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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
Are Your Over Qualifying Prospective Senior Residents?
Sometimes there is tremendous pressure from management to make sure a prospective senior has the financial resources in order to move into your retirement community. First, engage the customer and make sure they are in love with the lifestyle and connect with what your senior living community has to offer, before you start grinding on them for financial specifics. Build Value First or Your Senior Prospects Will Run Away! Even savvy seniors can disqualify themselves. They consider themselves poor even though they have a mortgage-free home to sell, social security, a pension, possibly an annuity, about 30% have long-term care insurance, IRA’s and of course some type of savings. Many seniors have worked with an attorney to set up a trust and now have limited their resources. Sometimes these seniors have to get financial permission from the trust in order to move into your retirement community. Keep financial qualifying loose, until the senior is really excited about moving into your community. For example, you may be a Continuing Care Retirement Community that requires twice the entrance fee in assets and 1 ½ times of the monthly fee in income. Say something more friendly like: “Each person (couple) is unique, some seniors have more assets and less monthly income and other seniors have high monthly incomes and are a little lower on the assets. Generally we are looking for 1½ times to 2 times the entrance fee in assets and 1½ to 2 times the monthly fee in monthly income. Many things are considered assets like rental income or long term care insurance.” Then shut up…or you can lose the sale....Burnt Pizza Can Be Like Senior Housing – Does this describe your Community?
At the Seattle airport, Wolfgang Puck had some beautiful pizzas in the display window. I ordered one and mine was well done – almost burnt. Should I have taken it back? I ate it. It was good enough…then when I walked by the display window again…I had to look…the display had a burnt pizza. Why would anyone showcase burnt anything? If you make pizzas, how hard is it to make them perfect (I was in the pizza business for 3 years early in my career)? How are you showcasing your retirement community? How is your phone being answered? Is it answered within one or two rings? When guests arrive at your community how are they greeted? Does the receptionist stand to greet them? Are guests offered water on hot days and coffee on cold days? Are first impressions a priority for your organization? Or is everything good enough? Is your 85% to 90% occupancy good enough? What would it take to go to 95% or 100%? How are you differentiating yourself from your competitors? Is everyone in the neighborhood, just getting by and just good enough? Why not stand out from the senior housing pack and go above and beyond? How about exceeding expectations? What about giving a WOW experience? What does it take to give a WOW experience? Sometimes it is only a 5% to 10% difference, but it takes a team approach! Some communities are making changes and watching the occupancy grow! What is making the difference? 1) Pull in the driveway of your community with the eyes of a customer on a regular basis. 2) Have...Which Internet Lead Referral Company Provides the Most Value?
When all the smoke and thunder blows away, which company can provide me the best quality leads that will increase my occupancy immediately? Keep reading for the answer. I was shocked to find out in my research how many Internet leads a senior housing community has to go through in order to get two sales – the answer can be about 100! This is my third article regarding researching senior housing Internet referral companies. All the major players do a pretty good job of differentiating themselves from each other. Some companies seem to do a better job of identifying and targeting qualified leads than others. Some have great web sites, live care advisors, blogs or have fantastic placement on the Internet. A majority of the legitimate leads tend to need some help with the activities of daily living. Pay Per Move In – In talking with a lot of administrators, in a variety of senior housing options, they tend to shy away from paying an entire month of rent for a move-in. It is a big chunk of change and I have personally experienced several bad outcomes with this choice. One challenge was when we offered the 2nd month free to get move-ins. The Internet company received one months rent, we gave the 2nd month away for free and the residents moved out at the end of the 2nd month. Yes, it cost us money to have these people live at our assisted living community. I have also had great results with pay-per-move-in in the past, including increasing sales by 10% per month with straight independent living or assisted...I’m Not Ready Yet!!!!
When you hear a senior prospect or family member say these words – what runs through your mind first? How do you respond? Do you believe them? At every encounter with a prospective resident, someone always buys the popcorn – either the sales person or the senior! Recently, I was going through some retirement community’s databases and lead after lead after lead had a “NRY” as the number one response in the notes. I had to ask, “What is “NRY”?” The retirement counselors in unison said, “Not ready yet.” I thought quietly to myself, “Why the heck would anyone put such a negative assertion in his or her database?” The next time they look at the lead, they are going to immediately think that it’s a crappy lead. I believe that every lead is great! If someone hangs up on me, the prospective resident is just having a bad day. I have actually called these back again and they have been receptive, come in for a tour and eventually moved in. When someone says they are not ready yet, do you blow the person off like I see some sales people do? Are you just looking for a quick sale on a silver platter or a 30-day move-in? Well then you are missing a ton of sales and this is why the occupancy is down at your retirement community. Real sales people know that persistence pays off. I have called people every month for one year and then they turned into a sale! Those can be the most gratifying sales! Do you have a Negative Nellie working your precious...Trying to Evaluate Senior Housing Internet Referral Choices?
Every one of us is so busy in senior living sales and marketing. Some of you are pure sales and others are juggling marketing with sales. With walk-ins, tours, and phone inquiries happening constantly, who has time to research Internet exposure and lead referral companies? Maybe I can help…I have been looking into this for a few weeks and have learned a lot. You can do “Pay for Click,” which means you buy high placement for key words that show up in a Google search. Ever wonder how companies get in the colored box at the top of the screen with a Google search or have placement on the right hand side of your screen? Every time someone clicks on that link, you pay, no matter what. If someone is looking for a job, the phone number to your community to talk to a resident or simply click but have no interest, it can cost you 50 cents to $5.00 or more. When I looked into it, there were almost 400 versions of the keywords independent living, senior living and senior housing. The cost was going to be almost $1000 a month for a ten-mile radius. Are you kidding me? They had not even included key words such as assisted living, skilled nursing care or a Continuing Care Retirement Community yet! Another easier choice for those of us in senior housing seems to be the Internet lead referral companies. They buy all the clicks and key words, so they take all the risk. Most of them have a live person talking to the inquiries, so by the time we...Choosing Rental Versus Entrance Fees in Senior Housing
Many seniors or adult boomer children looking for housing struggle to understand the difference between selecting a month-to-month rental choice vs. selecting an entrance fee at a Continuing Care Retirement Community. I have seen people create excel spreadsheets in order to understand what may have better financial implications in the long run for their family member. A couple of key question to ask yourself in your search for senior housing are: How long do you plan to live? (I know it’s a tough question, but are you living a healthy lifestyle now? The age of parents at death can be a small factor, but how you treat your body with exercise and eating healthy is considered a key to aging well now.) Do you have long-term care insurance? (Having it can be considered an asset, but it comes with an expensive monthly fee and some policies have limits of two or three years of maximum care in a skilled nursing center. Older policies do not include in-home care or assisted living, so check your policy.) Can your savings and assets survive, if you and/or your spouse needed assisted living or skilled nursing care for 5 or more years? The average cost of Skilled Nursing Care on a national basis runs between $6,500 and month and $9,500 a month according to a national Metlife survey. Why is this cost important? Because this is a cost that can quickly wipe out your savings account. Month-to-month retirement community rentals offer no protection for the future…what if you live there for eleven years and run out of assets? If you can’t make your...Interviewing 5 Internet Lead Choices – To Increase the Occupancy!
All the big players in senior housing have a budget for Internet leads. With all the Internet lead companies vying for your dollar – how do you choose? We all want to get the best bang for our buck – and we want results – move-ins now! Pew research has indicated that 50% of seniors are online users now and that 70% of web savvy seniors get online every single day. Baby boomer adult children are surfing the web researching options for their aging parents. Is your online presence strong? This month I am going on a search to determine which senior housing Internet lead referral companies can bring the best the results for some companies I represent. My strategy is to interview 5 of the top national players who provide senior housing leads. A Place For Mom Seniors For Living SeniorHomes.com SeniorLiving.net Caring.com This is what I want to learn: What’s better – paying a full month’s rent for a move-in or individually paying for Internet leads? How many Internet leads does it take for a move in? What kinds of filters do they provide, so my leads are the best quality? If a lead is no good, do I still have to pay? Will too many garbage Internet leads discourage my salespeople? If the Internet lead person moves in and then moves out in two months, do I still have to pay a full months rent? For Independent Living and Assisted Living leads, how are the leads income qualified, so I don’t end up with low-income or senior apartment leads? Can they find entrance fee applicants for...4 Things That Can Make Your Senior Living Sales Team Olympians!
1) A great Olympic attitude – every single day! The attitude of a senior living sales person can literally increase or decrease your occupancy. Every gold medalist Olympian has an amazing story of adversity that they overcame with a great attitude. Some of the new Olympians even gave up on their sport for a year or more and then came back to win with a positive team spirit and an amazing coach! Does the senior living sales coach at your organization have a winning attitude that is contagious to the team? Can you feel the energy in the office and at your retirement community marketing events? 2) Believing like an Olympian in the community with 100% conviction! If the targeted occupancy goal is 95 percent at your assisted living and you are running at 90 percent, 85 percent, or less, how can you function under this pressure? How can you keep this stressor out of your interactions with the customer? Are you Unbelieving Ursula—wringing your hands and scratching your head? Or are you Believing Betty—charming prospects by painting a pretty picture of their potential lifestyle in your amazing community? 3) Having the work ethic of an Olympian! Move-ins don’t happen without follow up calls and tours period. Are you personal texting and chatting with residents or making 15 to 20 calls a day – EVERY DAY! This will result in a minimum of 5 tours a week! With enough potential residents walking in the door of your Continuing Care Retirement Community, it’s just a matter of them recognizing that your community is the best! Olympic senior living sales people...
The Benefits of a Weekly Marketing Book Review in Senior Living!
Does your team need to recharge their enthusiasm? Has the marketing team gotten off track? Do you need to sharpen your sales techniques? Try a weekly marketing book review. Whether your senior living team is one sales person and the executive director or your team consists of three to six marketing people, it’s time to get the creative juices flowing again! If a sales team is not learning and growing, it becomes complacent and stagnant. First, select a book to review. There are lots of great choices out there. Look around on Amazon.com, ask your sales people for ideas or get suggestions at senior housing conferences. My marketing teams are currently reading “Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full,” by Diane Twohy Masson. (Yes, this is my book.) We have completed four chapters in five weeks. Our next book review conference call is chapter five scheduled for Tuesday. It has been wonderful to watch the teams grow together. Participants include entrance fee sales people for independent living in Continuing Care Retirement Communities, assisted living marketers and skilled nursing admissions. They come from five areas and as the weeks progress the team members feel freer to share what has worked or has not worked in their area and other team members benefit from their experience. We have had some great discussions including how many calls (in the existing database) it takes to get X amount of tours or people coming to the community for events. Best practice numbers for one team member were 157 voice-to-voice calls in 3 weeks, which resulted in 23 families coming...Do You Educate the Customer on Senior Housing & Healthcare Choices?
It’s always beneficial to become the customer’s friend by being a resource for all senior living information. Learn your market choices and share as much information as possible, so the senior or their family can make a good decision. It’s always good to ask the prospect, if they have just started exploring their options or find out if they are further along into research mode. Seniors and baby boomer adult children, who are just starting out, often need some basic information. How you present it, depends on what senior housing option you represent. When people are making a move, it’s always a good idea to figure out the costs of future health care, home maintenance and services (such as dining, 24-hour emergency call system and housekeeping). 1) One option is for seniors to stay in their own home. Some seniors choose to live with children or have their adult children live with them. This is a great option if someone’s son or daughter is a repair person, great cook and willing to drive them to doctor appointments, when they are not able to drive. 2) Staying at home with home healthcare. Home healthcare can provide a qualified person who can help with medication management and assist with the activities of daily living. Costs average $21 an hour on a national basis, which can quickly turn into $15,000 a month with full time care. 3) Moving into a condo provides for most of the maintenance, repairs, home upkeep and yard work. It can come with home owner’s association (HOA’s) dues of $300 – $1500 a month. 4) Independent living –...HELP – I Don’t Have Time to Make My Follow Up Calls!
Is this you? Is this your senior living sales person? Unless you have 10 to 15 tours a week, you have time to make follow up phone calls. Some people share this song and dance with only having one or two tours for the week – really? Come on…what are you really doing? A legitimize excuse, for not making calls, would be having five move-ins for the week! That’s a lot of paperwork! If you were organizing a health fair with twenty venders to generate more leads – would also be worthy of a pass. Time management is a beautiful thing and not everyone has this gift. Sales people need coaching, goals and daily targets to achieve. Break it down, to connecting with 15 people in a day. Recent averages for my successful sales people would be about 30 phone calls in a day to achieve 15 voice-to-voice contacts (this can include call-ins, but mostly call-outs). Out of the 15 voice contacts, they averaged scheduling 3 to 6 appointments per day for prospective residents to come to the community. Two people, who were called in one day, were actually interested in moving in soon. One person said, “The timing of your call was perfect, it’s time that I move into a retirement community.” Phone calling success in senior housing includes inviting them to exciting events at the community, which you should have on at least a monthly basis. Chapter six in my book Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full is Great Events Can Fill Your Building. An almost imperceptible time drain can include...“I’m not ready yet!”
How many times have you heard this from people considering a senior living community? It’s probably the number one customer comment, after touring a continuing care retirement community, independent living or assisted living community. As a sales person, you sometimes honestly have to laugh after the appointment… The really humorous part is that a significant number of the people saying, “I’m not ready yet!” can barely qualify health wise for the community. They are shuffling with walkers and canes and may not even be able to tour the entire community before becoming exhausted with fatigue. You think to yourself, wow, you almost don’t qualify, how can you not be ready yet? So how do we sell something to someone who desperately needs it? First, we can’t butt heads with them. Don’t argue! Stop trying to talk them into it! Once you have brought someone’s resistance up, you are in a losing battle. Objections are one of two things. Either something we failed to cover during our time (discovery and tour) with them or they simply need more information. If you wait until the end of your time together to cover objections, then you are battling the prospective resident and creating a stressful sales experience by being a Stressful Sally or Sam. You can cover objections before they become an objection by using examples of past tour experiences. It’s the “friend approach” and it’s very effective. Share a recent story of a resident who was not ready yet and moved into your community at his children’s insistence or another reason. He or she had fallen several times and they were...Learn More About Senior Housing
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