Senior Living Communities Success Story -
Challenge: A troubled 42-acre Illinois-based lifecare retirement community was acquired by an experienced senior housing operator. The more than 360 independent living units of the campus had never enjoyed full occupancy in its 15-year history. Campus marketing staff blamed the occupancy issues on financial challenges the campus had experienced nearly a decade earlier, however, these problems had long since been resolved and the new owner was widely regarded as having a strong financial position. Management needed to turn the situation around and wanted to know what the real reasons were for the inability of the campus to fill. To complicate matters, management had recently acquired 30 acres of property adjacent to the campus for development of town home units.
JCS Solution: Our extensive research with competition, key area opinion leaders, residents and prospects determined that the previous financial difficulties were only a problem in the mind of the campus marketing staff. We found the units were not filling due to the undesirability of the unit size in comparison to newer competitive options available and because the highly bundled and extensive service package, such as including 2 meals per day, made the independent living units less appealing to a healthier and more active senior. We uncovered that the true market area draw of the unit sales were from a much narrower market area than anyone realized. Current marketing staff was no longer engaging in the broader community outreach efforts that had been more effective in the past. Our analysis of the market penetration required to fill the units from within the highly competitive marketplace found that it would be impossible to fill the campus units unless more effective marketing efforts were employed to attract residents from a slightly broader geographic area. Our review determined this was possible and reasonable. We provided the client with detailed recommendations and opportunities that could be implemented to expand their market area and we had individual coaching sessions with the marketing director to help her increase her understanding of how to truly capitalize on these opportunities. We also conducted a market opportunity analysis for the proposed town home units and made recommendations regarding pricing, unit sizing and amenities.
Results: Our recommended changes to the service package made the campus more appealing and aggressive renovations and combining of smaller units to make larger units made the campus much more competitive within their local market. The marketing efforts of the campus were redesigned based on our recommendations. The independent living units and the new 30-acre town home development were effectively marketed and have filled.
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