Do your residents speak at your senior living community’s events?  Are you afraid of what they might say?  If you don’t let residents speak, then your senior attendees are missing out.  How can seniors really know what it is like to live at a retirement community or assisted living?  The most effective way is for them to hear it from a peer.

Yesterday, I had a fabulous resident speaker at the Oktoberfest event for Freedom Village in Lake Forest, Ca.  Richard spoke from the heart for about four minutes.  His opening line was, “Welcome to my home.”  He explained why he, his wife Barbara and Lily (his Chihuahua) moved to a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC).

Richard shared some cute stories including when his wife initially tried the food at Freedom Village.  She had declared, “The food is delicious and we are moving here.”  He also said, “I was walking through my apartment the other day and just stopped to tell my wife, how happy that I am living here at Freedom Village.”  He retired from law enforcement and explained why he felt very safe and secure at his retirement community.  He mentioned volunteering at the local hospital and how you can live any kind of life you want.  Sometimes he just enjoys reading a book in his apartment and at other times he has the opportunity to be social at dinner or at events.

I had no clue what Richard would say.  Was it a risk?  Yes!  But it is important to make your best guess selecting a resident to speak at your senior living event.  Richard and his wife are very active at the CCRC and embrace life with vigor and vitality.  Richard’s testimonial was pivotal to some guests deciding to make Freedom Village their future home.  In the past, I have had residents speak too long and had to gently nudge them to end.  What are your experiences?

Do you want more information on how to put on a great event?  Click on this link for a previous blog post I wrote about 8 Keys to Create Compelling Events that Drive Sales in Senior Living.

Please share your success, failures or comment below to join the conversation and interact with other senior living professionals on what is currently being effective to increase occupancy on a nationwide basis.

Diane Twohy Masson is the author of “Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full,” available at Amazon.com with a 5-star rating.  The book is required reading at George Mason University as a part of its marketing curriculum.  Within this book, the author developed a sales & marketing method with 12 keys to help senior living providers increase their occupancy.   Masson developed this expertise as a marketing consultant, sought-after blogger for senior housing and a regional marketing director of continuing care retirement communities in several markets.  She has also been a corporate director of sales and a mystery shopper for independent living, assisted living, memory care and skilled care nursing communities in multiple states.  Most recently Masson was recruited to consult for two debt-free Continuing Care Retirement Communities in Southern California – Freedom Village in Lake Forest and The Village in Hemet, California.  Interestingly, this career started when she was looking for a place for her own mom and helped her loved one transition through three levels of care.

© Marketing 2 Seniors| Diane Twohy Masson 2013 All Rights Reserved. No part of this blog post may be reproduced, copied, modified or adapted, without the prior written consent of the author, unless otherwise indicated for stand-alone materials. You may share this website and or it’s content by any of the following means: 1. Using any of the share icons at the bottom of each page. 2. Providing a back-link or the URL of the content you wish to disseminate. 3. You may quote extracts from the website with attribution to Diane Masson CASP and link https://www.marketing2seniors.net For any other mode of sharing, please contact the author Diane Masson.