Creating Results attended the first live industry conference in some time – LeadingAge Florida – in Orlando at the end of August 2021.
Speakers presented a wide variety of topics, but we wanted to share our take on what’s hot and what you should be on the lookout for during the remainder of the year.
COVID-19 Still at the Forefront of Conversations
On the first day of the conference alone, there were five sessions around pandemic preparedness and post-pandemic recovery strategies. COVID-19 talk is certainly not going away anytime soon, and subject matter experts at LeadingAge Florida shed light on how we as senior living professionals can make the most of it.
A couple sessions covered similar topics: how to adapt and design better communities to provide services that allow for a competitive edge + how to modify your service mix to meet senior needs and wants at any given time.
Using what we know now about how the pandemic created new and complex business challenges to rejigger preparedness plans across all business sectors of your community
When planning for projects, explore short and long-term effects on business models so that nothing is a surprise
Financial advisors from Grassi and PYA talk about using a “Calibrated Performance Approach” to leverage sciences of data analytics and healthcare to develop result-driven solutions:
Resource Utilization: control costs through rigorous cash and vendor management program, aligning expenses with goal measures
Value Realization: improve overall revenue by identifying new streams for cash influx and maximizing existing ones
Capital Rationalization: access financing options through current lenders, new sources, and merger opportunities
- Important steps often overlooked in SL and 55+ planning, including how to align your sales and marketing teams’ lead efforts
- Successful digital marketing tactics for 55+ and SL communities
- Best in class SL and 55+ projects and how to harness digital tools to drive results
By the end of the presentation, attendees will have a better understanding of how to:
- How to target, select channels and generate digital lead from Google, Facebook, and other platforms
- Engage with digital leads and encourage them to share more information about themselves
- Leverage marketing automation and other integrated marketing to reduce time needed to nurture digital leads, gather additional data about your prospects unobtrusively and ultimately convert digital leads
Shifting Your Mix of Housing to Accommodate the New Generation
Another subject that we heard a lot on is adapting your community to prepare for the Boomer generation who will in the next ~10 years be attritioning from living in their own home to independent living (some directly to personal care). The recommended alignment from largest number of rooms to smallest is: independent living, personal / memory care, skilled nursing.
Countless communities across the nation are underway in redeveloping their communities to dial back personal care and shared SNF rooms and opt instead to accommodate larger numbers of independent living quarters.
The studies shared from the state of Florida alone conveyed significant positive results. For example, Vicar’s Landing in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida was greenlit for a community expansion project (known as Vicar’s Landing at Oak Bridge) in July 2021 after receiving 66% of presales in just 6 months. The project will house 109 independent living quarters ranging from cottages and apartment buildings.
Key Takeaways
We feel the common theme from the majority of sessions at LeadingAge Florida this year is to be proactive and become adaptable. Planning for all manner of possibilities in the short and long term is your best bet to avoid significant business losses and plan for the need of residents – current and future.
Get in Touch
Email info@creatingresults.com with any questions you may have about the sales and marketing services we offer.