Marketing 2 Seniors | The Blog
with Author: Diane Masson
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 taking too much time talking to residents and/or helping residents. We love them so much and it’s so much easier to shoot the breeze with residents instead of hearing another “no” on the telephone from our database. Our residents deserve dignity and respect. But let’s look at all the employees at your senior living community… 97% or more of the employees are hired to take care of the residents. Less than 3% handle the marketing to fill the building. Marketers should redirect the resident to the 97% or more of the operational employees who are being paid to serve them. I believe in the two-minute rule, any resident can have one to two minutes and then say, “I would love to talk longer, but I have a phone call, meeting or tour that I need to do,” (whatever is really true).
The bottom line is that proactive marketers make follow up phone calls the next day after a tour and on a regular basis communicate with their database. Start increasing your occupancy today…
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.netBlog: http://marketing2seniors.net/blog/
“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 concerned that even with an emergency pendant in their home, they might not be able to press it and could be laying on the floor for several days (before help arrives). It gives them a lot of peace of mind to know we have a plan in place to take care of almost any situation at our community. I would love for you to meet them…
A prospect could not be mad at you for sharing this story! It is a real story and one that the potential resident and their family has to consider when they go home, because they are not ready yet… The next fall or hearing about another senior falling will trigger the story in their mind again. If you continue calling on a monthly basis to check in, they can suddenly become one of your hottest leads…
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/
The Occupancy is NOT my Fault! It’s the Economy!
Have you heard this from your sales and marketing teams? Is this what the executive director of your senior living community is saying? Are you buying the popcorn? Come on…wake up…seniors are moving into retirement communities everyday. If it is not yours, it’s into your competition.
Is your senior living occupancy below 90%? The first thing to look at is the attitude of your team. Do they believe they can do it? Are they truly doing everything they can to fill the building? Are you having exciting events to draw in new faces? When guests arrive at your building are they treated like a precious jewel worth thousands of dollars? They should be – one move-in could be worth $36,000 per year to your bottom line. Does the receptionist jump up to great them? Is your phone answered with clarity and enthusiasm?
Are the sales people selling the real estate or the emotion? If your team is only selling the real estate (floor plans and apartments), people would just rather stay in their own home. Senior living communities are about a vibrant lifestyle – do your offer one or is it just bingo? Seniors want the security you offer instead of being isolated in their own home. One of a senior’s biggest fears is having a bad fall, not being able to call for help and end up – stuck – lying on the floor for several days. Are you sharing life-long-learning opportunities and the connectivity with like-minded seniors at your community? Do you offer them? How about sharing the peace of mind (in some CCRC’s) – just knowing that if something did happen to a resident’s finances they could have a guarantee of care for the rest of their lives?
The biggest tell tail sign of low occupancy is a low amount of call-outs after a tour. It seems so obvious, to give a quick call to the previous day’s tours. Just find out what they liked best the previous day, answer any more questions and always share something NEW that you failed to mention yesterday. Consistent follow-up phone calls is the key! ALL seniors say they are not ready! It means they don’t have enough information YET and they can’t picture themselves living there. Keep inviting them back to exciting events! You don’t need every senior in your city to picture themselves at your community…only enough to have 100% occupancy.
My book, “Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full,” teaches 12 keys to kick-start your sales and marketing program in the right direction. Good luck and start watching your occupancy increase!
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/
The illustration has a copyright of 2011 by Diane Twohy Masson. The illustration may not be reproduced – mechanically, electronically, or by any other means, including photocopying or scanning – without the written permission of the copyright holder. Requests for permission can be submitted to Marketing 2 Seniors.
When the Very First Question is “How Much Does it Cost?”
How do you respond when the first question someone asks is: “How much is a one bedroom or two bedroom apartment?” Do you share the pricing immediately? If so, how is that working out for you? Is your retirement community building full using this method?
How many of you ask the prospect a few questions first? What do you ask? Do you find out if they have looked at any other continuing care retirement communities for example? Or, do you ask if they are looking for a loved one, if you are an assisted living community? What else do you ask?
Do any of you build value for your senior living community, before giving out the price? Do you believe it’s a disservice to give out the price, before they can compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges? How many of you feel that you are exactly like your competition and a one bedroom at your community is the same as a competitor down the road?
Many senior living sales people fear the angry hang up, if they don’t answer the pricing question immediately. Yet, if you answer the pricing question right away, the immediate response can be, “Oh, that costs way too much.” Then you get the hang up… True sales people and closers work on building a relationship with the customer, practice great listening skills, create value for what they can offer and differentiate themselves from their competitors. Let’s hear – what works for you and how full you are…who is first?
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/
How Many Sales Are Sitting in Your Senior Living Database?
First, you need to have a database! Second, after each inquiry calls in or walks in, the contact information (senior and/or baby boomer adult children) needs to be captured in your database. Most retirement communities have a database of 1,500 to 15,000 names (please note that real leads are somewhere in the department of 3,000 names or less).
I recommend that your leads be sorted into hot, warm and cool. Hot leads will move into the community in the next two months, warm leads will move in about six months and cool leads are beyond a six-month move-in. Hot leads should be touched weekly. Warm leads should be touched bi-monthly depending on their situation. Cool leads should be touched quarterly.
Typically, most senior housing organizations also have a large group of people who are not interested now and just want to be on the mailing list. These need to be organized too! Even when someone says, just put me on the mailing list and don’t call – I still schedule a call once a year with him or her. Some of you may say, “No way – I will go by their wishes to never call!” Well, what the senior is really saying is don’t bug me all the time, but I am interested in staying in touch. NO one has ever been bothered by a yearly call from anyone on my teams!
Almost every lead in your database should be touched on a quarterly basis by telephone and by mail. If the senior living sales person is making a minimum of 15 calls per day, that becomes 75 calls a week or 300 phone calls a month. Three sales people can easily generate 900 calls a month or 2,700 calls on a quarterly basis. Now with this amount of calls, it WILL GENERATE TOURS to your community. Tours can turn into sales and sales will become move-ins.
If your community made all these calls for three months, it should generate 5 – 10 move-ins – just from your database. It really works.
So why aren’t the sales people doing this now? They need to be coached and directed! Maybe the number of calls they are making needs to be added to their job description? They need to be held accountable. It is much easier to shoot the breeze with a resident and not make calls. Calls can equal lots of rejections and no’s.
My book, “Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full,” teaches senior living sales people how to overcome this fear and be persistent. One little trick I share is counting your calls with hash marks on a piece of paper. By the time someone talks to 20 people they should have scheduled 2 tours. It may be the 19th and 20th calls – so don’t give up. Good luck and start watching your occupancy increase!
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/
Are Follow Up Phone Calls in Senior Living Pushy?
Several marketers told me in the last few weeks that follow up phone calls after a tour can be pushy – what do you think?
When every senior living tour is completed– someone is sold in my opinion. It’s either the prospective resident sold the sales person on not being ready to move in yet or the sales person has sold the prospective resident that it is time for them to move into his or her retirement community.
When some sales people hear a prospect indicate that he or she is not ready yet, they believe that a phone call will bother the people the next day. They think making that phone call would be considered pushy. And you know what? They don’t make the call! Is your occupancy down? This could be why!
Granted, every situation is unique! In the majority of cases, if a senior living marketer really listens to the customers needs and builds a great first name relationship with a senior, then the senior will welcome a sincere phone call the next day. The phone call could be about inquiring if they have additional questions, answers a question they had from the previous day or better yet shares some NEW information that would be pertinent to their decision making process. Obviously a sincere and caring attitude is of the utmost importance and felt by the customer.
Everyday that a sales person waits to make a phone call after a tour or an event, the senior’s emotional connection to the decision making process decreases. So if your company’s policy to follow up 3 to 4 days later – this is why your senior living occupancy is down.
The best attitude to have when making the phone call is to believe the senior or the adult child does not have enough information to make a decision yet and your phone call will continue to educate and help them. Most seniors or adult children are great with a quick phone call to see if they have additional questions…. The sales process is about a willingness to go through some no’s to get some yes’s. If a salesperson is afraid of the no’s, then they won’t get as many yes’s! I hope this advice helps you fill your CCRC, assisted living, or retirement community faster!
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/
Senior Living Tour Guide or Sales Person?
Many senior living sales people believe they are great at their jobs, when they are nothing more than over paid tour guides. Anyone offended or riled up? There are numerous components to being a successful sales person in senior housing, but I will focus on just three keys: providing a solution, asking for the order and following up with a phone call the next day.
1) Providing a Solution: Provide an emotional solution to their current challenges. They came in to tour a retirement community for a reason – what are the reasons? Are the stairs in the two-level home too much for them? Do they feel lonely? Is it too much trouble to cook healthy? Did they just get diagnosed with some kind of health challenge? Have they been in a few fender benders and their family wants them to give up their car? Did they take a tumble in their home or shower? Are they concerned about their memory slipping?
Future residents will open up with someone they feel they can trust. They can tell if you care about them as a person or just want a commission check. Keep everything conversational and learn what their needs are today. Don’t jump on your community being the solution too quickly, paint pictures of the solutions they need as you tour them through your senior living community.
2) Asking for the Order: This seems so simple, but many sales people don’t ask for the order, because they do not want to come across as too pushy. When someone says, “It will be a few months before we can go forward,” or “I want to think about it,” many sales people take the customer literally and a possible sale walks out the door. What the customer may need is direction on how to go forward today, so they can move in two months. What steps should they take? Maybe they need to downsize and/or sell their home…then help them with resources.
As the senior living expert, it’s up to you to give recommendations on their next steps. One possible response depending on their needs is saying something like, “Mrs. Jones, I know that you love XYZ Retirement Community. You loved your lunch and the salad bar today. So if you moved here in a few months you would not have to worry about cooking healthy every single day, with all that clean up and pile of dishes. I know you loved the idea of someone else cleaning the toilet and putting clean sheets on your bed every week. Your concerns about driving at night to the theater or out to card games would end, because our transportation will take you shopping, to doctors appointment and out on excursions like to the symphony. The residents love the live entertainment here every week and you could play cards after dinner with your friends who already live here. Everything is just an elevator ride away instead of having to get in your car and drive some place. I know this is big decision, but why not create a plan for your future by putting down a deposit today on that apartment you liked? Then say nothing! He who speaks first loses…
3) Following up with a phone call the next day: Their emotion is still high from hearing you provide solutions to all their needs. Maybe they have a fear of falling in their home and no one finding them for several days? Or they feel lonely, since their spouse died? It could be that their home has become a ball and chain of upkeep and maintenance? Maybe they want the security of staff being available 24 hours a day – just in case?
Everyday you wait to call them back, their emotions (discussed above) dissipate and the sale is lost. Call – while the emotions are high. Maybe there was something you want to add that would be beneficial information for them? You could invite them back to experience the community again? It is always a good idea to invite their children, financial planner, accountant or even a neighbor to come back and see the community with them. Definitely invite them to the next themed dinner or live entertainment. Ask them how they feel about the community. Talk about their next step…
If you master these three keys, you will never be “just a tour guide” again. Emit sincerity and create solutions for your future residents. They will feel your enthusiasm and want to be a part of your retirement community sooner than later.
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/
What Type of Price Sheet Do You Use for CCRC and Senior Living Sales? (Part 1)
Just curious how many CCRC and senior living marketers present a price sheet to the prospective resident (with the price of every single apartment visible) or do you use a price sheet with one-bedrooms starting from… etc.? What have you found to be most effective and why? Plus how many write in the individual prices of each apartment, for the client, as they show them?
1) If you use a price sheet (with the price of every single CCRC or retirement apartment visible) – are all the apartments in a certain style the same price? For example: Are all of your two-bedroom – Dakota Style – the exact same price?
2) If you don’t use an itemized price sheet – are all your CCRC or retirement community apartments individually priced? (Individually priced apartment homes would mean that the entrance fee or price for every single apartment home is different and the actual price is based on size, location in the community and view.)
3) Or are you using a combination approach? The price sheet is in the brochure and you write down the individual price on the floor plan of the apartment as they experience it live. If you use the combination approach are your apartments individually priced?
Stay tuned next week: Diane Twohy Masson will give pricing recommendations and share what pricing techniques the majority of CCRC and senior living sales people use in Part 2.
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/
Great Events Can Fill Your Building
Are you afraid of events or do you embrace them? How innovative are your events? Are they attracting qualified prospects to your community? The sole purpose of events is to have new prospects walk in your door and say, “Wow! This is where I want to live.” This chapter goes into detail on ideas and how to put on a great event.
What is your definition of an event? For example, the community picnic is a wonderful celebration for all residents and their families. It is not an appropriate event to invite prospects because they don’t want to see the sea of wheelchairs and walkers from the assisted living and skilled nursing residents. Please do not call this a marketing event. The community picnic is an event for existing residents and should be handled by resident services/activity directors. Marketing directors can help, but they need to stay focused on new sales or there won’t be any.
So how many marketing events should you be having? My recommendations:
- Large events should be held three to four times a year.
- Small events should be one to two times a month, depending on occupancy needs and your ability to attract new faces.
Let’s break each of them down from start to finish for ideas and planning to produce effective events.
A large event draws one hundred to three hundred attendees. Who do you invite? First on your guest list is your wait list. There are people percolating on your wait list who just need a subtle push to call the moving van and order change of address cards. If your event is done properly, it should result in three to five move-ins in the next quarter. Secondly, one-third of your guests must be new faces. These will come from two sources: advertising and resident referrals. I recommend a quarter page ad in your local newspaper. Please see recommendations for a newspaper ad in Media Buying, Advertising, Public Relations, and Community Building with a Skinny Piggy Bank. The third group to invite is friends of the residents. Many communities get 50 percent or more of their new leads from resident referrals.
Tip: The best way to get resident referrals is to let residents know that they have an opportunity to attend this fabulous event if they bring a guest who is interested in moving to your community. Hello? Knock, knock? Many of your residents’ friends probably qualify age-wise and financially to move to your community. Start informing the residents two months ahead of the event.
Tip: Make the event something exciting enough that residents will be able to enthusiastically endorse it and want their friends to attend. Do not have the CEO or a botanist describing the cross section of a leaf to be the main speaker. You may as well have an event to watch your newly painted walls dry. No offense to CEOs, but you are not a big enough draw. A resident’s Disney family vacation slide shows are for the residents to see, not your prospects. That theme will make your guest feel grumpy, dopey, and sleepy. Now if you wanted to invite the real Mickey Mouse and give away a trip for two to Disneyland…but that might be too expensive and that would be goofy.
To summarize your event attendance goals:
- Approximately one-third new faces
- One-third wait list members
- One-sixth will be second looks (their second time in your community)
- Less than one-sixth will be residents (who have invited a new face guest)
Planning should start a minimum of three months before the event date. Begin planning with the end result in mind. An event starts with an idea…
This was an excerpt from “Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full.” The book has step by step instructions on how to have an excellent event. http://www.amazon.com/Senior-Housing-
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/
Do You Show Floor Plans Before Showing the Senior Living Apartment?
There seems to be a new sales tactic to show future residents the brochure and floor plans – before touring the senior living community! This makes no sense to me. Most people cannot look at a floor plan and decide to give up their 3000 plus square foot home of 30 years and just move into a smaller sized 1000 square foot apartment. Some professionals or retirees were former realtors, designers or architects – these folks would most likely be capable of picturing all their worldly possessions on a 8 ½ by 11 inch – floor plan. So let’s just assume the rest of the people can’t visualize a space based on seeing a retirement community floor plan.
Some senior living sales people actually asked me if I would like the bathroom placement or closet placement here versus there. What?!? I asked them to show me in person. They seemed surprised that I needed a real visual. Others showed me one bedroom and two bedroom floor plans and wanted me to select my favorite floor plan to determine what to go see in the building – nuts! Be a better sales person and figure it out for me. Ask better questions to learn about my lifestyle and needs.
Senior living floor plans are a tool to help someone visualize the placement of furniture in their apartment home. Use it after the prospective resident has already seen and has expressed interest in a certain style apartment at the retirement community. A floor plan can be a helpful reminder of what you saw an hour ago. But if they want to see the apartment in person one more time – please take them back to see it again.
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/
Purchase the Book
Follow Senior Housing News
