In-Person Events: Harbor’s Edge
This summer, LRSA put together three different events for one of our clients, Harbor’s Edge, in Norfolk, VA. The goal for these events was two-fold. Firstly, to re-engage the local market with the community and secondly, to find ways to re-engage the database, which was large but mostly inactive. This meant that the sales team was spending time nurturing these leads, but hearing a resounding “I’m not ready yet” from most prospects.
June: Money Gauge and Financial Readiness
July: Openly Aging and Addressing “I’m not ready yet”
August: Brain Health Series
Event #1: Money Gauge
One obstacle that was pervasive with prospects at Harbor’s Edge was a sense that the community may not be a financial fit for most people in the market. This was a myth that the sales team needed support dispelling with prospects.
LRSA introduced the team to two tools that would help customers better understand the financial promise of a Life Plan Community while helping the customer understand how moving into the community was a better financial choice than staying at home. Our goal with this event was not just to bring new leads to the campus of the community, but also to re-engage leads in the database who were not moving forward with the sale process.
The team at LRSA partnered with Money Gauge, a tool that would allow a customer to self-select floor plans that might be a good financial fit for them, based on a few short questions. The second tool that was introduced to the team was the Financial Calculator. Money Gauge and the Financial Calculators are internet-based tools that were developed by myLifeSite, a company headquartered in Raleigh, NC and led by Founder Brad Breeding and President Tripp Higgins.
MoneyGauge is a customer-facing tool that lives on the community website. When customers are searching a community’s website for pricing information, a link to Money Gauge can often be found to help the customer better understand the affordability of a Life Plan Community. This tool is a great alternative to just sharing “starting at” pricing with no context for the consumer.
Additionally, LRSA trained the sales team on using the Financial Calculator, a tool designed to review with a customer shoulder-to-shoulder during the sales process. The Financial Calculator can paint the picture of retirement cash flow as a customer is moving through the process of moving to a Continuing Care Retirement Community.
Both tools involve nuance for the customer, and it is key to have someone hand holding the team through the process of implementing Money Gauge and The Financial Calculator. The team at LRSA worked side by side with the team at myLifeSite and Harbor’s Edge Norfolk to implement these two tools. Once the tools were installed, tested, and the team was trained and ready, it was time to invite the public to utilize Money Gauge.
LRSA provided creative direction on the mailing list and direct mail invitation for myLifeSite President, Tripp Higgins, to present about the financial decision-making process of retirement. The event yielded 30 new leads and 25 buying parties coming to learn more and enjoy lunch. Additionally, during the event, 10 of the guests completed Money Gauge on site, which resulted in 10 new engagements with customers who were ready and willing to share their financial situation to see how it would fit in at Harbor’s Edge.
Event #2: Openly Aging
Allison O'Shea speaking at the Openly Aging event at Harbor's Edge
To address the obstacle of “I’m not ready yet,” the team at LRSA engaged with best-selling author and nationally-known speaker, Allison O’Shea. Allison is the author of “Openly Aging” a book that helps retirees address the four pillars of aging and start the conversation with their family members about their aging plan. The four pillars of aging include home, social structure, health, and financial.
Before sending the direct mail invitation, the team at LRSA engaged with Strategy Shop and Senior ROI to cultivate a customized mail list of age-and-income-qualified adults who would be the target market of Harbor’s Edge. Our goal with this event was to engage new leads who have not been in the database, ideally bringing a younger group of retirees into the sales process.
Senior ROI was able to identify more than 14,000 households who would be appropriate to receive the invitation, and together with the team we honed the list to 9,500 age and income-qualified adults. Over the course of two event dates, more than 55 guests attended the event, resulting in 18 new tours that the sales team completed in the course of the 2 weeks following the event.
Most importantly, guests were leaving the event feeling empowered that they were on their own personal aging journey, and they wanted Harbor’s Edge to be part of that plan.
Event #3: Brain Health Series
Morgan Lamphere of Lauren Rose Senior Advisors speaking at the Brain Health Events for Harbor's Edge
Another challenge at Harbor’s Edge was that the prospect list for Assisted Living and Memory Care was alarmingly low compared to the number of vacant apartments. In order to boost the number of prospects inquiring about higher levels of care, LRSA worked with the team at Harbor’s Edge to develop an event series around Brain Health. This series was geared toward anyone who would want to learn more about keeping their brain healthy, as well as anyone who was already actively living with cognitive loss.
LRSA worked with a team of experts at Harbor’s Edge to develop the content for the presentations, and President of LRSA, Morgan Lamphere, served as speaker for each event.
Music for the Brain reviewed some of the effects that music has on the brain – both as a stress release and to improve cognitive functioning. The guests learned what types of music are best for cognitive function and played some music trivia with our guest musician, Bob Heely.
Food for the Brain reviewed key diet changes that a person can make in order to improve short-term and long-term cognitive functioning. During the presentation, Lamphere shared key diet changes that affect gut health, a brain healthy grocery list, and some sample recipes to try at home. After the event the dining team at Harbor’s Edge presented a brain-healthy lunch for all to enjoy.
Movement for the Brain reviewed physical exercises that are known to help improve cognitive function. At this event, Morgan Lamphere partnered with Director of Wellness, Laurie Gris, to present on these key exercises and movements.
The Brain Health Series yielded a result of more than 80 new guests coming to visit Harbor’s Edge and generated 16 new tours in Assisted Living. The event was so popular that the Independent Living Residents at Harbor’s Edge requested an encore presentation so they could improve their own brain health. The Brain Health Series is one that can be repeated in your community as a one-off event series produced and presented by Lauren Rose Senior Advisors.
These are three events that resulted in improved engagement with the local community as well as the existing database in order to improve occupancy and sales within the community.
If you are interested in learning more about these events or how to execute an event plan within your community, schedule a meeting with Lauren Rose Senior Advisors today!
