“What gets measured gets done” – Peter Drucker

“An organization’s ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage” – Jack Welch

A key factor critical to the success of any retirement home is management’s ability to generate, retrieve and act upon reliable and timely information. This is especially true for new communities facing stiff ramp-up targets and more established communities facing 25% plus attrition rates. However, whenever I meet with owners and managers of Retirement Home Communities, they repeatedly reveal that measurement and reporting are often manual, frequently inaccurate and always the most painful part of their jobs!

While most retirement home managers are well aware of their occupancy rates, resident days, close rates and overall cost of operations, major shortcomings exist in the scope and way that operational data is accessed and used:

Data generated is usually restricted to financial data, with the exclusion of key metric information required to make operational decisions

• Reports are only available periodically, such as at month and year end
• Data is accumulated in several isolated systems that require extensive manual reconciliation and duplicate entry prior to allowing for any analysis; in most companies, this preparation time leaves little or no time for the analytical function
• Information is geared to “what happened” as opposed to “what should happen” and “how do we achieve results”

When evaluating the reporting capacity of retirement home software, there are numerous factors to consider at both the community and corporate levels that can significantly increase close rates, occupancy levels and marketing effectiveness.

Community Requirements

Quick Adoption - Rapid sales team adoption is essential to the success of any new system. To ensure sales staff support, team members must believe that the new reporting system will save them time. In essence, the best salespeople despise manual reporting, as they intuitively understand that arduous manual documentation deprives them of face-to-face or phone time with prospective residents. Given that manual processes and reporting diminish valuable selling time, the benefits of automated daily, weekly and monthly reporting cannot be overstated.

Improved Sales Process – Sales reporting allows users to track sales performance over time and evaluate the impact of procedures designed to improve sales effectiveness. By tracking specific metrics at every step of the sales cycle, management can pinpoint the exact stage where the sales process breaks down. For example, if many prospective seniors take tours but few return for revisits or leave a deposit, sales personnel should take a serious look at the tour process. By analysing tour feedback, managers may discover certain areas of their communities that require further attention, and/or gain insight into which areas of the tour are most attractive to seniors and require greater marketing emphasis. The availability of this information allows the sales and marketing team to focus on areas that directly affect sales.

Marketing Performance Analysis - In addition to reporting on overall event performance, such as responses by event, new residents signed, and comparative costs of acquisition, marketing event planning allows for seamless coordination of the multitude of tasks required to host promotional events during the year. Constant monitoring allows management to track progress and make adjustments accordingly.

Dashboards and Activity Reports – Regardless of the metrics requested by management, dashboards provide constant visibility to relevant data. When compared with traditional reporting distributed at the end of the week or month, dashboards continually display the sales pipeline, hot prospects and action items in real-time, enabling the sales team to focus its efforts on key opportunities. Activity reports further enhance the sales process by identifying neglected prospects, providing follow-up reminders and automating numerous manual tasks.

Easy to use report writers – Simple, user friendly reporting software empowers your sales and marketing personnel to access information when they need it and in the format that they require. Designed for the average business user, these tools allow for the quick creation of reports and dashboards, enabling users to personally access and monitor the business metrics that are important to them.

When evaluating reporting software for your sales team, select a system that reduces manual entry, is simple to use and provides constant visibility to real-time marketing and sales information.

Corporate Requirements

Cross Community Reporting – It is essential to determine whether the new system is capable of combining and comparing data from multiple communities on one report. Although cross community reporting would seem to be a logical requirement, many communities still depend on antiquated reporting systems incapable of generating cross community metrics. To succeed in today’s fast-moving, highly competitive marketplace, one integrated system is the only solution. For example, a cross community comparison of conversion rates between initial calls to tours, to revisits, to deposits, to move-ins can highlight areas of lead breakage. Similarly, cross community lead-time analysis can determine which homes employ a more efficient sales process, with the result that the underperforming sales teams implement the necessary changes to boost efficiency.

Sales Process Compliance - The most successful retirement home managers understand that sales effectiveness is a result of consistently following an appropriate process in conjunction with a predetermined activity level (i.e. prospect calls or community tours). Accordingly, the new reporting system should track staff activities and document whether team members are following the appropriate sales and marketing processes. A strong reporting system provides detailed feedback on the quality and completeness of the data entered. To demonstrate, it reveals whether all interview questions are completed, if prospect hot buttons and needs are documented, etc. Key elements of a corporate reporting package should include activity reporting, budget comparisons and the highlighting of special areas of interest (i.e. neglected prospects).

Marketing Investment Analysis – In today’s economy, stringent use of a marketing budget is mandatory in all retirement communities. Beyond providing statistics on leads generated per marketing dollar, marketing ROI reports should evaluate closing ratios and assess the effects of the multiple touch-points involved in closing a sale.

Ad hoc reporting – Retirement home managers often complain that they cannot create their own reports without involving the IT department or a third-party vendor to develop a new report or modify an existing one. A strong reporting system should empower users to build their own reports quickly and easily.

Automatic Report Generation and Distribution – Well-designed reporting software should provide the option of viewing information in real-time or exporting information to spreadsheets for further analysis. Automated daily reports can be emailed to managers, owners and salespeople first thing every morning, with exception reports forwarded as necessary.  In today’s world of connected devices, it is also reasonable to evaluate a system’s ability to access data remotely from home and elsewhere, and from devices such as smartphones and tablets.

When evaluating reporting software for your sales and marketing department, select a system with enhanced metrics and reporting tools that display the real-time performance of your communities and promote the rapid implementation of any sales and marketing process improvements required to increase occupancy levels.

Visit our website for sample reports that every Retirement Home Corporate Office must have!

Pew Research asks about the Internet and ‘fun’. New this month: The Internet as Diversion and Destination, offering the results of a survey about the use of the Internet, with answers by age to a question: “Did you go ever go online for no particular reason, just for fun, or to pass the time?” They also asked about whether they did so “yesterday,” the day before they were surveyed – which is cute, but “yesterday” as a source of meaningful information is, well, soyesterday. The headliner was about the 53% percent of young adults (18-29) who admitted that yesterday they did, while only 27% of boomers and 12% of seniors allocated a piece of their yesterday for this, uh, purpose. This is a frustrating question that Pew does not analyze, nor does it probe further, so speculation clearly is expected.

What does this yesterday-and-the-Internet tell you? Well, first of all, these young people have more time, maybe an additional diversion — they could be using the Internet to find work or a better job — since 25% of teens are unemployed and 44% of the 18-29 age range are “delaying making a life change or a purchase because of economic fears.” And what percentage of the older adult population has high-speed access — the enabler of idling away so much of yesterday? Because of course, to have broadband (which should become cheaper for some seniors in 2012) is to enable going online ‘for no particular reason.’ As of 2010, Pew says that 63% of those aged 50-64 have broadband (the new survey reveals that 50% of this population are online for fun and diversion) and 31% of the 65+ have broadband (23% online for fun and diversion).

Online for fun and diversion, what’s up with that? Pew notes that the folks with broadband are likely viewing video (like Netflix streaming for high bandwidth buyers), and fans of social networking.  While they’re online – what might they be doing with no particular ‘purpose’? Let’s assume they aren’t just staring at theworld clock ticking away. Let’s assume that people eventually make their way to the Google search box, take a look at the news, the stock market, and maybe find a few good restaurants. They may discover other diversions: online games (29% of online gamers are 50+), online learning, which is pulling people away from traditional  classrooms, or buying online – 15% more this year than last year (that’s $30 billion of fun!).  Maybe they’re fond of particular blogs – 53.5% of Internet users read blogs – and there were 152 million of them to be read during 2010.

Fun and diversion online – warning, there’s no such thing. Each of the fun and diverting time wasters (as implied by the Pew question and answer) on the Internet is a market now or in the future for someone else.  All first time users (and 69% of seniors are, according to Pew, yet to even become first-time Internet users) are either buyers-to-be and viewers of ads, participants in social engagement (also viewing ads), and they will soon be ready to upgrade their slow and clumsy technologies, maybe even to sleeker tablets and smarter phones!).  But none are staring aimlessly at blank screens, having no particular purpose, waiting for the online paint to peel.

A new report from AARP called, “50 and Over: What’s Next?” takes a closer look at what marketers can learn about this increasingly important demographic in terms of their financial, lifestyle, health and work interests.

There is good news according to the report:

• boomers are interested in marketers that understand them and speak to them with sincerity.
• a surprising 60% are optimistic about their future
• they are open to new products that can help them

Read the report to see how boomers will influence such key aspects of our society as health care, housing, jobs, insurance and pensions and technology.

Wishing you a very healthy, happy and peaceful 2012 from all of us at Comfort Life and Dialogue Plus!

• Feedback on poor performance
• Confronting unacceptable behaviour
• Challenging a colleague or customer
• Holding others accountable for their results
• Sharing an unpopular decision
• Acknowledging a mistake before it comes to light

To effectively manage conflict, or anything you find hard to talk about, a leader needs to transition the difficult conversation to a learning conversation, that is, away from wanting to “win”, to a more collaborative approach. It’s about understanding what has happened from the other person’s point of view, explaining your point of view, sharing and understanding emotions, and then working together to manage the situation going forward.

Three Conversations

In their work Difficult Conversations, Stone, Patton and Heen state that any heated exchange is really three conversations.

1. The “What Happened” Conversation

Most difficult conversations involve disagreement about what has happened or what should happen. Who said what and who did what? Who’s right and who’s to blame?

Here’s the thing: you are not right. I know, you can’t believe it.

The point is that difficult conversations are not about getting the facts right.  They are about conflicting perceptions, interpretations and values.  They are not about what a contract states, they are about what a contract means.  Once we move away from figuring out what is true, we shift our purpose from proving we are right to understanding perceptions, interpretations and values of both sides.

The second part of the “What Happened?” conversation is about intention.  Did you raise your voice to hurt my feelings or to emphasize your point?  Did you throw my cigarettes away because you are trying to control me or to help me live up to my commitment to quit?  What I think about your intentions will affect how I think about you, and ultimately how our exchange will go.

2. The Feelings Conversation

Difficult conversations do not just involve feelings, they are at their core about feelings. Consider some of your own difficult exchanges. What emotions are set off?  Hurt or anger?  Disappointment, shame, or confusion?  Do you feel treated unfairly or without respect?  For some of us, even saying “I love you” or “I’m proud of you” can feel risky.

In the short term, engaging in difficult conversation without talking about feelings may save you time and reduce your anxiety.  But if feelings are the issue, what have you accomplished if you don’t address them?

Understanding, talking about and managing feelings are among the greatest challenges of being human.  It may not seem like it, but talking about feelings is a skill that can be learned.

3. The Identity Conversation

Of the three conversations, this one may be the most subtle and challenging. Awareness of this conversation, however, offers significant leverage in managing our anxiety and improving our skills in the other two conversations.

The Identity Conversation looks inward: what I am saying to myself about me.  How does what happened affect my image of myself? What impact might it have on my reputation if I am wrong?

Let’s take a typical example of meeting with your boss on your performance appraisal and merit increase. How does your identity factor in here?

What if your merit increase gets turned down?  In fact, what if your boss gives you several performance-based reasons for turning you down?  What will that do to your self-mage as a competent and respected employee?  Ostensibly the conversation is about development, and yet underneath performance review is what your boss really thinks of you.  Being aware that your self-image is in play will help you to avoid panic, turning a source of anxiety into a source of awareness.

Handling difficult conversations requires gaining comfort with these three conversations so as to reduce defensiveness and keep the discussion on a constructive track regardless of how the other person responds.

Once you understand the challenges inherent in the Three Conversations and common mistakes we make in each, you are likely to find that your purpose for having particular conversations begins to shift.  You will appreciate the complexity of the perceptions and intentions involved, the central role of emotions, and what’s at stake for each person’s self-esteem and identity.  The sole intent of delivering your message doesn’t make sense anymore. In fact, you may find that you no longer have a message to deliver at all, but rather some information to share and some questions to ask.

Karen Brill coaches leaders at Responsive Management Inc.  Please don’t hesitate to contact her at karen.brill@rogers

Growing up in Canada did not allow for much opportunity to get to know him although I will cherish the little time I got to spend with him in the village at 4, 21, and 26 years old. I learned how independent he remained as an elder with the support of the family and community. I know he lived and died with dignity, respect, and love; the very same characteristics Canadians want their elderly to experience as they age and die. Witnessing his care and relationships had a profound effect on my outlook and perspective on seniors housing and care in Canada.

Housing. My grandfather had a small house in the village right next to my uncle’s larger family house, built just for him. A cousin of mine had a bed and slept in my grandfather’s house to ensure he was well through the night. Every morning, my grandfather would make his own fire on his porch where he would brew his coffee and light his tobacco. I sat with him a few mornings and he would tell me stories in pidgin (tok pisin) about interactions with Japanese troops during WWII when they were occupying parts of Papua New Guinea (often about violence inflicted), his concerns about young family members and their schooling, and his grief at the recent loss of his youngest daughter.

Health. He had cataracts and walked at a slower pace with a long wooden walking stick. He still bathed on his own in the fast-flowing deep river always with distant watchful eyes ensuring he was ok. He would even duck his head under the water a little longer than usual to make sure people were looking out for him when he popped his head back out. He described to me his occasional lower back pain from a fall on some rocks a few years previous and his frequent headaches.

My 80 year-old grandfather demonstrated his use of a narrow piece of cloth tied tight around his head.  “It relieves the pressure” he told me with a grin on his face, looking like a tiny elder ninja. This seemed to be the extent of his pain management at the time.

Generational interaction. The village my mother grew up in is teeming with life; from the river and thick jungle to the many children running around and playing. Interaction between the elderly and young children is the norm and part of everyday life. If the old man needed something; food, a knife, tobacco, anything, he’d often ask one of the children. They would always respond immediately and respectfully grant his request.

My grandfather was a wonderful storyteller with a teasing sense of humour and would regularly make the children and adults alike howl with laughter. Day-to-day interaction between a number of generations in the village was nothing like anything I had ever experienced or witnessed in Canada.

Cultural attitude towards aging. Aging and death seem so much more natural and respected in my mother’s village in Papua New Guinea. Family and community look out for one another. Elders aren’t prescribed numerous “necessary” prescriptions and sometimes sedated to be more manageable in congregate living settings such as assisted living or long-term care. North American society seems to fight aging and death at all costs. Many baby boomers do not and will not consider themselves “old”. No wonder ageism and elder abuse are becoming increasingly harmful problems. Being “old” is perceived so negatively.

We received word that my grandfather’s health began deteriorating a number of weeks before he died. As he became more unwell over the weeks, more family arrived to care for him as he went through his dying process. He passed naturally with dignity, respect, and surrounded by those who loved him dearly.

While acknowledging that culture and society in a tiny village in Papua New Guinea is different from Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto, or my hometown of St. Paul, AB, I stress the importance of taking lessons about the treatment of the elderly that have implications everywhere.

1. The promotion and support for independence
2. The passing down of history, lessons, and experience of a previous generation
3. The importance of generational interaction and respect for the elderly
4. The need to re-examine the over-medication of the elderly
5. The importance of community and family networks for safety and security
6. The need to examine North American culturally negative attitudes about the elderly and the aging process

And probably my favorite perspective change was related to seniors housing and care over-regulation becoming a barrier to personal choice and independence.

The elderly are not children. To treat them as such is disrespectful. The elderly teach children. Community, love, family involvement, and respect are imperative in graceful aging and dignified death.

This article was originally posted on September 12, 2011 at www.linahoffbauer.com

Seven Pillars of a Fulfilling Retirement

We will be building on the seven pillars of a fulfilling retirement (social, environmental, spiritual, sexual, emotional, physical and intellectual) that we launched in 2011.

How you can contribute: Get in touch if you have residents that epitomize any of the seven categories and who would like to be interviewed for the 2012 issue.

Adult children of residents

With this issue we will be providing even more resources for the adult children of your residents. We would like to include their views on how well mom or dad is doing since moving to a retirement community.

How you can contribute: Get in touch if you know of any adult children who would like to share these success stories.

Seniors on Screen

We are also looking for residents who would like to tell their stories in seniors on screen.

How you can contribute: If some of your residence “stars” come immediately to mind (like Anne Hopcott above, of Courtyard Gardens in Richmond, B.C.), we’d love to meet them! Let us know who they are and why you think they’d be great “Seniors on Screen”.

Email: kathy@comfortlife.ca

Deadline: December 15, 2011

NOTE: Yes the deadline is approaching and the holidays are nearly here but don’t worry; if you have a resident in mind, email me and we’ll talk in the New Year!

Digital Media #1 Choice for Canadians

To demonstrate, a survey by the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada found that by 2019 digital media will be the #1 media of choice for all Canadians aged 18-54.  There have been findings that indicate that even a negative review posted on an online social network can generate a positive impact on sales!   The results are compelling – effective social media marketing is having a positive impact on some of Canada’s best-known small and medium businesses.

For an Owner or Manager of a Retirement Community, the reality is that your brand is the sum of the conversations that people are having about your organization – and today, many of these conversations are happening online, inside social networks.    As a business leader and marketer, you need to partake in these conversations.  If you are not actively participating in these conversations with your existing and future customers then someone else certainly will!

Live conversation reinforces your brand promise

Does all this sound a bit alarming?   Well, the good news is that Social Media tools and practices can be readily learned by your organization.   The effective use of these new marketing channels can exponentially broaden your reach and allow you to communicate with speed and immediacy. Live conversation can dramatically reinforce your company’s unique brand promise.

Listen to your audience

Before you rush into the “nuts and bolts” of Social Media, such as Facebook, Twitter and blogging, it is critical to start with your business objectives and strategy.    A clearly articulated strategy is essential to ensure that you differentiate yourself from your competitors.   The next step is to ensure that you thoroughly understand the online audience.   In essence, you must determine where your audience is online and listen intently to their sentiments and discussions regarding your brand.  Listening is a key element of effective online conversations.   Only by listening first can you appreciate the appropriate tone and frequency for your audience.   Tools such as Trendrr.com, blogs and alerts are all essential to monitor online chatter regarding your brand.  These tools can help you listen and tune in to the conversations that are relevant to your customers.

Customer segmentation

A good social media plan has to consider customer segmentation – the types of people that participate in your online community.    As you start to listen to these online conversations, you will notice that your audience participates in online conversations in different ways.  According to Forrester Research, a market research firm that tracks the adoption of social media across categories, there are “creators” who write content and produce podcasts and videos, “critics” who post comments, ratings and reviews, “joiners” who create profiles and participate in these sites, “spectators” who read, listen and watch the content created by others, and “inactives” who do not actively participate in online conversations.   Finally, any good social media strategy should include measurable targets, such as daily story feedback, blog analytics, share-of-voice, search volume and inbound links.

“Crawl…Walk…Run”

Now you are finally ready to create or participate in an online community.    If you are new to this, like many Retirement Home Communities, I advise the “Crawl…Walk…Run” approach.   Start slowly with low-risk, low-volume experiments, regularly measuring results and assessing the impact on your business. Using these indicators, broaden your strategy accordingly.

Social media tools and platforms

A major challenge facing anyone beginning to leverage social media channels is the daunting choice of Social Media tools and platforms.   Horizontal social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, are obviously the starting point for many communities because they already have many active participants – this means that it is likely that the audience for your Retirement Home Community may already be users of these social media tools.

“White label”social networking tools

The more users on a social media platform, the more value this social network typically creates for the marketer, referred to as “network effects”.   However, Retirement Home Communities have other options, as well.   Some leading Retirement Home Communities may choose to establish their own social networking properties in order to control their brands.   Numerous “white label” social networking tools can be used to create custom social websites and hyper-local sites. In addition, powerful content management platforms, such as Ning, WordPress, Joomla and Drupal, can create personal homepages as well as large community-driven and corporate websites.

Social media marketing is mainstream

The good news is that you have not missed the opportunity to take advantage of the benefits of social media.   As a Retirement Home Community, you do not need to be first-to-market on a social media platform to be successful.   For example, 2-3 years ago the early adopters began to experiment with social networking tools but saw limited early results.   Today, these social networking tools have proven themselves in the market and are mainstream marketing vehicles.   User adoption is higher and the majority of Retirement Home Communities are jumping in and leveraging these powerful marketing platforms.

In conclusion, social media is about creating and fostering a vibrant online community and participating in live conversations with your customers.    In subsequent blogs we will discuss, in depth, the key questions of social media:  Which channels to use, which people and audiences to engage and what conversations to join.

I look forward to having you join our discussions over the next few months!

But here’s a frightening thought: could this very low market penetration rate drop even lower?

It’s possible, for many reasons. It’s also quite possible that we will figure out how to appeal to more people; how to widen our target market. Future articles in this series will explore some promising directions. For now, what we basically wanted to do was to grab your attention and focus your thinking.

By the way, to reduce any possible definitional confusion, when the article uses the term “service-enriched” it means either supportive housing (where hospitality services such as meals and weekly housekeeping are provided) or assisted living (where in addition to hospitality services, light levels of personal care are also provided).

In this article we’ll touched on two areas of innovation and two societal changes.

Technological Innovations: Technology allows people to stay safe where they live now. Given the significant number of people who move to a retirement residence of some sort because they are not safe in their own homes, technological advances are bound to encourage more people to stay put. If you haven’t been keeping up with what has been going on, it is nothing less than astonishing. There are sensors for fridges, which monitor fridge door activity—door not been opened for over four hours? Someone gets a call. There are sensors for beds—people getting up too often during the night or not often enough? Someone gets a call. There are sensors for stoves—an element left on too long? Someone gets a call. There are also video cameras although many people consider video cameras to be a bit creepy.  And to mitigate the impact of isolation, there are systems that will remotely connect people with programs and services in, for example, a nearby seniors’ centre (or even a faraway seniors’ centre).

Home Care Innovations: Although technology is related to home care, what I am referring to in this discussion is home care provided by people—all kinds of care and all kinds of people ranging from companions to housekeepers to cooks to doctors and everything in between. Although people have been providing care in the home for millennia, something is different now. Home care franchises are among the fastest growing franchises in the US and they are even expanding into China. Virtual retirement communities like Beacon Hill Village and naturally occurring retirement communities (NORCs) are more and more becoming part of the fabric of seniors’ lives. A few years ago I attended a conference in Denver. I met employees of a company that provided home-based assisted living for $4,000 per month. The services they provided were the same services people would get if they moved to an assisted living facility, including social and recreational opportunities. Those were provided mostly by taking clients out of their homes to various events.  From an economic perspective, clients of this company were no better off than they would be living in a retirement community, but that’s not where they wanted to be “among all those walkers and wheelchairs”.

Assisted Living Executive, a magazine published by the assisted living industry in the US, believes a greatly expanded role for home care is unattainable because of looming labour force shortages. Of course they WOULD say that, but there is some truth to that contention.

A couple of societal changes to consider:

Increasing Male Life Expectancy: If there are more males around, there are going to be more couples around. And there are going to be more males around—the gap between male and female life expectancy has been shrinking for years, partly thanks to the absence of world wars. Not long ago the first Canadian male who had never been involved in a world war turned 65. Couples are better able than singles to stay home as they age—they compensate for each other’s frailties. In most retirement communities couples account for about 15-20% of the total number of residents, a ratio that has been very hard to budge. More couples in the general population will tend to reduce demand for retirement communities.

Visible Minorities: In 1981, 4.7% of the population in Canada belonged to a visible minority. In 2006, 16.2% identified themselves as members of a visible minority group. That’s a quadrupling in only 25 years. In some major cities in BC, over 50% of the population are members of visible minority groups. Now why would that matter to the seniors’ housing and health care industry? It matters because in some of these visible minority cultures, elders stay with their families until they are so frail they must be admitted to nursing homes. They effectively skip the whole intermediate step of service-enriched housing in either a supportive environment or an assisted living environment. Other things being equal, higher numbers of visible minority seniors mean lower demand for retirement communities.

So what now?

As promised at the outset of this article, in future articles we will explore the impact of these technological and societal changes on our industry so that collectively, we will not only survive tumultuous changes, we will thrive.