Do you have 50 plus prospective residents at every event? If not, why not? Here are just eight keys to keep in mind when planning great events that can fill your building.
1) Pick a theme that would compel a senior to leave the comfort of their home, spend $4.00 a gallon on gas to drive to your retirement community and want to invite a friend to enjoy the experience with them.
2) Organize your event, so every first impression is excellent. Have someone out front directing parking, greet them at the door with a registration table, train tour guides, your community should be spotless, have an exciting program and maybe most important – present excellent food and beverages for their enjoyment.
3) The goal is fill your building! If you are going to have live entertainment, there must still be a 10 to 15 minute program with a resident testimonial. Or maybe you are going to have a Power Point of your benefits and what differentiates you from other senior living communities? Don’t be boring…
4) You only have the senior’s attention for about 1½ hours maximum, so if you spend the time feeding and entertaining them, they will be too tired to tour your community. Strategize out every minute they are going to be in the building.
5) Invite them to come back and spend more time, so they can get a better feel of your retirement community. It’s hard for people to decide in 1½ hours where they are going to spend the next chapter of their life.
6) There should be at least 1/3 new faces at your event.
7) Some senior living communities draw new prospective seniors best by advertising with direct mail, others with newspaper and still others work best with a combo.
8) After spending all the time, money and staff resources on a great event, don’t forget to call them the next day. Invite them back…
I had two events this week for Continuing Care Retirement Communities; one drew 85 seniors to RSVP in a rural area and the other had over 100 seniors RSVP in a metropolitan area. This traffic will help fill the building for the next two months.
Do you want more information on how to put on a great event? Chapter 6 of “Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full,” offers a step-by-step approach to successful events and many ideas for compelling themes. Good luck and please share your success…
Diane Twohy Masson is the author of “Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full,” available for sale at Amazon.com. If your curiosity is piqued to inquire on Diane’s availability to speak at a senior housing conference (CCRC, independent living, assisted living, skilled nursing or memory care) – please call: 206-853-6655 or email diane@marketing2seniors.net. Diane is currently consulting in Southern California for Freedom Management Company, the proud debt-free owners of Freedom Village in Lake Forest and The Village in Hemet, California. For more information: Twitter: @market2seniors Web: www.marketing2seniors.net Blog: http://marketing2seniors.net/blog/
Group: SENIOR LIVING CONNECTION
Discussion: 8 Keys to Create Compelling Events that Drive Sales in Senior Living
Great insights by Diane! Events require lots of resources, so using creativity to draw new guests is critical. Avoid doing what we have always done when we have always done it. Instead try new ideas to stimulate attendance by a different group of prospects.
Posted by Steve Wittman
Group: Assisted Living Professional Network
Discussion: 8 Keys to Create Compelling Events that Drive Sales in Senior Living
Hi Diane,
Thanks for sharing some really great advise.Along the same lines, what we have found through our continued research is that its important to have events where seniors can also bring in their families (adult children). Primarily because most families are key stakeholders in the ultimate decision for their parents.
Lastly, its always wonderful to leave the families and seniors with some handout that talks specifically to the unique value of the community – just one or two things that completely differentiate and that no other community can claim. For example, in the case of communities using CareMerge solution (Communication and Care Coordination apps that allow communities to provide families and offsite clinicians with mobile apps to stay on top of their loved ones’ / patients’ overall wellbeing 24×7), they are provided with specially designed brochures for prospects that show how they get a “window into the life of their loved ones” all the time by using the apps provided by the community.
thanks again for the great pointers.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
Posted by Asif Khan
Group: Senior Housing Forum (www.seniorhousingforum.net)
Discussion: 8 Keys to Create Compelling Events that Drive Sales in Senior Living
Great article for all of you trying to get the attention of this market segment, thanks Diane. I would add though that while you hint at not feeding them i have found that something for free (food, drink, trinket) is the best attractant for this demographic.
Posted by Jeff Mooney
Group: SENIOR LIVING CONNECTION
Discussion: 8 Keys to Create Compelling Events that Drive Sales in Senior Living
I really appreciate your thoroughness in event planning. A great event could still lose prospects if the community is not covering all basis ahead of time.
Posted by Kira Anthofer Lopez
Group: SENIOR LIVING CONNECTION
Discussion: 8 Keys to Create Compelling Events that Drive Sales in Senior Living
I am a recent graduate having difficulty entering the field, but I love reading your articles. I agree that there is more than one way to make residents happy and impress them (responding to your other articles) and regarding this article, since I am very picky, I would just put myself in the role as a visitor or resident and think about what would I like to see around the facility to make it more appealing and fun and then get feedback before implementing these things. WONDERFUL ARTICLE!!!.
Posted by Carrie Johnson, MBA, MS
Group: SENIOR LIVING CONNECTION
Discussion: 8 Keys to Create Compelling Events that Drive Sales in Senior Living
I really enjoy your posts. I shared this one at our sales training last week. We are getting very good at events but this article still offered some great new ideas for our team. Thanks so much!
Posted by Sue Houseman