You know how the stereotype goes. “Older people don’t use technology.” “Smartphones are too complicated for seniors.” “A flyer or a phone call is the only option.” Reality, as it turns out, begs to differ. According to an AARP survey, over 90 percent of older adults use technology to stay connected. And among those surveyed, text messaging has overtaken email as the method of choice for communication — 86% say they regularly text with friends and family. Clearly, today’s seniors are on board the technology bandwagon. The question now is, are your senior living sales counselors on board as well? SMS text messaging for senior living marketing is not new, but it’s quickly growing in prominence as more and more providers recognize its effectiveness. Text messages have open rates as high as 98%, while emails hover around 20%. If you’re not texting your prospective residents, you’re missing real opportunities to connect. But before you dive in and start sending texts left and right, take note. There are laws in place that regulate what’s allowed, and some property management businesses have already landed themselves in hot water. What’s the law on SMS text messaging for marketing? The Telephone Consumer Protection Act protects people from unwanted communications from any business. That means service providers must receive prior express written consent before cold calling or texting. And they can’t make agreeing to receive these marketing messages a condition for moving in or otherwise purchasing services. So how do you stay on the right side of the law? How do you ensure you’ve gotten permission from your senior living prospects to send them marketing texts? SMS text messaging in Yardi Senior CRM Yardi Senior CRM helps senior living providers manage their entire sales and marketing process — including...

One of the best forms of therapy for older adults is also the furriest. Turns out, a friendly dog or two can do a lot to lift the mood and health of those who live in senior living communities. Pet therapy (or animal-assisted therapy in non-layman’s terms) is a service where animals – usually dogs – are brought in for short visits. Residents get the opportunity to interact with the animals by holding and petting them or simply sitting alongside and watching. Either way, the experiences often bring smiles to faces and wags to tails, and science has shown there are many more benefits besides. What benefits does pet therapy provide? Mental: Caregivers often report higher levels of happiness in residents after an animal visit, but the changes can be seen in the brain chemistry too. Studies reveal that the act of petting a dog can cause the brain to release serotonin, prolactin and oxytocin, “feel-good” hormones that help regulate and elevate your mood. At the same time, a visit by a dog can drop your level of epinephrine, a hormone produced by the body under stress. Physical: Pets can do one’s heart good – literally. Weekly visits with therapy dogs can lower blood pressure for older adults, while pet owners have been shown to have a 33% lower risk of death following a hospitalization for a heart attack. Pet therapy can even decrease use of antidepressants and medical services. Social: Animals provide unconditional companionship, which can help people feel less lonely. In one study, senior living residents who received 30-minute pet therapy sessions weekly for over a month scored significantly lower on loneliness scales than those who did not. Therapy animals also motivate residents to communicate more, even those with memory conditions like...

New regulations. Rising acuity. Huge demographic shifts. There’s no doubt that senior living as an industry is changing. And it’s changing faster than many providers are ready for. But there are a few who are facing these challenges head on, ready to adapt with novel practices and new technologies. Earlier this year, Senior Housing News spoke with nine such leaders in senior living as part of a series they call the Changemakers, sponsored by Yardi. They published the interviews individually over the past few months (and we chronicled a few here on The Balance Sheet), but they’ve now compiled the highlights – along with the leaders’ accomplishments, tips and insights – in a complete ebook for your reading pleasure. Download the ebook to learn how these senior living innovators are pushing the industry forward. There’s a wealth of experience and learnings shared throughout the pages, so you don’t want to miss it. Not convinced? Here are a few great excerpts:   “[Our] program has been studied by Vanderbilt University. What we’ve learned is that, one, residents who experience mild cognitive impairment can thrive within assisted living, and also that it’s possible, as I said, to change the trajectory of the disease process. That’s a mind-bending accomplishment, particularly for a disease process that still has no medicinal cure.” – Patricia Will, Co-Founder & CEO of Belmont Village Senior Living       “We have people who have lived long lives, who have gained life experience and, hopefully, some wisdom. Now, there’s that opportunity not just to sit on the front porch in a rocking chair, but to become engaged with the world around you and to share that wisdom, to share that life experience out into the world, and to make a difference. To cement...

How do you effectively track your sales activities? You got to make it fun, says Nicole Moberg, chief sales officer for Thrive Senior Living. Based in Atlanta, Thrive Senior Living operates more than a dozen communities across eight states and Washington D.C. Over the past decade, they’ve worked to redefine what senior living stands for, and they’ve dedicated themselves to building meaningful relationships with their residents. Nicole recently spoke about her team’s experience with Yardi Senior CRM. They’ve been using the solution to attract, nurture and convert leads in creative ways. Part of their approach includes a daily event they call “Party With Yardi.” Now, I know what you’re thinking. Drinks and dancing are the key to more move-ins? Not quite. For Thrive, Party With Yardi is just a fun, tongue-in-cheek moniker that lets the sales team know it’s time to sign in to Yardi and get down to business. It’s when sales team members prospect and follow-up with leads, which keeps the team on task and Senior CRM up to date. “We protect the hours of 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and our sales team does time blocking every day,” said Nicole. “The whole community knows during those hours, you’re in Yardi following up on prospects. We even hang something up on our doors so everyone knows that is a time of no interruption.” Thrive has also developed its own creative follow-up cadence to boost numbers. “It was built by ‘those closest to the work,’ the high-performing sales team members,” said Nicole. “The team follows this and enters their info in Yardi.” Once a sales team member has keyed in what they’ve done with a lead, they’re not finished just yet. Senior CRM won’t let them move on or close out the record...

For senior living providers, collecting payments online reduces staff workload and increases cash flow. For senior living residents and their family members, it saves time and eliminates hassle. A win-win all around. So why is it then that so few residents pay online? At Validus Senior Living, the finance team understood the value of online payments, and they knew residents and their loved ones would appreciate the convenience once they got on board. They just needed a push in the right direction first. Validus Senior Living offers residences across the spectrum of care: independent living, assisted living and memory care. They have 15 current communities throughout the Southeast, and they plan on developing two to three new properties per year. Getting their residents to pay online would streamline finances as the organization continued to grow. Validus finance staff had already offered ACH as a payment option, but adoption was low. To top it off, staff had to enter a resident or family member’s bank details manually to get them in the system, which took extra time and risked errors. So Validus turned to RENTCafé Senior Living for self-service online payments and launched a variety of initiatives to make it the popular choice for bill pay. The results were clear: They achieved an average 60% adoption rate for online payments across their communities! How’d they pull it off? Here’s what Lindsey Hacker, chief financial officer at Validus, revealed: Offer a discount to current residents Old habits are hard to change, but a simple incentive can work wonders as motivation. Validus ran a promotion for existing residents, asking them to sign up for online payments. In turn, they would get a discount on their bill. Though incentives like these may seem unaffordable for senior living providers,...

When you work in an industry where margins are tight, having the data to see exactly how your business is performing – and what steps you need to take – is vital. This is especially true for senior living, which currently faces one of its lowest occupancy rates in years. Greg Puklicz of 12 Oaks Senior Living knows just how essential data can be. As the company’s CFO, he’s always measuring performance across his communities and finding ways to make that data practical for his team. “I want the accounting and our reporting to be nimble and useful. If you give someone a report that is 8-10 pages long, they may not glean what’s relevant from that, which is why I identify the key metrics,” Greg said in a recent interview with Senior Housing News. “We can turn our attention to those things and chip away at the issues as soon as they arise.” Based in Dallas, 12 Oaks Senior Living provides third-party management and operation services for 16 senior living communities throughout Oklahoma and Texas. A Yardi client, the family-run organization has found a lot of success in lease-up and turnaround properties, and they’re currently looking to expand their portfolio to 25 communities over the next two years. As part of their journey to scale, 12 Oaks relies on Yardi Voyager Senior Housing for property management and accounting. The platform provides real-time performance analytics, pulling data from across the Yardi Senior Living Suite to shed light on areas across their business. Check out this excerpt from Greg’s interview with Senior Housing News to learn more about how 12 Oaks uses data to ensure they’re operating as effectively as possible: Would you say it’s true that senior living has gotten more operationally and financially...

If you have ever looked at a demographic chart of the U.S. recently, you know there are millions of Baby Boomers poised to enter their golden years. Investors have also seen the writing on the wall, and have been funding senior living developments over the past decade. It’s led to an oversupply problem as more beds become available than there are residents to fill them. If you’re an owner and operator in senior living, how do you overcome high competition and low occupancy? Sure, the silver tsunami is coming, and its rising tide might lift all boats. But it’s not easy to predict what new innovations and technology will bring, especially to an industry like senior living. That wave of new prospects may be absorbed by novel approaches on its way to your community’s door. Adapt today for success tomorrow That’s the premise for the general session at the CALA Fall Conference & Trade Show, which takes place November 4-6 in Palm Springs, California. Best-selling author Jack Uldrich will explore current technology trends and examine their potential for senior living, warning that providers who aren’t prepared for these developments risk falling behind their competitors. And according to Jack, “the best way to predict the future is to create it yourself.” A similar breakout session, “Using Tech to Connect,” will be held by Ginna Balk of CDW-Healthcare, who will dive into the latest innovations and their influence on workforce, health care and lifestyle. Emerging technologies are redefining expectations for both residents and providers in senior living. This session promises best practices that will keep you up to date and ahead of the curve. In addition to technology-focused sessions, CALA offers tracks to cover the needs of any senior living professional. From clinical and care to...

Oregon has long been a leader in long-term care. In fact, the first assisted living community in the US opened there in 1983. And in the decades since, the Oregon Health Care Association has pushed for higher-quality care and new, innovative services. It’s no surprise then that their Annual Convention is one of the industry’s biggest events. OHCA is the largest long-term care trade association in Oregon, numbering more than 1,000 organizations and 90 percent of providers in the state. OHCA advocates for their members at the local and federal level, and they offer a unique variety of educational opportunities throughout the year for professional development and industry-wide collaboration. This year’s Annual Convention is set to take place in Portland on November 19-20. Given its proximity to a certain food-filled fall holiday, the conference theme this time around is “Harvesting Your Gratitude,” which celebrates the bountiful season and honors those who provide for others. Over 1,200 attendees from across the state and across the continuum of care will be in attendance, including us! Swing by Booth 401 to say hello to the Yardi team and see what’s new with our single, connected solution for senior living. From marketing and sales to resident care and medication management, the Yardi Senior Living Suite improves efficiency while reducing costs. Here’s just a few of the solutions we’ll be showcasing on the tradeshow floor: Yardi Senior CRM – Grow your occupancy with mobile-friendly marketing tools designed for senior living providers. Automated workflows keep your sales counselors on task, and electronic leasing lets you quickly generate a custom lease for each prospect. RENTCafé Senior Living – Keep residents and family members connected to your community through this online portal. Offer electronic payment methods, maintenance requests, activity calendars and more...

There are many conventions and shows in the senior living industry, each uniquely positioned for a local audience, a certain role or a special purpose. But there’s one event that unites more people from across the care community than any other: the LeadingAge Annual Meeting and Expo. This year, the conference takes place from October 27-30. Close to 4,500 senior living professionals will flock to San Diego for four days of learning and relationship building. Event organizers have put together session tracks for sales, marketing, care, operations, legal and more. Anyone in the industry is sure to find something for them. You know the Yardi team will be there too. We’ve got Booth 1417 at the expo, so come by and see what we’ve been working on. Our suite of tools for senior living management are designed to connect all parts of your business on one integrated platform. Kind of like LeadingAge, there’s a solution for everyone. (Plus, we’ll have some small, furry, four-legged guests you won’t want to miss. More on that down below!) If you’re a salesperson or marketer We’ll show you how to drive revenue and increase occupancy. Yardi Senior CRM helps you effectively manage your sales and marketing efforts from initial contact all the way through signing a lease and becoming a resident. Shorten your lead response times with automated follow-ups, then build a personalized communication flow to keep them engaged. When they’re ready to sign, cut through the paperwork with online leases that generate documents in a click. If you’re a caregiver You’ll learn how to improve resident satisfaction and simplify your own workload at the same time. Instantly access resident’s care needs, eliminate errors and capture progress with Yardi EHR, our electronic health record platform designed to work...

For nearly 30 years, Argentum has been a staple of senior living. The advocacy group, whose membership now represents close to 75 percent of the industry, strives to raise the bar of excellence in communities nationwide. Formerly called the Assisted Living Federation of America, the organization changed its name to Argentum a few years back to reflect the always-evolving industry. They chose the term Argentum for its roots in the Latin word for silver, which pays homage to the silver generation that Argentum members serve. Argentum’s mission did not change, however. They continue to promote choice, dignity, independence and quality of life for seniors. In pursuit of these goals, Argentum has undertaken listening tours across the country, meeting with senior living leaders and exploring concerns. From these research efforts have grown multiple initiatives to accelerate change. New campaigns to support senior living One example of a key senior living concern was the workforce shortage. In the next 6 years, the industry will need to hire an additional 1.2 million people to meet growing demand. About three-quarters of those new hires will be replacements for caregivers who leave the industry. Senior living has an unfortunately high turnover rate, which makes retaining and promoting talent a top priority for Argentum and their members. To that end, Argentum launched Senior Living Works last year. “As an industry, we need to continue to build on the awareness that senior living offers rewarding careers,” said James Balda, Argentum president and CEO, in the announcement. The Senior Living Works website and toolkit offers resources to recruit and engage a thriving workforce. But Argentum isn’t only focused on the labor challenge. In tandem with Senior Living Works, Argentum launched Senior Living IQ, which shares best practices for delivering quality care. The...

Does your senior living community offer electronic leases yet? Maybe you’ve heard the term, but don’t know if it’s worth the transition. Well, rest assured, there’s plenty to like. From faster sales cycles to searchable online records, electronic leases make the move-in process painless – for both your staff and your residents. At their core, electronic leases, or eleases, are a legal and secure online version of the document that you already know so well. But you’re missing the full picture if you think it’s only a digital agreement thrown on a computer screen. A full electronic lease management solution like what Yardi offers can help you generate customized leases in a few clicks, get mobile signatures from family members and store the forms in one centralized place, saving hours of labor (and who knows how many headaches). We’ve built eleasing into the entire Yardi Senior Living Suite. From creation to approval to signing, everything flows together seamlessly so your sales counselors never have to retype a thing or search for another missing document. And at the executive level, you can manage leases across communities and states, pushing real-time rates for rooms and services to teams on the ground floor. Here’s a quick look at how the process works in the Yardi senior living solutions. Generate a new lease in no time with Yardi Senior CRM Once a prospect has decided to join your community, your staff can jump into Yardi Senior CRM and quickly create a new lease specific to that resident. Senior CRM offers an automated, online workflow, which guides staff through each step of the prospective lease agreement: Select the community, enter the deposit, choose a unit and add any incentives or concessions. They can then adjust the care level and...

The internet has certainly made a splash in senior living. The majority of prospects research options online, according to Google. They’ll browse listing services. Check your own website. Scour reviews.   But when it comes time to make a decision, those who call in for more information are the most likely to convert. In fact, they generate 10-15 times more revenue than web leads do, and they convert 30% faster. The internet may be the new hot, but the phone is still king of conversions. Which makes you wonder why so many senior living operators don’t focus more on excellent phone service. Our clients have told us – and we’ve seen on our end – that about 50% of inquiry calls are missed. And a good 20% of calls come in after hours. These are missed leads, pure and simple. The problem extends to resident calls, too. Poor or slow responses from management factors heavily into resident satisfaction. In an industry where quality care is often the differentiator, you can’t afford to ignore service requests or emergency calls, no matter when they come in. So what’s the answer? A flexible contact center solution that can pick up the phone for you. It’s called RENTCafé Connect. Built into the Yardi Senior Living Suite, the digital answering service acts as a seamless extension of your office. From auto-attendants to live agents, RENTCafé Connect can handle your phone lines whenever your own team is unavailable. That means no more missed calls – and no more missed opportunities. Not convinced? Here are five ways RENTCafé Connect can help you grow your occupancy while keeping your current residents happy. Track the source of incoming calls. You get 15 toll-free tracking numbers with RENTCafé Connect, which means you can use...

Despite what the silver screen or comic books might show, you don’t need a truth-telling lasso or flying hammer to be a hero. All it takes is the courage to do good, a strength that senior living caregivers possess in spades. The 70th AHCA/NCAL Annual Convention & Expo aims to empower these everyday heroes by sharing the real-life tools they need to face the industry’s toughest challenges. (And as you may have guessed, this year’s theme is superheroes.) AHCA, the American Health Care Association, is the nation’s largest association of long term and post-acute care providers, numbering over 13,500 member facilities. NCAL, the National Center for Assisted Living, serves as the assisted living voice of AHCA. For decades, these organizations have pushed for better care through national advocacy, professional development and events like their annual convention. Set in Orlando from October 13-16, this year’s convention will bring together over 4,000 people for the shared goal of improving quality care. Throughout the four-day event, these champions will share insights, solutions and best practices on topics like Medicare’s new Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM), the ongoing workforce shortages and the latest technology innovations. There are over 22 learning tracks and 70 sessions this time around – plenty of opportunities to enhance your super powers. On the fence about attending? Here are a few conference highlights to look forward to: Leadership in Turbulent Times Presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin will take the stage for the opening keynote at AHCA/NCAL. She’ll pull from 150 years of U.S. history to shed light on today’s cultural and political shifts. Despite how uncertain things may seem now, she’s got the research to show how we’ve stood tall and succeeded through tough times in the past. 13th Annual NCAL...

Many people tend to think of senior living as a “sleepy” industry. Doesn’t move fast. Doesn’t change much. Doesn’t keep up with the latest trends in the market. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. As any professional in senior living would tell you, they’re keenly focused on the future – and the challenges and opportunities it brings. It’s why hundreds flock to the SMASH summit every year. The conference, now in its sixth year, has quickly grown to become the leading event for sales and marketing executives from all sectors of senior care, from independent living to memory care to post-acute. Attendees get the chance to not only network with their fellow providers but also experts from outside the industry, those who are on the cutting edge of sales and marketing best practices and technology. If you have even a passing interest in lead-converting, occupancy-growing strategies, you should make plans to attend. This year’s event is set for September 23-25 in Las Vegas. Yardi returns as a sponsor for the conference, so we hope to see you there. Here’s just a few of the sessions you can look forward to: How Marketing & Sales Can Work Together to Maximize Growth Carlos Hidalgo, CEO of VisumCx, a customer experience firm, will take center stage for one of the keynote sessions this year. His talk, “How Marketing & Sales Can Work Together to Maximize Growth,” will explore how both teams must align or risk their organization falling behind. How do we qualify leads? How do we effectively pass them to sales? How do we strengthen the relationship to accelerate the entire process? Carlos will outline the steps you need to take to establish a lead management process that ensures your leads convert at a...

Roughly 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 each day. It’s a demographic shift of seismic proportions, and it’s spurred a lot of new developments in senior living as investors anticipate future demand. Turns out, they’ve got a few more years to wait before they can recoup their costs (the average senior living resident is well into their 80s before they move in), but these brand-new communities are already having an impact. Namely, increased competition. There are too many extra units for too few interested seniors. It’s driven occupancy rates in the industry down to 87.8% – the lowest levels since 2011, reports the NIC. For senior living providers, it’s a sobering statistic. How can they differentiate themselves from the increasingly crowded pack and draw in new residents? Well, we may not have all the answers, but we’ve got a few proven ideas. Join us on Wednesday, August 28, at 10 a.m. PDT (1 p.m. EDT) for a live panel discussion on how a customer relationship management (CRM) solution for senior living can hone your competitive edge – and ultimately grow your community. We’ll have Richard Nix, senior sales director for Yardi, presenting during the webinar, as well as Nicole Moberg, chief sales officer at Thrive Senior Living. The event will be moderated by Steve Moran from Senior Living Foresight. Learn seven ways you can use a CRM to overcome the recent headwinds in senior living. Plus, you’ll get insights straight from someone who’s done it already. A Yardi client, Nicole has turned her sales and marketing team into a lean, lead-generating tour de force. She’ll share her experience in rolling out Yardi Senior CRM and what steps she took to perfect her team’s approach. Here’s just a few things you’ll learn: What the new senior...

Going to the NIC Fall Conference? This is one senior living opportunity you don’t want to miss. The NIC Fall Conference is the only industry event where senior living executives and capital providers come together. Set for September 11-13 at the Sheraton Grand Chicago, the conference will bring in over 3,000 leaders from senior housing, skilled nursing and post-acute care. You’ll have the chance to meet industry-drivers and dealmakers while learning more than a thing or two about the latest market trends. Yardi is proud to sponsor the NIC Fall Conference once again. We partnered with NIC last year to collect accurate, transparent data on senior housing rates, and this three-day event is the perfect showcase for the research and learnings that NIC continues to drive. Insightful Sessions, Renowned Speakers Whether you’re a senior living investor or operator, the NIC Fall Conference has takeaways galore. The 18 sessions are sorted into two focus areas: Managing Margins and Realizing Returns. The first covers property operations and management, while the latter dives into investments and capital flow. During the opening general session, attendees will have the opportunity to hear from Dr. Janet L. Yellen, the first-ever woman to be appointed chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and one of the world’s leading authorities on economic policy. She’ll share her thoughts on economic trends the senior living industry will face in coming years. Kathleen Hays, editor for Bloomberg Television and Radio, will be moderating the discussion. Among other notable speakers at the event, Joseph F. Coughlin, Ph.D. and director of MIT’s AgeLab, will take the stage during the luncheon general session, sponsored by Yardi. He’ll explore the crossroads of demographics and business innovation, sharing his award-winning research on how the baby boomers’...

Since opening its first community 20 years ago, Brightview Senior Living has established itself as a leading developer and operator of independent and assisted living and dementia care facilities across eight Mid-Atlantic and Northeast states. The company, based in Baltimore, will open its 40th community by the end of 2019 and intends to continue opening three to five new communities annually. Marilynn Duker, CEO of Brightview, has spent much of her 27 years in the real estate business focused on the firm’s success. After completing a presidential internship for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, she joined forces with a lawyer-turned-developer and began developing affordable, market- rate and mixed-income communities. The partnership soon added a property management arm that at one time oversaw some 22,000 units for clients. Eventually, the business expanded into senior housing and gradually disposed of the property management operation and apartments. Tell us how Brightview began and why senior living appeals to you. Duker: Senior living is really an operating business that happens to have real estate as a platform, so it’s much different than other real estate asset classes. Arnie Richman, who had built and ran a large nursing home company, joined us in the 1990s and brought the operating experience, and we had the development platform. While we have grown significantly over the last 20 years, getting to scale wasn’t a big goal. Instead, it has always been about providing a high-quality experience to our residents. We have a lot of control over our destiny, too. The four business partners have owned 10 percent of every equity fund we’ve raised, and we have had tremendous repeat investment. (Brightview’s first fundraising effort in the 1990s attracted about $6 million.) Its most recent fund in 2017 topped out...

Know your way around a canvas? The upcoming National Assisted Living Week is your time to shine –and help your elderly loved ones channel their own artistic side. The annual observance takes place from September 8-14, and this year’s theme is “A Spark of Creativity.” Now in its 24th year, National Assisted Living Week is an opportunity for residents, family and staff to celebrate the individuals served in assisted living. It’s also a great excuse to explore the different elements and ideas that make up this avenue of long-term care. The National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL), who organize the week-long event, hope the artistic theme will inspire staff of all levels to host fun, unique activities that enrich the senior living experience for each resident. “‘A Spark of Creativity’ encourages everyone to get their creative juices flowing – whether it’s residents trying out new things, or caregivers exploring innovative ways to improve care and community life,” said Scott Tittle, executive director for the NCAL. More to Art Than Meets the Eye Art therapy has long been a recognized method for boosting happiness and stimulating mental ability. Many residents report better well-being after taking part in the arts – and it’s even helpful for those living with dementia or Alzheimer’s. By infusing art into the everyday experience of their communities, staff can help their residents sustain a sense of purpose and stay connected with one another. The great thing about art (and the benefits therein) is that it’s not limited to just painting a picture, which can be a dexterously demanding task for older adults. Some communities put on recreations of famous plays or movie scenes with their residents, coached by local actors. Other senior living providers bring in licensed music therapists who use...

In today’s busy digital marketplace, prospective residents and families expect to be able to research your senior living community online and get the information they’re looking for at any time of the day, but does that mean you’re suddenly able to hire more staff for round-the-clock support? Of course not. Full-time customer service requires savvy tools. That’s where marketing automation comes in. It streamlines repetitive tasks, tracks prospect behavior and delivers targeted content to get customers into your pipeline. You can learn more about marketing automation for senior living with Yardi’s new eBook, which uncovers 9 marketing automation strategies to implement right now in your community. But first, let’s look at some of the high-level benefits of marketing automation technology: It Saves Time With many organizations running lean and mean, employees often wear many hats. Why not leverage tools that expedite administrative tasks? Eliminating duties like redundant data entry and emailing appointment reminders not only reduces the risk of error, it also boosts staff satisfaction and output. In fact, teams using marketing automation report a 14.5% increase in sales productivity. It Saves Money Automating marketing processes not only saves times, it saves money too. With the right tools, what once took hours now takes minutes-and since time is money, that time savings quickly adds up. Beyond carving out more time for your team, marketing automation also saves money by making your marketing dollars work harder, thanks to advanced analytics that provide visibility into which marketing channels are most effective for your community, improving overall ROI. It Improves Service By now, you know that marketing automation reduces workload for sales staff and helps scale and streamline processes, but did you know it also creates a better experience for prospects, too? With systems in place that...

About a year ago, Carmin Tomassi, vice president, controller at Silverado, walked through the doors of the Irvine, Calif., headquarters for the first time. He was promptly introduced to all 12 systems used by the AP department. From day one, he knew that greater efficiency would take the organization to the next level. He enlisted Yardi to help make that vision a reality. Identifying inefficiencies Silverado’s presence spans the west coast and midwestern United States. Its 59 properties specialize in senior care with an emphasis on assisted living and memory care, as well as hospice and home services. Each location offers a broad range of services for aging seniors. The sites require specialized equipment and steady maintenance. Each day, the accounts payable team received stacks of invoices in various stages of completion and accuracy. Approvals and reconciliation with the general ledger took days longer than Tomassi preferred. To create efficiency, he embarked on a campaign with two major goals. The first was to simplify the department’s software use. “We had maybe a dozen systems that affect accounting. They were all different which was just crazy to me. Even keeping track of your logins was ridiculous,” said Tomassi. “With accounting, things need to talk to each other, and it needs to be seamless. Otherwise, you’re asking for trouble.” The second goal was to expedite approvals by streamlining the filing process. “AP would arrive in the morning and there would be stacks of invoices in their little baskets: no signatures, no allocations, no coding, no nothing, right? They just kind of dealt with it for a while but I said, ‘No. We’ve got to figure out a way to make this more efficient.’ We also needed metrics so we can track the workflow and make changes.”...

Want to capture high quality leads and increase occupancy at your senior living property? Of course, you do! One tool from the Yardi Senior Living Suite, Senior CRM, can help you boost lead conversions in four ways. Wait, What’s CRM? CRM stands for customer relationship management. It’s software that’s used to handle interactions with prospects and mine their data. That data is then used to strengthen your understanding of the prospects so that you can better meet their needs. CRM software captures quantitative and qualitative data about your prospects’ behavior. That information can help you strategize your marketing efforts with greater precision. Robust CRM software can help you increase occupancy in four key ways. 4 Ways CRM Can Help You Increase Occupancy 1. Improve Marketing: CRM enables you to track and analyze the performance of your online marketing channel. Once you identify the most effective channels, you can tailor your marketing spend to optimize your return on investment. You’ll learn what works, what doesn’t, and where to spend your money. 2. Shorten Lead Response Times: Did you know that 64 percent of online shoppers give the first company to call them back an advantage over the competition? If you don’t respond to customers within 24 hours, they begin to question your professionalism, reports Velocify. CRM makes it easy to shorten lead response times and get an advantage over your competitors. You can automate follow-up emails and appointment reminders. Mobile-ready CRM software also enables your staff to contact leads on-the-go so that they never miss a beat. 3. Optimize Contact Strategy: With CRM, your marketing team can test and compare strategies to learn what works. Nearly 60 percent of companies use testing to optimize conversion rates. Testing is important because every company, prospect, and marketing...

You may have a bit in common with Dennis McCarthy, chief information officer at SRI Management of Tallahassee, Florida. Like Dennis, your organization may be facing growth. And like Dennis, you may be searching for a solution to help you manage that growth and prepare for future success. McCarthy’s senior living management company is expected to double in size in the next two years. He and his team searched the globe to find software that would ease growing pains. SRI Management found success using Yardi EHR and Yardi eMAR. We sat down with McCarthy to learn how EHR and eMAR have made it easier to do business while quickly growing. Q: How did Yardi’s technology help you accomplish growth? A: Yardi’s technology has been phenomenal. It’s an integrated piece of software that anybody can see anywhere. As we’ve spread out, as SRI management has spread from one location to another, as we’ve had to add people to help us run all of these properties, it’s easy for people to see everything that’s going on because they can log in anywhere and see it anywhere. So, the standardization that we get from the software helps us grow easily and confidently. Q: How has technology impacted your world? A: Interestingly, our world is not a technology world. SRI is a management company that runs properties for owners, so we don’t really focus on the technology as much as we focus on the people. What the technology does is make it much easier for us to focus on taking care of people. It just makes SRI Management a much more efficient company because we have the background of the technology behind us to do our jobs as easily as possible. Q: What is the value that Yardi...

During the recent Yardi Forum for senior living and affordable housing, we sat down with Brandon Carter, director of information technology at Wallick Communities. Brandon has a wealth of knowledge about products from the Yardi Senior Living and Yardi Voyager Affordable Housing suites, and we were thrilled to speak with him in person. Wallick owns and manages affordable housing and senior living properties across the Midwest. More than 20,000 residents live in Wallick units. There are always more units on the way, as Wallick has experienced an average 23 percent growth annually. Wallick has worked with HUD tax credit programs for more than four decades, and has even been ranked first in the nation in affordable housing preservation. To put it plainly, Wallick is a big deal. Read on to learn how Yardi software helps Wallick achieve its mission. Q: Describe the value that Yardi products bring to your company? BC: Yardi has been a great partner for Wallick. Whatever the need, we can almost always find a Yardi product to help us fulfil it. We trust that Yardi is continuously working to develop new and exciting products to help us fulfil our responsibilities towards owners, staff and residents. Q: How does Yardi help to position your company for growth? BC: Having only Yardi software to manage makes Wallick extremely nimble and quickly scalable with growth. The Yardi platform allows us to focus on our associates and residents as we grow, instead of worrying about bringing on new technology. Q: What software challenges did Wallick face before adopting Yardi? BC: Before moving to Yardi, we used multiple pieces of software for our different business needs. That required us to spend additional time and resources bridging data gaps. It also created confusion for new associates...