In a recent article titled “Make Your Residents Raving Fans The Ritz-Carlton Way. It Works!”, I tout the virtues of this hotel empire’s legendary model of customer service. The article describes the three steps of service that form the core of the Ritz-Carlton model and discusses the application of steps 1 and 3 to the senior living industry. Read that article here: https://sensightsurveys.com/?p=4622

Today’s article centers on step 2:

ANTICIPATION AND FULFILLMENT OF EACH GUEST’S NEEDS

Have you seen the movie Patch Adams? There is a scene in which Robin Williams’ character Dr. Patch Adams surprises one of his patients by fulfilling her lifelong dream to swim in a pool of cooked spaghetti. Her face lights up like a child as he lifts her into the pool, and as she wades through piles of wet noodles she looks like she is having the happiest day of her life. It’s an unusual example, but this is what pops into my mind when I think about meeting the expressed and unexpressed needs and wishes of senior living residents.

As a senior living owner/operator/employee, you try to meet the expressed needs of your residents every day. Mr. Falco likes his eggs over easy. Mrs. Janis prefers to wake up at 6 am. Mrs. Nyberg likes to be reminded when Bingo is about to start. Meeting expressed needs and preferences is so important and goes a long way toward building a community of satisfied and loyal residents. But how often do you think about meeting the unexpressed needs of your residents?

Diane Oreck, VP of Ritz-Carlton’s Leadership Training Center says legendary service is about surprise and delight. It’s about providing unexpected, unique, and memorable moments. She trains employees to have a “Radar On – Antenna Up” approach so they can pick up on moments of opportunity to surprise and delight their guests. Employees are actually trained to break routine to solve problems and own them until they are resolved. They work hard to anticipate customer needs and are empowered with up to $2,000 to resolve any customer concern. The $2,000 is symbolic of trust and in practice is rarely used.

Check out these real Ritz-Carlton story headlines:

Lost Elmo doll returned to girl’s home with a picture book documenting his adventures at a Ritz-Carlton hotel while separated from his owner.

Ritz-Carlton retrieves guest’s lost sunglasses from Caribbean Sea after lost during paddle boarding excursion.

Ritz-Carlton head chef personally delivers banana cheesecake and recipe to guest poolside the morning after receiving compliment on his tasty dessert.

Ritz-Carlton filets and prepares 200-pound yellow fin tuna caught by a guest after guest asks for extra ice to protect his fish for the ride home.

I realize some of these examples seem extreme. I’m guessing you are not about to jump into the Caribbean Sea to retrieve a pair of lost sunglasses! But they can serve as motivation to find ways to occasionally surprise and delight your residents by meeting their unexpressed needs and wishes. Doing so will make your residents raving fans and loyal advocates of your community, resulting in positive word of mouth that spreads like wildfire, higher resident retention, and more move-ins.

What are some realistic and achievable ways you can meet your residents’ expressed and unexpressed needs and wishes?

IDEAS FOR MEETING EXPRESSED NEEDS AND WISHES

  • Have every resident complete an “About Me” form that captures what they like to do for fun, their hobbies, their favorite foods, what they did in their career, the names of their close family members, etc.
  • Make it part of normal routine to have every employee read the forms and listen to residents so expressed needs and preferences can be understood and met whenever possible.
  • Compile a list of community activities, events, and outings that match the interests of groups of residents and work them into your activities calendar.
  • Plan surprises on special days like birthdays and anniversaries to act on something from each resident’s personal list.

HOW TO PREPARE EMPLOYEES TO MEET UNEXPRESSED NEEDS AND WISHES

  • Radar On – Antenna Up. Train staff members to identify unique opportunities to meet the unexpressed needs and wishes of residents throughout the day. During new and ongoing training, provide realistic scenarios and ask employees to think of creative and realistic ways to respond.
  • Empower. Staff members should know they are permitted to act on opportunities to meet unexpressed needs and wishes that arrive in the moment. They need to know they are trusted to divert from normal routine to go the extra mile in small but meaningful ways.
  • Share The WOW. Have weekly staff meetings where employees are encouraged to share their stories of going above and beyond for residents.
  • Recognize. Acknowledge staff members for their extraordinary effort. Ritz-Carlton goes so far as to have “First Class” cards people can give to each other as a pat on the back. The cards can be given peer-to-peer, manager-to-staff, staff-to-manager, etc. A literal pat on the back also works.
  • Practice What You Preach. Many community leaders do not understand the extent to which their actions influence the attitudes and behaviors of their employees. Model the behavior you expect from your staff members and they will trust and believe in you and advocate for the success of your community.

P.S. Embracing a strong customer service mentality that empowers and recognizes your staff members will have the wonderful side effect of lower employee turnover. The lodging industry as a whole tends to run a 60-70 percent turnover in a year. At Ritz-Carlton, turnover rates are in the low 20s.

OK, now it’s your turn. If you are already doing some of this stuff or have some great ideas, give me your stories so I can share them with the world. If you plan on trying some of them, please let me know how it goes!