By Steve Moran

This seems so blatantly obvious and, at the same time, we are so very terrible at doing this one thing.

Every single business that exists in the whole world is in the business of solving some kind of problem:

  • Disney is in the business of helping families answer these questions: “What do I do about my boredom”; and, “What is something our whole family can do together?” 
  • Apple is in the business of solving the problem of connecting people with each other and alleviating boredom. 

What Senior Living Solves

Here are just some of the problems senior living solves:

  • We solve the loneliness problem for older people
  • We solve the meal delivery problem for older people
  • We solve the problem of older people not staying on top of their medication 
  • We solve the problem of worry for family members

We could, with some time, probably make a list of 10 or 15 more problems we solve. 

Senior Living

So I got curious, wondering how many senior living communities actually talk about the problems they solve on their websites. I did a search for senior living in my local area and what I discovered was that the answer was ZERO.

I found lots of:

  • We care
  • Meaningful options
  • Customer satisfaction
  • Exceptional living
  • World-class retirement living
  • More than a retirement community
  • A great building design
  • Personalized care
  • The rewards of a well-lived life
  • Compassionate

There is nothing wrong with any of these things exactly. But they simply never really address the core reason, the core needs of people looking for senior living.

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It is Crazy-Making

It is crazy-making to me because we seem unwilling to ask things like this:

  • Do you need some new friends?
  • Is your loved one not thriving because of isolation?
  • Is your mom or dad not taking their meds?
  • Is your dad not taking a shower as often as he should?
  • Do you worry about what you will do when all your friends move away or die?
  • Since you retired, do you feel like your life no longer has meaning?

For each of these problems, senior living tells the best story and has the most compelling solution. And yet, we seem unwilling to tackle the problem head-on.

Don’t Get Me Wrong

We at Senior Living Foresight only get it half right. On the top of our website, it says “Increasing occupancy, reducing turnover, and building culture”. This is actually a great problem solution statement. But if you were to go to our partner page, it is much less clear. It should say:

  • Do you need more visibility?
  • Do you want to be seen as a thought leader?
  • Do you need more leads?

Followed by this: “We are the single best solution to these problems”.

Senior living solution providers are even more guilty, but we are working with our partners to fix this.

The Challenge for You And Me

Figure out what problem you solve and then talk about that problem and how your organization is the best in the world to solve that problem. If you do this, you will be blown away at the results.

Senior living organizations do this NOW.

Solution providers do this NOW.

Senior Living Foresight do this NOW.

In LinkedIn tell us what problem you solve.

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