content marketing

Using Content Marketing to Generate More Leads, Tours, & Move-Ins

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Content marketing, when done correctly, can help you attract and convert website visitors into qualified leads, scheduled tours, and move-ins.

But what content should you create? Most people immediately say “blog posts.” While blogs are a great tool to improve SEO, increase traffic, and engage visitors, you need to do more than simply “blog” if you want to generate leads, tours, and move-ins.

1. Invest in Premium Content Marketing

Your site probably has lots of ungated content, meaning people can access it without giving you their info. Your blog posts are examples of ungated content.

But offering premium content—something people can’t get anywhere else that is “gated” behind a form—motivates visitors to give you their contact information in exchange for the valuable content. From there, you can continue to nurture the prospects along their sales journey. So what should the premium content be? Think guides, e-books, “how-to” articles, and checklists.

A good place to promote your premium content is through a call-to-action (CTA) at the end of a blog post (e.g., “Get our free guide on aging well!”). The blog posts are the bait, your prospects are the fish, and the premium content serves as the hook.

Keep in mind that it’s important to have a variety of premium content because prospects will “bite” on different content based on their stage of readiness and interests.

2. Create Stellar Landing Pages

Your landing page is where the premium content “lives.” This the “gate” part in gated content. The landing page should include:

  • An image of the premium content – so work with a graphic designer on a beautiful cover!
  • A compelling description of what the prospect will learn – so work with a copywriter!
  • A form to gather contact information in exchange for receiving the content. If you want to be sure to gather real emails, distribute the content to prospects via email rather than direct download.

Don’t overwhelm prospects with too many required fields! This is a first date, so simply ask for first and last name and email address. In terms of how to create and host landing pages, we recommend HubSpot because they offer progressive profiling so you can ask additional questions with every opt-in form. As prospects take more premium content, you get more information such as preferred location, their role, and desired lifestyle.

Remember, marketing’s job is to “plate up” sales-qualified leads (SQLs) to the sales team. Each landing page represents a piece of content related to the sales funnel. Your sales team will be especially interested in prospects who opt into content that indicates they’re sales-ready. And by knowing what content the SQL has downloaded, your sales team can have a more productive conversation when they talk to the prospect on the phone or meet face-to-face.

3. Set Up Effective Senior Living Marketing Automation to Nurture Leads

Congratulations, you took an anonymous website visitor and converted them to a lead – great! Now, it’s time to nurture these leads to create face-to-face or voice-to-voice interactions with the sales team.

However, if you reel in the fish too quickly, it will get spooked and drop off the line. That is what happens when you send every lead directly into your CRM. Instead, use a marketing automation platform that will create automated workflows to provide additional content and offers (e.g., tours, lunches, home visits, events) that are relevant to the lead based on the “bait” that reeled them in.

For example, if someone downloads a piece of educational content on tips for aging well, this suggests they are at the top of the sales funnel and perhaps just beginning to learn about senior living options. How you nurture them will be a lot different from the way you nurture someone who’s downloaded a guide on how to finance different senior living arrangements.

If you follow these three steps, you will establish your brand as a thought leader and you’ll continue to bring prospects back to your website throughout their journey. Best of all? You’ll be serving up SQLs that your sales team can take across the finish line.

If you need assistance setting up these systems, please contact us or call 888.620.9832.

The Senior Living Sales Counselor – A Trapeze Artist

The Senior Living Sales Counselor – A Trapeze Artist

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Success in senior living sales is a balance of art and science with many analogies. I have heard it described as a dance-very artistic. Others describe the journey as a funnel or pipeline-100% science. My analogy involves a trapeze. Let me explain!

Going to the circus as a child, I was mesmerized by the trapeze artists. I watched excitedly as they climbed the precarious ladder up to the tippy top of the tent and gathered on the absurdly small platform to take their places. I don’t know what their official roles were, but I thought of them as catchers and flyers.

The catchers were first up, hanging upside down, establishing a steady rhythm, and preparing themselves for the responsibility of catching one or more of the flyers-without a safety net. The flyers then started their swinging back and forth, getting into synch with the catcher and waiting for the right time and alignment to let go of the safety of the swing.

I held my breath until the flyer was caught and brought over to the platform on the other side. It always seemed to take forever and I could never figure out how the flyers knew just the right moment to let go and fly! There was a lot of technique involved in executing this feat, but there was also grace, flexibility, and trust.

In a senior living sales process, I see the families as the flyers and the community sales teams as the catchers. Families bravely climb the scary ladder, gather together on the platform, and try to make it to the other side of finding the right senior living community. Our community sales team “catchers” are always ready to catch the family and bring them safely across the divide. They cannot rush the flyer or entice them over; they just have to be there as a steady presence to build trust.

Usually, the family members gathered on the tiny platform nominate the adult daughter as the first flyer and over she comes as the family scout. Others follow with encouragement from those that went before until, finally, the future resident joins. And the whole time, the senior living sales team is there, waiting to catch.

Whether your sales philosophy falls more on the side of art or on the side of science, here are some resources that should be of interest.

FREE DOWNLOAD: Follow Up: From Failure to Fabulous!

Are you sick and tired of giving away more than 3/4 of your prospects to your competition because of follow-up failure? Keep reading…because you’re about to go from FOLLOW UP Failure to Follow up FABULOUS!

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Using Data to Uncover New Possibilities in Senior Living

Using Data to Uncover New Possibilities in Senior Living Webinar

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Using Incidence Analytics to Identify Market Need

Improving Senior Housing Performance with Precision Market Analytics

We are a data driven world. It can be good or it can be overwhelming. This webinar will highlight three scenarios where data is used to make intelligent business decisions, improve current assets and increase referrals to your communities. Learn how to use incidence data and medication data to improve your business results.

What to schedule a demo or learn more? Click here for more information on VisionLTC services →

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customer journey

Senior Living Sales: Mapping The Customer Journey After They Say Yes

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Senior living sales and marketing departments spend a lot of time developing prospect personas and mapping out their journey. But what happens once a prospect becomes a bona fide customer? Their journey doesn’t end once they move in.

As a resident, they begin a new journey, one that can be happy, sad, or meh (depending on many factors). Senior living sales and marketing departments MUST pay attention. If you don’t, you could be losing out on a great referral source. (Happy residents talk up their experience and refer others.)

Take some time understanding the customer’s journey AFTER they say yes. Look for ways to build on what’s working. And address any issues, even if they fall outside senior living sales and marketing.

First, keep these things in mind:

  • There’s a lot going on. There’s a move that has to be coordinated, downsizing that needs to happen, financial matters to figure out, and paperwork to sign—lots of paperwork with lots of legalese.
  • It’s a significant change. The decision to move to a senior living residence is right up there with saying yes to a marriage proposal, choosing a college, and getting a new job. There’s stress and uncertainty. It’s a reminder that they are aging and need more help. They are giving up their home and familiar routines. Perhaps they’re afraid of losing personal control. Plus, they might be sad to leave their friends and community and become a stranger in their new environment.
  • They may be moving in after a crisis. Some residents are facing challenging situations, such as the following:
    • Severe health issue
    • Loss of spouse or caregiver
    • A decline in physical or mental health
  • It’s exhausting. Going through the decision process, planning the move, and then doing the actual move-in can be physically and emotionally exhausting for both the resident and family.

Second, figure out how senior living sales and marketing can you create a customer journey that supports residents and their families?

You want to create a journey that provides an empathetic, positive experience. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

  • Do your research! Talk with residents and families and learn from their move-in experience. Did you provide a move-in gift or welcome package? If yes, did they find it helpful? If not, what was lacking? Can the senior living sales and marketing teams work on a better welcome package?
  • Look at your touchpoints and channels. What interactions do you have with residents and families during the move-in process? What are the methods by which these touchpoints happen: in-person, emails, phone conversations? Bottom line: the senior living sales rep shouldn’t disappear once the customer has signed. Remember, YOU are the person they know best. Greet them and their family the day they move in. Make a point of checking in on them over the next thirty days. Ditto with their family. If they bring up any issues, don’t say “Oh, I’ll look into that” and then forget. FOLLOW UP.
  • Think about how the customer feels during each touchpoint. Go through each touchpoint and think about how the customer may feel. Are they scared? Emotional? Confused? Disappointed? What are ways for everyone to come together to address these things?
  • How can you make that experience better? Look at opportunities to make the process easier. How can you reduce some of the stress and uncertainty? How can you make the process consistent and scalable? Are there best practices in your organization?
  • Get ongoing feedback and commit to ongoing improvement! There’s always room for improvement. Build on what’s working and fix what’s broken.

Interested in learning more strategies for exceeding prospects’ expectations?

Let’s chat! We’ll spend 30 minutes brainstorming with you.

Request a Session
5 Marketing Trends That Can Generate 5-7 New Move-Ins

5 Marketing Trends That Can Generate 5-7 New Move-Ins! Webinar

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This webinar will provide best practices on how to use your event marketing to increase your lead generation and move-ins!

Senior Living Sales Tips: How to Rock Site Views

Senior Living Sales Tips: How to Rock Site Visits

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The role of a regional director of sales & marketing is tough. You have to manage up, down, and across various groups (corporate, community, and regional peers). Not to mention, you have the responsibility to impact occupancy with little authority. You have to get your results through influence.

And one of the biggest ways you can influence people (positively or negatively) is through site visits.

Here are some senior living sales tips for rocking site visits.

Senior Living Sales Tips: Take the Time to Plan

Effective site visits begin with solid planning, specifically communication, preparation, and collaboration with the Executive Director. Make sure you explain when you’re coming, why you’re coming, and what you expect of people during your visit.

Senior Living Sales Tips: Review Reports and Diagnose Before Your Visit

Don’t waste your actual site visits reviewing reports with the teams. Instead, review reports in advance of the visit to diagnose strengths and weaknesses and to identify trends. Then, during your actual site visit, share what the data reveals and coach team members based on your findings. This will result in a much more productive site visit for everyone involved.

Senior Living Sales Tips: Begin and End with the Executive Director

Too often, regionals walk right by the ED’s door and spend their visit with the sales team. Success in this role is greatly influenced by the partnership with the ED, so be sure to begin and end the visit together reviewing goals and outcomes.

Senior Living Sales Tips: Coach, Model, and Teach

Sales teams learn by practicing, observing, and doing! If creative follow up is an opportunity to improve closing ratios, plan to spend an hour with the sales counselor to model good follow up. Review active leads prior to going to the community and come prepared with some creative follow-up ideas. Brainstorm these leads with the sales counselor and follow through to model the behavior you want to reinforce.

Senior Living Sales Tips: Are You An Auditor Or A Coach?

In an ideal world, you should be both: audit before you arrive (e.g. review reports, as suggested above). Coach people during your site visit. Below are traits of each.

  • Auditor Behavior
  • Spends most of their time with data
  • Uses reports to find weaknesses
  • Feedback provided by telling (training)
  • The intent is control
  • Coach Behavior
  • Spends most of their time with people
  • Uses reports to identify opportunities
  • Feedback provided by doing (modeling & coaching)
  • The intent is support

Senior Living Sales Tips: Focus

Site visits and coaching should be in alignment with your quarterly focus and tie into your overall improvement strategy. If your quarterly focus is to improve tour-to-deposit and move-in conversions, make sure you focus all of your time and energy on those areas.

Senior Living Sales Tips: Leave The Team With a Plan!

Every site visit will end with the creation of an action plan based on what you observe during the visit. Be specific in setting expectations, timeframes, and responsibilities. Don’t wait until the next visit to get updates. Review this action plan during your weekly calls.

Need help rocking your website?

That’s where we come in!

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CRM Tips: Using Data to Predict Future Occupancy

Senior Living CRM Software: Using Data to Predict Future Occupancy

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More and more communities are moving from paper based and manual systems of tracking prospect information and choosing senior living CRM software.

Why the shift? One word: Information.

Senior living CRMs unlock information that helps sales people see trends and identify opportunities to project future occupancy (among many other things). Essentially, the right senior living CRM will help sales staff abandon the “rearview mirror” way of thinking and adopt a “windshield view” of looking forward.

Rearview Mirror Sales Management

Have you ever been on an “occupancy call” where the regional director gathers all of the communities within the region to participate and report results?

The call usually focuses on all the activities of the previous week: number of new leads, tours, deposits, move-ins/outs, call outs, mail/email outs, home visits, sales calls, professional referrals, and events.

The problem with this approach? There’s no correlation between activities and results. Also, you can’t do anything with the old data. For example, if you’re only focusing on the lack of tours from last week, how does that help this week’s sales goals?

The rearview mirror approach is reactive. Instead of thinking about how to create strategies to improve performance this week, its focus is on what happened last week. And just as objects appear bigger in rearview mirrors, this approach tends to make a bigger deal out of poor sales than is necessary.

Windshield View Sales Management

The most productive calls spend less time on past activities. After all, this information is already in the senior living CRM. Everyone can review it prior to the call. Instead, the discussion can focus on the current sales pipeline. This is a better use of everyone’s time. Why? Because the pipeline provides an overview of prospects/leads and the likelihood of turning those leads into sales.

Remember, the number of scheduled tours, assessments, home visits, sales calls to professionals, and events are a better predictor of success. Your call with the team can then focus on effectively planning and executing the scheduled activities rather than re-hashing lost sales from last week.

The windshield view is proactive: what can the team do to turn the pipeline prospects into residents?

As you can imagine, the windshield view is much more empowering, much more popular, and much more effective.

Note: We’re not suggesting you shouldn’t learn from past activities and performance. But you don’t need to dedicate precious time to recapping and reviewing what’s already in a quality senior living CRM.

Senior Living CRM Tips: Use a Projection Report to Identify Opportunities

Take your CRM to the next level by using a projection report to help identify opportunities.

A projection report is a weekly representation of all of the key data points that drive occupancy, all in one place. It takes into account all of the actual move-ins/move-outs, scheduled ins and outs, and the sales pipeline, all of which can affect occupancy for the month.

We’ve created a template that automatically calculates by both resident and unit count. Download the Projection Report template.

Need help getting the most out of your senior living CRM software?

We have deep experience in senior living sales and marketing, particularly CRMs. Let’s talk about your needs.

Senior Living Sales Tips: What You Should Never Say to Prospects

Senior Living Sales And Marketing: What NOT To Say

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The words we use in senior living sales and marketing matter. Here are some that make us cringe in particular (along with what to say instead):

Don’t Say This!Try This Instead
Them or TheyOur residents
Unit or RoomApartment or Suite
Facility, home, or centerCommunity or Residence
LockedSecured
Alzheimer’s UnitMemory Care or Dementia Care Neighborhood
ADLsPersonal Care
Over There or Back ThereOur Memory Care Neighborhood
Seniors, Elders, ElderlyOlder Adults

More senior living sales and marketing jargon to be aware of . . .

Prisons, hospitals, and nursing homes are “facilities.” “Senior living” is a community of people living together and caring for and about one another.

Another way to express the senior living lifestyle is to say, “This is a residence for older adults.” It is not a center, and it is not their home. Think of other times when people lived in communal settings, such as summer camp, hostels, barracks, and college. Each represented a community, but none were home.

The most cringe worthy language involves explaining memory care. “We have a locked unit.” Honestly, who wants to think of their loved one as “locked up”? Try this instead: “Keeping residents safe and secure is a top priority in our Memory Care Neighborhood.”

Independent and assisted living is often referred to as “here” or “on this side,” and memory care is “over there” or “back there.” Don’t call it the “Alzheimer’s Unit.” Alzheimer’s is only one of many forms of dementia, and to many people, it is the most frightening. Substitute “memory care” or “dementia care” instead.

Need help choosing the right words and messages for your senior living sales and marketing?

Let us help! We’re an agency filled with people who have real experience in senior living (and this extends to our awesome copywriters). We can help you craft messages that are welcoming, inclusive, and engaging. Let’s chat!

Senior Living Sales: Do This, Not That When Taking an Initial Inquiry

Senior Living Sales Strategies: How to Handle the Initial Phone Inquiry

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When it comes to senior living sales strategies, taking an inquiry call seems simple enough. The phone rings. The person on the other end is reaching out to get information about senior living. Our job is to qualify the prospect and, if appropriate, advance them to a next step.

Simple, right? Nope!

Calls can take many different paths and senior living sales pros have to be prepared, flexible, and intuitive to be successful. Below are do’s and don’ts to keep in mind during this very important step.

1. Senior living sales strategy: Do use a discovery form or questionnaire to capture information.Senior Living Inquiry Form Discovery Questionnaire Template

Over the years, I’ve tried many different discovery forms, including scripted ones and others organized in qualifying themes with sample questions and a box for notes. The problem is that the conversations are not linear and prospects tend to jump around while telling their story. But that’s OK. A messy form is better than NO form.

So figure out what works best for you and stick with it. Whatever you do, don’t wing it! If you need a form, download the one we’ve created (it’s free).

2. Senior living sales strategy: Don’t make it sound like an interrogation.

Listening to hundreds of mystery shops, I’m reminded of how cold it sounds to start a conversation with a litany of informational questions: name, phone, email, address, zip, loved one’s name and age, and the ubiquitous “How did you hear about us?”

Remember, it takes a lot of courage to pick up the phone and call a community. Often, prospects are in crisis mode and what they need is compassion, empathy, and someone who is willing to listen and help. (Keep in mind that it’s quite possible the person has already perused your senior living website as well. So this “first call” isn’t necessarily their first engagement with your community.)

At the beginning of the call, the sales person should only ask for the caller’s name, phone number (in case you get disconnected), and the name and relationship of who they are calling for (so you can personalize the conversation). Then, let the person tell you his or her story. Wait until the end of the conversation to finish gathering all the contact and referral source information.

3. Senior living sales strategy: Do ask these five types of questions (and hold off on pushing for a tour).

Good discovery leads to higher conversions-to-tours and move-ins. Don’t rush the process. Trying to book a tour without knowing anything about the situation is sales malpractice.

Here are the five types of questions you should always ask:

  • Situational. Where is the prospect living, are they getting any help from family or agencies, what is working and what is not?
  • Greatest Concerns. What are they worried about, how is that affecting everyone, how would moving into a community help?
  • Motivations. Why now, what has changed, what does the person want and need, what routines are important to maintain, how will they choose the right community, who will be involved and what are their roles?
  • Life Story. What are their favorite interests, hobbies, foods, and so forth? What did they do for work? Do they have children? Grandchildren?
  • Financial. Do they have a budget and/or will they qualify for any funding solutions, such as Veterans Aid & Attendance, life insurance conversion, or long-term care insurance?

4. Senior living sales strategy: Do take the time to match a prospect’s wants/needs with specific solutions.Senior Living Need Matching Cheat Sheet

After listening to the story and understanding their situation, you should match their specific needs with community solutions. Avoid “feature dumping,” which simply provides a laundry list of everything the community offers and ignores whether any of it is relevant to the prospect.

Instead, opt for “needs matching,” which involves listening to the prospect’s desires and explaining how living at the community will fulfill those desires and needs. Download our “needs matching” sheet.

5. Senior living sales strategy: Don’t hang up without a next step.

Effective discovery results in a scheduled next step that is date and time specific. If you can’t put it on a calendar, then you can’t consider it a next step or advance.

Always have a main “advance” planned and a back-up “advance” in case the first one is rejected. Sample advances include a scheduled tour, attendance at an upcoming lunch or an event, an appointment with someone who can help with funding solutions, a scheduled home visit or assessment, or attendance at a support group.

If all else fails, ask for mailing and email addresses to send out newsletters/activity calendars or invitations to events.

Need help with this and other senior living sales strategies?

We love working with marketing and sales teams. Our approach helps make everyone’s jobs easier. Let’s chat about your needs!

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Senior Living Sales: Turn Your Stand-Up Meeting into a Huddle

Senior Living Sales Tips: Turn Your Stand-Up Meeting into a Huddle

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Football is a great analogy for the sport of senior living sales. Teams need strong offense and defense to succeed. “Coaches” (sales managers) provide strategies and tactical insights. The “players” (sales team) execute the plays.

And, yes—we can go even deeper with this analogy.

We have sales and marketing teams playing offense by moving leads forward with a series of advances. Resident care teams play defense by holding the line on move-outs. Executive directors play the quarterback position, directing team members to execute the down. Department managers represent specialty teams, keeping residents engaged and families happy. Regional and corporate support teams fill coaching roles to round out the team.

This year, resolve to get more out of your stand-up meetings by running it like a football huddle. Here’s how…

Senior Living Sales Tip: Gear Up

Just like a football huddle, your “huddle” should be a quick check-in to make sure that information is exchanged and everyone is on the same page.

Preparation is key to keeping the huddle quick, productive, and on track. Stand-up meetings are opportunities for teams to connect at the start of the day to share relevant and time-sensitive information. Use the Daily Stand-Up Report to communicate everything the team needs to know. (We’ve created a ‘Daily Stand Up Report’ for you. It’s free! Download the template now.)

Senior Living Sales Tip: Keep it Snappy

The most effective football huddles communicate information clearly and quickly. You need to do the same:

  • Ask everyone to stand. It’s called a “huddle” for a reason, right? You’d never expect football players to scatter, sit, or lounge on benches. Demand the same from your team: have everyone stand. Standing forces people to think on their feet—literally – and it ensures the meeting moves along.
  • Choose a time and be consistent. In football, a huddle takes place at the beginning of (almost) every play. The players know when to expect it, along with the coaches and fans. Do the same with your huddles. Start on time with whoever is present – don’t wait for stragglers.
  • Focus only on what’s necessary. In a football huddle, the focus is on the next play only. That’s it. You need to do the same with your huddle. Limit the scope. Have a flip chart available to create a “parking lot” of issues and topics that are better addressed in a team meeting or 1:1.
  • Know when to ditch the huddle. In football, there’s the “hurry up offense” where the team forgoes the huddle in order to get a play off quickly. There will be times when it makes sense to cancel or ditch a regularly scheduled huddle: a state inspector has just walked in, for example. Or it’s a big holiday week. Use your judgment.

Senior Living Sales Tip: Call the Plays

In the huddle, the quarterback calls the next play. In your huddle, each person will communicate his or her “plays” (updates). The executive director will use the Stand-Up Report as a way to engage each “player” (director), encouraging him or her to share updates. (Download the FREE ‘Daily Huddle Tools’ Training Guide.)

Senior Living Sales Tip: Celebrate the Touchdowns

Keep your huddles quick and focused. Then, step back and watch your players execute their plays during the day, resulting in “touchdowns” (success!). Remember to celebrate these successes at a future huddle (the equivalent of an end-zone dance).

By the way, we work closely with senior living sales teams AND marketing teams to get them working better–and SMARTER. Reach out and let’s talk!