Building community and Building Trust: those things are at the core of what any good senior housing provider is doing.Here’s a good idea for our profession:Mayo Clinic is tapping into its customers to help it build community and share the community with the larger world. Word of mouth – It’s a lot cheaper – and more effective – than any advertising. Mayo has launched ‘Sharing Mayo Clinic’Mayo treats more than 500,000 people yearly. A lot of people have very positive experiences there – and no doubt some have negative ones. Mayo’s new blog is opening the door to people to discuss both. Learn more about it from Dr. Thoralf Sundt, a heart surgeon and chair of Mayo’s marketing committee who was interviewed by the Rochester Post Bulletin:

More than 90 percent of people who comment about Mayo give praise, Sundt says, and each person with a good experience tells 40 other people about it.Now, Sundt says, ‘we’re just sort of giving them the platform to share.’ The blog is monitored for language and content. But, in general, Mayo wants an open forum that accepts most comments.Mayo officials also hope for suggestions about how to improve quality of service. They expect patients to share tips about how to best use time between appointments, and about Mayo services.‘The quality of the experience is key,’ Sundt said. (THAT STATEMENT BY DR. SUNDT IS GOLD.)