The Benefits of a Weekly Marketing Book Review in Senior Living!

The Benefits of a Weekly Marketing Book Review in Senior Living!

Senior Housing PicDoes your team need to recharge their enthusiasm?  Has the marketing team gotten off track?  Do you need to sharpen your sales techniques?

Try a weekly marketing book review.  Whether your senior living team is one sales person and the executive director or your team consists of three to six marketing people, it’s time to get the creative juices flowing again!  If a sales team is not learning and growing, it becomes complacent and stagnant.

First, select a book to review.  There are lots of great choices out there.  Look around on Amazon.com, ask your sales people for ideas or get suggestions at senior housing conferences.  My marketing teams are currently reading Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full,” by Diane Twohy Masson. (Yes, this is my book.)   We have completed four chapters in five weeks.  Our next book review conference call is chapter five scheduled for Tuesday.

It has been wonderful to watch the teams grow together.  Participants include entrance fee sales people for independent living in Continuing Care Retirement Communities, assisted living marketers and skilled nursing admissions.  They come from five areas and as the weeks progress the team members feel freer to share what has worked or has not worked in their area and other team members benefit from their experience.

We have had some great discussions including how many calls (in the existing database) it takes to get X amount of tours or people coming to the community for events.  Best practice numbers for one team member were 157 voice-to-voice calls in 3 weeks, which resulted in 23 families coming into view the community.   These are great numbers and after the call, other team members started asking for help on how to do this themselves.   It seemed to bring out a natural – healthy – competiveness amongst the team.

Everyone starts thinking team and has a better understanding of the goals, because they are discussed at the weekly book review meeting (if you have multiple teams – do a conference call).   Executive directors, regional marketing directors and directors of sales and marketing in senior housing often assume that everyone on the team knows the goals.  Maybe they do or maybe they don’t.  Why not review the goals weekly during your team book review?  The number one goal is to have 100% occupancy, but what do they need to do this day or week in order to hit that goal this month or this year?  Break it down for them and be their coach and mentor during the book review…try it… it works like a charm!

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/

Do You Educate the Customer on Senior Housing  & Healthcare Choices?

Do You Educate the Customer on Senior Housing & Healthcare Choices?

It’s always beneficial to become the customer’s friend by being a resource for all senior living information.  Learn your market choices and share as much information as possible, so the senior or their family can make a good decision.

It’s always good to ask the prospect, if they have just started exploring their options or find out if they are further along into research mode.  Seniors and baby boomer adult children, who are just starting out, often need some basic information.  How you present it, depends on what senior housing option you represent.  When people are making a move, it’s always a good idea to figure out the costs of future health care, home maintenance and services (such as dining, 24-hour emergency call system and housekeeping).

1)   One option is for seniors to stay in their own home. Some seniors choose to live with children or have their adult children live with them. This is a great option if someone’s son or daughter is a repair person, great cook and willing to drive them to doctor appointments, when they are not able to drive.

2)   Staying at home with home healthcare. Home healthcare can provide a qualified person who can help with medication management and assist with the activities of daily living.  Costs average $21 an hour on a national basis, which can quickly turn into $15,000 a month with full time care.

3)   Moving into a condo provides for most of the maintenance, repairs, home upkeep and yard work.  It can come with home owner’s association (HOA’s) dues of $300 – $1500 a month.

4)   Independent living – retirement communities, who offer one level of care, can have strict health requirements, but many communities are allowing in-home care to people’s apartments so they can remain in residence longer.  In-home care averages $19 an hour nationally, so just 8 hours of help a day can add up to over $4700 a month.  The $4700 a month would be in addition to the monthly rental fee.  It varies by state, if the in-home care has licensing and trained staff requirements.

5)   Independent living – retirement communities, who offer two levels of care, may or may not have stringent health requirements.  If they offer both independent living and assisted living, they tend to be less strict, because they can provide services for two levels of care.   The disadvantage is that independent seniors are living with frailer neighbors.  Research the cost of independent living and the cost of assisted living (find out what is included with the rent – is any care included – or is care all added on separately?).  These prices vary depending on how many meals and services are provided.

6)   If seniors wait too long to move when they are independent, they can move directly into an assisted living community, where they can enjoy 3 meals a day and 24-hour care support.  Some assisted living communities charge one all-inclusive rate and others charge extra for bathing assistance, medication management, incontinence care, etc.  Assisted Living basic rent costs between $2100 and $5700 a month on a national level with bigger rooms and additional care costing more.  In Washington State, I personally knew people that paid $9000 a month for heavy assisted living services.

7)   Skilled nursing care or rehab is something that people never select as a choice.  Typically something happened to the senior that caused a hospital stay and their doctor recommends that they recover in a Medicare certified skilled nursing care or rehabilitation center.  This is 24-hour skilled nursing care and can be a short-term stay for a few weeks or a month.  Long-term care residents typically cannot get out of bed on their own and live in this environment on a permanent basis.  Costs can run nationally between $128 and $678 a day for semi-private room.   I have typically seen daily costs in the mid-$200’s for a semi-private room and up to mid-$400 for a private suite on the West Coast.

8)   Continuing care retirement communities (CCRC’s) have health and financial thresholds that must be met, in order to move-in.  A large number of CCRC organizations, through their foundations, may offer a guarantee of care for the rest of the senior’s life.  This can be a powerful choice, to know that if something happened to a senior’s finances that they would have care for life.  CCRC’s typically offer independent living, assisted living and skilled nursing care, all on the same campus.  A one time entrance fee is usually requested that can run anywhere from $60,000 to over $2 million.  A percentage of the entrance fee can be refundable back to someone’s estate.  There are many varieties of returnable options.  The monthly fees of CCRC’s are typically lower than month-to-month rentals for the same square footage.

There are a variety of qualities for all the above choices.  Learn your area’s choices and help be an educational resource to the customer.  They will appreciate you more and hopefully select your retirement community.  Encourage seniors to choose wisely, it’s not just about price, but the quality of services and care that are provided.   A good question to ask a prospect would be: What senior housing option gives them the most peace of mind?

Every town, city and state has different pricing.  My national price quotes came from: http://www.metlife.com/mmi/research/2011-market-survey-long-term-care-costs.html#findings

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: @market2seniorsWeb: www.marketing2seniors.netBlog: http://marketing2seniors.net/blog/

HELP – I Don’t Have Time to Make My Follow Up Calls!

Is this you?  Is this your senior living sales person?  Unless you have 10 to 15 tours a week, you have time to make follow up phone calls.  Some people share this song and dance with only having one or two tours for the week – really?  Come on…what are you really doing?

A legitimize excuse, for not making calls, would be having five move-ins for the week!  That’s a lot of paperwork!   If you were organizing a health fair with twenty venders to generate more leads – would also be worthy of a pass.

Time management is a beautiful thing and not everyone has this gift.  Sales people need coaching, goals and daily targets to achieve.  Break it down, to connecting with 15 people in a day.  Recent averages for my successful sales people would be about 30 phone calls in a day to achieve 15 voice-to-voice contacts (this can include call-ins, but mostly call-outs).  Out of the 15 voice contacts, they averaged scheduling 3 to 6 appointments per day for prospective residents to come to the community.  Two people, who were called in one day, were actually interested in moving in soon.  One person said, “The timing of your call was perfect, it’s time that I move into a retirement community.”

Phone calling success in senior housing includes inviting them to exciting events at the community, which you should have on at least a monthly basis.  Chapter six in my book Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full is Great Events Can Fill Your Building.

An almost imperceptible time drain can include taking too much time talking to residents and/or helping residents.  We love them so much and it’s so much easier to shoot the breeze with residents instead of hearing another “no” on the telephone from our database.  Our residents deserve dignity and respect.  But let’s look at all the employees at your senior living community… 97% or more of the employees are hired to take care of the residents.  Less than 3% handle the marketing to fill the building.  Marketers should redirect the resident to the 97% or more of the operational employees who are being paid to serve them.  I believe in the two-minute rule, any resident can have one to two minutes and then say, “I would love to talk longer, but I have a phone call, meeting or tour that I need to do,” (whatever is really true).

The bottom line is that proactive marketers make follow up phone calls the next day after a tour and on a regular basis communicate with their database.  Start increasing your occupancy today…

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.netBlog: http://marketing2seniors.net/blog/

“I’m not ready yet!”

“I’m not ready yet!”

Don't fight with your prospective residents!How many times have you heard this from people considering a senior living community?  It’s probably the number one customer comment, after touring a continuing care retirement community, independent living or assisted living community.

As a sales person, you sometimes honestly have to laugh after the appointment… The really humorous part is that a significant number of the people saying, “I’m not ready yet!” can barely qualify health wise for the community.  They are shuffling with walkers and canes and may not even be able to tour the entire community before becoming exhausted with fatigue.   You think to yourself, wow, you almost don’t qualify, how can you not be ready yet?

So how do we sell something to someone who desperately needs it?  First, we can’t butt heads with them.  Don’t argue!  Stop trying to talk them into it!  Once you have brought someone’s resistance up, you are in a losing battle.

Objections are one of two things.  Either something we failed to cover during our time (discovery and tour) with them or they simply need more information.   If you wait until the end of your time together to cover objections, then you are battling the prospective resident and creating a stressful sales experience by being a Stressful Sally or Sam.  You can cover objections before they become an objection by using examples of past tour experiences.  It’s the “friend approach” and it’s very effective.

Share a recent story of a resident who was not ready yet and moved into your community at his children’s insistence or another reason.  He or she had fallen several times and they were concerned that even with an emergency pendant in their home, they might not be able to press it and could be laying on the floor for several days (before help arrives).  It gives them a lot of peace of mind to know we have a plan in place to take care of almost any situation at our community.  I would love for you to meet them…

A prospect could not be mad at you for sharing this story!  It is a real story and one that the potential resident and their family has to consider when they go home, because they are not ready yet…  The next fall or hearing about another senior falling will trigger the story in their mind again.  If you continue calling on a monthly basis to check in, they can suddenly become one of your hottest leads…

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/

The Occupancy is NOT my Fault!  It’s the Economy!

The Occupancy is NOT my Fault! It’s the Economy!

Have you heard this from your sales and marketing teams?  Is this what the executive director of your senior living community is saying?  Are you buying the popcorn?  Come on…wake up…seniors are moving into retirement communities everyday.  If it is not yours, it’s into your competition.

Is your senior living occupancy below 90%? The first thing to look at is the attitude of your team.  Do they believe they can do it?  Are they truly doing everything they can to fill the building?  Are you having exciting events to draw in new faces?  When guests arrive at your building are they treated like a precious jewel worth thousands of dollars?  They should be – one move-in could be worth $36,000 per year to your bottom line.  Does the receptionist jump up to great them?  Is your phone answered with clarity and enthusiasm?

Are the sales people selling the real estate or the emotion?  If your team is only selling the real estate (floor plans and apartments), people would just rather stay in their own home.   Senior living communities are about a vibrant lifestyle – do your offer one or is it just bingo?  Seniors want the security you offer instead of being isolated in their own home.  One of a senior’s biggest fears is having a bad fall, not being able to call for help and end up – stuck – lying on the floor for several days.   Are you sharing life-long-learning opportunities and the connectivity with like-minded seniors at your community?  Do you offer them?  How about sharing the peace of mind (in some CCRC’s) – just knowing that if something did happen to a resident’s finances they could have a guarantee of care for the rest of their lives?

The biggest tell tail sign of low occupancy is a low amount of call-outs after a tour.   It seems so obvious, to give a quick call to the previous day’s tours.  Just find out what they liked best the previous day, answer any more questions and always share something NEW that you failed to mention yesterday.  Consistent follow-up phone calls is the key! ALL seniors say they are not ready!  It means they don’t have enough information YET and they can’t picture themselves living there.  Keep inviting them back to exciting events! You don’t need every senior in your city to picture themselves at your community…only enough to have 100% occupancy.

My book, “Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full,” teaches 12 keys to kick-start your sales and marketing program in the right direction.  Good luck and start watching your occupancy increase!

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/

The illustration has a copyright of 2011 by Diane Twohy Masson.  The illustration may not be reproduced – mechanically, electronically, or by any other means, including photocopying or scanning – without the written permission of the copyright holder. Requests for permission can be submitted to Marketing 2 Seniors.