Encouraging Resident/Family Visitation

Anyone who has worked at a retirement community, for even a short length of time, has encountered a resident that never receives visitors. The situations may vary from case to case, with one resident having no children or family, while another has an extensive family network that happens to live far away. Regardless of the […]

Posted on May 23, 2017

Encouraging Resident/Family Visitation

By Wayne Langley
Posted on May 23rd 2017

Anyone who has worked at a retirement community, for even a short length of time, has encountered a resident that never receives visitors. The situations may vary from case to case, with one resident having no children or family, while another has an extensive family network that happens to live far away. Regardless of the reasons, lack of social interactions with the one’s you love will leave anyone in the doldrums. If this continues long enough, mental health issues could arise, leading to more severe repercussions. It’s important for residents to have visitors that actively engage with them. But, how do you encourage family and friends to come visit when, more often than not, the last place they want to spend their Saturday is hanging around a retirement community?

In 2010, the CDC conducted a survey at residential care facilities, asking participants how many times a resident received a visitor from outside the community. While visitation frequency varied among the group, 8 percent of those surveys received no outside visitors in 90 days. Extrapolating this, how many residents does your community have? That means, for every 100 residents, roughly eight of them have not had any outside contact in the last month. Now that’s a statistic to be concerned about.

As a community, it behooves senior living providers to make visitation not only easy, but also enjoyable for everyone. Taking a creative look at ways to engage residents, their families and friends will help encourage more frequent visitations and improved morale.

Some ideas include:

Mani/pedi day, where residents and their families can schedule a manicure with a professional at your community. Make sure to provide plenty of magazines and really go for the full salon experience!
Provide designated areas for dogs at your community. This way, families can bring their pets for a day with a resident.
Schedule a bus trip to a local restaurant and invite the family to have a meal with the resident outside of your community.
Plan a movie night, with a newer film that families may not have seen before. Bring in a popcorn machine and candy to really provide the full movie-viewing experience!
Families can bring unfolded laundry and visit while folding it. Yes, this sounds incredibly strange, but look at it from another angle. Many residents spent years being productive and contributing to their households. The ability to feel useful and needed again can be a big ego boost to someone who doesn’t see many visitors (but, make sure the resident is okay with this before coming with your duffel full of clothes!)
Organize a resident-family scavenger hunt. This provides time for meaningful interaction with the resident, as well an opportunity to explore the community.
Host a traveling zoo! Many local zoological societies have a traveling zoo that they can bring to your community. Residents and families alike will love this event!
Produce a trivia night, just like at the local pub! Many times, events are geared toward families with children. But what about having a pub trivia night? Offer adult beverages and hire a professional to host the game. This could encourage 20-somethings to visit and engage with their relatives when they might not otherwise!
Many communities have cooking classes or demonstrations already. Why not have one that is family-oriented, where children and grandchildren can assist the resident in making a delicious dish for all to share!
For those active residents, how about an on-site sports league with family and friends! Billiards, bowling, bocce and tennis make a great option. Pairing an active resident with a younger family member in a multi-week league will provide a great reason for ongoing interactions.

The key to all of these ideas is simple — by creating a little bit of enticement, you can encourage residents’ families to visit more frequently, having more meaningful interactions in the process. At the end of the day, this will not only make your community happier and more lively, but it will give you a unique niche in the marketplace that many other organizations aren’t yet exploring.

Make Moving Easier

The Better Business Bureau has declared May National Moving Month, a time when the rate of moves from one living situation to another dramatically increases. This trend can be seen across many demographics, from college students leaving their dorms to begin careers, to homeowners making a change. According to the United States Census Bureau, about […]

Posted on May 9, 2017

Make Moving Easier

By Wayne Langley
Posted on May 9th 2017

The Better Business Bureau has declared May National Moving Month, a time when the rate of moves from one living situation to another dramatically increases. This trend can be seen across many demographics, from college students leaving their dorms to begin careers, to homeowners making a change. According to the United States Census Bureau, about one in nine Americans changes domicile every year, meaning that roughly 40 million of us will celebrate New Year’s Eve at a new home when 2017 comes to a close.

Moving is often cited as one of the most stressful events for people. The process of packing up one’s life and shipping it off to somewhere new is stressful enough. Top it off with the mountain of address changes, changing utilities and new municipalities, and it’s easy to understand how the whole process can be overwhelming! Now, let’s imagine that you’re 70 years old and haven’t had to move in 30 to 40 years. How daunting a task must that move be! That is exactly the situation that new retirement community residents are in.

As retirement community marketers and specialists, we realize that the biggest competitors a retirement community has aren’t other senior living options. Rather, it’s the home the potential residents are already in. As they contemplate the move, they begin to look around their homes and realize the scope of the task at hand. Cleaning out all of those closets full of memories, changing neighbors and routines, along with having to sell the home causes retirees an incredible amount of stress. How can communities overcome this?

It’s simple, really — solve the problem!

Okay, it sounds simple, but we know that it’s really not. Every potential resident is different. The challenges that one individual finds overwhelming can be completely unassuming to another. It’s the job of the sales person/marketer to listen closely to what the customer is saying, work toward identifying the problem, and then offer a solution. Sales are more often won by listening instead of talking!

Let’s use an example scenario for what this might look like in real life.

Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins have looked at your community for several months. They’ve come to events and have proven a solid lead. But you just can’t get them to sign on the dotted line. Time is running out, and soon they’ll be forced onto the waiting list if they don’t make a decision. You call the couple, getting Mr. Jenkins on the line. You explain the situation to him in hopes that you can push through to the sale. Mr. Jenkins remains reluctant, however. He seems particularly hung up on your pet policy, since he loves his bulldog, Bluto. You remind him that your community welcomes pets and that there are plenty of other dogs in the neighborhood where the Jenkins would reside. Still, he seems wary. When you push him about coming for another visit, he hands the phone over to his wife. You mention to Mrs. Jenkins about the pet policy and try to reassure her that Bluto would make a fine addition to the neighborhood. That’s when you find out what the real problem is. Bluto has been having some health troubles the last few months and has been to the vet several times. He’s on some new medications, and Mr. Jenkins is wary of having to switch vets in order to move to your community. Eureka! Now you know what the problem is and how to solve it.

How would you go about solving this sales problem? Perhaps you’d provide the Jenkins a list of nearby vets. But what can you do to really build the relationship and seal the deal? Perhaps you could arrange a meeting between the Jenkins and a local veterinarian that has a good relationship with the community. Maybe host a resident-lead event where they can bring out their pets to meet with the vet. Getting creative about solving the problem can make the difference between a missed opportunity and a sale.

With so many people looking to move in May, now is the time to think about how you can make moving to your community easier. Having a toolbox of unique and helpful solutions will enable you to build better relationships by listening to prospect’s real needs more than trying to meet perceived ones.

Nurturing Leads Increases Sales

Regardless of industry, the goal and function of sales departments don’t change much. Sales professionals work with marketing to generate leads through a plethora of different means. Once the sales person has a name and contact information for someone interested in the product, he or she begins to guide the person through the decision-making process […]

Posted on April 27, 2017

Nurturing Leads Increases Sales

By Jackie Stone
Posted on April 27th 2017

Regardless of industry, the goal and function of sales departments don’t change much. Sales professionals work with marketing to generate leads through a plethora of different means. Once the sales person has a name and contact information for someone interested in the product, he or she begins to guide the person through the decision-making process of purchasing the product, with the end goal of closing the deal.

However, marketing to Boomers and seniors requires a different approach — especially when your product is a major investment, like moving to a retirement community. How a salesperson engages with his or her leads and guides them to the final sale is an art that takes time to learn, and everyone can always use a refresher.

Marketing and sales professionals deal in information. The more information they have about a lead, the better equipped they are to pitch their product. Thus, it’s to be expected that they want to gather a great amount of information in a short period of time. The best example of this is the web form.

Web forms offer a great way to capture information to create a lead. Obviously, sales associates hope to get as much detail about a prospect as they can — name, address, phone number, etc. — but trying to get too much information in one shot will not only decrease your form completions, but potentially alienate customers. Your forms should capture the minimum amount of information possible for a salesperson to begin building a relationship.

Think about it from your own point of view. How much information are you willing to give an organization with which you haven’t had any experience? You don’t really know it or trust it. Naturally, you only want to provide the minimum amount of information needed to learn about the product or service being offered. Once you’ve determined that the group can be trusted, and its product is something that you want, you’re willing to open up more. A simple web-started sales funnel may look something like this:

SEO/SEM (get the person to your website)
Contact Us form on the website (asking for only a name and an email address)
Follow-up e-blast (asking for an address to send information)
Mailer sent to lead (asking the person to call to register for an event, where he or she gives a phone number)
Attendance at an event (where the salesperson meets the lead in person)
Follow-up contact (via phone and email to schedule a tour)
Personal tour (second salesperson meeting, builds trust)
Additional meetings or tours (dependent on lead)
Closing of sale
Asking for reviews and recommendations

As you can see, this isn’t a quick process! The average lead will have at least 20 interactions with your community before the sale is complete — and may have many, many more, depending on his or her needs! Understanding how to nurture the lead through the sales funnel, step by step, instead of trying to go “all-in” on early stage information-gathering is critical.

Every retirement community has its own unique challenges with this process, and variations abound. At Varsity, we have become very adept at assisting communities in identifying the type of leads they are generating now and the type of leads they want to gather in the future, creating a sales process that will help increase their census for years to come.

Environmentally Conscious Communities Save Money

Retirement communities often operate on tight budgets, with a goal of reducing overhead costs. Executives and administrators hawkishly watch financials, looking for any avenues where dollars can be saved. Human Resources is forced to cut benefits, while purchasing tries new products to save costs on cleaning and operating supplies. However, sometimes, saving money in the […]

Posted on April 18, 2017

Environmentally Conscious Communities Save Money

By Jackie Stone
Posted on April 18th 2017

Retirement communities often operate on tight budgets, with a goal of reducing overhead costs. Executives and administrators hawkishly watch financials, looking for any avenues where dollars can be saved. Human Resources is forced to cut benefits, while purchasing tries new products to save costs on cleaning and operating supplies. However, sometimes, saving money in the long run costs some in the short. Working with your maintenance division to convert systems to more environmentally friendly options may incur costs today that will save you thousands in years to come.

The easiest and most well-known method of savings is converting lights to LED bulbs. One community in upstate New York was recently profiled for doing just this. The community replaced 2,750 bulbs, at a cost of about $1,500. The result? A projected yearly savings of $144,000! In roughly 10 days, the community had recouped its investment and was on the path to saving money for years to come. LED bulbs are getting cheaper and brighter, in addition to having longer lives and being less harmful to the environment. Every community should be looking at a full light bulb replacement, if they haven’t done so already.

We all know that some of the biggest energy hogs in our own homes are our washers and dryers. Retirement communities are no different, spending tens of thousands of dollars every year on laundering linens and clothes. One may think that the process of doing laundry hasn’t really changed that much in the last 50 years; one machine uses hot water and soap to wash the linens, and another dries them; however, there is another way to do laundry that has been on the market for longer than you may realize — ozone washing machines. Rather than using hot water and soap, these machines use gasses and cold water (and much less of it). Rather than using detergent, the water is treated with ozone, causing dirt and stains to break down while linens remain vibrant and strong. It’s a complicated process, to be sure, which is why the machines have always been so expensive. Now, with advances in manufacturing and production technology, they are becoming more affordable, enabling communities to convert to their use, saving on energy, water and sewer costs while becoming more environmentally friendly in the process.

On the higher cost end of the spectrum, we find advanced smart home systems that include the Nest thermostat and similar devices. These products adjust home temperature based on user preference and patterns, such as lowering the temperature while the resident is asleep and at work, and raising it while the resident is at home — all automatically. Think of the energy savings that your community could yield by just turning down the thermostats by three degrees for 12 hours a day in every home. It seems like a small change, but the savings could be huge! As this technology grows, it’s being added to complete smart home systems, where community managers can monitor usage in real time, allowing them to look for areas to proactively save on energy costs by including their residents in the decision-making process.

The old adage, “It takes money to make money,” remains true today. It can also be said that “it takes money to save money.” By investing wisely in eco-friendly and efficient systems, your community could be seeing both greener trees and greener wallets.

Sources:

http://www.mcknightsseniorliving.com/news/bright-idea-expected-to-save-ccrc-more-than-144000-annually/article/640053/

http://www.ozonelaundrysystems.com/

Tax Savings for Boomers and Seniors

As the annual United States tax-filing deadline looms near, many are scrambling to assemble their documents and get their returns filed on time. When a person is young, taxes always seem so simple, but as we age, and as our financial lives grow, taxes get more complicated. Children, mortgages, business expenses — they all play […]

Posted on April 11, 2017

Tax Savings for Boomers and Seniors

By Wayne Langley
Posted on April 11th 2017

As the annual United States tax-filing deadline looms near, many are scrambling to assemble their documents and get their returns filed on time. When a person is young, taxes always seem so simple, but as we age, and as our financial lives grow, taxes get more complicated. Children, mortgages, business expenses — they all play a factor in how much each of us pays to the government. Then, children move out, businesses get sold, and mortgages get paid off, leading people to believe that their taxes just got a bit easier. Don’t be fooled! Boomers and seniors can be missing out on some major tax benefits by taking the simple way out and paying less attention to their filings.

According to the Tax Policy Center, filers over the age of 65 are the largest single group to benefit from special provisions of the federal tax code. Some people refer to these provisions as “loopholes,” but they’re not! They are built into the tax code to specifically help aging adults that may not have a large or stable income as they exit the workforce.

Everyone has heard that they should pay a professional to do their taxes because they will get more money back. However, the expense of the professional may cut into those returns severely, especially for low to moderate-income households. For Boomers and seniors, there are government programs that will provide professional tax preparation at little to no cost. One such program, titled VITA, offers free tax help to people who make less than $52,000 and need assistance in preparing their return. Additionally, there is the TCE program that provides free tax help to people over 60. This program specializes in help with retirement investments, such as pensions and 401(k)s. For retirement communities, these programs can be especially helpful to residents and their families. Encourage your residents to take advantage of VITA and TCE, and provide a place for individuals to meet with the volunteers during tax season. Ensuring residents are financially stable is critical to keeping them in your community.

Specialized tax credits are also important for the Boomer and senior population. The Elderly and Disabled Tax Credit is probably the most well-known, but it requires the use of a 1040 form (as opposed to the 1040EZ) to receive it. If the filer, or his or her spouse, is 65 years or older or is under 65 and permanently disabled, he or she could qualify. The only catch is income level, which varies on how someone files. The maximum yearly income allowed is $25,000 for those that are married and file jointly, and both must qualify. While this does limit the number of people who qualify, nonprofit communities that provide mission-based services may have many residents that could take advantage of this program.

Having tax specialists present at lead-generating events and resident gatherings isn’t new. By doing so, the community provides information to potential residents that helps them understand their ability to retire. It also benefits the tax professionals, as they gain clients. It’s an idea that has worked in many instances, but what can you do to freshen it up?

Instead of inviting just one professional, how about asking several — all specializing in different fields — to attend? Having a “finance fair,” with a wide range of experts, could be a great draw. If you’re working with a higher-income bracket of potential residents, have an “investment symposium” that concentrates on issues relating to larger investment accounts. Both of these can be great ways to generate warm leads for your marketing strategy.

Helping your residents and potential residents understand tax issues is in your best interest. It can keep current residents in your community and aid potential residents in understanding how affordable life can be by retiring with you. Connecting these groups to tax preparation resources isn’t just a kind-hearted move; it’s a fiscally responsible one that has real-world benefits for everyone involved.

Sources:

http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/why-some-tax-units-pay-no-income-tax

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