Last week I attended The Leaders Summit Master Class on New Communities hosted by Chris Baynes and the DCM Group. I enjoyed the opportunity to listen to a broad range of speakers across development, architecture, research, sales, technology, customer service, funds management and marketing.
Chris Baynes opened the day speaking about three important C’s shaping the retirement living and aged care sectors: Customer, Cash and Control.
As a retirement living and aged care marketer and communicator, the masterclass reaffirmed three slightly different key C’s for me. Mine being Customer, Community and Communication.
The following are a few basic and reaffirming notes I took from the guest speakers:
Customer
• Listen and don’t presume. Capture what customers want before they buy and before they move in
• Take the time to conduct customer research to understand motivations, expectations, interests, as well as residential, amenity and service requirements. Along with speaking to customers, speak with community groups and residents at nearby established residences
• A Concierge service should be seen as a Lifestyle Concierge, who provides an individual approach to supporting residents
Community
• Supporting community building events and activities once sales have finished, creates good will as well as resident ambassadors for marketing and communications
• Creating intergenerational residences with multi-functional indoor and outdoor amenities, promotes healthy living as well as connecting communities
• Each community has its own idiosyncrasies. There are opportunities to create and promote services and amenities specific to each residence
• Technology is becoming more and more important for retirement and aged care communities. It is a way for residents to connect with each other, concierge services, management, health and well-being professionals as well as emergency services
Communication
• Understand local level customer personas and their purchase journey stages for moving into a community residence
• Create clear and precise content tailored to each customer journey stage for informed decisions
• Create content targeted to influencers such as family members and friends
• Use happy buyers to help communicate the benefits of retirement living and the new community