When it comes to senior living leads, digital sources are king, but senior living communities lack the processes and systems in place to handle those leads, as well as the urgency to work them, according to one sales and marketing expert.

Senior living marketing consultant Bild & Co. analyzed more than 40 senior living communities in the third quarter of 2023 to identify lead sources between July 1 and Sept. 30. Results, CEO Jennifer Saxman told McKnight’s Senior Living, show that senior living continues to see more leads coming from digital channels, but sales teams continue to treat paid referrals with more urgency and bemoan that they need more leads. Details of the research are shared in a new white paper.

“Most clients actually don’t need more leads,” Saxman said. “The problem is that they don’t work their leads with the same intensity and diligent follow through and follow up.”

Pre-COVID-19, Saxman said, anyone who walked into or called a community was considered a “hot lead,” whereas online inquiries were seen more as “tire-kickers.” That all changed, however, as consumers became more digital-savvy. 

On average, digital leads made up 30% to 40% of total lead traffic before the pandemic, she said. Post-pandemic, digital leads represent as much as 85% to 87% of all lead traffic. Although a minor uptick in walk-ins occurred during the third and fourth quarters of 2023, Saxman said, a phone call, digital or online inquiry all require the same sense of urgency.

“Now what we’re finding is that the digital leads that are coming in, you have to treat it as a call in or a walk in. It’s just as hot,” she said, adding that sales teams must get past the notion that one bad digital lead means that all digital leads are bad.

“If we don’t let it go and don’t start treating our digital leads as if they were a walk-in, sitting there waiting for you to tour them, you’re going to miss the opportunity and you’re going to always feel you need more leads, more leads, more leads,” Saxman said.

Digital sources produced the highest rate of tours, at 43.4%, in the third quarter, followed by 41.8% from paid referral sources, according to the white paper. Digital lead sources produced the top new leads (52%), tours (80%) and move-ins (85%) in independent living in the third quarter. In assisted living and memory care, digital sources led to more than 80% of new leads and initial tours.

To capture those digital leads, Saxman said, it is important for operators to make it easy for prospects to buy online. That means having chatbots, forms on websites that work and no broken links. She also recommended that communities have a three-person-deep team notified of web inquiries and to chart conversations, to create accountability.

“Those leads matter so much,” Saxman said. “If you’re really stuck on needing more leads, look at your CRM [customer relationship management]. Your next move-in is in your CRM already.”

Incentives are on the rise among senior living operators trying to increase occupancy, but it’s more important to focus on rate integrity and showing the value of a community, cautions one industry sales and marketing expert.

The most common discounts communities were offering in the third quarter were reduced or discounted rent, waived or reduced community fees, or veterans/signature club discounts, according to a recent white paper from Bild & Co. on concession trends seen among more than 250 senior living locations across the country. 

The average community move-in fee in the first quarter was $2,403. That amount climbed to $3,048 the third quarter — higher than the 2022 average of $2,551. But of the 43% of communities that waived or reduced the community fee, 26% offered between a 50% and 75% reduction, whereas the other 74% of communities offered to waive 100% of the community fee.

Rent reductions typically lasted for one month, but could go up to 12 months in some cases, with the most common reduction being for three months. And those rent reductions ranged from $1,545 to $4,000 per month.

“The trends we have seen with this case study are that incentives are on the rise,” Bild & Co. CEO Jennifer Saxman told McKnight’s Senior Living recently, adding that holiday deals are common. “However, we really need to focus on rate integrity. No matter the incentive, if you haven’t shown the value of what your community can bring to the life and care of a prospective resident, then we are missing the true essences of what we do.”

Although the Pacific Northwest normally is seen as being high in terms of senior living community fees, Saxman said, the report showed the South Atlantic region and areas that typically are perceived as more affordable are “really pulling away” with higher-than-normal community fees. But she added that the region also is one of the quickest to waive that fee, which compromises rate integrity.

“Why do you have it if you’re going to waive it?” Saxman asked, saying that operations expects communities will be collecting those fees on the majority of individuals. “If regionals are telling communities to waive the community fee — if that $3,000 waive is happening for everyone — you’re losing revenue.”

Rate increases on the rise

After dipping in the second quarter to 3.98%, the average monthly rate increase for senior living communities in the third quarter was 4.15%, up from the 2022 average rate increase of 3.93%.

Saxman said she was surprised that rate increases in the West Central region — which typically includes Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, and North and South Dakota — posted the highest rate increases in the nation, at 7% and higher. And 30% of respondents to Bild’s market survey analysis indicated that they were planning a 7% or higher rate increase in the new year. 

“Especially in the Midwest, where slow and steady wins the race, they’re surprising us as they come to the end of the year,” Saxman said. 

Saxman attributed the rate hikes to a slower recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic in Illinois (Chicago), Colorado and into areas in the Mountain region. Many of those properties delayed capital investments on properties during the pandemic and are in need of those additional funds to make those upgrades. Those areas also are seeing a lot of operator and portfolio turnover.

“Even in ‘Minnesota nice’ — those areas that don’t like to push rates — it does show, and they’re in a situation where their back is a little more against the wall,” Saxman said. “They’ve got to be driving rates and rate increases. They cannot wait any longer.”

Saxman said that that observation shows that providers are under pressure to increase occupancy. But she said that the focus should be on the right care fee, the right rate and rate increases. 

“When you slack on that and are only focused on driving occupancy and not driving revenue of each individual community, it’s going to hurt the business,” she said.

The most common mistake she sees with marketing teams is slipping into the role of pleaser rather than adviser. Rather than pushing the sales process, she said, sales staff members are doing “lackluster followup,” particularly in the South and the Midwest, by not pushing at close.

“We have to keep in mind this is sometimes a very emotional-based decision, but they’ve got to make it,” Saxman said. “They probably needed services months or even years ago, if not longer than that.”

As senior living residents decline in acuity and need more services and care, it’s more important than ever for providers to be aware of the full-package value of their amenities and services so they are not leaving revenue on the table, according to one sales and marketing expert.

Operators too often focus on room rates, consistently missing the opportunity to charge for the value of the full package they offer, according to Bild & Co. CEO Jennifer Saxman. Consumers, she said, are more aware of pricing, and companies in the industry do a good job of communicating their pricing, but they don’t focus enough on costs related to their ancillary costs or the entire value of what they offer.

“Everyone is trying to fight on the basis of room rates,” Saxman said, but as residents with higher needs move into assisted living communities — and even into independent living communities — what’s missing is the all-inclusive rate for a higher level of care and services. “That’s where we’re missing the boat on the true value proposition versus our competitors,” she said.

In a recent white paper about services and amenities, Bild & Co. shared the results of a survey of more than 250 senior living locations across the country regarding care services, amenities and service pricing. What she found was a wide range of pricing structures that don’t necessarily allow providers to make an apples-to-apples comparisons with their competition.

The skinny on pricing

Overall, the survey found that assisted living providers charged an average of $1,367 monthly for care services — or $45 per day — whereas memory care averaged $1,976 per month for care costs, or $65 per day.

Just more than half (51%) of memory care locations were all-inclusive in their pricing, whereas 25% said they included some care in base rent pricing but had additional charges once a resident exceeded a certain amount of care. Twenty-four percent of participating locations did not include care costs in their base rent prices.

Average memory care monthly rent was $7,171. When not included in care costs, residents paid an average extra $60 daily for incontinence care ($6 to $12 per day), medication management ($20 to $40 per day) and other ancillary services.

For independent living, 58.4% of responding providers reported that they did not include any care services in their pricing, but they did offer health services for an additional cost or through a third-party company.

Among the most common services and amenities associated with an extra charge were trash services (an average of $60 to $80 per month), laundry ($20 per week), telephone ($20 per month), garage or storage space ($35 to $70 per month), pet fees (a $500 to $700 one-time deposit and then $25 monthly) and additional meals ($5 to $8 per meal). 

Move toward value-based pricing

Those pricing structures, however, don’t always align with consumer expectations, Saxman said. Although providers are maintaining a “keeping up with the Joneses” mentality, in terms of pricing, consumers are asking questions about actual amenities, including food quality, menus and types of activities included in pricing models.

“This is really prepping us heavily for those boomers that are going to be coming in,” Saxman said. “We’ve been serving the Great Depression era for so long. If we aren’t thinking strategically about how we compete not on the basis of price, but on the basis of the lifestyle and environment, we are going to miss out.”

Providers need to define their competitors and do an apples-to-apples comparison of pricing and structure. In some cases, providers may find that they are misaligned with who they see as their competition. Having a vastly different pricing structure from competitors means that consumers won’t group providers together for comparison, leaving some out of consideration.

Over the last two years, Saxman said she has noticed that many providers are getting away from a points system that assigns charges based on levels of care and services and moving toward the value-based pricing of rooms based on inventory and room placement, similar to hotel pricing structures.

She added that it’s important for providers to reassess residents returning from a hospital stay to determine whether a higher level of care is warranted for them.

“Just those missed opportunities — we leave so much revenue on the table because we want everything to be black and white, easy-peasy,” Saxman said. “This is a business. You have to have business acumen.”

Providers that do the best in the area of pricing, she said, prepare consumers for potential increases in prices tied to care and amenities. Along with educating themselves on how their competition is pricing offerings, providers need to educate consumers on what to expect so they are not surprised.

“We try to avoid it like the plague. We don’t like to tell people they have to pay more,” she said. “It’s like ripping off the Band-Aid.”

One positive thing to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic is that it improved communication efforts by senior living providers to residents and their families, and although those efforts appear to continue to be going strong, now is not time for complacency, according to one marketing expert. 

In a case study of new residents and their families across the nation by Bild & Co., 73% of family members and 72% of residents rated their overall move-in experience between eight and 10 on a scale of one to 10.  But that experience started to slip within the first 90 days after a move, as only 47% of residents and family members said they were happy with the move-in experience and the process.

Common negative feedback by families during visits included a lack of communication about paperwork, food, housekeeping and care; food pricing, options or quality not meeting expectations; staff turnover and long sign-in procedures at the front desk; and unkept rooms.

One takeaway from the feedback, Bild & Co. CEO Jennifer Saxman said, is that operators need to be proactive in thinking about what is going to appeal to the next generation of residents. Aspects that were valued by prospects five years ago are not going to hold the same value for baby boomers, now aged 58 to 77.

For instance, food was a big area of dissatisfaction for survey respondents. The top complaints related to food quality, a lack of flavor or ingredients, limited choices and repetitive menus.

Although 70% of respondents said they were satisfied with menu selections, 78.9% cited choice and variety as the most important areas of the dining experience. Healthy options also are a requirement, according to the feedback, with 57.9% of survey-takers citing it as the most important aspect of the dining experience. 

“We’ve got to get ready for these boomers,” Saxman said. “If we can’t deliver decent food to the Great Depression generation, we’re going to be in such a world of hurt when it comes to boomers, who expect more.”

Many senior living community leaders just may be trying to get by or may be relying on “great care” to make up for other shortcomings, Saxman said. But areas other than care are important to focus on, too, especially when it comes to customer satisfaction, she said. Food commonly is mentioned in surveys, Saxman added.

“They are always going to have the choice to move nowhere. They don’t always have to move somewhere,” she said. “As we get more and more sophisticated, other solutions will present themselves. It’s a massive opportunity [for operators] to differentiate, and it can help you to drive where your rates are, too.”

Housekeeping was another sore point with survey participants, with 23% of residents and 9% of families saying they were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with service. Misplaced or lost laundry items, and unfolded clothing, were the top complaints, followed by unmade beds, a lack of weekly housekeeping service, no trash service and overall uncleanliness of floors, bathrooms and apartments.

The survey in the case study also measured friendships and comfort levels related to the move-in experience. Respondents also said that senior living communities need to try harder to acclimate new residents to others in the community, although 79% of participants said they were satisfied with how they had made friends since moving in, and 92% said they were satisfied with the community’s efforts to make them feel at home. 

Participants said that staff members need to improve their customer service efforts, according to Saxman. Equipping sales teams with the proper resources and training is essential to building their confidence and conviction in the value that a senior living community brings to current and future prospective residents, she said.

Social isolation, health and wellness concerns, and ongoing staffing challenges. Those were just a few of the headaches thrust on communities almost overnight as the pandemic’s effects lasted weeks, then months, then years.

Addressing that struggle was the goal of Varsity’s Roundtable Project.

The Roundtable Project is a weekly meeting that is open to marketing leaders at retirement communities nationwide. Initially, the purpose of the meeting was to bring communities together to share insights about how to navigate retirement living during the pandemic. More than three years and 160 meetings later, the roundtable has become a weekly source of knowledge and support for communities coast to coast.

But as useful as the roundtable is to the marketers who attend each week, it also has taught the Varsity team some valuable lessons:

Good ideas know no boundaries. What started out as a weekly call to discuss navigating the pandemic has turned into a valuable source for best practices and a true community of marketing professionals. The roundtable has welcomed retirement community teams from 30 states, from Hawaii to New Hampshire and Florida to Washington.

Peers, not competitors. Even though you’re in the same category as another company, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be willing to help that competitor succeed. That’s what the roundtable is all about. Around one virtual table, the group discusses, shares, learns and grows to help each other become smarter retirement living marketers.

Heroes truly do work here. Retirement communities and the teams who manage them are incredibly resilient and strong. We’ve always known that, but that strength was on full display in the earliest days of the pandemic, when community team members showed up every day to care for the sick, both physically and emotionally. Today? Still strong and still as resilient as ever.

Personal relationships prevail. Participants have created a sense of community within the roundtables. Folks from Washington state and Arkansas have created bonds over shared musical interests. People from New Jersey and Maryland connected to continue conversations started on our calls. And people have sought each other out when they find themselves together at national conferences.

The power of dialogue. The primary purpose of the Roundtable Project was conversation. Not to sell anything. Not to convince anyone of anything. Only to talk. And share. And laugh. And support. Mission accomplished.

“It’s been great getting to know the various sales and marketing people from across the country, to share ideas and hear how everyone is doing. We’ve become a community of our own,” said Christine Hall, senior director of marketing and public relations at Franke Tobey Jones, a senior living community in Tacoma, WA. “Seeing familiar faces on the calls each week is comforting. It makes me know that we are in this together, and it’s great that we can help each other.”

Derek Dunham is vice president of client services at Varsity, a full-service marketing agency focused on senior living and the mature market.

The opinions expressed in each McKnight’s Senior Living guest column are those of the author and are not necessarily those of McKnight’s Senior Living.

Have a column idea? See our submission guidelines here.

And although I took their advice to heart, studying the demographic trends and reading books about aging, the transition has been surprisingly simple. In fact, although the verticals may appear to be divergent — the ebullience of childhood set against the quietude of old age — they are more similar than I ever would have imagined. 

In my role as chief growth officer, there are a few lessons I’ve learned from early education that have shaped how I think about marketing and growth in senior living:

Quality of care is opaque: One of the unseen challenges that consumers face when exploring both early education and senior living is recognizing quality care during the family tour. Because the average consumer doesn’t fully understand the cognitive principles that drive care in either industry, it’s very easy to miss indicators of quality. Although physical attributes such as decor and amenities are easy to see, other aspects of quality senior care, such as a sense of community, quality staff or strong engagement programming, are harder to spot. As a result, consumers may focus too much on things such as design and decor, thinking of them as proxies for quality care.  

As marketers, we need to invest in helping consumers understand what quality senior care actually looks like in practice. This means not only increasing our production of educational content but also training our staff members to point out quality markers when touring.

In early education, we loved highlighting something as simple as art projects that all looked different, as it showed that we encouraged individual creativity in children. In senior living, it might be pointing out a specialized role, such as a director of engagement, to fully illustrate how much investment is made in engagement. After all, how we help consumers recognize quality care is so important to fully realizing the investment that is made every day in senior living staff, training and policy. 

The product is a promise: At their core, both the early education and the senior living industries rest on the premise of a promising future — an unwavering assurance that today’s investment yields a better life tomorrow. Parents enroll their toddlers into early education programs with a trust that their little ones will grow to be creative, collaborative and confident. Similarly, the decision to transition into a senior living community rests on a pledge to make the “golden years” truly golden. Whether it’s fostering a child’s development or ensuring a dignified and engaging life for our older adults, both industries essentially sell the promise of a better tomorrow by making a qualitative investment today.

Senior living marketers have a particularly challenging, but important, role to play in expanding the narrative around what a better tomorrow actually looks like for older adults. The industry has made incredible progress in showcasing older adults with style, substance and vitality — but have we represented diversity in our marketing efforts? Can older adults with mobility issues or other challenges see themselves in the pictures we paint?

As the average age of an assisted living resident is 85, we have an obligation to represent the future for those folks with similar verve and vitality as well. The promise of community and purpose are open to everyone, and we can help those who don’t fit the mold of our marketing personas by introducing a new model for healthy, happy and truthful aging.

Changing caregiver complexity: In both industries, the purchase decision often is made or influenced by a family caregiver — most often women. And the complexity of these women’s lives continues to change.

The June Bureau of Labor Statistics report noted a historical peak in the women’s labor force participation rate, and the Pew Research Center shares that women now outnumber men in the US college-educated labor force. Although this demographic shift suggests economic and professional change, the harsh reality is that our societal norms may not have evolved as quickly.

In fact, another Pew study reports that in opposite-sex marriages, women still are picking up more of the household duties and chores. This intersection of forces forms a demanding quartet — juggling child-rearing and elder care responsibilities with household duties and maintaining full-time employment. 

Senior living needs to re-imagine our model for family engagement. Although family caregiver interest and engagement are likely to be unwavering, their time, energy and capacity may be waning. For marketing and product teams, how we leverage technology to share daily engagement activities, communicate resident concerns and encourage connection are going to be even more important in the years to come. 

Maintaining the mission

The journey from early education to senior living has been engaging, enlightening and so exciting. For as much as the verticals may appear to be different, they have at their core a concern for human health and happiness. And a mission-driven marketer, there’s no higher calling than that. 

Christine Healy is the chief growth officer at Seniorly, a senior living technology company that helps older adults and their families find the right senior living for their needs and budget. She has more than 20 years of experience driving growth and acquisitions and has worked in mission-driven sectors, including early education and educational travel in addition to senior living. Healy has worked for two of Fortune Magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For.” You can reach her at christine@seniorly.com.

The opinions expressed in each McKnight’s Senior Living marketplace column are those of the author and are not necessarily those of McKnight’s Senior Living.

Have a column idea? See our submission guidelines here.

The kit, according to Blakeford Senior Life in Nashville, TN, included snacks, a “Golden Bachelor” bingo game, sparkling cider and Werther’s Original caramels, which have a reputation of being popular with older adults.

Was this another example of stereotyping and ageism, I wondered? Or is the show’s outreach and focus on older adults a reason to cheer?

I usually don’t watch “reality” TV shows because they seem contrived to me. But I watched an episode of “The Golden Bachelor” (the third episode, to be exact) to see for myself what the show is about.

If you’re not familiar with the program, it features a 71-year-old “retired restaurateur and doting father and grandfather” who is widowed, Gerry Turner of Indiana, looking for love among 22 “golden ladies” (as ABC calls them) who are aged 60 to 75. It’s the latest incarnation of a franchise that includes “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette,” which usually feature participants who are decades younger.

An early promotion for the show certainly seemed to lean into stereotypes, for laughs. As the authors of a pre-broadcast commentary in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society noted, “A video posted on The Bachelor’s official Instagram account introducing Mr. Turner explains to the audience that: ‘He posts his thirst traps [i.e., pictures of himself] in a leather-bound album. His DMs [i.e., direct messages that can be sent on Instagram] have postage. He gets the early bird special any time he wants. If you call him, he’ll answer the phone. He doesn’t have gray hair—he has wisdom highlights. Florida wants to retire and move to him.”

Melissa Batchelor, PhD, associate professor and director of the Center for Aging, Health and Humanities at the George Washington University School of Nursing, however, said in an interview after “The Golden Bachelor” had started airing that the show was “dispelling some of the myths and misconceptions that people have about growing older and dating.” Turner and the contestants, she said, are conveying that older adults remain interested in romance, intimacy and sex; that they still can be vibrant and healthy; and that there is great diversity among older adults.

“I think it’s just great for people of all generations to watch and to learn and to kind of think about how they actually think about aging themselves and to challenge those thoughts,” she told local ABC affiliate 7News.

The writer of a commentary in Time, certified clinical sexologist Myisha Battle, said that the selection of contestants who are “all very fit and active” could be sugar-coating reality, “reinforcing harmful expectations for people over 60 to be thin, with very few wrinkles, and mostly gray-hair free.” At least one health-related aspect highlighted in the show, however, is drawing positive comments: The use of hearing aids by Turner and some of the women on the show.

International Hearing Society President-elect Michael Andreozzi applauded the messaging for hearing healthcare.

“I hope the many viewers of ‘The Golden Bachelor’ will see the link between how taking care of your hearing relates to maintaining vital connections in living a fulfilled life,” he said in a press release. “This show exemplifies how acceptable and meaningful it is to address your hearing….Hearing aids can improve communications, including with medical professionals and caregivers, and open new possibilities, as the nation is learning through this series.”

George Washington University’s Batchelor, too, said: “I love the fact that when they’re doing the opening intro, that as he’s putting on his tuxedo, he puts his hearing aid on, almost like a little James Bond. I love the fact that he’s using his hearing aid, because that actually protects your brain against Alzheimer’s disease.”

And there do seem to be other good things stemming from the show.

The JAGS commentary authors, Christopher N. Kaufmann, PhD, of the University of Florida College of Medicine Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics, and Kelly Kaufmann, Esq., said that the show potentially could “attract people to enter the geriatrics and gerontology field, inspire medical school students to obtain fellowships in geriatric care, and inspire research on successful aging,” in addition to “emphasizing the importance of healthy aging and inspiring viewers of all ages to see older generations in a positive light.”

Many senior living communities hosted watch parties for the premiere episode, generating interviews with residents and positive news coverage for providers across the country. Fifty-two Sunrise Senior Living communities hosted such parties, according to the McLean, VA-based provider.

“The watch parties weren’t just about watching a popular show; they became a celebration of life, love and the undeniable spirit that defines Sunrise. It was a moment for our residents to shine, and shine they did, proving that age is just a number, and the golden years are truly the most radiant,” Sunrise said in a press release.

With only half of the season’s shows having aired, it’s too early to issue a final verdict about the program. My experience watching one episode probably won’t change my long-term viewing habits related to reality TV, but the opportunity exists for “The Golden Bachelor” to have a net positive effect on America when it comes to older adults. As the JAGS commentary authors wrote, much will depend on the actions of Turner, the contestants, the producers and the viewers.

During the episode I watched, contestant Joan, 60, said: “As you get older, you become more invisible. People don’t see you anymore, like you’re not as significant as when you’re young.”

Those working in senior living know that older adults are significant. I’m hoping that the airing of “The Golden Bachelor,” faults and all, will lead to thought-provoking, productive discussions about aging and ageism and that senior living residents, and older adults in general, ultimately will be more visible and celebrated.

That would be a golden opportunity realized.

Lois A. Bowers is the editor of McKnight’s Senior Living. Read her other columns here.

Revitalizing marketability and driving higher occupancy in a competitive senior living market can be boiled down to developing strategic repositioning plans to ensure a successful future, according to marketing experts. 

Love & Company and Plante Moran Living Forward, during a webinar Wednesday, discussed implementing a holistic approach to strategic planning centered around the “six Ps”:

• Place: The external market and an operator’s position in its market area.
• Product: Everything a senior living community offers to create the resident experience — healthcare, residences, servies, amenities and aesthetics.
• Price: How monthly and entrance fees compare with those of the competition.
• Planning: Putting up guardrails of success, project phasing and financing.
• Performance: Setting a focus and parameters in the design phase, developing a project schedule, aligning operations to support strategic goals and creating an action plan.
• Promotion: The marketing and sales efforts, including digital marketing.

The oldest of the baby boomers (who are aged 58 to 77) are on the doorsteps of senior living communities as the future occupants, Plane Moran Living Forward Senior Vice President Sally Heffernan said. 

The projected demand for senior living — independent living, assisted living and assisted living memory care — is expected to double over the next 20 years, from 1 million units today to 2 million, presenting a tremendous opportunity for the right type of housing, she said.

And at the same time that the senior living industry is experiencing “tremendous” growth, nursing home beds have been decreasing year over year, Love & Company President and CEO Rob Love said. Additionally, over the past 15 years, many states have changed their assisted living regulations to offer more acute services and care, further minimizing the need for long-term care, he said.

To capture the growing market, Heffernan said, market studies can help operators understand their markets and projected demographics, existing and planned local housing supply, and potential penetration rates for care and service levels.

Those data help identify the right product for the market, she said. 

Some overall trends, Love said, reveal approaches and aspects that appeal to boomers as well as members of the silent Generation and Generation X: health and wellness, connectedness (both personal and technological) and choice and flexibility.

“The biggest thing changing over the past five years is the evolution away from care-based models to one of empowering our residents to be able to live the lives they truly want to live and not be in a place they only need to come to just in case they ever need care,” Love said.

Product and price must align to ensure that a senior living community is offering the right value, Love & Company Senior Vice President of Strategic Services Sara Montalto said. Part of the planning process, she added, includes consumer research to validate what consumers in the market are willing to buy.

A cost analysis can determine whether a project makes sense, and if not, what changes need to be made. Ideally, pricing will maximize demand, Montalto said. Certain metrics, for example, tie entrance fee pricing to home values. 

“As a field, we feel that we have not done a good job of keeping entrance fees up and in line with some values,” Love said. 

Typical annual entrance fee increases have hovered around 3% for the past 15 to 20 years, he said, adding that senior living organizations may be missing a significant opportunity to increase those fees, which in turn can help offset the need to increase monthly fees. 

When it comes to planning, Plante Moran Living Forward Senior Vice President Greg Hensley said that the keys to a successful project include factoring in cost, community and consumer priorities, timelines, funding and financial limits.

Planning today, he said, is more difficult due to increasing costs and interest rates, which create a more complicated financial picture. Hensley said that operators need to build in opportunities to add and take away things from projects, to avoid holding them up, and that operators also need to cultivate discipline to set parameters and stay within them.

“The benefit is having a good roadmap but allowing for road closures,” he said. “Things pop up. You have to have discipline to follow the roadmap but add alternatives. If you can afford it, plug it in, but you also have to add ‘deducts,’ so if it’s not affordable, it’s easy to pull out, so it doesn’t stop the project.”

It was a marketing gamble that usually paid off. Sure, there were a few lean years here and there. But as a general rule, senior living (or what we then called assisted living) succeeded by offering the finer things in old life.

But as the saying goes, that was then …

In its quest for growth, the senior living field made two notable pivots. The first was accepting Medicaid payments. Some might say this was a Faustian bargain that watered down the whole concept of senior living as a better alternative. Regardless, for many struggling operators, the prospect of steady if lower payments sure beat the alternative: empty units.

The second shift was a bit more subtle. It amounted to finally saying the quiet part out loud. Namely, that senior living is, in fact, in the healthcare business.

It’s not hard to see why this latter change occurred. After all, the upside of joining the healthcare party could be substantial. More hospital discharges, perhaps tapping into Medicare funds, and a chance to sit at the adults’ table when it comes to senior care, to name but a few.

But the move is not entirely risk-free. One looming challenge: How to keep federal regulators at bay while competing against nursing homes for many of the same customers? With the passage of time, the “but we’re different” argument may become increasingly more difficult to defend.  

Then there’s another major challenge that we haven’t heard mentioned much: higher labor costs. Let’s face it — if you are going to call yourself a healthcare player, then doesn’t it stand to reason that your workers — or at least the ones providing direct care and services — are, ahem, healthcare employees?

As for the possible consequences here, please allow me to turn your attention to what just happened in California.

There, legislation was just signed requiring a minimum wage of $25 per hour for healthcare workers (including those in assisted living communities).

Yes, transitioning to healthcare holds the promise of portfolio expansion and new revenues. But there are going to be new challenges as well. Starting with this eye-opener: Your most expensive cost of doing business (labor) just might become far more expensive.

John O’Connor is editorial director for McKnight’s Senior Living and its sister media brands, McKnight’s Long-Term Care News, which focuses on skilled nursing, and McKnight’s Home Care. Read more of his columns here.

Senior living communities are showing move-in options “beautifully” during in-person tours, but their sales teams too often are weak at closing, extending the sales process longer than necessary, according to an industry expert.

Senior living marketing consultant Bild & Co. recently released a white paper focusing on first impressions, needs development, relationship building, sales presentation and next steps scheduled. Results are based on first- and second-quarter in-person mystery shoppings of senior living communities across the nation. 

“In-person closing is our biggest Achilles’ heel,” Bild & Co. CEO Jennifer Saxman told McKnight’s Senior Living. “The beauty of this is the fact that our physical plant — our communities — look great on a much higher percentage. We’re used to physical appearance, but we’re not taking the time to deliberately practice the close so we sound confident.”

Saxman said sales staff are consistently adding unnecessary steps to the sales cycle — especially in assisted living and memory care — “because we’re so weak, and we lack confidence at the in-person closing.”

Sales staff have been in what Saxman calls “excuse mode” for three years. Although the rationale and logic during the COVID-19 pandemic were justified, she said that it is time to move past those excuses and be more assertive at the end of tours.

In addition, leaders also have to move past the mindset that a prospect needs a repeat tour. Potential residents, particularly in assisted living and memory care, don’t need repeat tours, because they don’t have the luxury of waiting before it is no longer safe for them to live at home.

“People treat their time like a currency — they want a solution, especially if it’s assisted living or memory care,” she said, adding that repeat tours create inefficiencies in the sales process. “The problem is, we are allowing there to be unnecessary extra steps that make our close seem vague, a lot less confident, a lot less concise.”

Referencing Bild’s visit-planning tool, Saxman said that salespeople should highlight the high points they need to make on a tour, and doing so involves asking questions during the discovery phase, before a prospective resident and his or her family show up for a tour.

“We just treat everyone the same,” she said. “We should be thinking about who’s coming? Are there outside decision-makers that need to be involved?”

Saxman said that her biggest takeaway from the data is how well communities are showing, which she said “screams to the operational and sales synergy we didn’t always see.” The fact that so many are impressed with the physical plant, however, also means that communities have to deliver better on the sales side.

“Your competitors have caught up,” she said. “If you were always the bright, shiny new penny, everyone has caught up, as far as aesthetics and presentation. Now leadership and sales correspondence has to be stronger.”

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