Filling Up Is Just the Beginning

Most owners, operators, and leasing counselors who have toiled through the arduous process of leasing up a senior community think of getting “full” as the ultimate measure of success. A treasured destination. An achievement that will finally allow us to switch over from a “do whatever it takes” mentality into "auto pilot”. A point in time when we can relax and enjoy the fruits that years of sustained marketing efforts and sales struggles have produced.

What successful operators have discovered instead is that, much like taking an early morning excursion in a colorful hot air balloon, filling up is just the beginning! For those who want to reach new heights in revenue generation and resident satisfaction, getting to stabilized occupancy - like filling the hot air balloon - is merely a necessary starting point. Getting full creates an upward lift, making it possible for owners and operators to move beyond their constant preoccupation with marketing and cash flow restrictions. By cutting away these deeply anchored tethers, everyone on board can reach for the sky!

Accepting anything less than 100% occupancy is like the hot air balloon pilot turning off the propane heaters just before take off. Why not just turn up the heat and take off instead? Certainly there is no existing seniors market in America that has fully saturated potential demand. Elimination of every vacancy is possible, regardless of how many total units are in your community or how competitive your immediate service area happens to be. With overall industry penetration of age and income-qualified seniors at less than 10%, there are still hundreds if not thousands of eligible prospects living within only a few miles of every existing senior living community in America.

How to Achieve & Maintain 100%

Unfortunately, far too many owners, operators, and sales counselors settle in comfortably and watch their nearly filled communities as if they were stuck within a wicker gondola basket implacably anchored to the ground. They have allowed numerous psychological, organizational, as well as various artificial tethers to tie them down, thus perpetuating the common myth that “you just can’t generate revenue from every apartment at the same time”. Releasing the cable tethers and stoking up a blast of hot gas from the propane burner just before lift-off can be frightening.

Owners and operators, wary from years of high risk and limited cash flow, often become overanxious to reduce sales staffing and training expenses. Management may see the effort needed to stay full as more trouble than its worth. Finally, residents themselves often resist the idea of sharing fixed resources with additional people. With this in mind, here are some specific “field-tested” techniques that will help get your community up off the ground and keep it there:

1. Create & Communicate a Clear Vision
2. Embrace Prospect-Centered Selling (R)
3. Tie Sales Incentives to Occupancy

Overcoming artificial lease up barriers starts with a belief that 100% occupancy is possible and that nothing less is acceptable. Formulate a clear vision of what life will be like after every vacancy has been eliminated. Think beyond the point of lift off. Finally, communicate your vision to staff at every level, as well as to your residents.

More than anything else, converting vacancies into revenue takes purposeful, persistent and effective selling. It makes no sense to turn off the gas on your selling efforts too soon any more than it would to cut off the heat just before your hot air balloon lifts off. Prospect Centered Selling (PCS) is not just insurance against anticipated resident turnover. Like the propane gas in the balloon, an effective selling model and metrics is a continuing and ongoing necessity.

Sales conversion data shows that PCS substantially increases conversion rates with the leads you already have. Moving from 8.7% to over 15%conversion rates for inquiry to move in with PCS means you can reduce the number of leads per move in by 40% or more. PCS is especially effective at converting higher functioning prospects, thus increasing overall length of stay.

With that in mind, getting full is a good a time to substantially reduce overall expenses by reducing or even eliminating: automated email, broad based advertising campaigns and especially reliance on web based lead aggregators. Paid leads close at 3 to 4% vs 21-30% for unpaid referrals. Plus each paid placements extracts a fee of 1 month's rent.

Finally, PCS also promotes higher job satisfaction amongst sales professionals. At its core PCS promotes and supports heroic, purposeful and empathic engagement. It reinforces the inner motivation that naturally incents and motivates many sales professionals. Industry wide, sales directors currently only last about 10 months on average. With PCS we can do better. Every staff turnover saves an estimated $300k per year in lost momentum and re-orientation.

One of the most effective ways to focus everyone on reaching and maintaining 100% occupancy is to establish incentive pay milestones based on the number or percentage of revenue producing units instead of tying leasing incentives to the number of units leased. Since healthier, more active residents tend to stay longer, an incentive tied to occupancy also helps motivate the sales counselor to attract healthier residents.

Consider tying at least a portion of key management’s incentives to occupancy as well. The impact of every vacancy is substantial. Moreover, staying full requires both energy as well as cooperation from the entire team. Providing occupancy-based incentives to management staff will go a long way towards promoting a supportive relationship between sales and operations.

Being Full Makes it Possible to:

• Ride Upward Market Lift. Reaching 100% occupancy does more than just maximize revenues and increase bottom line cash flows. Just being full helps fuel additional market demand which in turn creates upward pressure on monthly fees. Learn to ride the upward winds to your advantage. Eliminate dedicated display apartments or use them as guest rooms thus increasing overall revenue potentials. Stop offering concessions and and bring previously discounted units up to market rates. Being full helps attract more active and independent residents. It also makes it easier to help existing residents with failing health find more appropriate care settings. Building a more vibrant resident base, in turn, helps attract other more active older adults.
• Expand Ancillary Revenues. Getting full also enhances the possibilities for generating additional ancillary revenues from existing residents. Providing optional services expands the opportunity for resident choice, provides flexibility in terms of price adjustments, and helps to differentiate the community within the marketplace. Ancillary services can also produce significant revenues. For example, The Gatesworth, a 300 unit IL Rental community in St. Louis offers Residents a variety of optional service packages including meal plans, room service, resident and outside catering, transportation, pet care, personal care and companion services. These ancillary services account for over 30 % of annual revenues!
• Maximize Wait List Effectiveness. Reaching 100% occupancy is also an important first step towards building an effective wait list. A wait list needs to do more than just build larger numbers. It must produce a reliable flow of qualified prospects who are ready either to move in or begin paying fees for the next available apartment. They can also be revenue producers including Membership type features with access to community food services, activities and programs on a fee for service basis.
• Expand services to the larger community. Respondents to ASHA/Coopers & Lybrand’s State of Seniors Housing indicate that nearly one third (28.6%) offer home health services to the broader community; 19% offer food service, transportation and Alzheimer’s care; 16.7% provide adult dare care services; 14.3% offer homemaker services; and 10.7% make nursing services available to individuals off-site. The new App, STAY goes one step futher. It allows the user to connect to a local senior living community and gain access to Resident services "Whether you are looking for social events, need help coordinating something, or want extra support, STAY connects you to a senior living community, right from your phone."

So, rather than blindly following the prevailing winds, consider what direction you want to go next then chart your own course. After all, once you eliminate vacancies, the sky is the limit. Enjoy the ride. Up, Up and Away !

Join other senior living professionals at the 2026 Sales Summit and learn more about PCS and what successful operators are doing to go beyond full…after all, filling up is just the beginning!