Chasing Leads
Internet sources bring senior living providers more leads
than ever before, creating a revolution in senior living
marketing—one that providers may not be ready for
By Angela Hickman Brady
KiMBeRLY tAFt, Regional Director of Sales and Marketing,
South Division, Emeritus Senior Living, grew up in the senior
living business. “My mom was in the medical field and then
I worked in the nursing home environment to work my way
through college.” Taft earned a marketing degree and kept returning to the business. “It kind of just fit: I could help take care
of people. And that’s why I do this—to take care of people.”
MEMBERS OF THIS EXECUTIVE FOCUS GROUP
MeLAnie HendRix, Regional Director of Operations, Emeritus
Senior Living, has been serving seniors in some capacity since
1987. She started as a housekeeper in a nursing home, moved
to the front office, and then went to college, graduating with a
degree in health systems administration, and returned to the
same nursing home to work as director of social services. She
moved to the assisted living field in 1996. “It’s my life’s work,”
she says. “We truly have an opportunity to save lives.”
JessicA PHAuP, Regional Director of Sales and Marketing,
Sunrise Senior Living, says she got into the business by accident. Phaup moved to Portland, Oregon, about 16 years ago
and ended up in a social work admissions position with a skilled
nursing facility. She later moved to assisted living. “I haven’t
looked back since,” she says. “I just love it and feel very passionate about what we do.”
cOLLette LOMBARdO, Area Sales Manager for the South
Atlantic, Horizon Bay Retirement Living, got into the business
as a result of her grandmother’s experience at a senior living
community in New York. That environment didn’t support her
needs and allow her independence, so Lombardo was inspired
to help create a better option. She has worked in senior living
for more than 15 years and joined Horizon Bay two years ago.
sHeLLe Y HAMneR serves as Senior Regional Director of Sales
for the South Atlantic, Horizon Bay Retirement Living, covering
seven states and 2,000 units. Like many of her peers, Hamner
grew up in the industry, starting when she was in high school as
a server in a Florida retirement community. “My grandmother
ended up moving in, so she was my first sale.” A few years ago,
that community became part of Horizon Bay. “It’s kind of neat
that where I started is now part of the company I’m at now.”
PHOTOS BY TIM WILKERSON PHOTOGRAPHY
hen five senior living sales and marketing professionals recently sat down to talk about the challenges they’re facing in generating leads and
converting them to move-ins, the conversation
covered everything from recruiting empathetic and
business-savvy salespeople to quantifying leads
and benchmarks before they moved on to what’s
really worrying them: the revolution in where leads are coming
from today.
Where once leads were largely generated through professional
referrals from doctors and social workers, electronic sources are now
driving prospects to providers’ Web sites or to a first phone call, but
not always to their front doors.
“We’ve seen that shift happen to where it’s less professional leads
and more Internet leads,” says Emeritus Senior Living’s Kimberly
Taft. “The new challenge is going to be converting those Internet
leads to move-ins. I think this issue is going to be the biggest change
to our business. I mean, it already is, but how do we respond?”
Responding to electronic queries in a way that gets prospects to
engage has become the new marketing challenge. “We’re finding
people really are responding more to e-mail now than anything, and
our salespeople are advancing the leads with two or three e-mails
before there’s a phone call,” says Jessica Phaup of Sunrise.
Taft and her peers are now working on tactics to lure prospects
in to communities for tours and conversations. “Are our responses
even getting to them? Are they being blocked by spam?” wonders
W
ABOut tHis seRies: Assisted Living Executive’s Executive Focus Groups assemble leading senior living executives in various disciplines to exchange ideas and solutions for the
toughest challenges in the business. Let us know what you think and add to the conversation by chiming in on ALFA Exchange at community.ALFA.org.
