“I’m not ready yet!”

Scenario One:  The senior prospect says, “I am not ready yet.”  And you say, “Okay!”  You might even try to call them a second or third time, but you get the same answer and give up.  So you schedule a call out for six months or a year.

Scenario Two:  The senior prospect says, “I am not ready yet.”  And you say, “Okay!”  Then you change tactics and start inviting them to events or a lunch at your senior living community instead of expecting them to make a decision to move over the phone.  You schedule an invitational call every couple weeks or once a month.

You can’t sell someone over the phone.

Are you trying to sell a senior over the phone?  Nobody is ever ready to move, particularly a senior who tends to live in the present moment.  Quit enabling seniors to live at home, by giving up on them or believing the “I’m Not Ready Yet” mantra.

Instead, do everything in your power to get them to come for an enjoyable visit that holds no pressure.  If you pressurize them over the phone, every time you call, it makes people cling to their armchair a little harder and not leave the house.

How about gently pulling them to an entertainment event, a luncheon or an outing with the residents.  Remember that most seniors are lonely and will venture out if you are not going to pressurize them.

Every senior that DECIDES to move has to determine for himself or herself that they will gain more by living in your retirement community than what they will give up in their precious home.  Sometimes it just takes patience and persistance.

Please share your successes, 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.  Currently, Masson is setting move-in records as the regional marketing director of 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.

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