Providing Great Customer Experience Management in Assisted Living Centers
Customer experience management in assisted living centers is more than just making sure the residents are happy with their day-to-day living situation. Not only is it important to make sure the children of the residents are happy -- since they are the primary decision makers -- it is also a legal requirement to monitor their satisfaction when it comes to state licensing and operations requirements.
Remember that customer experience management is much farther reaching than simple customer service; it should stretch into every aspect of an assisted living center, from operations and finance, to marketing and customer service. And the customer experience management needs to be unified across all those departments -- as well as maintenance, housekeeping, and food service -- for the center to be truly successful and effective.
First, consider customer experience management from the residents' perspective. All assisted living centers hire people that seem to care deeply about the people they serve, from the residents themselves to the family members who visit them. Assisted living centers strive to provide excellent care from their nurses, attendants and other staff members. The staff also works to make sure the beds are comfortable, the accommodations are welcoming, and they serve good and nutritious food. They even care for their emotional wellness, by making sure there are plenty of activities and outings for the residents to be happy. In this case, the staff's primary function is making sure the residents are happy and satisfied with the facility.
Just as important is the residents' children's satisfaction with their parents' experience. Assisted living centers should take care to keep them apprised of their relatives' overall health and happiness. As part of their customer experience management, they need to communicate regularly, through personalized communications and email newsletters.
Another important part of the customer experience management system is how they handle complaints and negative experiences. Every company and organization has them, so it does not make sense for a center to assume they will be different. They also cannot afford to adopt a "take it as it comes" attitude about dealing with incidents. A good customer experience management will at least have guidelines and procedures in place to deal with these complaints.
Customer experience management and measurement can be very challenging in an assisted living center. Unlike other companies and organizations, it is more than just something that is nice to do for customers, it is actually a legal requirement by the state licensing agencies. But by having a good management system in place, the assisted living centers are able to spot trouble areas early and respond appropriately to make sure small problems do not become large incidents.
This is why it is important for assisted living centers to consider working with professional mystery shoppers and market research companies, as well as professionals who are skilled in developing and training on customer experience management systems.
About the Author
Defining customer experience management, Measure Consumer Perspectives is the next generation of consumer brand auditing. The company combines traditional mystery shopping and brand auditing with next generation mobile and social media tools to provide a comprehensive view of your brand and the customer service that defines it at http://www.measurecp.co
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