This is the best time of year to make your database calls. Seniors open up about whether their family really visits with them or not. Call your prospective residents this week (not on Thanksgiving) and simply wish them a Happy Thanksgiving! Then you casually ask if they have any plans for Thanksgiving. The truth pours out of the senior. If they have nothing happening, invite them to your community for a wonderful dining experience in the next week. Most of them say, “Yes!”
Please share any tips that have worked for you!
Wishing you all a happy Thanksgiving with your family and friends!
Diane Twohy Masson is the author of “Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full.” It is rated by Amazon Editors as one of the best books of 2014 and readers have given it a 5-star rating on Amazon.com. This award winning 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.
The seniors I have spoken to, in their 70’s and 80’s. About thanksgiving. They frown although they have places to attend. Perhaps people reach an age when they have had enough in celebrating holidays.
One senior told me she was invited to a neighbors Christmas party by someone in their forties, 25 years younger than she. She had nothing in common to discuss with them. She salt alone in the corner chair and finally left the gathering.
If you invite a senior, please give them your attention, chat with them, socialize with them.
Yes, some appreciates phone call. Many feel the phone calls should be coming in year round and not just on the holidays. I agree.
From Linked In
Shiela Ford, Sales Manager at Brookdale Senior Living
I will be doing exactly this all day today!
From Linked In
Linda McGlynn, Owner at Linda McGlynn Eldercare Consultant
As an ElderCare professional I visit my clients weekly in order to assess any changes. In this way I am also able to determine whether or not the family is involved or even visits periodically. I have found that I cannot change the family dynamics, and especially not during the holiday seasons. All I can do is make suggestions to the family on how to interact with their aging parent, particularly during the holidays. The rest is up to them.