The Pivot to Online Sales for Life Plan Communities - Part 1

The playbook for senior living sales is under a massive shift. Communities are shifting gears because COVID-19 has changed the way sales consultants do business. But conversations with our clients suggest some significant wins. Consider the dynamic that senior living sales counselors are working within as we enter the second half of summer 2020.

COVID is changing the way Senior Living Communities do business.

While leads are down - currently about a 22% drop in year-over-year average from last year - what we know is that demand is there. Demographics are favorable with this economic downturn as compared to the Great Recession in 2008 and 2009. And COVID-19 has revealed some significant issues that older adults have to work through when comparing the potential age-in-place dynamic of staying at home versus moving to a life plan community. Exposure via trips to the pharmacy, grocery store, etc. have caused many to reconsider staying at home for the conveniences offered by a community setting. Conversely, the dynamic of reduced social interaction within a community setting is concerning to prospects. And prospects are still wrestling with the familiar objections around move-in timing, so many are indicating they're going to wait "until this blows over" though many can't define what a post-COVID timeline really looks like.

Nevertheless, many senior living community sales executives are finding success with online sales efforts. Webinars have taken the place of community events and are proving to be meaningful lead generation sources, not to mention revenue generators in the form of deposits for expansions/blue sky communities and sales for existing inventory. Recently-released June numbers suggest a substantial increase in leads after bottoming out in April, but a glaring discrepancy over 2019 is the number of community tours - often seen as the real mechanism behind establishing those marketing qualified leads as sales qualified leads. 

So how does a sales counselor offer a tour of their community when campus access is restricted?  We'll tackle that solution in our next post as we introduce you to a new virtual tour product platform we're offering called YourTour.

YourTour by The Vectre - a highly-customized virtual tour platform to enable personalized sales efforts.