We often find ourselves sitting in front of our senior living clients talking about marketing benchmarks: The number of inquiries generated, web conversions, calls that came in, new vs. returning visitors to the website and so on. These are all great stats to see how the marketing dollars are working, but … what about sales? How do you know if your senior living sales team is nurturing leads? More importantly, to what senior living sales benchmarks should the sales team be performing?
Lots of articles and studies analyze sales benchmarks and statistics, but not many are senior living specific. Here are the top statistics and benchmarks for measuring the effectiveness and performance of your sales team.
133: Average call-outs per month (per 100 units) in independent living
For an independent living salesperson, a call-out means making a meaningful connection with a prospect, speaking with that individual and looking to advance the prospect to the next logical step. This doesn’t include tours or other sales activities (emails in/out, mailings, personal letters, etc.).
However, be careful not to prioritize quantity over quality. One 30-minute conversation is obviously much more impactful than 30 one-minute calls that result in a voicemail. The goal of the call is to advance the sale and gain higher quality call-ins and face-to-face interactions. On average, it takes about 3 call-outs to make contact with a prospect (37% contact rate).
1 hour or less: Top-performing speed-to-lead sales benchmark
Across independent living, assisted living and life plan communities, inquiry-to-tour conversion was strongest when teams responded within the first 15 minutes. This is where marketing automation can help support your sales team’s personal outreach.
Across industries, the odds of connecting with a prospect are the highest within minutes of the inquiry. They’re available and in the right mindset, even if they say they’re “just looking” — something prompted the prospect to reach out. What’s more, the odds of reaching a lead decline dramatically within the first hour.
If you don’t have a system set up to manage speed to lead, you’re likely losing tour opportunities. You must ensure that people who call will reach someone who can help — including outside traditional Monday–Friday business hours — and you have a system in place for responding to online inquiries.
Let’s also talk about what this stat doesn’t mean. We’ve all had the experience of submitting an online form only for the phone to ring a moment later. You think, “If I wanted to talk, I would have called!” Instead, give your prospect options for how they’d like to be contacted: phone call, text or email. And be sure your online form sets up the right expectation: Are prospects simply downloading a resource or are they also signing up for a phone call? If so, make that clear. Don’t promise one result and then expect another.
25: Average touches from inquiry to move-in for independent living
When looking at the average number of activities from inquiry to deposit in our current client’s CRM databases, and in consulting with various sales teams, we find (in conjunction with industry data) that it takes an average of 25 touches for each independent living sale. What is a touch? Calls, emails, appointments, attendance at events, etc. This number hasn’t changed since our first review of the data back in 2018.
In independent living, the average sales cycle is 300+ days. That equates to about 2.5 touches a month. Here, too, quality is critical. The more personalized and helpful you are to a prospect, the better the sales conversion rate will be.
29%: Inquiry-to-tour ratio in independent living
On average, nearly a third of inquiries will come tour your community. And 29% of those who take a tour will end up moving in. That means your strategy needs to account for these averages and ensure your marketing can net enough inquiries to ultimately reach your sales goal.
Adapted from Digital Seniority
Need help identifying how many inquiries you need to reach your sales goals? Use our online calculator to determine your marketing qualified leads goal.
5%–12%: Inquiry-to-move-in ratios (depending on care level)
This is probably one of the most sought-after statistics that I’ve encountered in my time as a sales strategist.
While sources differ slightly, these are the averages by care level:
Independent living: 5–7%
Assisted living: 9–10%
Memory care: 12–14%
These percentages mark a decrease from when we first compiled this information in 2018. While it’s unclear why conversion rates have declined, additional competition and savvier prospects inquiring at multiple communities likely play a role.
Sources: 2026 Aline Annual Sales and Marketing Benchmark Report (PDF)
WelcomeHome Senior Care Insights Q1 2026 Benchmark
Creating Results’ internal data
35%: Percentage of life plan (CCRC) residents who move in after 2 years of starting their search
Moving into a retirement community, especially for those at the younger end of the 65+ bracket, is not a decision made within 90 days of inquiring. Many reports across our industry, including those we produce for our own clients, show that many senior living prospects who moved in over the last 10 years took about 2 years to do so. Of the 35%, most are in the 3+ year range.
Moral of the story: Don’t dismiss older leads as nonviable. Patience is a virtue, and many prospects need time and help along the process.
14+ hours: Total selling time per move-in
On average, a salesperson will spend close to 15 hours on sales activities for 1 life plan residential move-in over the course of the prospect’s journey. In fact, life plan communities tend to spend the most time on a sale. It’s likely that a lower overall conversion rate of just under 5% accounts for at least some of this additional time.
Interestingly, despite being more needs-based, higher levels of care still command a similar amount of time, with about 9 hours for assisted living and 10 hours for memory care.
Remember, too, that salespeople aren’t just working leads who move in. They’re spending significant amounts of selling time on leads who will ultimately be lost as well. The key is to invest time wisely — spending the most time on high-quality activities that are most likely to advance the prospect to the next step in their journey.
45%: sales conversion from digital leads
Based on our experience in working with senior living sales teams for over 30+ years, digital leads have a huge growth potential. Why? Simply put, salespeople tend to disregard digital leads more quickly than traditional leads and much prefer working traditional leads. But the fact is, digital leads are not only less expensive than traditional leads, they’re also faster to convert.
For several of Creating Results’ clients, when we look at the total number of deposits and sales in the year and how many were directly attributed to digital channels, the average is around 45% (some as high as 55%). If nearly half of your sales will be coming from online channels, it’s important to start nurturing them and gaining their trust sooner.
A step-by-step guide
Our Guide to Achieving Your Sales Goals will help you translate your sales goals into activity goals, coach your team on achieving optimal results and learn how to see opportunities for improving results
