The overwhelming majority of people will need assisted living services in their golden years.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, over 70% of adults past retirement age will need extended care.
As people live longer, the need for assisted living services increases.
Specifically, there is a more urgent need for cognition-based eldercare.
Senior living experts such as yourself are well aware that assisted living needs are not solely physical.
Alzheimer’s Disease is rampant, affecting 1 in 10 individuals over the age of 65 and nearly half of people over 85.
This and other forms of dementia indicate that residents’ families are searching for top-notch memory care services that protect their loved ones.
If you haven’t integrated memory care services into your business model yet, I suggest you start planning.
Though technology and medicine change, the need for expert care is forever ironclad.
When you introduce this vital service to your residents as they age in place, you will give them a greater quality of life and help their families enjoy a peace of mind.
A few staples of memory care include variations on these amenities:
- Brain health initiatives that slow mental deterioration
- 24-hour staff supervision
- Meals prepared and delivered three times per day
- Housekeeping and laundry services
- Access to outside medical care or on-sight doctor visits
- Social activities and programs that nurture residents who suffer from dementia
No, it’s not so simple to integrate all these programs overnight. However, the long-term financial ramifications are well worth the effort.
According to A Place for Mom’s data, the average cost for one month in an assisted living property runs approximately $3,300.
On the other hand, room rates on properties with memory care services clocks in at roughly $5,000 per month.
For a 100-apartment portfolio, designating 20% of your apartments for memory care would add $408,000 in increased revenue per year.
Offering memory care not only drives revenue, but it also serves residents’ growing needs at the same time.
And it offers yet another selling point to potential residents and their families — should mom or dad need memory care at some point, they do not have to move to a different community to receive care.
If $408,000 extra dollars per year is enough incentive for you, I have a few suggestions on how to seamlessly integrate memory care into your repertoire.
Learn to communicate with residents’ children.
When it comes to memory care, selling directly to residents is off the table.
Your residents’ children will be shopping for their loved ones, interviewing potential care providers, and making the final decisions.
These people need to know that mom or dad will be well cared for and will enjoy a heightened quality of life in spite of dementia.
I recommend using case studies and telling stories as you give tours. In this way, the families will gain a first-hand account of how their parent will be treated.
Move into the digital marketing arena.
If you’re already into social media marketing, email nurturing, automated follow ups, and article posting, that’s good.
However, you could always do more—especially since you’re selling memory care services.
The children of your future residents live online.
Chances are very few people will call a community without first checking out the website and Facebook page.
Without an Internet presence, you won’t see as much foot traffic, much less increased move-ins.
These days, a handful of C-level senior living execs shy away from the digital platform.
My educated guess as to why is that it seems more difficult to control public perception online.
However, you can get proactive with your online reputation.
It’s all a matter of asking for positive feedback and testimonials from families.
This requires a bit of finesse, which your sales team will learn with expert sales training.
[Related: check out these videos for more specific strategies and statistics regarding online senior care reviews.]
Place the principal focus on customer service—always.
I recently did a podcast interview with Jill Nelson, the CEO of Call Ruby.
In that interview, I discussed the devastating impact that poor customer service has on the senior living industry.
Long story short, you’re potentially losing millions of dollars through not answering phones or failing to make a great first impression.
This is not to say that poor customer service is purposeful, but without proper sales training, first impressions and quality customer relationships fall by the wayside accidentally.
Listen to the full interview here.
Quicken your follow-up.
If you’re not sending a follow-up email within 30 minutes of a tour, then you’re losing money.
With faster follow-up, you show families that you will offer quality care for their loved ones.
This is more than pushing a sale toward the closing point.
Quicker follow-up keeps you top-of-mind and makes the prospect realize that you and your staff are always on top of things.
I know what training your sales team needs, and I’ve helped create significant results for senior care organizations across the nation.
I’ll help your company focus on long-term success.
Shoot me an email at tbild@bildandco.com or text 813-390-3349 with your name and number, and I’ll help you get the sales training process started.
