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Join in on the conversation about Senior Housing and the Silver Tsunami with Diane Masson, a senior housing expert for over 16 years. Throughout this site you will find priceless information for both professionals working in the senior housing industry… and for seniors who are seeking the inside secrets to the best options for housing available today!
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Diane Masson's Tips & Articles
Where is Your Attitude Meter Today?
Your attitude meter can subconsciously be affecting your sales performance. If I gave the same 10 leads to three senior living sales people with different types of attitudes, the sale results would vary widely. See where your attitude falls today. Poor Attitude “Oh no, another walk in, I am so busy.” Complains, “Everyone is simply not ready yet.” Very low repeat tours. Major thoughts – I’m tired, the leads are terrible and the sales goals are too high. Dreads follow up phone calls and people saying “No.” Believes the senior prospect when they say, “I am not ready yet.” Cares mostly about themselves. Average Attitude Takes a few minutes to gear up to go meet the walk-in tour. “I have a few good prospects, some are not ready yet.” A few repeat tours per week. Major thoughts – I can do this, there are some good leads, I want to hit the sales goals. Some days feel great doing follow up phone calls and other days are a struggle. Believes the senior prospect 70% of the time when they say, “I am not ready yet.” Cares equally about the prospect and themselves. Great Attitude Excited to greet the walk-in tour within moments of arrival. Continually plans strategies to turn warm and hot leads into move-ins. Lots of repeat tours. Major thoughts – I am excited, the leads are great, I can exceed the sales goals. Has enthusiasm in their voice as they eagerly make follow up phone calls. When a senior prospect says, “I am not ready yet,” they know the prospect is scared, but close to a transition....
Guarantee of Care For Life?
Many senior living communities say, “We will take care of you for the rest of your life.” Really? What if a senior legitimately runs out of his or her resources? Can they still stay for life? Is it a marketing spiel or a real guarantee? What promise is really written in the resident’s contract? Do they offer at least three levels of care including skilled nursing? Senior living communities can talk about a “fund” to help residents or a “Good Samaritan Fund.” My own mom was lucky enough to benefit from this type of fund. I never dreamed in a million years that my mom would live in a higher level of care like assisted living for so many years (seven to be exact). In the middle of those seven years, my mom ran out of her resources. She has social security, an annuity, a pension and a savings account. Her savings account depleted down to $2,000. Thank goodness my mom’s Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) had a Good Sam Fund that was developed out of generous donations. The little known fact was that only 10 seniors could benefit from the fund at any given time. My mom was number 10. I never knew if there was a resident whose number was 11 or higher that never received financial help. Now, I know about two CCRC’s in CA that offer a Guarantee of Care for life. It is straight up and clearly written in the contracts at Freedom Village in Lake Forest and The Village in Hemet. An attorney compared CCRC contracts in Orange County and determined that all...
Are You Enabling Senior Prospects to Stay Home?
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...
12 Strategies To Move Someone Who Says, “No!”
There was an overwhelming response of ideas and tactics through Linked In of “How To Move Someone Saying, “No!” (Part 1). Many people felt that you should never force a senior parent to move. Once the conversation specified parents with dementia, then everyone was onboard with possible solutions. Let me sum up the best strategies and “schemes” on how to move someone who is at risk and seems chained to their current home. Move your parent directly from a hospital crisis to a senior living community. Be ready to transition your parent to an assisted living community when the rehabilitation is over. Say, “As soon as you are better, I will move you back to your home.” The primary care physician can convince mom or dad that it is time to move and list the reasons why. (This generation is programed to abide by the doctor’s recommendations.) Bring a contractor by your parent’s home and say, “We need to work on the house and the plumbing will be shut down for two weeks. You are only going to move temporarily while the house gets worked on…” Sample stays of two to seven nights – to test-drive a retirement community. Show them where you want them to move and compare with an awful place they dislike. Send them to an adult day program for several weeks before moving them in full time. Sometimes you just need to push them to the next step when your parent’s health dictates it. The safety of your parent means switching the child/parent roles. You the Boomer child becomes the parent and makes the decision....
How To Move Someone Saying, “No!”
It would be very interesting for independent, assisted living and group homes to share examples of people who moved into your senior living community who initially said, “No, I don’t want to leave my home!” How many senior living residents have you experienced in this situation? Two weeks ago, I heard the story of an independent couple whose Boomer children moved them one hour closer to them. The dad said that he had left heel marks all the way up the freeway, because he didn’t want to move. Now, both he and his wife love living at their new Continuing Care Retirement Community that is located by their children and grandchildren. Tonight, I heard about Jim and Joan’s dad. He was clinically depressed and stayed in his pajamas all day. He only put on clothes when Jim picked him up (drove him one block) to spend time with his wife and grandchildren. Once his dad, Dwayne, got to their house and had dinner, he didn’t want to leave, even at 11:00 PM. Jim and his wife Carol both had to be at work at 7:00 AM. They literally had to take a resistant Dwayne back to his home each evening. This went on every night for one year. Jim finally reached the breaking point. Jim and his sister Joan went to find a retirement community for their dad. They had it all set up and then drove their dad to his new home. The entire way there, Dwayne kept saying, “No, no, no!” They said, “Dad, you will love it, give it a chance.” They showed him his new...
How Are You Feeding Your Mind?
Success in sales coming from a good attitude. Negative news sells newspapers and TV commercials. News commentators get paid to glamorize fear and a collapsing world. Overcome this fear by turning off the news and feeding your brain with positive thoughts and energy. What book(s) are you currently reading? How often do you read? Is there a certain time of day that works best for you? Do you read one chapter a day or multiple chapters? It seems like there are readers and nonreaders in the world. Do you have a friend who is always starting or finishing a great book? Hint: I bet they are more positive than your friends who don’t read regularly. These are my current go to books for working in senior living: “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” by Dale Carnegie. I have read this classic about five times, just finished it with one sales team and currently on part two, chapter one with another team. This is one of the greatest books ever. “Live Your Life Like It Matters,” by Scott V. Black. This book has sparked ideas for me to create team sales meetings and most recently an entire marketing retreat. I just finished this book and the last two chapters are due for a team review in the next two weeks. “The Sales Bible,” by Jeffrey Gitomer. I have read this great book twice, just selected it for our book review at two Continuing Care Retirement Communities and chapter one is due next week. “How I Raised Myself From Failure to Success Through Selling,” by Frank Bettger. Another classic that...
Feeling Critiqued Versus Evaluated in Senior Living?
“Critique” and “evaluate” are two simple words but often misconstrued by the receiver. In a recent team meeting, one department head described how one of her staff cries every time she tries to critique her. This makes it very difficult for this supervisor to work with her employee. The senior living team brainstormed together. Another department head said that it really should be called “evaluating performance” of the staff member and not critiquing. It is the responsibility of supervisors in senior living communities to continually evaluate his or her residents and document everything (particularly in skilled nursing care, assisted living and memory care). It sounds so simple, yet when a supervisor starts evaluating the caregiver providing the care to the resident…it can be misinterpreted as harsh criticism. Hopefully, supervisors continually critique themselves and try to improve their own coaching skills. How is a supervisor approaching an employee to administer an evaluation or yearly review? Everyone has different personalities and some supervisor’s direct approach can be confrontational to another personality type. Our marketing team just read, “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” by Dale Carnegie. It is an excellent book on how to interact with other employees. Evaluations should be capitalized on as a teaching opportunity, so the evaluated employee can continually improve. Can you share how you evaluate your senior living employees? How do you handle an employee who reacts negatively and turns the performance improvement plan into a personal attack on them? 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...
As My Mom Declines Should I Give Up On Her Walking?
My mom is 91 years old and has vascular dementia. She has slowly declined over the last nine years. Through my research, I can assume she is in one of the last two stages of dementia (there are seven). My mom has been in skilled nursing care for the last 9½ months and needs 100% assistance. The last thing that she could do on her own was feed herself. Now she has dramatically declined in the last month and even needs assistance with eating. She is still a good eater, but does not have the cognition to eat on her own. It is too much work for her. Her short-term memory seems like it has decreased to about one-second. Antipsychotic medications have reduced the amount and the intensity of her delusions, anxiety, crying and irritability. There have been medications added, increased and decreased in the last four months. It has been a balancing act to try to improve the quality of her emotions and cognition without having her become lethargic. Now my mom’s memory loss has affected her ability to walk. At the last care conference meeting, we discussed the quality of her life and whether it is a good idea to try to make someone walk or not. It takes constant encouragement to get her walking and she keeps trying to sit down. I have advocated for the caregivers to keep trying to walk her daily. They never make her, but lots of encouragement can produce a walk to breakfast or lunch. By dinnertime, my mom’s Sundowners Syndrome with anxiety and crying make it impossible to walk her....
Moving A Lifetime of Memories (Part 2)
Easiest move ever? Yes!!! It was a picture perfect move thanks to a senior friendly company called Helping Hands in California. They literally pulled out their smart phones and snapped “before pictures.” Then in the new home each mover referenced their smart phones to recreate a room, a bookcase or any area that had knick-knacks. Moving a Lifetime of Memories (Part 1) is about my decision to hire a senior moving company. An army of men arrived at 9:00 AM and the move went so fast. The same person that packed up the kitchen unpacked and organized the kitchen in our new home. This one fact alone was awesome and took tremendous stress off of me. The same mover that packed up the bathroom reorganized it in the new bathroom. It was amazing. Here is the completion level of each room on the day of the move: The kitchen is 100% done (just need to buy groceries and we are ready to cook). Living room is 100% done (including pictures on the wall). Dining room is 100% done (including pictures on the wall). The master bath is 100% done (everything is in it’s place). Office/music room is 95% done (books on the book shelves, pictures hung and still need to rightsize the closets a bit more). Coat and towel closet are 100% done. Master bedroom is 90% done (still need to reorganize the clothes hanging in the closet, buy two lamps and figure out what pictures to hang). Second bathroom is 0% done (only two boxes to unpack, because our two cats were crated in this room during the...
Moving a Lifetime of Memories (Part 1)
Eight months ago, I shared the journey of moving my mom 1000 miles to live in a skilled nursing community near me. Now, here is my journey of walking in a prospective senior resident’s shoes and moving – TODAY! What’s it like for a senior to move 30, 40 or 50 years worth of memories? Is it unsettling, heart wrenching, stressful and terrifying for a senior? My husband and I are moving today after living in a beautiful home for only two years and it feels disruptive, daunting and time consuming. Who likes moving? It’s anticipating or dreading that I will have temporarily or permanent lost items for months. Plus it can take months to settle in, hang pictures on the wall and start to feel like OUR home. Most people do not like change. It ‘s easier to just stay where you are and keep the status quo. Well, since we have to move, I decided to try a new method that we recommend to our clients at a Continuing Care Retirement Community called Freedom Village. I hired a senior moving company, who will literally take our pictures off the wall, pack all our belongings, move us, unpack everything and put the pictures back up on the walls. If we recommend this service to clients, why not see what it is really like ourselves? Maybe it won’t be as daunting and time consuming as when my husband and I used to hire two men and a truck? It will be a two-day move. The senior moving company called Helping Hands will take about three hours to pack us...
Dead Flowers on Valentine’s Day?
My sweetie didn’t intend to send me dead flowers for Valentine’s Day. He saw a beautiful arrangement online and had it delivered to my office as a special surprise. When I opened the box the flowers were closed, dried out, brown on the petal edges and shockingly in no water. What??!!? I pulled them out, read the lovely note from husband and put them in water to save them or bring them back to life. My husband was upset when he saw them and said he never would have ordered them if he had known they would arrive in this condition. He thought he had ordered flowers from a florist and they would arrive like the picture shown. This Valentine snafu reminds me of how adult Boomer children select a retirement, assisted living, memory care or skilled nursing community based on the size of the apartment and what the lobby looks like versus the quality of care. Almost every Boomer child wants the best for his or her parent, but some judge senior living community solely on external appearances. In multiple states, I have encountered loving caring staff at senior living communities that have not been recently remodeled, with small apartments or don’t have enormous acreage. It is very challenging to market these properties, but I have witnessed some amazing sales people overcome this dilemma. They say the best defense is a strong offense. Here is what one marketer said in Washington state about tired furniture in the lobby: “We don’t have a big brand new building with a lavish lobby entrance but what we do have is a...
“My Cat Has Diarrhea!”
Believe it or not, I heard a senior living sales person say, “My cat has diarrhea,” to a hot prospect.” They blew the sale, because the senior was so worried about the sick cat. Really?!!? Do you accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative at your senior living community? Maybe you better check. It’s easy for senior living marketing people to over compensate and share what you do you do not offer. They are just trying to be helpful to the customer. They are not trying to sabotage sales and send seniors to the competitor. Every retirement community has its strong points and weak points. It does not matter if you are brand new or 25 years old. Always showcase your strengths. Is this something that you teach your senior living advisors? How do they learn it? Don’t make an assumption that they will learn it by osmosis. Here is an expert from a chapter in my book called, “ Never Say to the Customer.” There is such a thing as being too honest with the customer with statements such as: “You were on my list to call today.” “You were on my schedule to be followed up with today.” Telling the customer we will retain 10%. Instead saying, “The entrance fee is 90% refundable to your estate.” NEVER EVER refer to people as “a sale!” Please don’t call them a “prospect” in their presence or to their face. They are all your “guests,” in this book; I have referred to them as “prospective guests.” Please note: The term “prospect” or “prospective guests” is meant for marketing and is...Learn More About Senior Housing
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