Build Value First Archives - Diane Masson | Author, Speaker, Blogger & Senior Housing Expert

5 Tips on How to Sell Senior Living During the Holidays

by Diane Masson | Dec 21, 2012

Call your senior living database now to increase occupancy for early 2013! I elaborated on this in my last blog… Why this is the BEST TIME of the Year TO CALL Your Database!
Suggest for a senior and their family to enjoy lunch at your retirement community! Visiting family and the senior need to eat…why not have it be at your senior living community? As they eat, maybe they can picture themselves living there. Most boomer children will advocate for their senior parent to move into senior housing when they see how nice the quality of their life can be…
Invite hot and warm prospective residents to join your residents for some live entertainment or when the local school kids come by to sing.
Offer seniors, who don’t drive, either a ride to your community or go out and do a home visit. This visit could be the tipping point to them moving into your community.
When someone is visiting at your community, ask for the order. First do the proper warm up, discovery, listen to their needs, learn their hot buttons, build value for your community and figure out how to solve their problem. Then invite them to sit down again. Look them in the eye and say, “I know you love your home of forty years! And you have shared how difficult it is to manage stairs and your concern of falling down them when you do the laundry in the basement – right? After everything you have seen today and the wonderful lunch we enjoyed, do you believe you would have a better quality of life living here at The Village (insert your community name here)? If the answer is yes, just nod and let it digest with them. He who speaks first loses. They usually say, okay let’s do this and then start filling out the paperwork…

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 Your Over Qualifying Prospective Senior Residents?

by Diane Masson | Sep 24, 2012

Sometimes there is tremendous pressure from management to make sure a prospective senior has the financial resources in order to move into your retirement community.

First, engage the customer and make sure they are in love with the lifestyle and connect with what your senior living community has to offer, before you start grinding on them for financial specifics. Build Value First or Your Senior Prospects Will Run Away!

Even savvy seniors can disqualify themselves. They consider themselves poor even though they have a mortgage-free home to sell, social security, a pension, possibly an annuity, about 30% have long-term care insurance, IRA’s and of course some type of savings. Many seniors have worked with an attorney to set up a trust and now have limited their resources. Sometimes these seniors have to get financial permission from the trust in order to move into your retirement community.

Keep financial qualifying loose, until the senior is really excited about moving into your community. For example, you may be a Continuing Care Retirement Community that requires twice the entrance fee in assets and 1 ½ times of the monthly fee in income. Say something more friendly like: “Each person (couple) is unique, some seniors have more assets and less monthly income and other seniors have high monthly incomes and are a little lower on the assets. Generally we are looking for 1½ times to 2 times the entrance fee in assets and 1½ to 2 times the monthly fee in monthly income. Many things are considered assets like rental income or long term care insurance.” Then shut up…or you can lose the sale.

Let them speak next…if you have built a trust relationship, they should open up and start sharing their assets and monthly incomes. Most people sitting in front of you qualify. It is very unusual if they don’t. Please make a note that many children can pay the needed difference too. Always remember to build value for your senior living community first!