I have not spoken to one executive director that didn’t wish for full occupancy and high resident retention. My advice on how to make this happen: Find out what it would take to make your residents loyal advocates of your community, and do those things. Surveying your residents can give you a treasure trove of information toward this end. Some of the information you collect will help you showcase your community’s strengths to prospects and referral sources, and some will teach you what improvements are needed to turn your residents into delighted and loyal customers who are happy to recommend your community to friends and family members.

Here’s how to use surveys like a pro and reap major benefits from the process:

1. Conduct the survey. Ask residents to rate important aspects of your community, including community management, staff members, personal and healthcare, dining, social activities, the physical environment, and supportive services like the front desk and transportation. Ask about their willingness to recommend your community and likelihood of remaining a resident. Include a few open-ended questions such as “What do you like best about your community?” and “What is the one most important thing to improve.”

Benefit: You have valuable information you can use to increase satisfaction, retention, and sales. Residents get the message that you care about making your community a great place to live.

Resource: Click here for proven ideas for maximizing participation in your survey: https://sensightsurveys.com/?p=5148

 

2. Identify your top strengths and improvement opportunities from the survey results. Tabulate the percentage of residents who provided positive ratings for each question, for example ratings of Excellent and Very Good. Rank the scores from high to low. Read written comments and look for top themes in what residents are saying are the strongest and weakest attributes of the community.

Benefit: You know what people like best about your community and what they see as the most important things to improve. You used the help of others to complete the otherwise difficult task of narrowing a universe of possible improvement efforts into a short and tidy list that promises to have a strong, positive impact on the success of your business.

3. Celebrate your strengths and share your improvement plans with residents. Meet with residents and share the survey results. Celebrate your high scores then share the area(s) you plan to improve.

Benefit: You reinforced the earlier message that you care and now residents and family members are getting excited about upcoming improvements. Use time during your sharing session to ask follow up questions that clarify the specific concerns and ideas residents have about your improvement area(s). For example, they may want a more engaging activities program but do you know what that means to them?

4. If you got it, flaunt it. Share you high scores and positive resident comments with the world by including them in your sales and marketing. Highlight them in your brochure, during tours, and on your website.

Benefit: You are placing your best foot forward with prospects and referral sources. The result will be more referrals, tours, and move-ins.

Resource: Click here for 10 ideas for enhancing sales and marketing with your survey results: https://sensightsurveys.com/?p=5065

5. Write and implement a SMART action plan to make the improvements you promised. Your plan should state a specific, measurable, and achievable goal along with the steps, people, and resources needed to reach it. Include deadline dates for each action step.

Benefit: You have a clear and achievable roadmap for making improvements that promise to delight and retain your residents and make them loyal advocates of your community.

EXCLUSIVE OFFER FOR SENIOR LIVING INDEPENDENT OPERATORS

Sensight Surveys is partnering with Senior Living Smart to invite you to take advantage of this exclusive offer. Survey your residents and family members this May and receive group discount pricing that can go as low as $6 per survey. The more communities that sign up to participate, the lower the price goes. One community will receive their survey project for free! Click this link to learn more and sign up starting on 3/2/15: http://contest.io/c/s2eejy0p