Top Five Ways to Use Video
for Senior Living Sales
June 19th, 2020 -
If you’ve been wondering how to use video for senior living sales, we have you covered.
In this blog post, you will learn about specific ways you can use video to better connect with prospects and families throughout the buyer journey. Whether you are currently using video in your sales process or not, this post is for you.
Now more than ever, it’s crucial that senior living leaders are embracing digital selling, connecting authentically with prospects, and defining the narrative of life in their communities. Video is a simple way to do just that, and we’ll show you how.
1. First Introduction/Response to Inquiry
Put yourself in your prospect’s shoes. You are an adult child researching senior communities for a loved one. You submit requests for more information to three communities in your local area.
One community sales director responds with a phone call, another with a templated email, the third with a personal video message. Among these three, which offers the most differentiation? Which is mostly likely to be heard or read? Which is most likely to establish trust? Which is most likely to be memorable?
Personal videos instantly humanize your community, effectively convey empathy and warmth, and quickly build trust. Equally important, they’re more likely to produce results. Video has been shown to increase email clickthrough rates by up to 300% and triple response rates, making it a vastly more effective means of connecting with your prospect.
As a bonus, personal videos with your community logo and branding build awareness and brand trust, compounding the memorability you already garnered with your video message.
Lastly, making a human connection with a prospect is of particular importance at the top of your funnel—you’re now on the path to building a great relationship, a foundational element in securing new move-ins.
Pro tip: using an informal tone in videos is preferred by 83% of people, so remember to be your authentic self and do not worry about appearing perfect.
2. Community Tours
The COVID-19 pandemic changed the game completely, and tours of senior communities have been no exception. When traditional physical tours were restricted, virtual tours took over.
Sales and community directors equipped with the right video technology have quickly adapted. They can, on the fly, send personalized tours to prospects and at the same time make a face-to-face connection, albeit virtual. When the situation warrants, sales and community directors can send near real-time virtual tours to prospects. These videos can include things like apartment tours, introductions to staff members, highlights of unique community features and activities, and much more.
In modified scenarios where tours still happen at the community (like those conducted outside and around the property), personalized video still plays an important role pre- and post-tour. Pre-tour, personalized video serves as an excellent “welcome” message and appointment reminder, confirming the date/time and expressing gratitude for the pending visit. Post-tour, personalized video is a smart way to send a “thank you” message and recap any next actions you agreed to take.
The important takeaway here is that you are tying a human face to the tour throughout the digital process. Electronic brochures and online floor plans provide important information, but they lack the humanizing element video offers—a big differentiator early in the sales process.
3. Personalized Amenity Overview
Let’s step back into your prospect’s shoes. What specific factors are important to this decision-maker and/or potential resident? What makes them unique? What similarities might they share with other residents? What objections have they raised?
Now take it one step further: what amenity or community feature can you highlight to meet this important need, deliver reassurance, or overcome an objection?
This is where personalized video can really shine in your sales process. Video lets you show and not just tell—a simple, but vital, step in bolstering believability and trust.
For example, you can deliver personalized videos to share things like: “here’s our wellness center,” “hear it from our chef,” “meet our nursing director,” “check out our state-of-the-art movie theater,” “meet this resident who’s a navy veteran like you,” etc.
Personalizing your amenities and unique facets—per prospect and via video—enhances the prospect experience and serves as a central tactic in your overall buyer journey.
4. Nurturing Warm Leads and Waitlists
It is important to mention not every outreach to a prospect should be done via video.
Video for senior living sales simply up-levels your process. It’s an enhancement to your combination of phone calls, email, in-person visits, and handwritten notes. Where video was once a “nice-to-have,” it’s now a “must-have” and sales directors without access to the right video solution are operating at a disadvantage.
A relevant case-in-point comes in the form of lead nurturing. Everyone these days receives automated, templated, pre-determined email intended for nurturing. Not to say you shouldn’t employ those (you certainly should!), but it is beneficial to have a little something extra that makes you different.
One of the best ways to keep your community top-of-mind is to periodically use video to touch base with leads not quite ready to move in. This works as a simple differentiator, and more importantly, offers the community another opportunity to deliver a personal touch.
This is a simple and effective way to use video for senior living sales, so remember to put it into your workflow.
5. Requesting Testimonials, Post-Move In
What’s the most powerful weapon in your sales arsenal? You might come up with a few answers, but a glowing reference from a happy customer is as powerful as it gets.
Assembling testimonials and references is the final frontier in a refined sales process, though that is easier said than done. Requesting testimonials and asking families to serve as references can be a tricky proposition, so having a systematized method can be a huge help.
As a best practice in using video for senior living sales, we suggest closing each successful sales process with a “thank you” video message to decision-makers. This offers you a natural opportunity to request a testimonial. Through video, you can more effectively convey gratitude and express yourself authentically, which will prove more persuasive than alternative methods. Remember, it is harder to say “no” to a face than it is to words in an email.
Video for Senior Living Sales – Summary
Once considered a nice-to-have in senior care, a comprehensive video strategy is now a must-have. Using video to handle things like instant lead response, tours, amenity highlights, lead nurturing, and referral building is a great first step to take. With video as a central part of your process, you’ll be better equipped to adapt to changing circumstances, differentiate yourself from competitors, and make deeper connections.
While implementing the above five scenarios might seem challenging at first glance, the SalesMail app makes them all quite easy to accomplish.
SalesMail is trusted by thousands of senior living leaders in the United States and Canada. It is a simple way to leverage video for senior living sales, and is the most complete app of its kind. To learn more, please click below:
