Are You on Top of Your Senior Living Prospect Messaging? 

Effective messaging is a key component of communicating with your senior living prospects. It establishes you as a valuable resource, builds trust, and ultimately moves them closer to the sale. In this blog, we identify some best practices you can put to use to optimize your communication with your prospects. 

Best practices for prospect messaging 

It needs to be time-sensitive 

Senior living is highly competitive in many markets, so the quicker you can respond to an inquiry – speed to the lead – the better you’ll be positioned against your competitors. Even when marketing automation is in place and an acknowledgement of an online inquiry takes just seconds, a personal call is key to starting a relationship with a prospect. Learn more in our blog, “The 3 Most Common Pitfalls in Senior Living Sales: Sales Specialists Speak”. 

It needs to reach the prospect in the way they prefer 

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach for communicating with senior living prospects. While many older adults prefer a phone call, more and more seniors are savvy users of email and texting. Be sure you’re asking your prospects how they prefer to be reached, then use that avenue as the first line of approach. 

It needs to be personalized  

This doesn’t mean every message needs to be created from scratch, but each should include the prospect’s name. The messaging should be relevant to their situation. For example, talking about independent living amenities with the loved one of a prospect needing memory care is going to fall flat, or your transportation services to someone who is still driving.   

It needs to have a purpose and a call to action 

We often see and hear messaging like “I’m just checking in”. Without a clear purpose and desired outcome, you’re wasting your prospect’s (and your own) time. Where does the call go from, “just checking in?”  

It needs to be ongoing 

Prospect messaging is not a once-and-done activity. It needs to be ongoing and planned. At Grow Your Occupancy, we coach our clients to use a connection cadence that’s heavier – more frequent – on the front end, with proven results. New lead connection expectation should start at 80%, optimum is 90%+.   

Each messaging channel has its own best practices, too 

While a phone call continues to be the most effective method of communicating with prospects, texting and emails are also effective. Each has its own best practices to keep in mind:  

Phone calls: 

• Begin the call by stating the prospect’s name and identifying yourself by name. “Hi Janet, this is Angela Smith calling.” Then PAUSE. 

• Be respectful of their time. Ask if this time works. “Do you have just a quick minute?” 

• Have a clear purpose for the call. “The reason I’m calling is…”  

• Use empathy and be an active listener. 

• Suggest and establish a next step. “It sounds to me like a good next step is tour of our community. Does Thursday at noon or Friday at 10 a.m. work better for you?” 

• Recap the call. “Thanks for your time today, I appreciate the chance to learn more about your situation. I look forward to seeing you at noon on Thursday.” 

• Send a tour confirmation message (video messaging works great) before the tour.

Text messages: 

• Ask for explicit consent before texting a prospect for the first time.  

• Include their name, your name, and the community name. “Hi Janet, this is Angela Smith from The Pines Senior Living.” 

• Keep the reason for the message short and simple. “I’m texting to confirm your tour at noon tomorrow. I look forward to seeing you.” 

• Maintain a professional tone. Avoid abbreviations and emojis older adults may not understand.  

• Be respectful of the time of day. Ideally, texts should be limited to between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m.  

Emails: 

• Personalize the subject line with the purpose. Keep it short. “Confirming your tour appointment.”  

• Include their name, your name, and the community name. “Dear Janet,” “Sincerely, Angela Smith, The Pines Senior Living” 

• Lead with a recap. “The last time we spoke, you mentioned that…” 

• Suggest a next step. “I’d like to invite you in for lunch and to meet some of our residents.” 

• Include a call to action. “Click here to download our free guide to independent living.” 

• Use a connection cadence to plan your future emails.
• Don’t over-email if there’s no response. If there’s no response after 3–4 emails, change your approach to a phone call or text message. 

How’s your prospect messaging?  

Mystery shopping and skills assessments are excellent ways to gain insights into your prospect messaging. Enlisting the help of experienced senior living sales experts to conduct mystery shops of your sales teams will uncover any weaknesses and areas of improvement in your current messaging. Find out how Grow Your Occupancy’s mystery shoppers can help: download our mystery shopping / skills assessments reference sheet. Reach out to us today at success@growyouroccupancy.com and let’s take your prospect messaging to the next level.