In the senior living sales process, getting a tour is a big deal, but it still leaves you a fair distance from a signed contract because most families will tour 2-4 communities before picking one.

By Steve Moran

In the senior living sales process, getting a tour is a big deal, but it still leaves you a fair distance from a signed contract because most families will tour 2-4 communities before picking one. The good news is that it suggests they are pretty serious about moving into a community. It would suggest you have a 20-40% chance of advancing the sale to a contract and move-in.

The Tour

A family comes in with their “mom”. The tour goes great and you are asking all the right probing questions, you are more and more convinced your community is a perfect fit. They seem to really like what you showed them, but they are not yet ready to make a commitment. They have two other communities the still want to visit.

On the one hand, you are pretty confident they will pick YOU. On the other hand, you worry they will like the other places just as well or even better and that since you were first or second in the tour list, you will soon be in an “out of sight out of mind” situation.   

The Edge

OneDay, a Senior Housing Forum partner, will give you the very edge you need to reinforce the benefits mom would realize from moving into your community. You sit down and make a list of things you know about mom and her children:

  • Mom has a little dog that has to come with her, and your community loves having pets.

  • She seemed to really like having anytime dining and the option of having meals delivered to her room at no additional cost.

  • The family is worried about mom falling and you use an emergency call system that includes fall detection.

  • You discovered that she is a retired school teacher and you think mom and two other retired school teachers would love getting to know each other.

  • Finally you told her about how each autumn your community does this big community service project, filling several hundred backpacks with school supplies for disadvantaged kids and she seemed really interested.

You then pick-up your iPhone, which has the OneDay App installed, and create an instant personalized video message — directly from you to the family and prospective resident — that goes something like this:

Thanks so much for visiting our community today. I fell in love with your mom and loved hearing about her pooch. We would love to have both of them as new residents. I am sure Rover will be a big hit with team members and other residents.  

The lunch we had together was the kind of dining experience your mom would have every day and we do know that sometimes your mom, like other residents, would prefer to eat in her own apartment, which is why we offer meal delivery at no additional cost.

As a retired school teacher I know your mom will love working with Hazel and Sue, who are also retired teachers, on our big backpack giveaway that we do in the fall. I see the three of them becoming fast friends.

If you have any questions about senior living or our community I would be glad to serve as your expert resource.

After recording it, you do a quick review and verify that you are happy with the results, enter the email address you have for the prospect and resident and . . . POOF! . . . your video is on it’s way.  

Here is what it might look like:

You can find out more about the OneDay App and how senior living communities are using it to enhance the lives of their residents and increase occupancy HERE:

 

Download a PDF copy of this article by clicking on the button below: