Conducting resident and employee surveys can help you identify opportunities to maximize satisfaction, retention, positive word of mouth, and occupancy growth in your communities. While conducting surveys in-house can be the most affordable option, often times there is little value gained from in-house surveys. For many senior living companies, the survey process is treated as a compliance ritual with completed surveys tossed into a drawer never to be seen again. Others will take the time to tally scores and set goals to work on their lowest performing areas, but in many cases there is not enough information or direction to have a real impact.
A GOOD SURVEY PARTNER WILL HELP YOU ACHIEVE MAXIMUM VALUE FROM YOUR SURVEY PROCESS BY:
- Crafting positive messaging to residents and employees about the value of their feedback and the company’s intention to make their community a great place to live and work
- Maximizing participation so results represent the collective opinions of your customers and employees and not just the vocal minority
- Identifying opportunities that are most likely to increase overall satisfaction and retention (often not your lowest scoring areas)
- Uncovering major themes behind what residents and employees say about your company, both good and bad
- Highlighting areas of strength that can be shared with prospects during tours and in marketing materials, or with employee candidates during the recruitment process
- Providing tools and guidance for planning, implementing, and monitoring improvement initiatives
WHEN CHOOSING A SURVEY PARTNER, ASK THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS TO VET OUT THE COMPANY THAT PROVIDES THE BIGGEST BANG FOR YOUR BUCK
1. Do they specialize in senior living?
Ask about their experience in the senior living industry. What is the education and background of their key staff members? How long have they been doing survey research for senior living companies? Which senior living companies have they served?
2. Are they focused on keeping your costs down?
Budgets are tight. A good survey partner understands this and makes choices that keep your costs down. Find a company that focuses on giving you useful content over unnecessary bells and whistles that hike up your price like full color surveys and long reports. They should also be willing to discuss the pros and cons of each survey administration mode (paper, online, telephone, etc.), including associated costs. Don’t be afraid to ask for a lower per survey price if you sign a long-term contract.
3. Do they have responsive and helpful customer support?
Some companies provide excellent response time from their sales people, but once the contract is signed customer service looks like a ghost town. The best survey partner is at your side during and after project completion. They should guide you through every step of the process and make it as seamless as possible for you.
4. Do their surveys ask the right questions?
A good survey asks questions that capture the key drivers of resident and employee satisfaction and engagement. Request copies of survey forms and ask how they were developed and field-tested. Each question on the survey should be easy to understand and actionable. As you read each question, you should be able to visualize the service or amenity being provided, including the departments and staff members involved.
5. Do they allow you to customize their surveys to your individual needs?
Pre-packaged survey solutions are often more affordable, but if you wish to add some customization to your surveys and reports a good survey partner will accommodate your request without up-charging you. If you are looking for complete customization 100% tailored to your company’s individual needs and your budget allows, a good survey partner will do that too.
6. Do they help you maximize your response rates?
Find a survey company that offers communication and marketing templates you can use to promote your survey with residents and employees and communicate the survey internally to all levels of your organization. An experienced survey partner will have a number of proven ideas for providing incentives that motivate your residents and employees to complete the survey.
7. Are their reports insightful and easy to understand?
Don’t hire a survey company that expects you to be your own data analyst. Your reports should be easy to read and should provide you with quick insights and actionable opportunities to improve customer and employee satisfaction and engagement. When you examine sample reports, ask yourself if it is easy to quickly identify some improvement opportunities.
8. Do they offer trending of your survey results?
If you are surveying for the second time or beyond with the same survey company, not seeing your results trended from the previous survey is like navigating a ship without a compass. How will you know if the steps you took in response to your last survey made a difference if you can’t evaluate changes in performance?
9. Do the reports showcase your strengths?
Part of succeeding in any endeavor is capitalizing on what you do well. In addition to showing areas that need improvement, your reports should show where you shine… for two reasons. 1) You want to make sure you keep doing what your residents and employees like, and 2) You want to be able to share glowing reviews with prospective residents and employees.
10. Do they offer industry comparison data?
If you are interested in comparing your survey scores to the industry, your survey partner should able to do this for you. A word to the wise: While it is tempting to compare your company’s satisfaction scores to others in the industry, it is not recommended that you rely solely on industry benchmarks. If your goal is to perform as well as the industry average, industry benchmarks can get you there. If your goal is to delight, retain, and grow occupancy by being responsive to the needs and expectations of your customers and employees, then benchmark against your own performance year over year and set targets to beat last year’s scores in select areas. Further, industry-wide benchmarks cannot replace the value of a comprehensive competitive analysis of senior living options in each of your communities’ local markets.
11. Do they give you tools to help with improvement plans?
A good survey partner will not hand over your reports and run. They should be available to engage in discussions about your survey results and should provide you with tools for planning and monitoring improvement initiatives, such as steps for developing improvement plans, action planning worksheets, and progress tracking tools.
