The Internet has made all of us accustomed to nearly instantaneous results. Need an answer to just about any question? Find it on Wikipedia. Itching to watch a first-run movie? It’s available right now on Netflix. Want the perfect pair of shoes? Zappos has them in stock and will deliver them to your door tomorrow.
If you think older adults are willing to wait until the next business day or beyond to hear back from a senior living community for information, rates, and availability, you’re behind the times!
So what is speed to the lead?
In senior living sales, speed to the lead is the length of time between a prospective resident’s initial inquiry (e.g., via a web form, email, or phone call not answered by a salesperson or third-party referral source) and when the salesperson contacts them.
Don’t just take our word for it! Here are some statistics about speed to the lead:
In a 2017 lead response study by Drift, 433 companies were surveyed, and only 7% responded to an inbound inquiry within 5 minutes. A whopping 55% took five or more days to respond or didn’t respond at all. That’s DAYS not minutes. In the same survey, the odds of connecting with the lead decreases 10x after the first 5 minutes.
Why is speed to the lead so important?
There is no denying that there is a high price tag attached to every senior living lead, even before they talk with a salesperson for the first time. According to an article in McKnights Senior Living, the average cost for a senior living lead in 2021 was $431, far surpassing leads for the healthcare and medical industry.
A lost lead – either to a competitor who reached them first or because you didn’t respond to the lead at all – costs your company both the initial cost of the lead and the lost revenue associated with the lead. Think about the median length of stay in assisted living of 22 months, times the national median rate for assisted living services of $4,000 monthly, and your average lost revenue is $88,000.
How WelcomeHome can help you improve your speed to the lead performance
WelcomeHome is a full-featured CRM designed from the ground up for the senior living industry. WelcomeHome considers the importance of the key benchmarks your company should be tracking – including speed to the lead – and has included features and integrations that help to supercharge your sales performance.
Built-in features
WelcomeHome’s auto-responders accelerate responsiveness and streamline communications internally and with your leads. When a lead is received, WelcomeHome automatically responds to the lead AND notifies the salesperson and other key staff about the lead. The result is that speed to the lead is measured in seconds. Not minutes. And absolutely not days!
Integrations with lead referral sources and lead engagement platforms
WelcomeHome built in the ability to integrate with the spectrum of platforms used in senior living. Choose the best platforms for your company, and we’ll work to integrate it with the WelcomeHome CRM.
WelcomeHome integrates with these lead referral sources and lead engagement platforms:
Roobrik Roobrik engages with prospects through online assessments to quickly match their needs with the right senior care option. It’s backed by advanced decision science and is user-friendly, compassionate, and non-biased. Users like it because it builds brand trust and helps to qualify prospects.
FURTHER FURTHER is an AI-powered sales assistant that automates conversations with prospective residents to convert them to qualified leads.
SiteStaff Chat SiteStaff Chat is a live chat app that greets visitors to your website with real, U.S.-based people who know the senior living industry and your company.
Caring.com Caring.com is an online lead referral source that matches prospective residents with participating senior living providers in their geographic area. Utilizing this source for information about senior living in general means having this tool connected properly to WelcomeHome CRM so you can see how effective this lead source is for you.
A Place for Mom A Place for Mom is a referral source that connects prospective residents with a local advisor who then provides a tailored list of recommendations based on the prospect’s needs and wants. It is also an online source for information about senior living care. Maximize the value of these leads by taking advantage of WelcomeHome’s built-in features and ability to integrate with your lead referral sources and lead engagement platforms.
Don’t see an integration you want or need? Ask us.
Are you in the market for a new CRM? WelcomeHome is a game-changing CRM built specifically for the senior living industry. With its intuitive user interface, recommendation engine, and clear workflows, the WelcomeHome CRM is transformative for both users in the community and owner/operators. Experience what thousands of senior living professionals rely on to make their job easier: request a free demo of WelcomeHome’s CRM today.