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I recently attended a senior living client conference where we talked about many important topics, especially with regard to today’s tumultuous times. But we all kept coming back to the same point – it’s the relationships we build that make us, and ultimately the communities or companies we work for, successful.

And while it takes two people to make any relationship succeed, the process has to begin with you.  Let’s take the retirement community scenario for example:  We can certainly each take a personal role in creating the strongest connections possible – and remember, the relationships don’t stop with just potential residents. We have to make sure we connect with all involved with our communities, including fellow staff, residents and sponsors, as well as leads and depositors.

Delving even further, we know sponsors want to know whether their projects will be successful and what is being done to ensure that happens. Communities need to see themselves as a valued resource and partner in the relationship process, specifically providing the information necessary so that sponsors know and feel they are always top-of-mind. After all, they’re lending their name and resources to your project, so you can see why it’s imperative to understand the value of creating and maintaining a strong, positive relationship.

One of the best ways to know what’s working at your community is to focus on your relationships with your sales staff. Talk to your sales counselors and marketing staff, and ask them what they are seeing and hearing. Give them the tools they need to succeed. Remind them that they only get one chance to make a first impression, so let’s put our best foot forward. Salespeople are most effective when the marketing tactics you provide them serve as an avenue to start a discussion or further relationships with leads and prospects. Sales is a relationship-building process, so if you don’t build relationships with your own staff, how are you going to be able to connect with the prospects who are considering moving to your community?

Remember, you simply can’t hide or fake a belief and passion for your community, and inspiring confidence in yourself and your community is about promises made becoming promises kept. Today’s environment of doing more with fewer resources requires fostering better relationships, gathering more information by asking questions, and building confidence by knowing the answers and having solutions.

Lastly, never forget relationship-building is more than just a single event. It is a process that takes time. Put yourself on the road to success by ensuring you’ve created and continue to create strong relationships every day – it’s the best thing you can do for yourself, both personally and professionally.

We know that seniors and their adult children are visiting your web site, so I would encourage you to make your web site the very best it can be — a powerful web site is a 24/7 opportunity to reach your prospects.

For an operational community, here are 10 powerful web site tips:

1. Your web site is often the first impression a prospect or adult child will have of your community. Web sites need to bring your community to life so prospects are intrigued enough to want to come and visit your community. In the past, communities were worried about “giving too much away” via the web; however, today people expect to be able to gather sufficient information via the web before they will call, email, fill out a form or visit your community. Make sure their first impression is solid enough to keep them from dismissing you after visiting your site.
2. Web sites are living, breathing organisms. It is incredibly important to feed your site with new content, promotions and any other content, photos or graphics that might be appealing to your web site visitors. The days of building a web site and leaving it on the shelf are over.
3. Make sure your site converts! Many of our communities experience 20% of initial inquiries via the web. If you get a prospect to your site, make sure you incorporate promotional call-outs, forms for prospects to provide information, easy-to-find phone numbers and more, so you don’t miss out on a web lead because your site doesn’t ask a prospect to input contact information.
4. Optimize your web site for search engines. Don’t just purchase paid placement, but also optimize your web site for natural search by incorporating appropriate keywords in the copy, including title tags and much more. Smart natural optimization will put your site at the top of the search engines’ list, which will provide you with many more opportunities to get your message in front of prospects.
5. This goes without saying for the industry we are in, but make sure to optimize your web site for the 65+ prospect. Give users the ability to increase the text size, choose colors that work well together, include simple navigation and more.
6. Interactivity is key. Include interesting, sticky interactive components to your web site to encourage users to spend more time on your site. Include calls to action to these interactive components in your offline materials. Don’t just list your URL; instead, give prospects who receive a direct mail piece a reason to go to your web site to learn more about your community. For example, tell them they can go to your web site to view a video, virtual tour, floor plans, etc.
7. Be sure to capture email addresses in simple forms on your web site. Seniors use email, and mining a substantial email database will allow for you to cost-efficiently sell, build relationships and provide information about your community via email in the future.
8. Start incorporating social networking principles into your web site. Start by adding a blog to your site, linking to a video posted on YouTube, and giving users ways to interact with you and/or your interesting, unique residents.
9. And, speaking of video…don’t miss the chance to add video to your site. Video helps bring your community to life, builds credibility and can create trust if used to convey community messages and strengths. For example, if you have a doctor on staff, shoot a short video of the doctor talking about his/her commitment to your residents.
10. Testimonials are very powerful. Include text if your budget doesn’t allow for video. If you can afford video, shoot a few short segments and include some of the following: residents, adult children, caregivers, the executive director and anyone else who helps make your community shine!

Please keep in mind that if you can start with one of these, you’re on the right track. I know you can’t do everything at once, but I usually recommend that we phase in as much as makes sense for our clients and put a plan together for what we want our web sites to achieve. So over time and via a phased approach, we can arrive at a place where everyone feels good about a web site that works hard for them.

This week’s message is simple: In all likelihood, your community’s next move-in is someone who is in your lead base right now. 

So while it’s important to continue to fill the pipeline with new leads, your best opportunity to make an immediate impact on your census is to hit the phone, send those letters and notes, contact your leads via email, create reasons to get your hottest prospects through the door for face-to-face contact. Be sensitive to the psychological effects of the economic downturn, but remember that many in your lead base can still, in reality, afford to make this move now, whether or not they feel as if they can. Let that knowledge be your motivation to keep picking up the phone.

And keep in mind, just because a prospect is in your lead base doesn’t mean they are exclusively your lead. If they’re considering your retirement community, it’s likely they’re also shopping your competitors. Will your community be top-of-mind on the day they experience a triggering event that makes them think more seriously about a move? 

Look for new ways to reach out to your leads and cultivate those relationships. Read an interesting article they might appreciate; call and ask if you can send them a copy. Make an effort to recognize birthdays and anniversaries. Send a note of congratulations when a beloved alma mater wins a big game. After all, people buy from people. This is a relationship sale that happens over time, and the more genuine interest you express, the more trust you build. 

We’re hearing from clients that many wait lists have gone cold. Communities with substantial lead bases are struggling to fill vacant units. This might sway you to write off your existing leads in favor of new prospects. That would be a mistake. When you consider that a typical cost-per-lead for an operating community ranges anywhere from $200 to upwards of $500, your lead base represents a significant investment. Treat it like one of your most valuable assets, by making the best use of the time, effort and dollars your organization has invested in the acquisition of those leads. Especially in times like these, we all need to be focused on ways to make the most of every opportunity.

Do you know the top two ways seniors use the Internet? Search engines and email. Pew Research (April 2008) confirms that 60% of seniors who are online use search engines. If your retirement community isn’t thinking about how easily prospective residents and their families can find you on Google, Yahoo or MSN, you are missing a huge opportunity.

GlynnDevins helps over 45 senior living communities maintain strong search engine visibility. The results have been exciting! Communities that buy the paid listings that appear around the perimeter of the search results page (paid search) immediately see a boost in web site traffic from search engines. Their percentage of new visitors jumps from eight percent to 20 percent!

While paid search advertising provides a great start, communities need to think about the main body of the search results page – the natural search results. People generally consider these listings more credible, and heat maps confirm that many more people look at the natural search results than the paid search results. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the technique behind getting your web site listed in the natural search results. The title of your site, headlines, body copy, tags, links between pages and navigation all play a role in SEO.  Links from relevant, reputable, and at least semi-popular web sites are also important. In our experience, senior living communities that have a better natural search presence through SEO see another big boost in new visitors over those that are limited to just paid search. These new visitors – whether they be from paid or natural search listings – are converting into new leads for communities.

So ask yourself: Do I need search engines to work harder for my community?