by Diane Masson | Apr 27, 2012
Please enjoy this published article I wrote for seniorhousingforum.net for my friend Steve Moran. – http://seniorhousingforum.net/
Top 10 positive and negative first impressions after touring 15 senior living communities in 3 days. (Part 1)
By Diane Twohy Masson
My goal was to put myself in the shoes of the adult boomer child looking for the right retirement community for an aging senior parent. What would be his or her overall impression after viewing 3 to 5 senior living communities in a couple of days? What community would rise to the top and be their first choice?
What were my top 10 ten positive first impressions?
1) Smelling freshly baked chocolate chip cookies when I walked into the lobby.
2) As I drove up seeing perfectly manicured lawns, a good-looking building and some colorful flowers out front. (Flowers in pots by the front door looked great.)
3) Some kind of “wow” when I entered the lobby that would direct my eye to the beauty of the community and not see the walkers and wheel chairs. An example was seeing a gorgeous/expensive flower/plant arrangement on a circular table as I entered the lobby. Another retirement community had a beautiful living room area with a fireplace, a FRESH flower arrangement on the coffee table and happy residents conversing.
4) Having the receptionist stand to greet me with a smile and a handshake.
5) Being offered refreshments immediately (I was parched from all my touring!)
6) Having a marketer tailor the tour to the needs of my mom. They would bring each community space to life by painting a picture on how my mom would enjoy using it (based on her capabilities).
7) Being introduced to important staff that would be caring for my mom. It was especially impressive if they said, “We would love for your mom to live here.”
8) Having a housekeeper or caregiver smile at me as I walked down the hall. It gave me the impression that they were happy to work there and would smile at my mom.
9) Hearing the residents being called by name and looking happy.
10) Seeing vibrant activities taking place in a variety of community spaces.
First impressions are everything to an adult boomer child trying to evaluate the best place for his or her senior parent. What first impressions are your senior living staff and community giving out? Would you want your own mom to live there? Could you sleep at night, knowing your own mom lived at your community?
Next week:
Diane Twohy Masson’s top 10 negative first impressions in touring 15 senior living communities in 3 days and how some senior living communities chose to put their proverbial foot in their mouth will be coming in part 2.
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 coach your senior living marketing team (CCRC, independent living, assisted living, skilled nursing or memory care) or have her put on a sales retreat for your organization – please call: 206-853-6655 or email: diane@marketing2seniors.net. For more information: Twitter: @market2seniors Web:www.marketing2seniors.net Blog: http://marketing2seniors.net/blog/
by Diane Masson | Apr 19, 2012
One of the reasons your occupancy may be down is because you may have reactive marketing. What does this mean? Do any of the following scenarios happen at your community?
- You walk into Bored Brad’s marketing office and he’s sorting paper clips. He just wants to give a tour but no one is coming in or calling the community.
- When you stop by Blabby Barbara’s office, she is on the phone, but you quickly determine that she’s talking to a friend and not a potential resident.
- Residents complain to management that phone calls to the marketing department are not returned in a timely fashion to friends they have referred and who are prospective residents. You march right over to Moody Marbella on your marketing team to address the residents’ concerns. She responds by changing the subject and, worse, blaming you with her explanation, “Events won’t work. Low occupancy is not my fault.” Do you think she missed the point?
Does this really happen? Yes! Reactive marketing people truly exist and I have worked with some of them. It can be a challenge to determine if the new team you are managing is reactive, but once you know the symptoms it’s easy to identify:
Symptom 1) Reactive marketing does not have programs or policies in place to make a certain number of outbound phone calls per day. This means every day.
Symptom 2) After conducting a tour, reactive marketing people wait for prospects to call them back to say they are interested in moving in. This is really the function of an order taker and not the attitude of a professional salesperson.
Symptom 3) Reactive marketers urge spending money on advertising because they claim they don’t have any leads and therefore no new sales.
Symptom 4) Reactive marketers exhibit a lack of urgency to answer the phone within two rings.
Symptom 5) Reactive marketers have a lackadaisical attitude returning phone, web, and social media inquiries.
These reactive marketing teams are waiting for walk-ins and call-ins. They believe the customer should just say, “Yep, here’s my deposit. Let’s call the moving company right now.”
Spending money on new leads is a waste of the marketing budget for a reactive marketing team. Many prospects can be slow (which is normal) to make a decision. A reactive marketer does not initiate calls with the non-hot prospects, so a cool or lukewarm prospect will never be contacted again. This means that 20 percent to 30 percent of sales can just slip through the fingers of this type of marketer. This really does happen, and it can be affecting your financial performance. Is it?
This was an excerpt from “Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full.“
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 coach your senior living marketing team (CCRC, independent living, assisted living, skilled nursing or memory care) or have her put on a sales retreat for your organization – please call: 206-853-6655 or email diane@marketing2seniors.net. For more information: Twitter: @market2seniors Web: www.marketing2seniors.net Blog: http://marketing2seniors.net/blog/
by Diane Masson | Apr 8, 2012
Here are my results after calling 12 retirement communities in the Mid-West on a Saturday morning at 10:00 AM Central time: The scores were one A+, two B’s, five C’s, one D and three F’s…
I asked everyone the same question, “I am looking for a place for my mom – she lives in your town – how many places are there to choose from and how do you rate?” This was apparently a tough question for many…ratings were graded higher if they answered the telephone, could be clearly understood, answered the questions and asked for my name and telephone number before the conversation ended.
Only four people asked for my phone number, so those unique individuals were awarded a C+ or above for their heroic efforts. Two assisted living communities went straight into voice mail, so they received automatic F’s. The A+ person was an executive director (E.D.) working on a Saturday. The E.D. was outstanding answering all my questions and asked for my name and phone number.
Three communities had workers that mumbled when they answered the telephone (I literally had no idea what they said and had to clarify if I had called the correct number – which of course I had). One of the “mumblers” sounded like a 4 year old answering the phone. I had to clarify three times that they were indeed an assisted living community and then they said no one was available to answer my questions. They never asked for my phone number and I eventually hung up giving them a F- as a score.
The B- score asked for my phone number three times and inquired when I would be in town to visit. But when I asked them how they rated for a third time, they talked about the activities or their medical services (without answering the rating question).
A C- answered the phone with an award winning description. Then they said their boss would be in on Monday to answer more of my questions and never asked for my phone number.
One of the “mumblers” transferred me to the sweetest gal who gave the most sincere and heartfelt description of the community. The nice gal kept going and started giving too much information that I never asked about like the price, rooms were available and the nurse would need to do an assessment first. Overall the community was given a C- because of the heartfelt description.
As you can see, there was a wide variety of scores but overall, the majority of these staff were not trained on how to answer the phone correctly and to ALWAYS request someone’s name and phone number. This same challenge can happen when the Monday thru Friday receptionist takes a break during the week. Could this be why your occupancy is down? There is a simple solution – training!
You may want to check out who is answering the phone at your community on a Saturday…
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 peaked to inquire on Diane’s availability to coach your senior living marketing team (CCRC, independent living, assisted living, skilled nursing or memory care) or have her put on a sales retreat for your organization – please call: 206-853-6655 or email diane@marketing2seniors.net. For more information: Twitter: @market2seniors Web: www.marketing2seniors.net Blog: http://marketing2seniors.net/blog/
by Diane Masson | Apr 1, 2012
When the decision to move to a senior living community is finally made – the seniors tend to be older and frailer. Many providers blame the economy and accept a lower occupancy as a sign of the times. The days of having someone move in off the wait list have disappeared. So it is time to strategize…
Let’s enter the mind of a senior. Many have experienced painful losses in their stock portfolios in recent years. Depending on the area of the country they live, their home is worth much less than the inflated value they recognized as truth in 2007. Many seniors feel they have lost several hundred thousand dollars and can’t afford to move into a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) with an entrance fee. Some silent generation seniors are penny pinching again and think it’s less expensive to live in his or her paid off home. Other seniors are just so attached to their home of 40 or 50 years that they can’t imagine living somewhere else.
Yet as they age, day-to-day living can become more of an effort. Many of the responsibilities of their home have to be hired out – such as gardening, yard work, window and gutter cleaning, possibly housekeeping and painting. Many seniors had a do-it-your-self mindset and become frustrated at the quality of workmanship that hired help provides. Cooking a healthy meal for one or two is just too much work and who wants to wash all those dishes? Maybe the laundry room is located down the basement stairs, they live in a split-level home or stairs have become a struggle.
Now they have arrived at your CCRC or independent living door because a resident friend encouraged them to come and see it or an exciting event intrigued them enough to leave their home. This prospective resident is not going to be sold with one visit. First they have to picture themselves living in your community. The first impressions are everything, so the food, the tour, the model apartment and enjoying some of the lifestyle are all vital. This person may need to come to three events such as: a musical event, a cultural event and an educational event. If possible, they need to experience the events in different parts of your community. Hearing testimonials from vibrant residents or having opportunities to interact with lively residents can be very helpful.
Your on-going monthly phone call to this prospective resident should be full of encouragement and discovery to learn what they really enjoy most in life. Maybe they swam at the local pool every morning for 40 years, but now the winter darkness is stopping them from driving. Or maybe they enjoyed his or her subscription to the symphony, but now they can’t drive in the dark and their best friend died. Wouldn’t it be nice if they did not have to “drive” to go to a pool, a gym, see live musical entertainment, enjoy an educational program or share a glass of wine with a friend?
What moves this type of person to give up their home? It’s to have a vividly painted lifestyle that is 10 times better than their current situation. At that point the perceived loss in their home value is no longer a factor. They realize that their home has become a ball and chain and they want the freedom and conveniences that your retirement community can offer them. It can take several months or even a year for seniors to make this decision. A health setback or scare always speeds the process up. Who will they think of first when they are lying in hospital recovering from a hip surgery? Why the community that called them every month and invited them to events of course…
Selling Lifestyle is Key in CCRC and Independent living Senior Sales. Is this helpful?
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 peaked to inquire on Diane’s availability to coach your senior living marketing team (CCRC, independent living, assisted living, skilled nursing or memory care) or have her put on a sales retreat for your organization – please call: 206-853-6655 or email diane@marketing2seniors.net. For more information: Twitter: @market2seniors Web: www.marketing2seniors.net Blog: http://marketing2seniors.net/blog/
