1. Remain silent until the other person has finished making their point. After the other person stops speaking, ask for clarification with a question like “let me be sure that I understand what you are saying”, then paraphrase her words to be sure you have gotten your point accurately.

2. Be curious rather than defensive about a different point of view. Ask the other person to add more specifics about their comments and ask with genuine eagerness and excitement to learn more abut their ideas. You might say “Please, tell me more”. Or, you might say “That is a very interesting perspective, tell me more”.

3. Use both nonverbal and verbal cues to convey understanding. These might include gestures like nodding you head in agreement, leaning forward slightly as you listen, or verbal responses like “um hum” or “I understand”.

 4. Give the other person your full attention. Do not multi-task or let your mind wander.

 5. Don’t say “But”. The word but negates all that you have said.

Market to Life-Stages

There are 78 million Boomers.  This group is far too large to share similar interests and needs.   One size does not fit all.  Unlike prior generations, Boomers have followed non-linear life paths and, although they are similar in age, they are at many different stages in life.  For example, their children may be grown and gone making them traditional empty-nesters.  They are just as likely to have children or grandchildren under age 10.  They may be remarrying.  Many are taking on new jobs, relocating, going back to school, pursuing new hobbies, or starting a second or a third career.  Many are dealing with minor or major health conditions that are associated with aging.

The Message:  The age 50-plus consumers are best defined by the life events they are experiencing, rather than by their age.  Marketing to specific groups by special interests, life stage, or other relevant factors is effective.

Personalize the Message

Boomers want to know “how will this benefit me?”.  They have always found ways to put themselves first.  Boomers are the ‘Me Generation’ and they want attention and focus.  They have come to believe that they are the center of it all because they have been treated that way for the past 60 years.

Message:  Provide and promote exceptional customer service.  Offer opportunities for service up-grades, or customized services that may be available an additional cost.  Make the message feel personalized and articulate the personal benefits of participation. 

Make it Emotionally Appealing

Participation decisions by Boomers are based on whether it “feels” right - how it feels instinctively, rather than on the facts.  Emotionally engaging messages are preferred 3 to 1 over factual messages by Boomers.

The Message:  Testimonials from other Boomers are effective messages.  Use emotionally compelling words, images, and concepts to convince them that the programs, activity, or services will make them feel smarter, bolder, braver, more influential, and more knowledgeable as a result of their participation. 

Recognize Achievement

Boomers have sacrificed a great deal to realize success in their careers.  They invented the sixty-hour work week figuring that long hours and hard work were the way to rise above the pack and get ahead. 

The Message:  Marketing messages might include the affirmation such as “You deserve it” or “You deserve the best”.

Self-fulfillment

Boomers are guided by internal values.  Social values and status are no longer influencing forces for their choices and decisions.  They are interested in being someone; they are no longer seeking to become someone.

The Message:  Focus on how participation and involvement will provide them with a sense of self-satisfaction, personal significance, the achievement of self-fulfillment and self-actualization.    

Accessible Information

More than any other generation that is online, middle-aged adults read web site content. Boomers report that they want more information and they want easy-access to information.

The Message:  Replace most of the web site graphics with well-worded text that provides substantive, detailed information.  Offer user-friendly, convenient and efficient means for obtaining additional documentation.

Provide Accurate, Truthful Information

Promote programs, facilities, and services on their own attributes and don’t promise more than is true and accurate.  Make the information believable.  Avoid comparative claims. 

The Message:  Make claims that are conditional, rather than absolute.  Use “If” and “when”. 

Provide Information from a Positive Perspective

Positive presentation of information is more effective than negative information. Negative messages are ignored.  The older the individual, the less likely they will respond to negative or neutral messages or images. 

The Message:  Create marketing messages that are positive. 

Technology Savvy

Boomers are technology savvy and they will explore new technologies.  They are frequent users of the internet.  Eighty-two percent of them indicate that they use the web extensively and 64% have been on line for more than 6 years.  An estimated 7 million adults over age 50, who have no children in the home, own video game systems. Nearly one-third of the active bloggers are middle-aged adults.

The Message:  Create a strong website that is organized to follow a logical thought patterns with clear navigation.   Apply a unified arrangement and appearance that is consistent throughout the web site to reduce disorientation.   Make it convenient to communicate electronically.  Also offer off-line (phone, walk-in) alternatives.  Develop a social site that may include blogs or discussion groups to create a sense of community.

Promote Healthy Active Lifestyles
Ninety-eight percent of Boomers don’t want to be called a “senior” because they don’t consider themselves to be old.  They perceive of “old” as age 80.  They anticipate living to age 90 and beyond. They expect to maintain good health over the next three to four decades. In a recent study 93% of Boomers stated that exercise is a primary way to manage healthy aging.  The Boomers have already transformed fitness into a multi-billion-dollar industry. 

The Message:   Develop extensive health and wellness programming that is targeted at Boomers.  Encourage and facilitate healthy, active lifestyles.  Integrate health promotion into every detail of the physical and social environment.  Develop marketing messages that emphasize the health and wellness benefits of participation.

The 50-Plus Boomers are a large group of potential participants.  Creating unique marketing messages that appeal to Boomers as middle-aged active adults are effective in attracting them to park and recreation services.  The Boomers are making it “cool to be gray”.

Alternatively, for the first time in more than a decade, fitness membership numbers are declining among the fitness industry’s traditional core membership, the 18- to 49-year-olds.  According to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the level of leisure time physical activity among adults age 18 to 49 dipped from 31.8 percent in 1997 to 30.8 percent in 2007.   Finally, this younger adult group will experience virtually no population growth between 2009 and 2016.  The age 50-plus segment of the U.S. population will increase 25 percent between 2006 and 2016 and by 2030 one in every five Americans will be a Boomer

Given these statistics it is evident that promoting healthy active lifestyles by providing fitness and wellness services that are attractive and relevant to the age 50-plus adults is a great opportunity for park and recreation agencies.

The opportunity

Almost every element of society will make adjustments to better serve the Boomer market.  It is anticipated that in 2009, these middle-age consumers will spend more than $72 billion on products and services to help slow the aging process.  Is it any wonder that major pharmaceutical companies have about 750 new drugs under development targeting some aspect of the aging process? 

The Boomers are the largest, richest and fastest-growing segments of the population and they are demanding products and services designed and marketed specifically for them.

The question is how can your agency tap into this opportunity?
Fitness Centers

As upward of 78 million boomers make their way into retirement with more than $2 trillion in buying power, they will be demanding more from your agency especially given the fact that only 27 percent of fitness centers offer programs for older adults.

Condition-specific products and services

Grocery stores are masters at branding specific areas of the store, so why not do the same at your fitness center?

Create a “Chronic Solutions Center” within your facility. This area could be a stand-alone space that offers the following services for active adults and others:

Assessment service. Partner with a medical assessment group that would locate their practice inside of your fitness center, and offer your members screenings for diabetes, osteoporosis, high blood pressure, joint conditions and more. If they can’t locate their service inside your center, you could seek out a mobile screening service that could come to your location one or twice a week.

A specialized team. Your condition-specific team could consist of a medical doctor, registered dietitian, physical therapist, well-educated condition-specific personal trainers, massage therapist and other allied professionals.

Educational center and programs. To support your focus on providing conditions-specific education, create an information kiosk that provides literature from various advocate groups (American Heart Association, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, American Dietetic Association, etc.). Beyond this, offer classroom-style learning opportunities, such as cooking classes that address conditions ranging from diabetes to high cholesterol. You could also offer a lecture series on healthy aging topics such as weight management; joint, heart and eye health; depression; chronic fatigue; arthritis, osteoporosis, fibromyalgia and more.

Physical activity programs. According to Dr. Ronald M. Davis, president of the American Medical Association, “If we had a pill that contained all of the benefits of exercise, it would be the most widely prescribed drug in the world.” But, since we don’t have this magic pill, we will have to rely on what we know does work: exercise. Condition-specific exercise programs can be plentiful, from cancer to heart disease, back pain to depression, diabetes to high blood pressure.  You could offer yoga, massage, deep breathing classes or chiropractic services.  A well-rounded physical activity program can help Boomers fight virtually any health condition. The key, as with all programming, is to ensure that you have properly trained staff.

Spa services. The Boomer’s desire for healthy solutions is partially behind the rapid rise of the spa industry. According to the International Medical Spa Association, the medical spa industry now has more than 1,500 locations. At a growth rate of 300 percent over the past three years, this segment of the $12 billion U.S. spa market is a prime example of what happens when healthcare and spa services combine.

If you don’t have the financial resources to incorporate these elements into your center, you may wish to approach a local Medispa to sublet space in your center. If space is an issue, you may wish to partner with a Medispa group in your neighborhood that offers you a referral fee on each service or procedure provided.

Make your facility relevant

To become more relevant to the Boomer population, recreation centers must move beyond the programs, products and services being offered today and take a new approach. These suggestions are a few ways to break through the status quo in an effort to grow your participation. But there are many other opportunities within the wellness arena. Investing in these new areas to create products and services to meet the needs of the aging Boomers may be a wise investment.

After one year, the laughter group’s “good” HDL cholesterol rose by 26%  compared to 3% for the usual care control group.

 SOURCE: American Physiological Society (April 17, 2009)

Did you know that active adults age 50-plus:

• 82% indicate that they use the web extensively.
• 64% have been on line for more than six years.  
• 61% had visited sites that offer downloadable video or streaming video.
• 46% say that the internet is important or very important in maintaining their social relationships.
• 41% had visited social networks more than 8 times over the past 90 days.
• 30% of the active bloggers are middle-aged adults.
• A large percentage of uses age 50-plus who are members of online communities report extensive involvement in their communities and more than half (58%) log in on their online community daily or several times per day.
• 7 million adults over age 50, who have no children in the home, own video game systems.

 Sources:

The Journal of Active Aging, September/October 2008 .Vol 7, No 5, page 39.

Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California, Annenberg school of Communication and AARP, 2008

Entertainment Trends in America, 2008

A key strategy to effective marketing to Boomers, active adults age 50-plus, is creating a good feeling about their decision to participate in a program or use a facility.   Creating a positive participant experience involves more then just delivering your services “on time, as promised”. At every point of contact with your participants, plan your operations to create positive associations and satisfaction of their expectations.

Your participants’ sensory experiences have a central role in their perceptions of the value your agency provides. The sensory experiences of your agency include a broad scope of factors such as the appearance of your facilities, the location of the facilities, marketing materials, staff appearance and attitude, and the user-friendliness of your facilities, hours of operations, and programs. By planning these sensory factors to meet, and exceed, the expectations of your participants, you can deliver experience that convert one-time visitors into long-term participants.

Walk in a Participants’ Shoes

To best understand how to improve the sensory experience of your agency, step out of your role and think about your services from your participant’s perspective.  Realize that your participants’ primary concern is satisfying a specific need and getting the best value along the way.  Your participants expect to receive good service. They want to be treated extremely well.

Understanding these minimum requirements and the options your customers have available to them is an important first step in designing a memorable participant experience. Here a few questions that will help you to objectively evaluate how well your agency satisfies your participants’ expectations. What is the primary need our participants want to satisfy by coming to our facility and programs?

• What are the main factors our participants will consider when making their decision to participate?
• What are the five most convenient alternatives (competitors) our participants have for satisfying this need?
• On a scale from one to ten, how effectively do we feel our facility and programs are doing in consistently delivering on your participant’s minimum requirements?

Get Participant Feedback

Gathering feedback from participants through surveys, focus groups and comment forms is the best way to learn about their perceptions and plan for improvements in your operations.  Ask a few simple questions about their experience with your facilities and programs and their needs.   Then design your participant experiences to meet and exceed those expectations.

Gather feedback on the following categories:

• Facility - The physical appearance of your facility has a significant impact on the sensory experience. Think about the cleanliness, the comfort level it provides, the professionalism, the convenience - it’s all important, and it’s all about first impressions.
• Employees - The appearance and attitude of staff. We’ve all had bad experiences dealing with an employee and it severely impacts how we feel about the agency they represent.  You never get a second chance to make a first impression.
• Marketing -The appeal, clarity and design of your agency’s logo and related marketing materials.
• Competitors - Become a “Secret Shopper” and visit competitors facilities, participate in their programs, visit their website, and analyze their marketing materials. Talk with your participants about the competition. The more information you have about where the competition fall short, the better you can do at fulfilling the needs they do not meet.

Putting it all Together

With participant feedback in hand, create a list of five improvements you want to make to your customers’ sensory experience - “touch points”. Prioritize the list and set a near-term time line to implement the changes. Revisit this exercise on a continuous basis, at least once a year, to ensure your agency is always the preferred facility and best programs.

What will the impacts of the aging population be to on community park and recreation systems? How do agencies prepare for these impacts, and what do they need to prepare for? What planning initiatives are needed now to prepare to meet the anticipated park and recreation service needs 10, 20 and 30 years from now? How will existing resources be redistributed, and where will new resources be found, to address the needs of the aging Boomers? This is a call to action for park and recreation agencies to initiate strategic planning for serving the Boomers.

The Boomers

The 76 million Boomers born between 1946 and 1964 represent the largest birth cohort ever in the United States. Every 7 seconds a Boomer turns 50, 10,000 Boomer turn 50 every day, 365 days per year, every year through 2014. By 2030 one of every five Americans will be a Boomer.

The cultural differences between the generation born in the period 1911 to 1945 and the Baby Boomers, those born after 1945, are striking. These differences help to identify how the interests, needs, and expectations for senior services will change as the Boomers age.

Many seniors who are currently over the age of 60 served in World War II, they witnessed the Great Depression, through their labors they created the booming economy of the 1950’s, and they contributed to the rise of the middle class. Their experiences taught them the value of hard work, self-sacrifice, and discipline. Social Security has given this generation economic security, and they were the first to experience mass retirement. This generation is conservative, risk-averse, and conformist.

The Boomer generation has experienced a period of unprecedented prosperity and unlimited horizons. They challenge authority and traditional values. They prize their individuality. They are more affluent than the prior generation and they will have more money to spend. Because of the size of their age cohort, they will hold significant political influence as they age. They will live longer and as they age they will be healthier and more active, enjoy increased mobility, and will live more independently than past generations. The lifestyle and community service needs and expectations of Boomers will be diverse, and they will demand choices.

These factors present significant rationale for rethinking park and recreation services to determine how community park and recreation agencies will contribute to meeting the needs of active adult Boomers as they age.

What’s Next: Developing an Agency Plan to for 50-Plus Active Adults

The population projections for 2010 - 2030 indicate that younger seniors will migrate to Las Vegas, Denver, Dallas, and Atlanta - communities that have traditionally been recognized for their youthful profiles.  These migration patterns indicate that factors other than climate are involved in decisions about retirement destinations.   The younger, more affluent retirees are migrating to areas that are rich in amenities, and recreational services are prominent among the amenities that are attracting them. The availability of parks and recreation opportunities in the community is second only to family location as a factor influencing retirees’ decisions about where to live during their retirement years.

Enhancing local recreation services for adults over age 50 is an economic development strategy that will result in a high rate of return on the community’s investments.

Research has shown our individual communication style is defined by the different degrees of preference we have for the following four basic communication styles.

Results-oriented - values moving things forward and getting results. Likes to use a direct style to get to the bottom line. Prefers to be given the headline and will decide how much additional information is needed to move forward. The key to communicating with this style is “get to the point.”

Relationship-oriented - believes an enthusiastic, collective effort can deliver phenomenal results. Seeks to build strong work relationships to ensure the most creative and energetic effort. Views conversations and discussions as the primary means for building these connections. The key to communicating with this style is “keep it positive.”

Stability-oriented - seeks to foster a work environment that is stable and relatively, if not completely, free of conflict. Will withhold opinion or ideas if the input might disrupt the group’s progress or consensus. Prefers an indirect communication style. The key to communicating with this style is “keep it non-confrontational.”

Quality-oriented - prefers to take a systematic, methodical approach to work. Values quality, accuracy, and thoroughness. Has high standards for own work and that of others. Prefers to share as much information about an issue as possible. The key to communicating with this style is “keep it factual.”

Influence others by “speaking their language.”