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As a recent post by one of my colleagues emphasized, and as anyone on the front lines selling senior living knows, making an emotional connection with the customer is the critical path to making the sale. Yet, in light of the economic environment, the tendency lately has been to tone down the feel-good lifestyle messages in favor of talk about value, smart choices and risk management. Maybe it’s time to amp up the aspirational appeal, to put the focus back on our prospects’ hope and dreams, instead of their worries. 

I’m reminded of a resident I met at a community’s grand opening celebration a few months ago. She was eager to fill me in on all she had become involved in since moving in – but what struck me the most was the 78th-birthday present she had just given herself:  braces. She’d always wished for straighter teeth and, well, she isn’t getting any younger. It was a nice reminder that our buyers really are looking toward the future with anticipation and optimism.

How can we more effectively tap into that with our communications efforts? Here are a few ideas that haven’t yet had the benefit of anyone else’s insight. What do you think?

1)  Send a halfway-through-the-year letter to your leads. A new twist on the tried-and-true New Year letter, you can remind them of the aspirations they had at the beginning of the year, and show them how your community can help them attain those goals.

2)  Host a “What’s Next?” workshop. Involve residents who developed a new skill or mastered a new activity since moving in. Whether they learned to speak Italian, improved their physical fitness or discovered a love of ballroom dancing, real-life examples like these are inspirational and motivating to others.

3)  Make it a contest. Challenge prospects to identify, and then accomplish, a personal goal. Assign each participant to a resident mentor, and give them a “challenge pass” that provides access to relevant amenities, activities and classes at your community to support their efforts. Create a microsite where you can document their journeys.

Efforts like these can show prospects that we understand they’re looking forward – and make them feel good about picking up the phone to learn more.

I know, it’s one of those buzz words that everyone’s a little bit tired of. Yet we keep hearing about the need to be transparent – to communicate honestly and openly – to gain trust.

And isn’t building trust the guiding principle in selling our product? In retaining residents? Keeping staff members motivated and committed?

I was recently consulting with a community that’s in the early stages of redevelopment. They want to deliver on the promised “insider updates” at an upcoming Priority Member retention event, and are facing a familiar challenge – the fact that the Priority phase is generally characterized as a time when there’s very little interesting or relevant progress to report.

My suggestion? Instead of trying to manufacture something “exclusive” to share with them, why not give them a deeper-dive explanation of the development process? Explain the business reasons that drive the benefits we’re offering them – that we need to build early momentum to achieve the pre-sales needed for financing. What’s the risk, really? It’s information they could find on their own if they really wanted to, and we can score big points by offering it up in an honest, forthright way.

Another community – this one operational – was considering opening up a popular resident event to hot leads. Their hesitation stemmed from the expected presence of some memory support residents at the event. Of course we want to create a welcoming, enjoyable experience for prospective residents, but don’t you think it’s also important for them to know – to see for themselves – that they’ll still be valued participants in the community, if they ever require a higher level of care?

While decisions like these must be carefully considered and won’t always be easy to make, think about steps you can take to be more transparent to your various audiences – and foster that trust that is so paramount to your community’s success.

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.

If you’ve been following this topic, you’ve read about the importance, especially among operating communities, of maintaining consistency with your marketing efforts. Next, let’s look closely at how these program tactics can be most efficiently delivered. 

Sometimes, we hear about the desire to “cast a wide net” with marketing messages, to reach out far and wide, both geographically and demographically. Yet in today’s information-saturated environment, targeted marketing efforts are shown time and again to be most effective. When retirement communities identify and hone in on new prospects who are most likely to have an interest in their particular product offering and location, they benefit from less wasted coverage (and the dollars that go with it), higher closing ratios and shorter sales gestation periods. Think about it this way: If birds of a feather flock together, then you need only determine which species fits your resident profile, find out where they nest and take your net there. 

Certainly, any senior living community would appreciate deep-penetrating, market-wide awareness. However, the effort to achieve that level of brand recognition – and to sustain it as the prospect base turns over – is not only immense, it’s unnecessary. By strategically defining your target audience and communicating consistently with them, versus blanketing the market with a shotgun approach, I think you’ll find that the number of qualified, interested prospects coming through the door won’t be much different. The real difference will be in the saved time and money spent communicating with the “just looking,” “too expensive,” “we’ll wait and see” crowd. This, of course, does not rule out the possibility that prospects outside your target profile may move to your community.  It simply means that you won’t be wasting resources searching for that rare needle in a haystack.

So how do you go about defining and reaching your target market? Operating communities are in the enviable position of having a wealth of customer data from which to build a buyer profile.  Your current residents can tell you a lot about your future buyers, from geographic response patterns to socio-economic trends that go beyond age and financial qualifications. This information can be applied to purchased-list criteria for direct mail tactics – the most targeted of them all – so you can deliver your message directly into the mailboxes of prospects who match the characteristics of a likely buyer. This data can also help you evaluate and select the right traditional media vehicles to reach your target audience. Then it’s just a matter of delivering messages that address their motivations and concerns.

Speaking of message: There’s no sense in going to the trouble of targeting your audience if you don’t craft a message that speaks to them specifically. Don’t try to be all things to all people. Stand in the shoes of that prospect and see what your community looks like through their eyes. What do they really want, and how can you best communicate that your community will deliver it? Identifying your target market makes positioning and promoting your community easier, more successful and ultimately more cost-effective. Anything else is a waste of time and money.