Welcome…
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!
You can subscribe to my weekly newsletter to get the most up to date industry news and tips to help you navigate the senior housing market for the Silver Tsunami! You will find the answers your looking for in my books and articles and make waves with all the secrets I’ve learned ! It’s simple … just choose the option that fits for you to the right.
I am a Senior Looking for Housing Options
Everything seniors need to know about navigating the senior housing options & the Silver Tsunami.
I am a Senior Housing Professional
Everything you need to know to increase your community’s occupancy & provide outstanding service to seniors.
The Latest Senior Housing News...
Diane Masson's Tips & Articles
Stop Multitasking and Increase Sales in Senior Living
Are you juggling these 10 things all at the same time in your assisted living, memory care, skilled nursing care or Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC)? The phone is ringing with a new inquiry There is a new walk-in in the lobby Scheduled tours are arriving Going to a meeting requested by your Executive Director or Director of Marketing Working with maintenance to make sure the apartment is renovated properly Finishing the paperwork for a new move-in Calling the doctor to have them send back a medical report for a new move in Touring a family member of an upcoming move-in Residents coming in the office to ask questions Preparing for the next event What is not on this list? What about calling or following-up with anyone in your database? I know…you don’t have time. But you do have time… Did you know it takes 25 to 40 percent longer to get a job done when you are multitasking? Yes!! So how do you become more efficient? Work on one task at a time. Shut the door to your office for one hour and just make calls in the morning. If you do this everyday, you can make about 15 calls a day. Two things will happen if you take the time to increase your calls: Your sales will increase, because you will be proactively marketing versus reactively waiting for every customer to call you back. Your occupancy will rise, because the percentage of senior prospects who select an apartment on the first tour are low. The average person touring assisted living needs to see it three times and...
Senior Living Newbie Trust is Like “Monsters University”
Disney’s “Monsters University” movie really struck a cord with me. The “Monsters University” movie was about a team who perseveres through a “Scary Competition” together. As a newly formed team, they didn’t believe in each other. As the experience grew they started to believe. When Mike (the small green one-eyed monster with the heart of a lion) took the the monsters on a field trip, the entire team saw that each of them could be a scary winner individually and really trusted each other. The scary team became invested in supporting one another and helping weak players grow stronger. Even the mean lady who was the dean of “Monsters University” was surprised by the perseverance of Mike and Sulley (the big furry blue and purple monster). NO ONE believed in this team of misfits. Yet they proved to go above and beyond what anyone in the school had ever done before. When the dean locked Mike and Sully in the human world, Mike figured out a way to get out with the help of Sulley TRUSTING Mike. Mike was the brain and Sulley was the brawn. Individually they would not have made it, as a team of two who TRUSTED each other, they were successful. When senior living sales people are new – they don’t know whom to trust on the operations team. Will their co-worker have his or her back or throw them under the bus? It’s important to have a good on-boarding system that creates experiences to build team trust. Here are several ideas to help develop trust on your senior living team: If several of your...
Is Advocacy the Answer for Assisted Living?
As a daughter with a mom in skilled nursing care, the PBS documentary entitled “Life and Death in Assisted Living” really upset me. My mom has vascular dementia and I have been her advocate for the last 7 years in assisted living. Those of you who follow my blog know that I moved my mom 1000 miles into a skilled nursing care near me – about 10 weeks ago. This transition happened because I was 100% in tune with my mom’s needs. We all know someone who had a horror story during a hospital stay. Last week one of my colleagues was shocked to walk in and find her dad in soft restraints after heart surgery. He was 82 and not coming out of the anesthesia well. The nurse said that she did not have enough staff to help him, so she had to use soft arm restraints. My colleague asked if they could please remove the restraints. She and her mom each took one arm of her dad and literally held him thrashing around all night with no sleep. Every senior or human being needs an advocate to make sure that the care they are paying thousands of dollar per month in any level of care is being provided. Trying to be a good advocate for my mom and living two states away – just about killed me. You have to have eyes on your loved one or pay someone to come in and be your eyes – particularly when they have dementia. When a senior has dementia, like my mom, they get to the point where they...
The Most Special Name in Skilled Nursing Care
What is your favorite word in the English language? It is probably your own name. When a senior gets to the point of living in assisted living or skilled nursing care – his or her memory is most likely failing. So the most magical word they can hear is their own name. Recently I was blown away at the Freedom Village Healthcare Center in California. My mom has lived there for about 2 months. When I walked down the hall with my mom, every single staff person spoke to her with a smile. They either said her first name or her last name “Mrs. Twohy.” Then they would share some encouraging statement. It was not just one or two staff. We literally ran into about 14 staff on our walk and each made my mom feel special. She smiled back at each one and it was wonderful to see her joy. After having lunch with my mom and family in the outdoor fountain courtyard, my brother was taking my mom back inside and a staff person pointed at my brother’s hat and said, “Your name is on your hat.” My brother was so surprised. It took him a moment to realize that that this person knew his last name – Twohy, because our mom lives there in skilled nursing care. So the staff not only makes my mom feel special everyday, but reach out to family members as well. Noticing “Twohy” on my brother’s hat goes above and beyond and created a real “wow” for my family. It showed me that every employee is committed to calling the residents...
How Self-Image Can Effect Your Senior Living Occupancy
Which type of self-image describes you or your senior living sales team members? Low Self-Image “I don’t have anyone interested in moving in.” Sits in their office and complains about a lack of leads and has no energy. They feel frustrated and think all the prospects walking in the door are poor quality. When a senior says they are not ready yet, this senior living sales person believes them 100% and will put them at the bottom of the database. Average Self-Image “I have a few people interested in moving here.” They have part time enthusiasm in the office. This person has a desire to build relationships with prospective senior residents and nurture move-ins. When a senior says they are not ready yet, they “kind of” believe them. Great Self-Image “I have a lot of great leads, they just need to come back to our retirement community a few more times and fall in love with the residents – then they will move in.” Looks forward to each walk-in appointment or call in – as a possible quick move in. Believes in themselves and sales ability to help anyone move in. When a senior says they are not ready yet, they know the senior is just scared and continue nurturing the relationship to build trust. As a manager, you can coach someone with an average self-image. A sales person with a great self-image can be coached to be a super star in sales. A senior living sales person with low self-image will not increase your occupancy. Let them go… Please share your success, failures or comment to join the...
A Simple Mind Shift to Increase the Senior Housing Occupancy
One of the most common mistakes in senior living sales is believing the potential senior resident when they say, “I’m not ready yet!”. Please, please, please – don’t believe them. When you hear those four common words, simply change them to “I am scared”. It is so hard for a senior to give up their home of 30, 40 or 50 years and make a move. Just the idea of packing up all of their worldly possessions can be overwhelming. Be professional, reassuring and always ask them their timeline for making a move. If they say they will move in a year, it will really be 6 months. If they say 5 years, it’s really about 2 or 3 years. You simply take the number they say and cut it in half, then you nurture that relationship with a touch every 3 months. If you do this already – way to go! Congratulations, because you are in the minority of senior living sales people. Most senior living sales people, hear “I’m not ready yet” and bury that lead in their database. In our world of instant gratification, sales people just want to grab the people who say, I am ready now. Well guess what? Those are only 20% of the sales, so if your occupancy is down – here is probably why! 80% of seniors need to be listened to, nurtured and coddled into moving in. Increase your senior housing occupancy today with this simple mind shift! Please share your success, failures or comment to join the conversation and interact with other senior living professionals on what is currently...
13 Quick Tips to Increase the Occupancy by 3%!
Focus on personal and team occupancy goals (visualize success). Expect the entire senior living sales team to have a good attitude. Treat every initial lead as hot until they cool off. Listen to prospective residents and solve their problems. Don’t listen when they say, “I am not ready yet.” Give a wow tour! Introduce prospective residents to multiple residents and staff. Always inquire about a senior’s timeline on making a move. Ask for the deposit – every time. Have fun. Represent a beautiful and clean retirement community. Call potential senior residents or their boomer children the next day after the tour. The sales team needs to believe and treat every walk-in or Internet lead as though they are ready to move in now! Please share your success, failures or comment 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 for sale at Amazon.com. Masson’s book will be required reading at George Mason University in the Fall as part of the marketing curriculum. She is currently consulting with two debt-free Continuing Care Retirement Communities in Southern California – Freedom Village in Lake Forest and The Village in Hemet, California. Connection and partnership opportunities:...
Moving My Mom 1000 Miles From Assisted Living to Skilled Nursing Care (Part 3)
Up to now, it has been a tough six-week transition for my mother. Right after we moved my mom to skilled nursing care, she was announcing to those who would listen that she was kidnapped. Really?? Oh my!! This was actually the clearest thing she was saying and the rest was random scattered memories mixed with 75 – 95 percent delusions. It was very tough for me to see. But I never gave up on her clarity coming back. Tomorrow, on Monday, it will be six weeks since I moved my mom from Seattle to California. You may have missed my previous blog posts on the preparations for moving my mom because she was diagnosed with breast cancer (Part 1) and the trauma and joy of moving day itself (Part 2). It has been a tough road as a boomer daughter with a ton of paperwork, but it has a happy ending. My mom lives at a wonderful community that I represent in Lake Forest, CA. Who was the worst marketer for about three weeks? Yup, my mom!! She was announcing daily that she had not been fed breakfast. My mom was so convincing that two different department heads (who don’t work in the health care center), believed her when they walked by and tried to get her more food. I appreciate both of them always watching out for all our residents, including my mom. It turned out that my mom’s thyroid was out of whack. Now, my mother is back to her happy dementia self. Today, it was a joy to witness her having 70 percent clarity of...
No hot leads? Seriously?!!?
Are hot leads attitude or reality? I say attitude! Some senior living sales people expect a prospective resident to walk in and say, “I have my house on the market and I’m ready to move into your retirement community.” How often does this happen? It could happen 20% of the time. This means 80% of the time, a sales person needs to build a relationship, document it in the database and do the dreaded follow up phone calls. Oh yeah, it’s called work. If it was easy selling senior living, retirement counselors would be paid minimum wage. With proper nurturing, over time, a cool lead can become warm and a warm lead can become hot! Too many senior living sales people say they don’t have any hot leads. Yet, if you were a little mouse on their shoulder, while they met with a senior…. This is what you might hear the prospective senior resident say, “I’m not ready yet (NRY).” In sales they say, don’t listen to the first no. Well I say, don’t listen to the first 10 NRY! The senior can still be a hot lead (ready to move in a few months)! NRY simply translated means I am scared. It’s hard for a senior to give up their home of 30, 40 or 50 years and move. It’s a lot of work. The more time they spend at your retirement community the better. They will fall in love with your residents. Then the senior can decide they will gain more by moving into your retirement community, than what they are giving up. The mindset of the...
15 CCRC Move-Ins in One Month?!!?
Then add another 17 Continuing Care Retirement Community move-ins scheduled for these two California CCRC’s in the next 3 months…This has been the result of a good work ethic for the previous 3 months. 300 calls per month per sales person 20 tours per month per sales person The sales will come when the work ethic is in place – trust me – it works. Break the monthly goal down to a daily goal of 15 calls and one tour per day. A new senior living sales person can easily do it. A director of marketing with sales responsibilities can do it too. In order for the two senior living sales teams to have this much success – they need to be backed by amazing operational teams that support marketing 100%: First, you need to have enough leads walking in the door and coming to events. Hopefully your corporation supports marketing with an adequate advertising budget. Do you enjoy a great reputation of serving excellent food? Our chef is a tremendous support to my teams and makes events and tours memorable. How is your health care reputation? Do the local hospitals and doctors recommend your assisted living, skilled nursing or memory care? If they don’t – fix it now! Guests need to drive up and see beautiful landscaping, a well cared for building and an ultra clean retirement community. It may be time to remodel if it’s been 10 years or looks tired. Friendly residents and smiling staff – these two can make or break sales and my communities have both! Can prospective senior residents SEE your residents having...
Ready for Boomers Texting Your Food?
My husband Chris and I received this unappetizing text, with a photo of food, from our friend Dave in rehab. This was the text: Chris: How are you, what are you doing? Dave: Nothing, this is my meal… Chris: That looks horrible. Dave: Yeah tell me about it. This tastes as good as it looks – which is terrible. Diane: Which rehab are you at? Dave: XXXX in Federal Way, WA. Diane: The food looks disgusting, I am so sorry, how have the other meals been? Dave: Just as bad… Would I ever recommend this place to anyone based on this photo – no way! Get ready for the boomers texting their meals to their other boomer friends. Institutional food is a thing of the past. Most retirement communities offer chef prepared meals now. The boomers have a discriminating palette and won’t tolerate bad food. Are you proud of the food you are serving at your Rehab, Skilled Nursing Center, Healthcare Center, Long-term Care Facility, Assisted Living, Independent Living, Memory Care or Continuing Care Retirement Community? Would you eat it? Please comment 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 for sale at Amazon.com. Masson’s book will be required reading at George Mason University in the Fall as part of the marketing curriculum. She is currently consulting with Seniors For Living and two debt-free Continuing Care Retirement Communities in Southern California – Freedom Village in Lake Forest and...
Strategizing Hot Leads?
Are you strategizing out your next move with warm and hot senior housing leads on a daily or weekly basis? A senior living sales person should always take time to reflect after an appointment with a prospective resident. Immediately input notes into your lead database system (like REPS). If you wait until the end of the day or don’t use a database system, this could be negatively affecting your occupancy. Jot down some key situational information: Where are they living now? Home value? What prompted his or hers visit? Is anyone helping them now? What is their greatest concern? Are they lonely? Health issues? Pets? What is most important to them in a future home? Which apartments did you show them and which one did they like best? Assets? Monthly income? What did they like best about your retirement community? Could they see themselves living in your community? Timeframe for moving in? As a senior living sales person reflects on the above situation, a strategy for the next step in the sales process can start to formulate. It is extremely beneficial to run this by a sales collogue, your director of marketing or your executive director. I don’t care how many years that you have worked in this business; two heads can strategize better than one. I discuss hot leads with my teams every week. Team members contribute excellent suggestions to help a warm lead become hot or help turn a hot lead into a move-in. Strategizing leads can be the spice of life to help increase your occupancy! It works!!! Please comment to join the conversation and interact...Learn More About Senior Housing
Follow Senior Housing News
