LydiaMiller
Marketing Specialist & Sales Trainer
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Oct 7, 2010, 8:34 AM
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Design a Strategic Marketing Plan for your Retirement Community
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By Lydia R. Miller, B.Sc., CHSP, BC PIDP
The three main concepts to explore here are:
a. Know your competition
b. Identify your residents
c. Define your place in the market
Marketing to seniors wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t know what we’re trying to sell and why that appeals to them over what the competition is offering.
Whether you’re operating totally Independent Living, Private Pay Assisted Living or Private Pay Licensed Care facilities, you need to identify and recognize the benefits and drawbacks of competing operations. Who did your current residents tell you they were looking at before they moved in with you? Did you know them all? When was the last time you toured their facilities and chatted up their marketing people? They will provide you with one of your best sources of market intelligence in order to gauge your next steps in designing a strategic marketing plan.
Be direct and ask the right questions such as:
o How did their residents find them?
o Where did they live before?
o What do they include in their monthly charges and how do they compare with your own?
o How long did it take for that potential resident to make a commitment?
o What held them back if anything?
o How did they overcome their objections and close the deal?
No, they may not always be forthcoming with the right answers but it’s like winning the lottery, if you don’t buy a ticket you can’t win. Likewise, if you don’t ask the questions you won’t get any answers. You should now be able to draft a preliminary marketing plan that identifies and positions your facility in the ever growing marketplace of residential retirement communities. Based on their answers and your own from asking yourselves these same questions, you can research what type of promotional tools and strategies are best suited for you to attract the right seniors to the right location and at the right price!
Lydia Miller is a Certified Hospitality Sales Professional with over twenty-five years of sales and marketing experience accumulated from within the finance, performing arts and hospitality industries.
The Miller Touch specializes in delivering customized sales workshops and presentations for the accommodation industry with a focus on retirement communities and hotel properties. Ms. Miller is a successful consultant assisting retirement communities, hotel operators, and other industry associations improve profitability, sales productivity and client/member relations. She is a founding professor with eHotelschool.com having written advanced online courses in international sales and marketing and in event planning and conference management.
For more information: The Miller Touch Training Group Inc.
Lydia@millertouch.com
Direct Tel: 604.984.7445
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(This post was edited by LydiaMiller on Oct 7, 2010, 9:04 AM)
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