by Diane Masson | Jun 8, 2014
Discarding Great Leads?
There are thousands of senior living sales people across this country. After each tour, they have choice to pursue a viable lead or simply ignore it. Is your frontline sales staff making the right decision? Do you review new inquiry leads with them?
If not, why not?!!? It costs your senior living organization thousands of dollars to bring in new call-in leads and walk-in tours. Just this last week, I know of two sales people who each blew off a lead because it was not quick move-in. Luckily I caught them in time, so that follow up phone calls could happen.
One prospective resident couple had a complicated situation with a wife who wanted independent living with a husband who was qualified for skilled nursing care. They wanted to bring in their own caregiver and the man could not feed himself. The sales person felt it was too complicated to pursue.
I shared a story of a couple that came to my Continuing Care Retirement Community several years ago. The man was dying and the couple wanted to move to independent living together. My executive director said no, it was too hard on the other residents and he was not independent. In spite of this decision, I loved on this couple. Five months later, the husband died. I sent sympathy card. The wife appreciated me reaching out with caring kindness. Within weeks, she moved into my retirement community.
So when the senior living sales person called back this complicated prospective resident couple, he learned that the husband was in the hospital. He loved on the wife as I had suggested. I expect a move in the next six months from this additional phone encounter.
Do you have stories of difficult tours turning into sales?
Please consider joining this exclusive Marketing2Seniors blog and 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 currently writing a new book for seniors on how to select senior housing options. Her first book, “Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full,” is available at Amazon.com with a five star rating. Masson continues to set 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. Her mom’s struggle with dementia is inspiring Diane to pen a third book to support adult children.
© Marketing 2 Seniors| Diane Twohy Masson 2014 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.
by Diane Masson | May 25, 2014
Sounds simple – right? It’s all the companies that provide the same services that you do. Wrong! It is so much more than your similar competitors down the street or in your particular industry.
Let’s just use the example of your front desk/concierge/greeter/receptionist. Whether you are in the hotel business, retail trade or provide senior housing, each customer compares how he or she is treated when they enter your establishment. So Wal-Mart, The Ritz-Carlton and a Continuing Care Retirement Community are competing.
Customers may call two or three different types of companies in a single day. Each phone call either provided a great phone interaction and a solution for the customer or some frustration. Maybe they called to make dinner reservations, a doctor appointment or inquired about their parent’s future care at an assisted living community. How many rings did it take for someone to answer the phone? Was their voice clear, distinct and friendly? Did it sound like they were smiling through the phone or a bit haggard?
A FedEx delivery from an online store, a pizza delivery, a taxi transporting someone to the airport and a driver from a retirement community taking a senior to and from a doctor checkup are all competition. Was the delivery person friendly and were they on time? Did they leave the package in the rain or was the pizza cold?
Take time to work with you team on how you can provide better customer service. Can you think of more examples of competitors who don’t initially seem like competitors?
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Diane Twohy Masson is currently writing a new book for seniors on how to select senior housing options. Her first book, “Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full,” is available at Amazon.com with a five star rating. Masson continues to set 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. Her mom’s struggle with dementia is inspiring Diane to pen a third book to support adult children.
© Marketing 2 Seniors| Diane Twohy Masson 2014 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.
by Diane Masson | Mar 30, 2014
It would be very interesting for independent, assisted living and group homes to share examples of people who moved into your senior living community who initially said, “No, I don’t want to leave my home!” How many senior living residents have you experienced in this situation?
Two weeks ago, I heard the story of an independent couple whose Boomer children moved them one hour closer to them. The dad said that he had left heel marks all the way up the freeway, because he didn’t want to move. Now, both he and his wife love living at their new Continuing Care Retirement Community that is located by their children and grandchildren.
Tonight, I heard about Jim and Joan’s dad. He was clinically depressed and stayed in his pajamas all day. He only put on clothes when Jim picked him up (drove him one block) to spend time with his wife and grandchildren. Once his dad, Dwayne, got to their house and had dinner, he didn’t want to leave, even at 11:00 PM. Jim and his wife Carol both had to be at work at 7:00 AM. They literally had to take a resistant Dwayne back to his home each evening. This went on every night for one year. Jim finally reached the breaking point.
Jim and his sister Joan went to find a retirement community for their dad. They had it all set up and then drove their dad to his new home. The entire way there, Dwayne kept saying, “No, no, no!” They said, “Dad, you will love it, give it a chance.” They showed him his new home and he was still resistant. Jim kept saying, “Dad, give it a chance,” and left. Two weeks later the dad was happier than he had been in his own isolated home. Dwayne spent five of the happiest years of his life there. Medication management and socialization had improved the quality of his life.
Nine years ago, my own mom was struggling (for over a year) in the independent living area of a Continuing Care Retirement Community. My sister, husband and I moved all my mom’s stuff to assisted living while her granddaughter took her to lunch. My daughter drove my mom back to her new home in assisted living. We were all there to greet them. My mom was shocked, but what could she do? We had moved her. It was done. The staff was all on board and had acclimated her before we left. Oh, the guilt I felt, but knew it was the right thing for her. We got a call in the night, because my mom had peed in a garbage can. Was it defiance or dementia? We will never know, but two weeks later she was happy and content. She steadily improved with three nutritious meals a day and medication management. My mom enjoyed seven years in that supportive environment.
Is it mean to move someone saying no? Or is it the best thing in the world?
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.
by Diane Masson | Feb 23, 2014
Eight months ago, I shared the journey of moving my mom 1000 miles to live in a skilled nursing community near me. Now, here is my journey of walking in a prospective senior resident’s shoes and moving – TODAY!
What’s it like for a senior to move 30, 40 or 50 years worth of memories? Is it unsettling, heart wrenching, stressful and terrifying for a senior? My husband and I are moving today after living in a beautiful home for only two years and it feels disruptive, daunting and time consuming.
Who likes moving? It’s anticipating or dreading that I will have temporarily or permanent lost items for months. Plus it can take months to settle in, hang pictures on the wall and start to feel like OUR home.
Most people do not like change. It ‘s easier to just stay where you are and keep the status quo.
Well, since we have to move, I decided to try a new method that we recommend to our clients at a Continuing Care Retirement Community called Freedom Village. I hired a senior moving company, who will literally take our pictures off the wall, pack all our belongings, move us, unpack everything and put the pictures back up on the walls. If we recommend this service to clients, why not see what it is really like ourselves?
Maybe it won’t be as daunting and time consuming as when my husband and I used to hire two men and a truck?
It will be a two-day move. The senior moving company called Helping Hands will take about three hours to pack us up on the first day and the next day they will move all our belongings and unpack us.
Next week, I will share the rest of the story in part two and we will see how easy or painful moving day is and how long it took to settle into our new home.
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.
by Diane Masson | Dec 1, 2013
Are you fighting with prospective residents who are in denial? I don’t mean physical punches… After they ask a question or make a comment, are you coming at them with a quick verbal rebuttal? Stop it!!! Many senior living sales people don’t even realize that they are arguing with the prospective resident.
It can be very difficult to evaluate yourself and recognize your own faults. Do the best you can to catch yourself saying a “but” or ask a co-worker/supervisor to listen to one of your tours. When the prospective senior says something like, “I love my home and can’t see myself moving.” I have heard sales people say, “But…you don’t see how wonderful life could be here.” Or a senior says, “I am doing fine in my own home.” (They can barely walk and you recognize an unsafe situation for them living at home.)
The prospective senior is in denial. It is so common. Don’t fight them, they will just get irritated and go to your competitor down the road. There are three easy solutions to deal with denial.
1) Ignore the senior’s denial and keep educating them on the benefits of living at your community. I don’t mean – shoving it in their face. Some seniors have so much denial that it could take them months or a few years to recognize the benefits of living at your senior living community. Keep inviting them to events. Eventually they can see the lifestyle in your independent or Continuing Care Retirement Community is better than living in their own home.
2) If you work in an assisted living or memory care community, time may be of the essence with a need driven situation. Get the phone numbers for the adult children and work through them. A strong Boomer child, who understands that his or her mom or dad is unsafe, can create a 48 hour or one week move in for the parent. Invite the children to dine at your retirement community with the parent. It’s magical, how quickly they select an apartment and put down a deposit.
3) When they say, “I love my home with the 180 degree view of the water and mountain.” Don’t interrupt! Let them go on for five minutes or more about their lovely home. Then causally say, “ Your home sounds lovely, why are you here?” Whatever comes out of their mouth is the real reason. Now it is up to you to provide a solution and collect a deposit.
Remember that everyone walks in the door of your retirement community for a reason. Yes, they can be in denial, but they came to you. Help them, by listening and exploring an implied need. Then provide a solution – gently…
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.
by Diane Masson | Nov 10, 2013
There were such a variety of responses to “How Many Calls Does Your Senior Living Team Make Per Month,” I am choosing to expound with a more in-depth part 2. Senior living sale professionals responded with call requirements from 20 calls an hour to 40 completed calls per week. Someone else’s retirement community had mandated 53 connected calls per month.
Here is one response:
“Diane, I have enjoyed reading your blogs on seniors, which are informative with best practices. This one on “How Many Calls A Month” made us gasp with the large number of calls a sales team is expected to make nowadays. 500 to 1,000+ calls a month must be only cold calling behind a closed door and doing nothing else like sales events, tours, refurbishment oversight, building relationships with future residents, community and church relations, follow up on leads and inquiries, application process, and administrative team projects.” Nancy
My response: These calls were not cold calls, so here is a more detailed explanation.
My example in part one had a marketing director with 469 calls and her two team mates with 340 and 315 calls respectively. These sales calls included: call-ins, voice-to-voice call-outs and left messages. I believe if someone leaves a great message, seniors will call back. Our requirement is 75 calls a week or 300 per month. This is not one isolated goal. Another goal is 20 initial or repeat tours per month. This tour goal does not include post-closing appointments after a deposit has been taken.
Yes, these senior living sales people have other responsibilities including three events per month (all day), responding to Internet inquiries, weekly strategy meetings, book reviews, overseeing apartment renovations for their clients, and managing his or her move-ins (paperwork, relationship building, setting up health assessments, family tours and etc.).
If you don’t have sales and occupancy goals, then no one has a pinnacle to reach. This team produced five Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) sales in the last eight days. They have hit the quarterly move-in goals this year and are currently close to hitting the fourth quarter goal and going to Disneyland. This year, they have produced the most CCRC move-ins at their retirement community since 2005.
Please share your call, tour and move-in quotas to converse with other senior living sales professionals. Let’s hear about the variety of quotas out there. It will also be interesting to know if you are hitting your move-in goals based on your calling goals.
Please share your success, 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.
