I’ve heard the debate from both sides. Some argue the importance of posting all available information about a property on the website so prospective residents doing research online have everything they could possibly need at their fingertips. Others argue the value of drip-feeding information throughout the sales process so that fundamental tools such as floor plans are made available at critical points in the sales cycle.
To help answer this question, consider the gray matter that exists between sales and marketing. Too often, the role of marketing and sales overlap, and as a result no longer offer the mutual support they are designed to provide. Drilled down to the most elementary of explanations, the real purpose of marketing is to drive end-user demand into the sales channel. The real purpose of sales is to make a sale.
Ask yourself, do floor plans constitute a marketing activity that can create interest, awareness, and demand in your community? Or, are they better suited as a closing tool used for the sole purpose of supporting the sales staff in an effort to close a sale? I would argue the latter, primarily because they are so crucial to getting residents through the final leg of the sales journey. Regarded as a conversation starter in a sales meeting and tool designed for eliciting a unit selection or contract, the importance of floor plans is elevated higher among start-ups who largely function without the benefit of a built-out model.
Avoid the temptation to cram every feature about your community in marketing materials. Senior housing is a real estate transaction. If you furnish every possible detail about your community in an ad, and answer every possible question a prospective resident could have on the website, you decrease an opportunity for a sales meeting, which is, after all, the end goal before the sale in the senior housing sales continuum. In fact, it stands to reason the only thing you will accomplish by providing every detail up front is to give a prospective resident a reason for saying “no” before a salesperson ever gets the chance to talk to them.
I ask clients, “Why would you want to post your floor plans on the website for all the world to see when it is the exclusive job of these very tools to provide the carrot, or impetus for a face-to-face meeting with a sales representative whose job it is to close the deal?” Your residents will not make a purchase decision based on an ad, website or floor plan. If they did, why would you need a sales team? You want to give them a reason to meet with your counselors, not cancel the meeting.
Be wary of sending out or posting every available brochure and sales sheet, or do so at the risk and peril of diminishing the role, value and success of your sales counselor.
Sometimes less really is more.