IDEAS YOU CAN COUNT ON


TRAINING 16. Training can’t be one-size-fits-all.


Many of us have put in our time in the software live training room, with a multi-certified IT expert yawning


on one side of us and someone who still uses a flip phone sitting on the other side, while the trainer races up and down the aisles try- ing to solve problems. But live training can be extremely effective, says Patti Evans, director, Yardi Aspire and corporate training, if it’s set up for success. To start with, the training room shouldn’t be the employee’s


first encounter with the software. With Aspire, Evans advocates a method akin to the flipped classroom: Basic training and trial runs happen before the live training session. “The software is complex, and people are also complex,” Evans says. Live training can tank if an employee or a trainer is having an off day—or even if the trainer uses word choices or idioms employees aren’t familiar with. “What our clients are doing is as they bring on new software,


they’ll give them our Aspire classes first, and then have the live training,” Evans says. “And they discover that people have already sort of pre-trained and explored the software on their own. They get a lot more out of the class, and the trainers can go a lot farther with employee education and confidence building during that syn- chronous time together.”


17. Get a personal lesson to take a task in-house.


A small-business trick that can sometime scale up: Hire an outsource or freelance worker not only to do a job,


but to teach you or someone on your staff how to do it, so you can bring the task in-house. This can work for jobs such as creating a newsletter or content


calendar, writing or responding to RFPs, public speaking, develop- ing training programs or online modules, creating a microsite or landing page, and more. Weigh out whether it takes more time or adds too much to existing job descriptions first—some tasks make more sense to keep outsourcing.


18. Invest in training and get every bit of value


you’re entitled to. Yardi’s Patti Evans points out that while companies are


willing to invest in training to manage risks or compliance, they don’t always spend as much on software training. But without training, it’s highly likely you won’t ever see the


full return on your software investment. Users perform functions in inefficient ways or out of compliance with company standards or legal ones. They may cause a data error, lost data, or a lapse in security that can be hard to repair. Another issue is underutilization. Yardi’s Aspire, for instance, is a training tool, but it can also handle conferences, all-hands meetings, chat boards, surveys, applicant tracking, testing, and more. If you don’t know all the tasks your software can handle, you risk buying, in- stalling, and training for something you didn’t know you didn’t need. Follow-up training can prevent these situations. Yardi’s platform


does a refresher training after the initial session, helping to ensure that users develop the right habits and understand the full capacity of what the company is paying for.


20 SENIOR LIVING EXECUTIVE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020


SALES AND MARKETING 19. Track every step of your journeys.


Traci Bild, CEO of Bild & Co. consultants, recom- mends using call tracking lines on all marketing spend


campaigns to eliminate the guesswork in determining ROI. “Each campaign, whether a banner or print ad, will have its own unique phone number attached,” she says. “Every day, you will receive an email that indicates how many leads have responded to each cam- paign, whether the lead was captured or not. It will also provide a telephone number should the lead have been missed.”


20. “More lead generation” is not a universal solution.


Bild also cautions against investing in more lead generation before exploring other areas that might be flattening oc-


cupancy numbers. “In most cases, it’s a sales skill problem,” she says. To test yourself, ensure at least 50 percent of current leads gener-


ated are converting into on-site or live zoom tours as a confirmed next step. Then check to see that at least 35 percent of all tours and retours are converting into move-ins. That will show you where to concentrate your efforts. “It’s easy to generate leads,” Bild says. “It’s tougher to close


them—and that is often where the gap exists in senior living communities.”


21. Clean up your lists.


Bounce-backs not only cost money and time, but they can generate customer annoyance. Investing in time or


services for list grooming usually shows a good ROI. Always print “address correction requested” on print mail.


CULTURE 22. Gratitude lifts everyone’s energy.


“A genuine and personal thank you goes a long way,” says Tommy Comer, chief human resource officer at Com-


monwealth Senior Living. “Whether it is a handwritten note or pulling someone aside to say you see them and you appreciate them, genuine words of encouragement and gratitude are under- rated and powerful.”


23. When you pilot something new, have a good flight plan


and get your team on the plane. “I love a good pilot of new technology and programs,” says Jamison Gosselin,


vice president and chief marketing officer at Eclipse Senior Living. “But it is so important to have a plan and timeline in place,” as well as the requirements for what you’re trying out and a hypothesis of forecast outcomes. “What’s more, you’ve got to sell it to the communities,” he adds.


“They can be your best advocates or your biggest headwinds to anything new. So bring your field advocates along on the journey with you. They have as much to win from a new product or service, and usually are never shy about sharing the good, the bad and the ugly about the pilot.”


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