By Susan Saldibar

As a former VP of marketing and sales, I know this time of year so well.

It’s tough because you’re trying to put a plan together for next year to get where you couldn’t get this year. And the lack of data drives you nuts. How far off are we? Were our goals unrealistic? What should we be aiming for?

No worse feeling than leading a team of people you love into another year of the great unknown.

Maybe you can relate. If so …

What if you knew exactly how you stacked up against other communities? 

Maybe you’d be able to lead your team to …

  • Attack, with razor sharp precision, the areas where you’re not competitive
  • Tweak your messaging in a direction that gives you better results
  • Drive higher quality leads to your sales team
  • Do more of the right stuff to drive more conversions

Well, at last someone has the data you’re looking for. And you can use it about now. 

If you’ve seen any of the Marketing Mondays with WelcomeHome’s Teddy Helfrich you have a good idea of how much data they’ve accumulated. (WelcomeHome is a Foresight partner.)

And you’ll be glad to know that he’s sharing the data. 

At least some of it. (Their clients get all the juicy stuff.) But watch Teddy spill in the latest Q&A with Leigh Ann Hubbard. Here are just a couple insights from a slew of others.

What’s driving engagement?

This will differ by care type, season, market, etc. But there are two things that stand out:

  • Education, especially for people looking at a longer length of stay. And the education should be not just about your community but about the benefits of senior living in general. Often, it doesn’t click yet for people that they’re ready. If you have lots of educational material, that will keep them engaged. Educate about what people are going through, what they’ll come up against. 
  • Awareness of consumer trends. Understand how people buy in your industry, who they engage with — who are the best referral people. Understand who has the best brand in your area and the most referrals and how can you make yourself first in their minds.

Where the longest-stay leads are coming from:

#1: Events. They shut down during the pandemic, but people are hosting events again. Great lead source, Teddy says. 

#2: Referrals. This isn’t a surprise. People you know and trust give you great leads. Nothing better.

#3: Physical ads. No kidding. Hard copy is still alive and well! That means direct mail, print ads, all the old school stuff. But why? Teddy’s take is that moving into a senior care community is a longer sales cycle. There is a valuable shelf life to print. Digital comes and goes. 

… #15: Aggregators. You know who they are. Wow. How much do you pay these people? 

And, finally, something that dives sales nuts but can be easily fixed …

Have a clear area on your website with clear messaging that leads visitors to the right place. That means job seekers to the employment page and those seeking living options to another page. 

Teddy hears all the time about sales counselors getting all excited when they get “pinged” that they have a new lead, only to find that it’s someone looking for a job. (A good CRM, by the way, will help avoid that too.)

What you really need to do now is to go to the WelcomeHome site and take a tour of their system. Do that, and I’ll bet they’ll also answer a bunch of your questions. They love what they do, and they want you to succeed.

And, when you think about it, wouldn’t it be great to love your CRM again?