How Are You Perceived?

What Message Are You Sending?

I recently overheard a family conversation about the men my niece was dating. It reminded me of an extremely powerful challenge we face personally and professionally.

The conversation went like this; "she doesn't like any of them. I don't understand her, one is an attorney, one is an accountant and the other one is in Pharmacy school". "What's wrong with her?".

If you're in the nursing home or assisted living business you are aware how this same phenomenon affects business. Some perceptions / expectations are cultural others are based on word of mouth, some on visible impressions.

The fact is every person and business has one or perhaps many perceptions to manage.
If they accurately reflect you or your business, use them. If they don't, manage them the best you can.

Understanding how you are perceived is critical for success: business or personal.

Understanding why is even more important.

I recall a simple yet powerful college assignment. We were instructed to go to a local shopping mall, randomly select 10 people and guess each persons, education, income and profession based on our visual perceptions of them.  I'm sure all of you true sales people are rolling on the floor about now. Have you ever heard the saying "you can't judge a book by its cover"?  It's impossible at a glance to judge a person or service by their cover, but we are trained from an early age to expect and make judgements based a number of factors; age, grooming, type of dress, skin color, their car, or address.

Here is a simple example. Let's say you are active on several personal and professional networking sites and write a few blogs.

Audiences expect the visual image you project to match your message, product or service so you wear a suit on the professional sites and a t-shirt and sunglasses on the personal sites. We tend to believe or even trust someone dressed professionally.

The average person cannot possibly determine the quality of care in an Assisted Living community while on a tour. An experience my grandmother had is a perfect example of what can happen. She went to visit a friend of hers that had been admitted to a local skilled nursing community. The community was over 30 years old and not very attractive. Later that day I ask her about the visit. She was so happy that her friend was in that nursing home and felt like the quality of care was exceptional. I ask her to explain why she felt that way. During her visit she toured the dining room. She said the dining room floors were clean enough to eat from. If they paid that much attention to the floors they would pay the same level of attention or more to care of each resident.

My Grand Mother was raised to associate cleanliness with quality. Others might associate quality by how quickly their questions are answered,  by the attitude of staff,  the way they are dressed, drive-up appeal, preventative maintenance or your customer service.

Does your perception match your customers expectation? Don't know how you are perceived? Ask! Expect honesty and don't be defensive. Most of all, don't make assumptions.


Rick D Watkins

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