7 Tips for Overcoming Sluggish Summer Census & Occupancy
by Patty Cisco
Summer is the time for action! Unfortunately for senior care and living organizations, summer
typically represents sluggish census and occupancy results. The sales reps and marketing
directors who work in the trenches can certainly make a list of all the reasons why this occurs.
While there may be validity to some of those reasons, they also can be the excuse that creates a
barrier to productive activity. Taking a proactive approach to your marketing strategies and sales
tactics now will not only reap results in the summer months, but you’ll be surprised by what your
third and fourth quarters will yield.
1. Focus on quality, not quantity, in your sales calls. Analyze your referral list over a two-year
period. Categorize your referral sources as follows: A (represents top 15% of your referral
sources that make up 65% of your referrals); B (represents 20% of your referral sources that
make up 20% of your referrals; C (represents 65% of your remaining referrals sources that make
up 15% of your referrals; D (no referrals received but relationship worth maintaining). Compare
this referral analysis to current sales call activity. How much time are you spending on
non-referral related external sales calls?
2. Evaluate your marketing strategies. Compare how much time you spend on fun-oriented
marketing activities vs. educational activities and media buys vs. relationship-oriented. Your
time is precious and limited. Stop doing what’s not working and focus on target audience
activity.
3. Scrub lead lists. The cheapest leads are those you have. Set aside the time to review your lead
list and make a follow up. Contact is key to turning leads. Also, don’t forget to update your email
database list.
4. Break down barriers with education. If you or other decision makers in your organization
aren’t sure where to start with establishing a sales culture (people, systems and processes), or
haven’t engaged in an interactive website or have yet to initiate a social media strategy then
maybe it’s time to start strategizing. Plan to attend The Discovery to Sustainable Census
Workshop. Click here for more information on the Workshop.
5. Engage in a Just Ask Campaign. Yes, that’s right, it’s ok to ask for. Engage your staff, current
and past families, residents and network associates in a fun campaign designed to send prospects
of interest your way.
6. Stop all marketing activities for 30 days and just engage in a Summer Blitz! It’s a fun break
from the routine and creates a lot of buzz.
7. Engage in an online interactive campaign that focuses on one core service line. This strategy is
beneficial for special offerings, discounts, new services etc.
Senior care and living organizations can no longer stay in the comfort zone of past marketing
strategies and sales tactics. It’s time for a paradigm shift if you want to drive sustainable census
and occupancy. Starting a proactive action plan now for the summer months will pay in census
benefits later.
Bullying In Workplace Brings Devastation to the Company In The Long Run
Bullying in workplace is one of the types of abuse a particular employee or a group of employees
are subjected to at a workplace. It has many forms and comes in the form of verbal, physical or
emotional abuse. This is found in almost all the places like schools, churches and workplaces.
This can happen in many ways face to face, or in your absence, or online or with your friends and
relatives or even with strangers. Bullying is said to take place when a person is repeatedly
exposed over a period of time to any form of negative action from one or more of other persons
and he or she has difficulty in defending himself or herself from these actions.
Bullying in workplace is very common and it cannot be remedied by avoidance as in other cases
of bullying. Most of the times the workplace bullying makes the life of the person targeted more
difficult and unhappy and leads to constant mental strain. This has a very bad effect on his
morale and his productivity suffers much. Due to this, a hostile work environment develops that
leads to deterioration in the work values of the employees. But as per an estimate of the
Workplace Bullying Institute more than one third of the employees are subject to one form or
other of the bullying in workplace during some point of their work life.
The Bullying in a workplace can occur in many ways and some of them include:
Unjustified hypercritical judgment
Unnecessary or unfounded blame
Undue segregation
Isolation
Indifferent treatment from co-workers
Unnecessary yelling and humiliation in front of co-workers
Disproportionate monitoring of the work
Unnecessary verbal or written warnings etc
Vague or untrue claims of poor or underperformance
The bad effects of bulling in workplace
When there is bullying in workplace the employees who are subject to bullying are suffer more in
terms of physical and mental effects. They have very high stress levels, and suffer from extreme
bitterness in their attitude. They usually suffer from depression, and usually do not have any
motivation to excel in their jobs and exhibit greater levels of hostility towards other employees.
Due to the constant depression and stress they suffer from many physical illnesses like digestive
problems, sleeping disorders like insomnia and usually have high blood pressure.
Those in the management must always be aware of the fact that bullying in workplace is not the
right way of running their business as a company with bullying becomes dysfunctional and
inefficient. You can see that the absenteeism and low productivity are the norms of any working
day and due to this the company suffers very strong negative growth factors in the long run. An
employee who is subject to bullying in workplace becomes totally against any form of innovation
at his workplace and he never expresses or develops his own ideas for the betterment of the
company.
Due to the hostile and unfavorable work environment even quality employees who are not bullied
also feel it necessary to leave the company at their earliest opportunities. When the bullying in
workplace is known to outside world new employees do not opt to come into the company for
fear of being bullied while working for the company.
Compression Therapy Reduces Blood Clots in Stoke Patients, Study Finds
New research shows that inexpensive leg compression devices help prevent fatal blood clots in
stroke patients. The thigh-length sleeves promote blood flow by periodically filling with air and
gently squeezing the legs. Vascular PRN, based in Tampa, Fla., is a leading national distributor
of intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC) therapy equipment. Greg Grambor, the company’s
president, commented on the study.
“Compression therapy has been around for over 20 years,” Grambor said. “Many doctors have
already come to rely on this equipment for safe, effective, and affordable prevention of deep vein
thrombosis. I’m glad this new research was done, and I hope it will help convince more doctors to
give it a try.”
Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is the formation of a blood clot inside a vein deep within the body.
It is common in stroke patients and immobile patients and can also occur in healthy people on
long flights where movement is restricted. When a clot detaches, it can then become lodged in
the arteries of the lungs, causing a potentially life-threatening pulmonary embolism.
The study involved nearly 3,000 stroke patients at over 100 hospitals across the United Kingdom.
Results showed 8.5 percent of patients treated with compression devices developed blood clots,
versus 12.1 percent of patients who received alternative treatments.
“Many patients at risk of DVT are prescribed blood thinning drugs,” Grambor added. “But these
drugs increase the risk of bleeding, which is quite dangerous for stroke patients as it may lead to
bleeding in the brain.”
So far, no study has conclusively shown that blood thinners increase the survival rate of stroke
patients. Doctors at the European Stroke Conference, held in London on May 31, 2013, discussed
the study’s findings. Professor Martin Dennis of the University of Edinburgh said that the UK’s
guidelines for treatment of stroke should be revised to recommend IPC treatment for all patients
at high risk of DVT. Currently, they only recommend it in cases where blood thinners are
unsuccessful or too risky.
Each year, some 15 million people worldwide suffer a stroke. One third of strokes are fatal and
another third result in permanent disability.
Vascular PRN may be reached at 800-886-4331.
