Communities Scramble to Develop COVID-19 Vaccine Policies
At our 37th weekly sales and marketing roundtable, communities discussed the light at the end of the tunnel and shared how they’ll be implementing the vaccine.
Dig into the recap below, and please join us for our next roundtable this week.
Please join our last roundtable of 2020 on Thursday, December 17, at noon ET.
This will be our last discussion of the year, but we will start back up in early 2021!
At our 34th sales and marketing roundtable, we shared our successes and setbacks during the pandemic. We were also fortunate to have one participant share takeaways from this year’s SMASH conference.
Check out the recap and conference takeaways below. We also invite you to attend our next roundtable this week.
Takeaways from the SMASH Conference
Over 200 sales and marketing professionals from senior living organizations of all sizes across the U.S. participated. One of our roundtable attendees shared these takeaways:
Biggest Sales and Marketing Trends
Since COVID-19, leads and occupancy have plunged across the board.
The deepest occupancy decreases have been in assisted living, with the toughest objection being “Why would I move my mom into assisted living when I know I won’t be able to see her for months?”
Marketing budgets are not being cut and, in many instances, they are being increased.
Marketing dollars are being reallocated from events and on-site activities to digital, SEO/SEM, virtual tours, videos and webinars.
Marketing automation (automated lead nurture) is by far the #2 marketing priority after digital paid search and search engine optimization (SEO/SEM).
Marketing messages have pivoted for assisted living and memory care to safety and security. IL messages are still about lifestyle, with a bit of safety and security in the message mix.
Website — making sure the messages are appropriate/correct for the times. For most senior living communities, COVID-19 info has recently been moved from front and center to a smaller tab on the homepage, still easily accessible.
Salespeople across the board are still focusing 100% of their time on sales, including nurturing the wait list/depositors, cold calling, working through the database, delivering treats/meals to depositors, virtual tours, apartment tours, answering website/call leads, etc. Activity team members, as well as social workers and front desk team members, are taking care of all window/outside visits, temperature taking, Facetime/Skyping with family members, virtual doctor visits, etc.
Sales messaging, especially for assisted living — do not lead with COVID-19. We are living with COVID-19 24/7; however, prospects are calling us because mom/dad needs more help. They want to know how we can help them first and foremost.
“Backstage Pass” — can’t tour the community, but can tour individual apartments.
Interesting Sales and Marketing Stats
New reality — 90% of prospects do not want to talk with us. They just want more information (which they are finding digitally via Google, website, videos, Facebook, Instagram, etc.)
Across the U.S. in CCRCs:
43% increase in cost per conversion in digital search
39% decrease in goal completion (filling out a form, calling, etc.)
103% increase in phone calls (these are not all sales calls)
70% of adult daughters find care for their parents through digital (up from 50% not so long ago)
Google will drive 90% of digital leads
77% of searches for senior care begin online … even for skilled nursing
80% of senior living search online is Google, Facebook and individual community websites
6 billion minutes of content per week are consumed via video
3 connected devices per person — and we switch between them all day long
Average number of brand touchpoints = six per person … up from two 10 years ago.
92% of consumers begin their healthcare search online — with 6,000 searches related to long-term care EVERY HOUR
88% of residents overall would recommend LTC. (Perception: 24% of seniors don’t want to move to LTC. Reality: 88% who live in LTC really love it.)
Please join our next roundtable discussion on Thursday, November 19, at noon ET.
Senior Living Finances Tanking, COVID Rising and Plastic Hugging Walls
At our 33rd weekly sales & marketing roundtable, we shared how we’re feeling this week. We also discussed a plastic wall that was set up by one community to allow residents and family to hug, shown below.
Please join our next roundtable discussion on Thursday, November 12, at noon ET.
Latest NIC Survey Findings: More Move-ins and Rent Concessions
At our weekly sales & marketing roundtable, we all shared creative tactics we’re using to attract prospects as COVID-19 rates spike in some areas. We’d especially like to thank Lana Peck, senior principal at the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC) for sharing the latest insights from executive surveys completed since the pandemic hit.
Check out the insights and survey results below. We also invite you to our next roundtable this week.
NIC Executive Survey Insights with Lana Peck
The full report is on the NIC website. Wave 14 findings can be found here.
We had 70 organizations respond to wave 14:
Not the same 70 for every wave, but 60–70% are repeat takers, so there is some continuity.
Geographical dispersion of respondents:
There’s a slight underrepresentation in the Northeast compared to national coverage of the NIC map.
For the most part, participants are coming from all over the country.
We’re promoting this more strongly with operators, as we’re getting some national media exposure.
It is important for operators to know that, by participating in the survey, they have the opportunity to ensure that the narrative is accurate.
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We went from ⅓ in wave 10 (early August) to just under ⅔ in the most recent wave — a lot more organizations are offering rent concessions.
90% of organizations are paying overtime to mitigate staffing issues.
Staffing/temp agency usage has grown throughout the pandemic.
About ⅔ of organizations that have IL in portfolio are offering rent concessions.
Organizations with nursing care are less likely to offer rent concessions.
Discussion from the group:
We are giving concessions on entrance fees and support on moving services.
We are offering $3,000 toward moving expenses and incentives to get people to move more quickly.
Organizations reporting no change in pace have been growing. It’s the highest it’s been in wave 14.
Deceleration of move-ins is lower in IL, AL and MC in wave 14.
Most respondents are citing increased resident demand (increase in move-ins).
Fewer organizations with nursing care beds in wave 14 reported acceleration in the pace of move-ins, with the fewest respondents citing hospital placement since wave 7 surveyed mid-May — presumably due to anecdotal reports of hospitals sending patients straight home to recuperate from surgeries or illnesses with in-home health care.
A quarter of organizations have a backlog of residents waiting to move in.
Organizations may be providing incentives. The month-over-month change in occupancy has been starting to rise.
About ¼ of the organizations that have IL in their portfolio; ⅓ of those with AL; ½ of those with MC; and about ½ with nursing care are seeing an upward change in occupancy rates in the past 30 days.
Fewer folks that have IL are seeing a decrease in occupancy.
48% in nursing care are seeing increases, and 37% are seeing decreases.
Please join our next roundtable discussion on Thursday, November 5, at noon ET.
A Familiar Event Topic That’s Pulling in Loads of Participants
At our 31st weekly sales and marketing roundtable, communities shared their challenges, solutions and one often-used event topic that’s still getting amazing traction.
Put these ideas to work for your community by checking out the recap below.
Please join our next roundtable discussion on Thursday, October 29, at noon ET.
Last week at our virtual sales and marketing roundtable, participants shared that they are trying new sales strategies and working to debunk the myths of COVID-19.
Dig into the recap below. Please also join us for our next roundtable, coming up this week.
Please join our next roundtable discussion on Thursday, October 15, at noon ET.
At Roundtable #28, community marketers shared their feelings about the pandemic and explained why some are seeing a sales spike this fall.
Dig into the takeaways below. Please also join us for our next virtual roundtable this week. For log-in information, contact DDunham@Varsitybranding.com.
Please join our next roundtable discussion on Thursday, October 8, at noon ET.
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