Have you ever heard a senior living marketer say, “Gee, I have too many leads!” No, me neither.
We’ve all heard the standard litany about why it’s so difficult to develop and nurture leads in order to convert them. Individual sales teams usually point to the long sales cycle, challenges with their website, or a lack of social media experience as the reasons why they struggle. For others, it’s a compatibility issue with the CRM. Some point out the challenges they face connecting or working with local healthcare facilities.
I think they’re missing a crucial obstacle in their path: having the right data.
The Value of Data
Your audience may have a generational identity, but they’re individuals, not clones. Many marketing teams I work with can tell me the basic facts about their ideal audience. They may have taken a hard look at their current residents and extrapolated key facts: age, income, former place of residence, etc. Or they’ve created an audience persona of who they’d like to convert based on corporate concepts. But either approach is based on limited information and likely to fail. They’re missing the real data they need to be successful.
The way we use the internet has changed our ability to live private lives. Think about it. Snippets of code collect information about you every time you go online. Everywhere you go and everything you do is being tracked and collected. And then that data is used.
From pre-approved bank or credit card offers to retargeting ads on unrelated websites featuring items you’ve browsed, your data is used to drive conversions. Why aren’t you doing the same thing to convert your leads into new residents?
Knowledge = Conversions
Using data modeling to identify the right audience gives your sales team the ability to focus on the most likely audience to convert. Mass mailings, website forms, social media posts, and cold calls all have one thing in common. You may identify a few people who are sincerely interested, but you’re more likely to encounter noise or people with only a casual interest. How much time and money have you wasted on these no-go pseudo leads?
Data modeling creates lists with a demographic profile that closely matches those of your current residents. We go beyond the initial profile of age, gender, marital status, and income. We can look at net worth versus liquid income, religion, ethnicity, and the length of time they’ve lived in their current home. Information about their interests, shopping online preferences, and the number of children help you see them as a real person, not just a name. We can dig even deeper and tell you the type of structure of their home, if they rent or own, and the devices they use most often when they go online.
Instead of sending a mass mailing to certain zip codes, we can help you send mailings to households that mirror your current residents or customers. Your marketing campaigns become targeted and focused with a likely higher rate of response and conversion than previous efforts. So why don’t more senior living marketing teams take this approach? They haven’t seen it in action.
Data Drives Actions
Imagine the ability to take the data in your CRM and have it transformed from a jumble of possible leads to leads ranked by those most like your current residents or customers. What would happen if your sales team could focus their efforts on the best leads instead of cold calling possible leads? Could you give your sales team key information so they can highlight community features that match a prospect’s interests? Imagine the power of customized interactions because your sales team has access to all the data points. What could happen with all of this at your fingertips?
Knowledge really is power. Your sales team will tell you the ability to personalize an interaction can make the difference in the conversion process. Personalization lets them help a lead see themselves as a member of your community. To see themselves enjoying your creative activities or living a fulfilling life in your high-end apartments. With data modeling, you can effectively use segmentation to send a more effective email campaign to married prospects and tailor a different message to single leads. Data modeling gives you a powerful tool to create more persuasive and effective content. Your data model means you know who your audience is, what they want, and how your services match their needs.
Data Modeling is Our Jam
If there’s one thing you should know about Sabal Group, it’s that data modeling is what we love to do. We specialize in delivering data that makes a difference. Or to paraphrase Dr. Seuss, “The more you know, the further you’ll go.” 
If you’d like to see how far your marketing campaigns can go, why not give me a call? I’d love to have the opportunity to chat with you about your unique challenges and how data can help.
