Are You Enabling Senior Prospects to Stay Home?

Are You Enabling Senior Prospects to Stay Home?
"I'm not ready yet!"

“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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2 Comments

  1. OR, accept their answer BUT add guidance (that they will respect you for) and suggest that in the meanwhile they look into a QUALITY Adult Day Program! Guide them with the understanding that they are not ready to move at this moment BUT they very well may be ready in the near future. By referring them to an ADC center, the center will certainly appreciate your actions & important to you is that they certainly will direct them back to you when they are finally ready to make the move. In old fashioned terms, it will help keep your “pipeline” full. I know as an ADC center owner, when I receive a referral from anyone in the senior healthcare industry they automatically go to the top of my referral list & will retain “ownership” of that referral during their entire enrollment with our program. Any you know what else? It actually may very well be, IN THE PROSPECT’S BEST INTEREST!!!! Interesting concept in today’s dog-eat-dog world we work in, isn’t it?

    • I have to agree…our seniors aren’t looking to be sold on a major life decision. What you have to do is pose yourself as a resource for them and leave the call with a reason to contact them again. Inviting them for a non-committal meeting or event can work. Or I often will speak hypothetically when “selling”. I may encourage them to learn more about our services to help a church member, neighbor, or friend and appeal to their desire to help others. I agree with the above poster referring to another level of service also helps as they appreciate your help and it allows you to build a relationship with that provider be it ADC, Home Care, etc…