If you look at this series you will discover more service failures than blow-out success stories.
On July 3 I had a coffee appointment that ran long so I didn’t head out to do a tour until after 5 pm and I didn’t show up at the door or parking lot of any of the communities until close to 6 pm. On the other hand . . . It was 6 pm and a time when people might have time to go look at senior living options. . . Building One This particular building was behind security gates with a drive-up push button access control. I punched in the code as the sign instructed and could hear the phone ring. After about 6 rings the community voicemail came on spitting out the normal hours for the community and then offering an after-hours emergency number. I moved on.
Wipeout #1
Building Two
This building was a sister building to the first one. I parked next door in a hotel parking lot (I couldn’t find or they didn’t have a significant amount of guest parking). I walked over to find a locked door and no easy way to get access. I moved on.
Wipeout #2
Building Three
This building was about 3 miles away from the first two and I know some of the company leadership team so I was expecting good things. I have no idea what it was like. Their back parking was closed off (I later learned for an Independence Day special event). There was no decent parking even close to the front door. I gave up and headed home.
Wipeout #3
Building Four
I was out of town for a conference and, because of flight schedules, I ended up at the conference venue fairly early in the morning. As the first event was not until the evening, I went for a long walk. Along the way I spotted a senior living community and it seemed like a sign that I should turn my walk into a site visit. Some things you need to know:
- It was a Sunday afternoon around 3:30
- Because I had not planned on doing a site I was in shorts, a baseball hat, T-shirt and Crocs.
- The location was a resort area so my dress was not particularly unusual.
I walked in and there were two people at the front desk so immediately I thought this is going to work. My opening line was this:
“My name is Steve Moran and I write about the senior living industry, though I know I am not dressed like that. I was out for a walk and I saw your community and wanted to find out some information about what you do. Is your marketing director available?”
The person who responded asked me to repeat what I wanted and I gave more or less the same response. She told me there was no marketing person available . . . on a Sunday afternoon.
Wipeout # 4
Thinking About This . . .
- I kind of get that July 3 at 6pm is not the greatest time to make these visits look good and I am not trying to set communities up for failure. But should it really be that hard, that early in the afternoon when the sun does not go down until after 8 pm?
- I also get that parking, particularly for newer projects, can be a real challenge and that, if you have a really successful event, your parking lot could be chockablock full and that would be a good thing.
- I also get that even great companies have service failures . . . .
But honestly if you look at this series you will discover more service failures than blow-out success stories. In every case there is specific situation that caused that failure to occur. Of these 4 experiences, and of pretty much all my not so good experiences, the one with the special event is the only one I am really sympathetic with . . . particularly because after that happened I talked to someone from the operating company who told me about the special event and that the community was full. More Competitive We have more inventory than ever. There are also more and more people working on solutions that will keep people out of senior living (This is our biggest competition). These kinds of experiences do not make senior living more appealing. Steve Moran If you like this article (or even if you don’t) it would be a great honor to have you subscribe to our mailing list HERE
Steve, stop talking only to the top level people. Do you ever walk into their offices without an appointment? They should be prepared for you as you expect the folks in the community to be. I am starting to feel your articles are very one sided…only the voice of the C-level. Of course the folks with their feet to the floor won’t share the full truth… They can’t afford to lose their jobs. Doors were locked…that is an operational issue. Should it be that way…probably not but there might be a good reason for it. Seek first to understand…not through your “buddies” at the top but the people following directions.
Steve,
I agree with one of the responses that lots of training takes place for Marketing Directors and ED’s,but not for the caregivers and med techs. They are the ones who are first point of contact – whether it is in the evening, weekend, holiday or even normal business hours. Many of you quick turn arounds are from a tour at night, weekend or the day after a holiday.
Senior Living Communities need to always be ready for a tour. But, training and rewards need to be across the board.
Steve, whenever folks in these communities tell you a marketing person isn’t available, do they leave it at that, or at least try to gather your name and contact information so someone can follow up with you? I think they should at least be trained to ask if there’s something they might be able to help you. Also, I like your honest and open approach when you go into the communities and explain who you are. However, I’m just wondering if they would respond differently to you if they were under the impression that you were a prospect’s loved one. Finally, I also wonder if they still don’t quite understand who you are or what your purpose is (even though I think you state it quite clearly). I wonder if they don’t see the urgency in getting in touch with somebody who can help you. I think most of us on this blog are keyed in with the industry enough to recognize your purpose, but I don’t think a reception associate may get it. He/she may just think you’re some type of salesperson or a writer for a random publication they’ve never heard of. Again, by no means am I making excuses for these folks, I’m just trying to put myself in their shoes based upon my own experiences with front desk/reception associates.
Steve, I have to agree with the couple of replays that I have read above. This is the second article recently written about gaining information about communities. Your assumption is that they communities were ill-prepared to have an available person to see you in most cases. A couple of things come to mind:
1. Many of your visits are after hours and on the weekends. Not all companies are able to staff Marketing people (who you directly ask for) on the weekends and many start their day between 8-9 am and so after 6:00, hopefully they are home with their families. If you truly want marketing materials and information from the marketing staff, try Monday-Friday between 9-5 for your greatest success rate.
2. Drop the “writing an article” as it frightens many communities after the recent press on senior living communities. Instead, just say you are there to get some information on the community. Once you have a marketer or back up team member, then explain that you just popped in and what your objective is.
I am sure that many managers share your frustration that our after hours folks just aren’t as well trained as our full time marketing folks. Calling it out will not solve the problem, re-budgeting will.
Paul some great points. My Thoughts
1. So I don’t expect marketing people to be on staff around the clock and some of my visits have been after hours. Yet I also think given fact that our buildings are open 24/7 and often the front desk is staffed from say 7 or 8 am to 7 or 8 in the evening those people ought to have a small spiel about what makes the community great. This is though where I may be weak (referring to point 2).
I would also say, that I have done a fair number of these visits during normal business hours and it has not been particularly better. Finally a few of my very best visits have been on weekends and late afternoons.
2. You make a great point about “writing an article” and I will figure out how to do that differently. Finally I sort of think re-budgeting would certainly help. But I also think working with all staff can make it work better in the context of existing staffing.
My wife ran a 100 apartment AL many years ago. It was an older building and positioned as sort of low middle market. This meant that in addition to managing the building she was also the marketing person. This meant there were lots of times she was not available to do tours. The way she handled it was to have her front desk people all trained to do tours and provide information about the community. If someone showed up and she was not around the front desk person did the tour, and called a housekeeper to staff the front desk.
This is similar to what happened with I visited a Sunrise Community a few months ago. It was Sunday afternoon and a housekeeping supervisor was at the front desk (not sure why that was the case). She called the maintenance guy to be at the front and gave me one of the best tours I have ever had.
I always appreciate your insights.
Steve
Hi April
Sometimes they do ask me for additional information, but in respect to what I do they fairly don’t know exactly what they should collect from me. I have been hesitant to pose as a real shopper, not wanting to take staff away from real prospects, but I am going to start doing some of that just to mix it up and see how it goes. Yet with one exception this would not have made a difference.
You are right they are not likely to have heard of my publication because while I am glad to have front desk people read and comment . . . I am even delighted to have their perspective they are not my target audience. I guess my perspective is that front desk staff should be prepared with at least some story or some information for everyone who comes through the door.
I will also be doing some phone inquiries as well.
Thanks for joining the conversation.
Hi Mary:
I appreciate your joining the conversation.
One of the reasons I do community level visits is to have more of a feet on the ground view. I would tell you that my target audience is at the leadership level because they are the ones that have the ability to make substantive change. One other hand I am interested in the perspective of local staff because they reflect the reality of the culture management thinks they are creating.
I perhaps need to think more about how to get that perspective. Keep on keeping me honest.
Steve
Steve you were right on the money to hit these places at 6 pm or the weekends. When a child of a senior comes into town and finds that Mom or Dad is having significant issues and maybe no longer should live on their own – they must do this at odd hours (and yes many times on Holidays or Holiday weekends. Keep it up and keep communities on their toes!
Steve, I’d have to agree that communities need to stay current with the times and having a trained representative (not necessarily sales or marketing…just trained in the basics of the community, how to disseminate info and collect key info from the visitor) it key. Today we have the sandwich generation who have kids at home and parents who need help AND they work days. Personally for myself with parents in their 70’s and approaching the time they may consider a retirement home, there is almost zero chance that I or any of my 3 siblings could make time during a weekday (unless an emergency). Evenings and weekends are it! That said, I probably would not just drop in… I’d call and make an appointment to avoid wasting my time, but not everyone would. Shuffling hours and training other front line service staff to be the community Ambassador during off hours does not necessarily cost more money…just better planning. M2CW.
Kevin you make a good point. I do think most people would make an appointment as a way to be more efficient about the process. At the same time when I am asked about how to select a good community I always suggest that before they sign on the bottom line they go visit at night (which is not the same thing as what I am doing).
I appreciate you joining the conversation.
Steve
Steve,
I usually am in agreement with what you write but I respectfully have to disagree with a couple of points in this article. I would not be as hard on these communities as you were.
1. I can’t judge what security steps need to be taken by other facilities. We have plenty of parking and easy access to our front doors most all the time. We do lock the doors earlier than you mention in the article that you would like just because that is a consistent time for a year round schedule. I would rather error on the side of security than accessibility by visitors. We have worked hard on response times to the front door bell after hours but it will never be perfect.
2. Marketing availability after hours is a tough thing. I give up a lot of time for my family because I take evening appointments and weekend appointments even though my “normal” schedule is 9-5. I am on call every other weekend at the minimum. Right now since we are down one person in the marketing department I am on call 24/7 52 weeks a year. No schedule fits every schedule and I do (usually) have a life outside of my ALF. I have routinely gone above and beyond the call of duty to match the schedule of interested people but no one can cover every time. Since I work mostly on commission if I don’t sell, I don’t earn and that is a stress all by itself.
3. I do agree that front desk people and off hours staff can be better trained and equipped. But honestly they do not usually read the Senior Housing Forum and they do not recognize the name Steve Moran when they hear it. Hey they often don’t know the name of the vice president of the USA or their state’s governor.
Can we do better? Yes of course. I just believe the expectations of these visitors pushed a little to far.
David you make some great points:
1. I can’t judge what security steps need to be taken by other facilities. We have plenty of parking and easy access to our front doors most all the time. We do lock the doors earlier than you mention in the article that you would like just because that is a consistent time for a year round schedule. I would rather error on the side of security than accessibility by visitors. We have worked hard on response times to the front door bell after hours but it will never be perfect.
This is a great point and you are right it is a situation where you need to error on the side of caution.
2. Marketing availability after hours is a tough thing. I give up a lot of time for my family because I take evening appointments and weekend appointments even though my “normal” schedule is 9-5. I am on call every other weekend at the minimum. Right now since we are down one person in the marketing department I am on call 24/7 52 weeks a year. No schedule fits every schedule and I do (usually) have a life outside of my ALF. I have routinely gone above and beyond the call of duty to match the schedule of interested people but no one can cover every time. Since I work mostly on commission if I don’t sell, I don’t earn and that is a stress all by itself.
As I noted in an earlier comment I don’t expect the off hours response to be the same as during normal selling time, but I just think the front desk people need to have some very basic tools for those times when people come in at times other than normal selling hours.
3. I do agree that front desk people and off hours staff can be better trained and equipped. But honestly they do not usually read the Senior Housing Forum and they do not recognize the name Steve Moran when they hear it. Hey they often don’t know the name of the vice president of the USA or their state’s governor.
Agreed. I would honestly be amazed to find a front office person that knew who I was. I just think everyone (even vendors) should be treated as at least a potential referral source. I was at a community several months ago where they allowed anyone in life safety to come in and eat for free (fire, ambulance, police). The idea was that those people could be a great referral resource.
Appreciate the input and you have given me some things to think about.
Steve
Can we do better? Yes of course. I just believe the expectations of these visitors pushed a little to far.