Roleplaying, analyzing leads, taking notes – not long ago, these were strictly human domains. But senior living operators are finding concrete uses for AI with all of these tasks, and more.
Since the advent of artificial intelligence in the last few years, companies in a variety of industries have sought to use it to power their businesses. Senior living operators have struggled somewhat to find new uses for the technology, given the human nature of senior living and care. But all that is changing in 2025.
Senior living sales and marketing staff are using it to train for sales calls and in-person meetings with prospects, generate quality leads and analyze data to make better decisions on the ground.
For example, Roswell, Georgia-based Phoenix Senior Living has used AI to generate new social media campaigns and analyze multi-year performance data to identify sales trends.
“It’s become an integral part of how we operate,” said Phoenix Senior Living Vice President of Sales and Marketing Justin Harden. “If you’re not exploring how AI can support your staff, you’re likely leaving efficiency and opportunity on the table.”
These shifting priorities in sales and marketing come as prospective residents desire more information and have more choice of senior living options than ever before. Therefore operators including Heritage Communities, Phoenix Senior Living, Atria and Radiant Senior Living are seeking to give their frontline sales staff tools necessary to keep up.
AI allows operators to move from ‘reactive to proactive’
By analyzing sales trends data in real time, senior living operators can help improve their efforts in a more constructive way and troubleshoot areas causing friction and take a “more comprehensive” look at their operations to find details that may have previously eluded sales teams, according to Heritage Communities Chief Marketing Officer Lacy Jungman.
“AI helps us see where we’re overspending, underperforming, or missing key engagement moments. It allows us to be far more agile and strategic with our budget allocation,” Heritage Communities Chief Marketing Officer Lacy Jungman told SHN. “It’s helped us turn our digital marketing from reactive to proactive.”
The Omaha, Nebraska-based senior living provider is in the process of refining its AI tools to help better mine data from a key part of the selling process in senior living: when a sales person speaks to residents over the phone or in-person.
Heritage is recording inbound and outbound sales calls then transcribing them into the company’s customer relationship management tool to ultimately create “scorecards” with feedback for sales staff, Jungman added.
Heritage is doing so to identify the strengths and weaknesses of its salespeople and their training, with ongoing support and guidance from regional sales leaders.
“These calls are full of really great data, but until we quantify them and identify trends with action items, we aren’t using them effectively,” Jungman said.
Heritage Communities has a portfolio of 19 senior living communities in four states, 17 of which are owner-operated and two under third-party management.
Phoenix Senior Living uses AI-powered transcription that removes the “burden of note-taking.” That may seem like a small change, but it’s had payoff in the form of helping sales staff be “fully present” during conversations with prospects instead of jotting down notes.
Phoenix uses an AI tool with one of its tech partners to analyze digital conversion rates “in near real-time,” something that previously took hours or even days in the not-too-distant past, according to Harden.
Portland, Oregon-based Radiant Senior Living also uses an AI tool to help with onboarding of new sales staff along with other associates, according to Vice President of Marketing Jenni Bost. AI-supported technology has helped Radiant better analyze resident surveys and comments, while also improving lead scoring and referral scores in the sales process, Bost said.
Radiant uses AI to “identifying hot leads more effectively,” and for transcribing and summarizing phone calls between sales staff and prospects, Bost added. It’s also helped Radiant sales staff cut down on bland marketing content, with an adage of avoiding “copy, paste, publish” by screening AI-crafted content used in marketing materials or training videos.
“In sales and marketing, you could literally work day and night, and there’s still more to do,” Bost said. “So, these AI tools are important to use because, in my opinion, the industry is behind the curve and I think that we need to establish different differentiators between identifying marketing and sales qualified leads.”
‘Making time for the work that matters’
It’s a common refrain that senior living operators want to take burdens off of employees so they can spend time with residents. Some operators see AI as a way to do just that.
For instance, Louisville, Kentucky-based Atria Senior Living is able to use its AI-supported tech to reduce administrative burdens, identify potential leads and automates some back-end processes, according to Chief Marketing Officer Sanela Graziose.
“The biggest opportunity lies in making time for the work that matters, connecting with people,” Graziose said. “AI tools can serve as a support system for employees, not a replacement. We’re always looking for ways to make our teams more effective while preserving the human touch that defines our service.”
Phoenix Senior Living has saved “dozens of hours each week” during which staff are focusing on sales strategy and new training opportunities, Harden said.
“It’s allowing us to move faster and focus on higher-value work,” Harden added.
He recently was tasked with building a 12-month calendar of community events, a process that typically takes between 10 and 12 hours. Using ChatGPT, he had the concept within minutes and added in monthly sales contests aligned with community-themed events.
Roleplaying and training tools
To improve margins and occupancy, sales teams are often tasked with sorting through many leads. Where AI tools can improve the process is on the front end with creating a more dynamic training environment for new sales staff.
For example, Phoenix Senior Living is developing an AI-powered roleplay bot that simulates prospect objections with sales directors so they can interact with the AI prospect and receive a real-time score based on their responses.
“This tool helps sharpen sales skills without requiring intensive coaching from our regional and home office teams,” Harden said.
Atria has seen success in using AI-generated lead summaries that help support “more tailored” prospective resident follow up by sales teams, while also using an AI tool that includes moderation tools on social media to “mitigate potential reputational risks,” Graziose said.
In a recent training, Radiant showed sales staff, executive directors and life enrichment teams how to improve their correspondence to prospects and residents. Bost said she was surprised by the “mind-blowing” response.
Looking ahead, Harden sees AI as a way for senior living sales teams to “stay in the selling zone longer,” a period in which prospects are most likely to make a decision to move into a community.
“I believe AI will ultimately bring us back to person-centered selling. With AI handling administrative tasks, data entry, and after-hours inquiries, our teams can stay focused on what matters most: building real, human relationships,” Harden said.
The proliferation of AI use in senior living to support sales and marketing teams will continue, Graziose said, noting that it would continue to evolve behind-the-scenes to create better services, quicker responses and smarter market segmentation.
“The key is using it responsibly and intentionally, especially in a high-trust environment like senior living,” Graziose said.
