages of proper training.

The disconnect lies in the fact that training and employee development comes at a price -financial resources, human resources and time. Employers view training as a cost or expense rather than an investment. They are hesitant, and some even resistant, to spend too many resources on an employee that may take that training elsewhere.

But, in fact, research has shown that proper training and employee development will increase employee productivity, job satisfaction and instill a higher commitment to the job among other things. This commitment to the job by the employee actually reduces employee turnover.

Investment – Not Expense

Therefore, employers need to view training and employee development as an investment in their employees which benefits both employee and employer rather than just an expense to reduce. Employers could also view this investment in training and employee development as an avenue to reduce employee turnover, in addition to, higher employee performance which benefits the organization as a whole.

Training and employee development takes many forms. There is no one training program that will fit every employee or organization. Each organization will need to determine its needs, the needs of its employees and how to address those needs in the most efficient and effective way. Some of the various components of employee training and development can include: new hire orientation, job specific training, mentoring/coaching, in-service training, continuing education, and seminars/conferences.

Orientation Alone is Not Enough

No one component itself will constitute a complete training and development program, but a combination of these components will address the various needs of both the employee and organization. For example, most organizations will have some sort of new hire orientation. And while this is a key component to any training and development program, it has its limitations as a stand-alone program.

A study published in 2008 states that while employee orientation is a necessary first step and that orientations “successfully conveyed the organization’s message on quality management initiatives and employees learned a great deal about quality management practices within the organization. The issue, however, is that transfer of learning did not take place at the desired levels after the employees returned back to their work stations.” (Akdere and Schmidt) The key to an effective program will be ongoing, continuous development using a combination of training and development components.

 

We featured this excerpt from a research paper that Kim Jimenez had written on employee training and how it relates to employee engagement/retention. The second part of this report will be in our next post.  Employee turnover is a real cash expense that effects your business in many ways.  MDS can help in employee orientation and training in order to help create and retain the best staff possible.

 

Roy Barker is Director of Special Projects at Moore Diversified Services, a Fort-Worth, Texas-based organization specializing in operations analysis, marketing development, and investment advisory services. Roy is an authority in the field of employee turnover analysis and retention strategies.

 

Reference:
Akdere, Mesut and Steven W. Schmidt. “Employee Perceptions of Quality Management: Effects of Employee Orientation Training.” 2008. The Education Resources Information Center (ERIC). Web. September 2014.

Conduct a S.W.O.T. Analysis Before You Need a S.W.A.T. Team!

Conduct a S.W.O.T. Analysis Before You Need a S.W.A.T. Team!

Posted on by MDSadmin

You have the ability to take your business wherever you can imagine. The first step in any journey is planning. The old mantra goes, plan your work and work your plan. Those are great keys to success. Develop a plan and then focus and stick to it. Not that it won’t need tweaking and adjusting along the way, but as long as you can stay focused and true to your mission and goals, you can accomplish anything in life and in business.

The first part of planning any journey is to decide where you’re at currently. I was raised back in the day of paper maps. Every summer my grandparents would take us on vacation and I would be the navigator. About a week before we left my grandfather would sit down with me and a map and we would not only map out our primary route but we would also have a secondary route as well. The very first step of this process every year would be pointing to the reference of Fort Worth, Texas on the map and he would say “this is where were starting from”.

Current Location                                                 

It’s the same way with business. You have to know where you’re at before you can develop a great plan leading to your desired goals. That is the beauty of the S.W.O.T. analysis or Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats analysis. It’s a great process to perform in order to start the planning process and create your roadmap or strategic plan for success. This analysis works well for evaluation of products, departments, strategies, or an entire company.

The first part of the analysis, the S.W. (or strengths and weaknesses) portion, is an internal view of the product, department, or company. You are looking for and listing strengths and weaknesses of the target you’re evaluating. It can vary depending upon what you’re evaluating, but here are a few examples.

Strengths could include:

  • What does your organization do best?
  • What’s unique about you product, staff, company, or etc.
  • To what resources do you have access?

Weaknesses could include:

  • Employees not trained
  • Substandard customer service
  • Sales process too complicated

The second part of the analysis, or the O.T. are the opportunities and threats you see, which is a view of the external. These are the opportunities and threats created by or posed by outside forces to your product, department, company or whatever you are evaluating. Again, this will depend upon what you’re evaluating, but here are a few examples.

Opportunities could include:

  • New trends
  • New markets
  • Organic growth possibilities

Threats could include:

  • Existing competition
  • New competition
  • Competitors’ use of new technology

Planning Tool

While this was a very condensed overview of a S.W.O.T. analysis, you can see the value in performing one before beginning your strategic planning for 2015. It is also important to get buy-in for those who will be participating. It is advised to reach outside of your executive team and chose employees to participate from different departments and levels in the company. To ensure open and honest dialogue, employees will need to feel the environment is safe and they may speak freely.

Schedule a series of meetings over the course of a few weeks instead of one long session. This will help keep everyone focused on the task at hand and not worrying about day to day activities. Make sure there are no cell phones and only interruptions for true emergencies.

Keeping the sessions positive is a MUST. Even though you may uncover some things in which you were unaware or are troubling, look at this as an opportunity. Had you not conducted the S.W.O.T. analysis you might not have discovered challenges until it was too late. Draw on the message in my last blog about balance, when things seem out of control, there are still opportunities to be had.

I would enjoy working with you and your professional team to help you conduct both a S.W.O.T. analysis and a business wellness checkup, as well as moderating your strategic planning sessions. These two tools will be a great way to kick off and jump start your 2015 strategic planning process.

 

Roy Barker is Director of Special Projects at Moore Diversified Services, a Fort-Worth, Texas-based organization specializing in operations analysis, marketing development, and investment advisory services. Roy is an authority in the field of employee turnover analysis and retention strategies.

Where Do I Start?

Where Do I Start?

Posted on by MDSadmin

As you start your strategic planning for 2015 you might ask yourself “where do I start?” You have a lot of areas that you would like to tweak and improve as you start into the new year. Two great starting points are a financial wellness checkup and a SWOT analysis (SWOT is an acronym for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats).

The financial wellness checkup will give you a great base to start thinking about areas where you could sharpen your focus to improve your operational and financial health. A SWOT analysis will give you an opportunity to look at your departments, community, or company’s current strengths and weaknesses in order to develop strategies to take advantage of new opportunities and to defend against threats. In this blog I cover the financial wellness checkup and I will discuss the SWOT analysis in a future blog.

Benchmarking

It follows the old adage and answers that question where do I start? Of course, from the beginning! But where is the beginning really? There are so many different moving parts to your organization and there are so many different areas that you would like to change as you move forward. This is why it’s important to establish a baseline of where you are at today. This is where financial benchmarking comes in. Financial benchmarking has become a priority with senior managers in the senior living industry to determine where they are today and more importantly to chart a path of where they would like to be next year and in the future beyond.

It’s like going to your family doctor for a checkup and finding out your blood pressure, cholesterol, and sugar levels. Once you know what these levels are then you can begin developing a plan to make the desired changes in things like your lifestyle and/or diet in order to achieve optimal levels prescribed for you.

It’s much the same way with the financial wellness check and benchmarking. You look at your revenues and expenses based on different line items and departments, then compare them against generally accepted industry benchmarks. This boils down your complex operations to a few high-level numbers that are more easily managed. It is also recommended that you convert your revenue and expenses into a per resident day (PRD) basis this allows for a much easier comparison. You will want to be aware of the variance between your current year budget and your current actual spent year-to-date. It is also recommended that you look back over the last 3-5 years at changes in budget and variance year over year.

Making Needed Changes

Once you have compared your actual operating financials to the benchmarks the areas that need the most attention will come to light. This will provide you with a roadmap of where the most impact can be made in adjusting your operating budget, if necessary. Then you can dig in with further analysis of areas in which you would like to improve or change. This would be a great opportunity to use the SWOT analysis to help facilitate change and direction.

Another drain on a community’s financial health that we often see in the senior living industry is “cost creep”. This is basically the uncompensated care provided to the residents of your community. It is important to stay on top of resident care plan and evaluations to ensure your revenue for resident care matches the expenditure for actual care provided. MDS has a couple of templates that allow us to take a high level look at the minutes of direct care staff you are providing to your community and see how it compares to expected care provided and revenue based on current resident acuity.

Kick-off 2015 Strong

As you can see, conducting a financial wellness check is a great way to kick off your strategic planning for 2015. It will give you a snapshot of where you are today and also provide valuable information to incorporate when planning for the future. I would appreciation the opportunity to work with you and your professional team in conducting this financial wellness check, providing assistance with a SWOT analysis, and help moderate your 2015 strategic planning sessions. Let’s get you on the calendar today before too much time slips away.

MDS also offers a “shared executive” retainer program. As a retainer client, we can help monitor your operation metrics, provide important commentary on the industry and your business, and become a strategic partner in the success of your operation throughout the year. This has become a very popular program with our existing clients because of the tremendous value added through MDS’ staffs’ many years of experience in the industry delivered to you at a fraction of the cost. I would be happy to discuss your individual situation and develop a customized “shared executive” plan to suit your needs.

 

Roy Barker is Director of Special Projects at Moore Diversified Services, a Fort-Worth, Texas-based organization specializing in operations analysis, marketing development, and investment advisory services. Roy is an authority in the field of employee turnover analysis and retention strategies.

What Does Your Customer Service Say about Your Community’s Culture?

What Does Your Customer Service Say about Your Community’s Culture?

Posted on by MDSadmin

Does your senior living community, including your staff, express a can-do spirit? Do they have a mindset that is resident focused? Are they able to see the positive and not growl about everything? Do they work on fixing what’s wrong instead of griping about it? How much thought do you really put into personnel placement and training? These are a few questions to examine with regards to how you express your company’s culture to your residents, those who work within your company, and those outside of your walls.

I recently read a blog on LinkedIn  which garnered a lot of attention for all the wrong reasons, but it had a good message. The blog described the advice a venture capitalist had for the young twenty something in whose startup he was investing $150 million. To paraphrase the conversation, the venture capitalist advised, “Don’t mess up the company culture, that’s what I’m investing in.”

Unintended Culture Shift

Unfortunately, it tends to happen in most industries. As companies grow and hire more and more people, they tend to drift away from the core values and culture that made them a success. It takes a lot of effort to stay the course to retain your company culture. You have to hire the right people, develop a successful orientation process as well as an ongoing training program, monitor your employees’ actions and outcomes, and adjust as the need arises.

And as the old saying goes, the commitment to a positive company culture starts at the very top. I don’t mean just knowing about it, reading about it, preaching about it, I mean really LIVING IT 31! (For those of you out of the loop on the newest lingo, 31 is the old 24/7, just 24+7. And if you’re wondering, no I‘m not that cool, I was recently schooled by my younger, hipper nephews).

Personnel Assignments

Did you ever stop to think about how that particular person got into that particular job? Sometimes it’s the person that has been around the longest or has the lowest in seniority. Maybe the employee asked for the job, or maybe they were the first applicant that could pass a background check. There are many examples of employees that just ended up in a job and no thought was given to whether they were a good fit and exemplified your community culture to its fullest.

It would be easy to write a novel on employee placement and training, which covers all the different positions in a senior living community. However, I would like to focus on those employees you have put in a position of initial contact with your potential residents and their families. I’m specifically talking about those employees who answer your phones or greet your prospective residents and their families at the front door as well as those who tour campuses with them. There is no more appropriate expression in this situation as “you never get a second chance to make a great first impression.”

What’s The Goal?

It’s important to make sure we put the right employees in the jobs that best fit them. In addition, we must also train these employees and go over contingency plans for certain situations that are bound to present themselves. We need to go that extra mile to make sure they not only understand but are able to live and express that culture you in which you want your community to be known. From the local Mexican food restaurant that I frequent to Senior Living communities that I visit, it appears that some management isn’t doing a good enough job of choosing the right person for the position or communicating desired outcomes to employees.

It’s important to stress to these employees how much they’re being counted on to acquire new customers and keep current customers happy. It’s amazing how much damage one misplaced or ill-trained employee can do to an organization, and often no one even realizes it until it’s too late.

Give me a call and let’s get started analyzing your front line, first contact team, policies, and procedures and developing a suitable solutions for your community. Today it’s more important than ever to have a plan and a backup plan in place to facilitate prospect inquiries. This can range from information on a phone to those wanting to tour your community. Let’s make sure your team is asking the right questions and offering the appropriate information to each and every prospect. With the proper plan in place you will see your close rates increase and resident acquisition cost decrease.

 

Roy Barker is Director of Special Projects at Moore Diversified Services, a Fort-Worth, Texas-based organization specializing in operations analysis, marketing development, and investment advisory services. Roy is an authority in the field of employee turnover analysis and retention strategies.