Voices: Debbie Howard, Co-Founder of Senior Living SMART & LeadGenie

This article is sponsored by Senior Living SMART. In this Voices interview, Senior Housing News sits down with Debbie Howard, Co-Founder of Senior Living SMART & LeadGenie, to discuss the top 5 ways providers can elevate their sales and marketing strategies to attract and convert today’s senior living prospect. She delves into the nuances of the modern senior, who is digitally savvy and fiercely independent in their market research She also explains why providers must adapt their sales and marketing strategies to attract, nurture and convert these ideal residents — and how to approach this process.

Senior Housing News: What life and career experiences do you most draw from, in your role today?

Debbie Howard: I’ve spent my entire career in senior living, so in my role today, I primarily draw from my experience as an operator. I started out as a Community Relations Director, then became a Regional Director for Benchmark Senior Living, a Divisional Vice President for Emeritus Senior Living, and later, the National Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Five Star.

At that point, I managed 210 buildings nationally and was responsible for all sales and marketing activities, driving occupancy in a publicly traded company. Working for some of the largest providers in the industry has enabled me to understand the key factors behind their growth and scalability, so I wanted to leverage that experience to benefit more people than I could while representing just one company.

My business partner has a similar background, with experience at Atria, Brookdale, and Benchmark, and we both reached a point where our passion for this industry and our desire to continue making a difference spanned beyond the walls of one brand or provider. We wanted to level the playing field by sharing our experience with more people, aiming to elevate the prospect journey and ease the decision-making process for families. Our goal is to take the knowledge we gained from the larger organizations and make it affordable and accessible for operators of all sizes so they can achieve their growth goals.

What is different about today’s senior living prospect, and how can providers adapt to meet their needs as this target persona evolves?

Everything is different. We’re experiencing a 180-degree shift from the “go-along, get-along” Greatest Generation to the more digitally savvy Boomers who are now entering our sphere.

First and foremost, Boomers are much more engaged with digital channels. They’re active on social media and capable of searching for information online, using various digital platforms to conduct the research behind their buying decisions. It’s no longer solely the adult children — often the adult daughters or daughters-in-law — who are leading the charge. While that still exists, we’re seeing more Boomers directly performing their own research and making decisions for themselves. This shift reflects the Baby Boomer generation’s fierce independence and their “have-it-your-way” mentality.

To reach this new generation, providers need to completely change their sales and marketing approach. Boomers expect transparency and independence in their research process. They prefer to remain anonymous for as long as possible and make a buying decision when they are ready to engage with sales. Old practices, such as keeping information hidden or forcing potential residents into sales center visits to learn about pricing and availability, will not work with this generation. They expect to see everything upfront — floor plans, pricing, and detailed information about what sets each community apart.

Today, there is much more direct engagement with future residents themselves, and although family support remains important, we are seeing a shift in balance. As we continue to engage with the later segments of the Boomer generation, which spans several years, this trend is likely to continue, making the resident voice louder than ever before.

How can senior living marketing teams effectively attract, nurture, and convert the ideal prospect in today’s environment?

The first step is to align with the prospect. Providers’ marketing strategy should focus on consumer needs and where they are in their journey. That means dissecting the existing information about them and using it to personalize their experience.

Today’s prospects go through various stages in their decision-making process.

First, they need to find the community. Strong search visibility and social media presence, both organic and paid, are critical to this stage. If prospects can’t find you, they won’t progress, but if they do, the marketing channels should drive them to the community website, which is crucial for conversion. Provider websites should focus on delivering a positive first impression, with a modern, clean, fast, and mobile-friendly presentation. It should clearly demonstrate how the community can solve the prospect’s problems and offer valuable resources. Building trust is also essential, so websites should include testimonials, reviews, and professional affiliations like the Better Business Bureau or local Chambers of Commerce.

After finding, liking, and trusting you, prospects need to engage. The website should be more than a digital brochure; it needs to be engaging. Features like video, interactive surveys, chat, room planners, and 3D floor plans keep visitors interested and encourage them to consume more content. The longer they stay on the site and the more pages they visit, the higher the conversion rate and market share.

Effective conversion is key. Many websites have the right elements but are not optimized for conversion. Often, CTAs are limited to sales interactions like scheduling a tour or calling. However, many visitors prefer to remain anonymous and navigate their own journey. Providers should offer options like downloadable brochures, funding guides, or engaging in anonymous chat to enhance conversion opportunities.

Where should providers focus their marketing investments to gain a competitive advantage in today’s senior living landscape?

They should focus on building the right marketing technology stack, ensuring everything is connected and bi-directional. Websites are the most important marketing asset, while CRMs are the key sales technology. Connecting these two bi-directionally, so they update each other as people move through their journey, is imperative for effective marketing automation.

Think of it like a shopping mall; there were two anchor stores — Macy’s and Sears — on either end of the mall that drive traffic, with the food court in between. In this analogy, a provider’s website and CRM are the anchor stores — representing the start and end points of the prospect journey. The food court is the marketing automation that feeds everyone coming through.

The specialty stores in between — the sneaker store, the hat store — represent live chat, video tours, 3D floor plans, and surveys. While these elements are essential, it’s the anchor stores that drive everything within the ecosystem. That is why providers must build a technology stack with choice.

Many vendors offer pre-bundled solutions that are not necessarily best in class, just to generate more revenue. Providers are best served to choose partners that allow them to select and integrate the best tools for their unique needs. Run, don’t walk, from any vendor that limits you to their exclusive marketing automation solution.

How can providers centralize lead management to improve their lead-to-connect rates, inquiry-to-deposit conversions, and occupancy levels?

I’ll make a bold statement: centralized lead management is poised to dominate the industry very soon. Organizations will either partner with firms like LeadGenie to outsource their centralized lead management, or they will attempt to build it in-house, much like the hotel and airline industries have adopted centralized reservation systems.

Given today’s lead volume and the looming silver tsunami, sending leads to the front desk is no longer efficient. According to the Welcome Home Q2 2024 Benchmark Report, only 30% of sales inquiries reach the salesperson, which means providers are missing nearly 70% of opportunities. Additionally, if an initial contact isn’t made, it takes salespeople between four hours and three weeks to return a call — by then, it’s often too late.

At Senior Living Smart, we’re dedicated to delivering high-quality leads and ensuring they are ready for sales interactions. We make the phone ring, schedule tours, and nurture prospects, and we developed LeadGenie because we believe there has to be a better solution. As a marketing agency, it pained us to work so hard to generate qualified leads only to hear about poor experiences when prospects called the community. We decided to improve this process by not only generating leads, but also answering calls, conducting discovery, booking tours, and entering notes into the CRM. This approach will become essential as the industry grows more competitive. Operators will need to decide whether to build this capability internally or find the right partner to do it.

What are the top five ways providers can elevate their sales and marketing strategy?

First, let’s recap the essentials. Building the right marketing technology stack is crucial. If the website hasn’t been updated in the past few years, it’s likely outdated. Websites age quickly, so whether providers choose a refresh or a complete rebuild, they must ensure it’s mobile-first and fast. People are impatient — if the site doesn’t load quickly or isn’t responsive, visitors will move on.

Marketing automation is a must-have. With a long sales cycle requiring 22 to 28 touchpoints, a salesperson can’t manage this alone. Marketing automation bridges the gaps by delivering content, inviting prospects to events, sending guides, and providing testimonials, videos, and virtual tours.

Call tracking is also critical for understanding attribution sources and optimizing marketing investments. SMS falls into this category as well since we all use our phones, including SMS in follow-up and marketing automation, which can boost response rates by 30%. Additionally, your CRM must integrate with all these platforms.

Next, content is king. It plays a significant role in attracting prospects and improving SEO through keyword density. All of the content should align with the prospect’s stage in their journey — whether they’re in awareness, consideration, or decision. Educational content is key for those in the awareness stage, while all stages benefit from original photography, video, educational blogs, guides, and virtual tours. Avoid outdated black-and-white floor plans, because there are much better options available now.

Using a call center is key for immediate connection. At LeadGenie, we position ourselves as your welcome center, transparently assisting prospects without pretending to be part of the community. This clarity ensures that prospects aren’t disappointed when they realize we don’t provide tours ourselves. A great call center should handle discovery, qualify and disqualify leads, schedule tours, follow up with cold leads, manage past-due activities, and cover for vacant sales positions.

Providers’ marketing strategies should be designed around the prospect, understand where they are in their journey, and meet them there. If someone downloading a brochure is only researching and doesn’t want to speak to sales yet, reps should respect that. Conversely, someone ready to tour or make a decision is in a different stage, and providers should offer the right support to guide them to the next step, whether education, empathy, reassurance, or transparency to build trust.

Finally, finding the right marketing partner is essential. Every brand has a unique story, even if the services and amenities are similar. A good marketing partner will help effectively express a brand and attract its ideal audience.

Finish this sentence: “In the senior living industry, 2024 is being defined by…”

… embracing technology to hyper-personalize the prospect journey.

Right now, the senior living technology space is filled with bright, shiny new tools, which can be overwhelming. There are countless widgets and technologies available, and we need to focus on integrating these tools more effectively. Providers must shift from tactics to strategy, ultimately bringing together all of their marketing tools, tactics, assets, and technology to personalize the experience for their prospects.

Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Senior Living SMART is a full-service marketing agency by senior living executives with decades or experience on the operator side. LeadGenie is a call center that acts as an extension of your brand to warmly welcome your prospects and advance qualified leads to your sales team. Schedule your strategy session with Debbie by reaching out to [email protected].

Order a copy of Debbie’s new book, SMART(er) Marketing for Senior Living Communities, which provides practical insights, examples, and checklists to help you develop a winning marketing plan, leverage automation tools, track key metrics, create compelling content, and optimize your tech stack.

The Voices Series is a sponsored content program featuring leading executives discussing trends, topics and more shaping their industry in a question-and-answer format. For more information on Voices, please contact [email protected].