Moving A Lifetime of Memories (Part 2)

Moving A Lifetime of Memories (Part 2)

They Moved And Placed Everything Except The Cat!

They Moved And Placed Everything Except The Cat!

Easiest move ever?  Yes!!!  It was a picture perfect move thanks to a senior friendly company called Helping Hands in California.  They literally pulled out their smart phones and snapped “before pictures.”  Then in the new home each mover referenced their smart phones to recreate a room, a bookcase or any area that had knick-knacks.  Moving a Lifetime of Memories (Part 1) is about my decision to hire a senior moving company.

An army of men arrived at 9:00 AM and the move went so fast.  The same person that packed up the kitchen unpacked and organized the kitchen in our new home.  This one fact alone was awesome and took tremendous stress off of me.  The same mover that packed up the bathroom reorganized it in the new bathroom.  It was amazing.

Here is the completion level of each room on the day of the move:

  • The kitchen is 100% done (just need to buy groceries and we are ready to cook).
  • Living room is 100% done (including pictures on the wall).
  • Dining room is 100% done (including pictures on the wall).
  • The master bath is 100% done (everything is in it’s place).
  • Office/music room is 95% done (books on the book shelves, pictures hung and still need to rightsize the closets a bit more).
  • Coat and towel closet are 100% done.
  • Master bedroom is 90% done (still need to reorganize the clothes hanging in the closet, buy two lamps and figure out what pictures to hang).
  • Second bathroom is 0% done (only two boxes to unpack, because our two cats were crated in this room during the move).
  • The garage is 50% done (all the garage stuff is in the garage, but we could not have the team of men put everything away because the garage was too dirty).

Our biggest move challenges?

  • Downsizing in general, so I focused on rightsizing.  It was easier to stomach rightsizing.  It is an attitude.
  • Arriving the day of the move to find a dirty garage with stuff left from the previous owner.
  • Realizing our master bedroom has zero light.

The good news is that I loved Helping Hands, because instead of months to settle into my home, I am already settled.  It should just take a couple of days to go buy lamps and then clean and organize the garage.

I highly recommend this senior moving company and this type of service for seniors moving into retirement communities.  Yes, it does cost more than two man and a truck, but it can literally take the stress away from moving.

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.

© Marketing 2 Seniors| Diane Twohy Masson 2013 All Rights Reserved. No part of this blog post may be reproduced, copied, modified or adapted, without the prior written consent of the author, unless otherwise indicated for stand-alone materials. You may share this website and or it’s content by any of the following means: 1. Using any of the share icons at the bottom of each page. 2. Providing a back-link or the URL of the content you wish to disseminate. 3. You may quote extracts from the website with attribution to Diane Masson CASP and link https://www.marketing2seniors.net For any other mode of sharing, please contact the author Diane Masson.
Scrooge or Sales with Holiday Calls??!!??

Scrooge or Sales with Holiday Calls??!!??

Don't Be a Scrooge in Senior Living Sales

Don’t Be a Scrooge in Senior Living Sales

All you have is the present to increase your occupancy.  Resident holiday parties, festivities, live entertainment and decorating the retirement community can distract senior living sales from the purpose of filling the building.  It’s easy to get stinking thinking and decide that no one wants to move right now and every senior is busy preparing for Christmas.  Wrong!!!

If you are reading this blog today, it is not too late to get humming again.  Let me give you some current examples from two successful Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRC) in Southern California:

  • 11 CCRC move-ins scheduled during December at one CCRC and another has six move-ins set.
  • A $5000 deposit was collected yesterday for a December CCRC move-in.
  • One senior living sales person, who had 139 calls for the week said, “This is the best time of year to make calls and learn vital information about prospective seniors families.”
  • When a senior came in for a holiday event, they shared that it was their holiday meal, because they had sat at home eating a “Lean Cuisine” on Thanksgiving.
  • Another senior shared that this was her last year to host Christmas for the entire family.  She was exhausted and said she was ready to sell her home and move in early 2014.
  • Many calls said, “I am not ready, let me get through the holidays and let’s talk the first week in January.”  (Whom will this senior be talking about with his or her adult children over the holidays?  The family will most likely come in to tour around Christmas.)

You can learn so much if you make calls this time of year.  Don’t be a scrooge and not believe.  Be Tiny Tim and make a lonely seniors day by reaching out with a holiday phone call.  Create an emotional connection with a senior now and watch how quickly they move into your senior living community in 2014.

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.  Most recently Masson was recruited to consult for 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.

© Marketing 2 Seniors| Diane Twohy Masson 2013 All Rights Reserved. No part of this blog post may be reproduced, copied, modified or adapted, without the prior written consent of the author, unless otherwise indicated for stand-alone materials. You may share this website and or it’s content by any of the following means: 1. Using any of the share icons at the bottom of each page. 2. Providing a back-link or the URL of the content you wish to disseminate. 3. You may quote extracts from the website with attribution to Diane Masson CASP and link https://www.marketing2seniors.net For any other mode of sharing, please contact the author Diane Masson.
15 CCRC Move-Ins in One Month?!!?

15 CCRC Move-Ins in One Month?!!?

CCRC Team SalesThen 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 fun with an amazing calendar of events including regular live entertainment, exciting outings and themed meals?  Seniors won’t move to a boring retirement community.
  • Transportation can even increase sales by their willingness to pick up prospective residents and bring them in for a tour or an event.

So set a monthly sales goal for your retirement community and have everyone participate in achieving it.  When the sales come, it is not for the glory of marketing, it’s an entire retirement community’s achievement.  Everyone wins and the residents love having new vibrant seniors to connect with at dinner and activities.

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 Seniors For Living and 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: Email: diane@marketing2seniors.net