October 6, 2011 – Update – One of the nation’s greatest boomers and inventors, Steve Jobs, has left us. I hope his vision for living doesn’t. 

(Originally posted Feb. 25, 2009) Mature Market Experts: more mature market news and stats more often: Yesterday Baby Boomer and cancer survivor Steve Jobs turned 54. As one of the people most responsible for shaping a generation, Steve offered some incredible insight on two important topics . . . how to get back up after getting fired (a pretty timely subject in this economy) and the power of death. This commencement speech which he gave at Stanford University is worth the 15 minutes of your time.

PS Steve, if you read this, please fix this IPOD problem for your Baby Boomer fans.

PPS I like Mr. Job’s mention in the video of the “Google” predecessor.

We continue to discuss the Principles of Influence and how they relate to selling to seniors. Thus far, we have covered five of the six – Consistency, Likability, Authority , Social Proof, and Scarcity. Today, we wrap up the conversation with the principle of Reciprocity.

Dr. Cialdini uses a great example, in his book The Principles of Influence,  of one of his Arizona grad students trying out an experiment. The student got a California phone book and at random selected two-hundred names, which she then sent Holiday Greeting cards. Now remember, these were people she did not know . . . living in another state! Amazingly, holiday cards from the receivers flooded back in! These are people sending cards to a person they did not know! Why? Because they owed her … and because they didn’t want to admit they couldn’t remember her. Even more amazing, is that she built real relationships with these people over the years. In fact, when it was time for her son to attend orientation at Stanford, who do you think he stayed with? That’s right, one of the “holiday card” people.

So how can you use this principle to your favor? My favorite example of this is a sales person who, during an appointment buys with a dollar out of his pocket, a soda for himself and his guest. Why does this work? Because the power of reciprocity is sooo strong!

At Love & Company, we tell our retirement community clients, that instead of just having a coffee machine in the corner of the sales office, the salesperson should make their guest a cup of coffee, preferably in fine china. The whole experience should be a ritual in service. “Would you like some cream? Sugar?” Although out of these two examples, I would say the soda example is much stronger because the sales person is paying for it out of his pocket. And therefore, the person owes HIM something.

I have always said that the best way to engage reciprocity is through unmatched customer service. The most loyal member base for health clubs, fitness centers, wellness centers, and retirement communities is one created through relationship marketing and an approach to post-sale customer service and relationship management that builds strong ties with your members – not one strictly based on price. If you do it right, you’ll actually have members who stay in touch – for example, sending you referrals even after they move away. You can’t beat that kind of goodwill.

PS   I hope to see you at the upcoming Leading Age conference in Washington, D.C.

We continue to discuss the Principles of Influence and how they relate to selling to seniors. Thus far, we have covered four of the six – Consistency, Likability, Authority and Social Proof. Today, we’ll be covering the principle of Scarcity.

When supplies of something are short, we humans are more likely to want it! … “It’s the last one in the shop!” For those of you without kids, the image above is a Nintendo Wii, which is a beautiful example of planned scarcity. Amazing, isn’t it, how this huge corporation somehow is always caught off-guard by the overwhelming demand for their product. Hmmm?

Do people know when your retirement community is about to become complete or sold out? Even better, how about the first phase? Even better, how about the first floor of the first building with the limited number of views towards the lake? Regardless of what you are selling, you need to tell your audience how scarce your supply is– creating scarcity is a key to success. And being able to offer an exact number increases the power of scarcity.

Don’t think this is powerful for selling to boomers and seniors? Let me give you an example:

I happen to know of a retirement community where seniors who called in to schedule visits were given very tight appointment times (this community only scheduled appointments on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday … and would only move on to the next day if the first one was filled).

When the people showed up for their appointments, they were often “in line” waiting for the retirement counselor to see them. The busier the sales office was, and the longer people had to wait (to a point), the more successful the sales person became. Why? Because social proof and scarcity are two very powerful principals. Grouping the appointments in a tight schedule was a strategic decision. You need to be very conscious in your efforts of “displaying” social proof and scarcity. If you are not, you’re cheating your business.

Sources:

Love & Company

Dr. Robert Cialdini

We continue to discuss the Principles of Influence and how they relate to selling to seniors. Thus far, we have covered three of the six – Consistency, Likability, and Authority. Today, we’ll be covering the principle of Social Proof.

When a number of people agree on something, we are likely to be persuaded too. Apple knew what it was doing when it gave the first IPODs the glaring white wires and base. Soon you were seeing these glaring white music makers everywhere. When I drive by your gym, fitness center, or retirement community, do I get a sense of social proof? Have others gone before me?

How strong is this principle? Dr. Cialdini tells of a group of researchers who went door-to-door in Columbia, South Carolina, soliciting donations for a charity campaign and displaying a list of neighborhood residents who had already donated to the cause. The researchers found that the longer the donor list was, the more likely those solicited would be to donate as well. To the people being solicited, the friends’ and neighbors’ names on the list were a form of social evidence about how they should respond. But the evidence would not have been nearly as compelling had the names been those of random strangers.

The fact is that persuasion can be extremely effective when it comes from peers which is why Love & Company loves to utilize resident testimonials when selling to the mature market. The science supports what most senior sales professionals already know: Testimonials from satisfied customers work best when the satisfied customer and the prospective customer share similar circumstances.

Do you have pin maps showing where your retirement community’s residents came from? Do you have Polaroid pictures of your residents and new deposits pinned up on a sales wall (the sales person should be in every photo)? Both of these become visual clues of social proof to new and old signups!

Do you have testimonials and letters posted around your office and in your marketing materials? Do you provide opportunities for your members to bring in friends for special occasions? Maybe a special appearance by a chef on how to prepare heart-healthy meals?

Social proof makes perfect sense in a busy, overwhelming world. It’s proof that others have done the thinking for us and it turned out alright.

Photo Credit: http://blogs.cornell.edu/newmedia11cew88/

Studies show that people are more likely to comply when a request comes from an expert. As you would imagine, doctors rate very high on the scale of influence. How powerful is the principle of Authority? In the early 60’s, Dr. Milgram, a Yale University psychologist, tested the ability of authority figures to instruct otherwise normal, non-violent people to do unthinkable things. In fact, contrary to expectations, a majority of civilian volunteers would obey orders to apply electric shocks to another person until they were unconscious or dead. In Milgram’s experiments, obedience tended to increase with the prestige of the authority figure. Oh, and I should note, that those being shocked were in reality actors and the shocks simulated.

Did you know that at one point Camel cigarettes utilized this principle to hawk their product? They had ads with doctors recommending their brand.

So, remember people, you must only use these principles for the power of good! Of course, willingness to comply can be used for positive change. For example, the surgeon general telling you to quit smoking is a good thing! Your doctor telling you to exercise is a good thing!

At Love & Company, we’re always looking to apply this principle to our clients’ businesses. So, who is your exclusive expert? Your Sales person? A Doctor? An Engineer? Architect? Accountant? Another resident or member? How can you apply this principle? Uniforms, badges, clipboards – become the expert. Also, add to your credentials by using press releases, videos, association memberships, public speaking, framed licenses, honors . . . Etc., etc . . . You get the point. I’m always very impressed when I go into my doctor’s office, she has something like 600 framed advanced education degrees, so she must be smart. Right?

Good listeners parrot back what the customer has said. For example, a sales person selling apartments in an active 55+ retirement community or continuing care retirement community (CCRC) might say, “So when you say you are looking for a two-bedroom apartment home, if I heard you correctly, you’re looking to use the second bedroom as a den. Is that correct?” And research has shown that the closer and more exactly you parrot back what the prospect has said, the higher the level of liking. Why does this work? Because it requires true listening. Plus, as a forced discipline it will actually improve your listening skills! After all, who’s the most interesting and important person in the world to most people? That’s right, themselves!

Next up, the principle of “Authority.”

Author’s Note: I wanted to thank you all for the kind notes and phone calls wishing me well on my recent decision to join up with Love and Company. The Mature Market Experts site will continue offering you news and ideas you can use on boomers, seniors, and the mature market.

Source: Influence at Work

Last week, I talked about the power of listening. Selling to boomers or seniors? Here’s what a good friend of mine, Dick Ambrosius advises, “The three steps to moving the prospect quickly through the sales cycle: 1) Listen 2) Listen and 3) Listen. If you are listening to understand rather than to overcome objections, the prospect will guide you to the secret to closing.”

I couldn‘t agree more.

I also believe that in addition to having refined listening skills, understanding human behavior is a key tool for any mature market sales person. As promised, today we are going to talk about the six principle of influence (Consistency, Likability, Authority, Social Proof, Scarcity, and Reciprocity) as taught by Dr. Robert Cialdini, a research professor out of Arizona State University. Specifically, we are going to talk about the first principle, Consistency.

Consistency. Once people publicly agree or say something out loud, they are much more likely to hold to that agreement. Example? I happened to be attending a New Year’s Eve party several years ago when one of my slightly inebriated sisters decided to run a marathon as her New Years’ resolution (she was turning 50 that year). She then made all of her siblings in attendance, including me, swear to join her. And she did this in front of the rest of the party attendees. She then followed up with frequent reminders of how we had all committed to run. Now, keep in mind, that at the time we were all out of shape, didn’t believe in exercise, and thought a good jog was from the couch to the refrigerator, so 26.7 miles was crazy talk!

And guess what it worked, four of us finished the marathon with her. Since then, I used this same technique on myself and have publicly committed to all sorts of crazy things. It usually works. I’ve run in 10 marathons in 10 different states!

According to Dr. Cialdini, if you want to ensure that a customer’s decision is long lasting, and unshakable, make sure this decision is:

1. VOLUNTARY
2. PUBLIC
3. ACTIVE

In other words, make sure that the customer is not strong armed. Nothing will kill the possibility of a long-term relationship faster than a starving salesperson on commission. But assuming all goes well, make sure that the customer does not keep this decision a secret. Even if your customer just writes their commitment down or signs his name, the decision will be stronger than before. And, if we arrange for our customer to tell others, even other staff members, the decision becomes even more permanent.

So what’s this mean to you?

Well, let’s use the contract process as an example.

Do you want to cut down your number of cancellations dramatically? Just have your customer, rather than your salesperson, fill out the sales agreement. Why? The mere act of filling out the contract creates a condition of consistency that most people don’t want to break.

Then, tell the person you’re dealing with that you can tell by looking at them, and the way they act, that you know they will follow through with their contract because you can tell that they are an honorable person. You might think that’s flattery, but our clients’ sales teams mean it when they say it, and it makes the prospective resident feel honorable. Everyone wants to feel important, and they want to measure up to other people’s expectations. In short, they want our vision of them to be consistent. Think that level of commitment is important in this real estate market?

Also, when a new member or resident signs up, I like to turn it into a celebration … I introduce all the staff to the newest member … I take a Polaroid of us together and hang it on the “family” wall. They’ve now committed in front of other people. These photos become visual evidence or reminders that we have made a commitment to each other. One that I consider sacred and will go out of my way to honor — ABOVE AND BEYOND! And the best part is that people want to measure up to what they have said they would do. The hard part, but also the part that is most fun, is that it is then in your court. You now have to over-deliver because you want to be consistent with what YOU said!

Next week … Likability.

Columbo was the master of discovery.

Sales and marketing techniques for selling to boomers, seniors, and the mature market. Being a good husband, wife, friend, or marketer is all about the process of discovery. And TRUE discovery comes from conversation NOT from demographic profiles. I can tell you personally; this is a problem most husbands and marketers have. They are just not very good listeners (at least that’s what my wife tells me). Women, do you ever have a conversation with your husband, and then 5 minutes later he asks you a question that proves he really wasn’t listening?

Why is listening so important? Because only through real listening . . . no even deeper than that, only through probing, can we really discover what the needs, goals and aspirations of the person we are speaking to really are. What stage of life are they at? Trust me; you won’t get this off a mailing list.

And I use the word probe because most boomers and seniors are so use to not really being listened to, so much so that they don’t really usually offer up their real thoughts. Which means as a sales person, you really need to understand how to get past conversation stoppers. You also need to understand how to ask follow-up questions. Both of these techniques will coax your customer to reveal more of themselves. Columbo was the expert at this, “Excuse me, sir, but do you have time for just one more quick question?”

But listening is just the first step to building a deeper relationship. Once you listen, you need to know how to respond to your new information so that you can help the person.

I’m a big believe in the principles of influence as taught by Dr. Robert Cialdini, a research professor out of Arizona State University, although if it were me, I’d rename the principles, the principles of true love. Dr. Cialdini, who I actually hired for a speaking engagement, and his team are brilliant.

Here’s how I remember the principles . . . CLASS R.

C – L – A – S – S- R.

Consistency. Likability. Authority. Social Proof. Scarcity. Reciprocity.

Over the next several weeks, I’ll be talking about each of these six principles and how they apply to selling to the boomer, senior, and mature market.

The Maestro, as I respectfully call him, is an internationally known conductor who in his retirement decided to look around for a second act. His second act? Conductorcise! He looks every bit the part of a Maestro. Wavy white locks crown his head and bright, colorful sneakers cover his constantly tapping toes (he’ll proudly tell you his sneakers are from Zappos).

The next thing you’ll notice if you spend 10 minutes in the company of David is his unflagging energy. Now in his seventies, he puts most 20-year olds to shame. He lives in the moment. I have never seen someone LOVE people the way David does … young and old respond to that love by lighting up!

Here’s a video of the Maestro at work, training trainers:

David’s entire life has been about seizing the moment. He is passionate about everything … his wife, his children, his grandchildren, family, friends, travel, wine, music, aging, children, science, and connections … LIFE!

I am convinced that our health and well-being is directly connected to our passion for life. In the book, The Blue Zones, a defined job or role seems to be one of the common characteristics of seniors living healthy, happy lives beyond the age of 100.

Not The Retiring Type: Serving Others

As I stated above, a defined job or role (ie. social engagement) seems to be a key ingredient to healthy aging. Our modern industrial society tends to devalue “unproductive” people. What’s one of the first questions people ask you at a party? “So, who do you work for? What do you do?”

People like the Maestro and Bruce Findley don’t accept the common perception that our senior years are a time to shut down. Instead, they view these years as a time of discovery and growth. Bruce, a resident of Shell Point Retirement Community, created Super Noggin to help his fellow seniors develop healthy brain fitness lifestyle habits.

The common thread with both of these gentlemen? A desire to serve others and an unwillingness to be put out to pasture.

What’s your passion?

We have many mature market clients who have hesitated when our team at Love and Company recommend that they “give” something of value away for free. “Tom,” they say, “we’re in the business of making money.” However, cost sensitivity is now the new norm. Regardless of age, upper-class consumers have joined the middle-class and lower-income in being price sensitive and value minded. And as we know, the mature market (boomers and beyond) is even more cynical and cautious, because they have seen it all. And, they have the patience and intelligence to gather information in a thoughtful manner.

We had one retirement community client tell us that their prospects were too refined for the word “FREE.” In this case, we were recommending that they give away a FREE retirement information kit. They had a hard time understanding that socioeconomic distinctions are rapidly becoming blurred. Cost sensitivity and cautious buying are now typical of all income brackets. Fortunately, their results dramatically improved when we were finally able to sway them.

In short, today’s market place is all about creating relationships. All of which brings us back to incentives. Incentives are a great way to start a relationship AND engage the power of reciprocity. That being said, there is a distinct difference between giving something of value away to potential customers and giving the farm away. My analogy is that we should make the first hurdle for entering a relationship as low as possible, this motivates them to reach out to you and to become acquainted.

Free offers can be as simple as a customized monthly newspaper, an e-newsletter, a white paper, a contest, a promotional item, or a seminar. The goal here is to have the incentive create a legitimate lead. This is particularly important in today’s world of permission marketing. Incentives should require your prospects to give something in return, namely their name and contact information. You won’t capture every visitor but those that do submit their information are serious prospects if your incentive offer correlates to your product or service in a meaningful way. For example, we use this offer for a FREE marketing audit on the Mature Market Experts site.

In this example, when I wrote the copy for Inter-Continental Hotels I used a double incentive - free information and a chance to win a free vacation.

By doing a lot of testing on your incentive offers and forms, you can typically increase your conversion rate significantly, capturing more leads from the same overall amount of traffic. Some of the things you might want to test are your incentive offer, the length of the form, putting a link to your privacy policy on your information submission form, adding a customer testimonial with a picture or video, and the form’s design.

Also, remember, there is a direct correlation to the number of landing pages (which improves your natural search engine optimization) plus, the number of incentive offers you have … to web traffic and leads.

Sadly, most websites do a poor job of capturing the traffic that comes to their door. Make sure that your organization is not one of them!

Important Note About Responding To Sales Leads:

How you respond to these leads is VERY, very important:

According to an MIT Study with InsideSales.com, 78% of sales that start with a web inquiry go to the company that responds first.

Of those surveyed by sales lead expert Mac Macintosh, 23% had bought the product or service they were inquiring about within 6 months. The other 67% still intended to purchase, but were not yet ready.

According to DemandGen Report, nurtured leads produce – on average – a 20% increase in Sales Opportunities vs. non-nurtured leads.

Source: HubSpot

Sadly, there are 5.3 million Americans living with Alzheimer’s and every 70 seconds another American is captured by this deadly disease. By mid-century someone will develop Alzheimer’s every 33 seconds. By 2050 there will be nearly a million new cases per year. In short, we are in the grip of a horrific epidemic.

After my Mom was diagnosed and passed away with Alzheimer’s, I became acutely aware of my increased odds of also getting the disease (in fact, recent research suggest that Alzheimer’s has a maternal link). Fortunately, at this time I also met Bruce Findley, the founder of the not-for-profit behind Super Noggin, a brain fitness lifestyle program. Bruce introduced me to two sources of information that shined a bright ray of hope on my fears … and sparked my desire to get involved with Super Noggin.

The first source of information he introduced me to was the Nun Study, a decades-long longitudinal study of 678 religious order nuns who agreed to be studied while living AND after their deaths (biopsy remains the surest way to identify Alzheimer’s). The second was The Anti-Alzheimer’s Prescription, a book by Dr. Vincent Fortanasce, a renowned practicing neurologist. Both of these incredible resources suggest that while we can’t prevent Alzheimer’s/dementia, we can reduce the effects of these diseases by up to 70 percent!

While we can’t change our genetics, we can positively change our lifestyle. That’s what Super Noggin is all about.

Click on the image to view this TV news segment on Super Noggin, a brain fitness lifestyle program.

All of which leads me back to my original paragraph. The not-for-profit that I mentioned earlier, LEAF Ltd., is dedicated to serving boomers and seniors by utilizing the latest research on brain health in a unique and fun brain fitness lifestyle program. They would like to offer you complimentary materials to answer the question “Why should I exercise my brain?” This 45-minute class includes all the components you’ll need to lead a class including the script, PowerPoint, handouts for activities, and resources. Just click here, and you’ll be granted instant and FREE access to the course’s materials. I guarantee your residents or members will find the content both enjoyable and enlightening.

Building, marketing, selling, and operating a successful senior housing project (active 55+ retirement community, continuing care retirement community, senior rental, assisted living, or skilled nursing care facility) today is a lot more complicated than it was just a decade ago.  Today getting zoned, financed, built and occupied within budget is much more difficult.  Not having the proper skill sets and experience on any of these steps can derail your mature market project. These 13 steps, if managed and handled properly, will lead to your project’s success.

1. Due Diligence

2. Demographics/Best Use

It’s also important to analyze potential partnerships with local service providers that can complement your property/product … providing additional insight into the best use for your property while offering additional cost savings.

3. Product Development

Henry Ford Village, Dearborn, Michigan

4. Master plan and Pro forma

An attractive master plan that maximizes your unit count, parking, and open space is the first step in developing a successful pro forma.  Having a realistic master plan that represents reality rather than a designer’s fantasy prevents zoning officials from becoming fixated on the front end of the process with amenities that could ultimately crush your pro forma.  If not avoided, these subsequent changes can be viewed as bad faith on the part of the developer (you) and ultimately derail your project.  In short, once you present town or city officials with any amenities it becomes almost impossible to take them away.  More importantly, developing a pro forma grounded in experience and realistic estimates is the backbone to a logical decision making process of whether to proceed or not.  A working pro forma that accurately includes development, construction, marketing, and operations — along with projected absorption and revenue is key to creating a successful package for attracting financial partners.

5. Pre-Marketing Test

6. Obtaining Entitlements and Approvals

In addition, having prior experience with multiple jurisdictions is often very helpful in getting officials through the unique requirements of senior facilities.  Not having this unique collection of skills and experience can be very costly.

7. Secure Financing/Letter of Commitment

There are still several banks and lending firms providing new construction financing, but the majority of new senior housing construction activity is coming through Housing and Urban Developments’ 221 and 232 programs.  Understanding HUD’s process for loans and time schedules is a very specialized skill set.

It takes more than good connections and a solid pro forma to secure your letter of commitment … understanding how to present your project is vital to achieving success.  A good financial request should include a portfolio of experienced industry players and their track records, a thorough explanation of both macro and micro conditions, projected project returns and an exit strategy.

8. Select and Manage the Design/Pre-Construction Team

9. Create Pre-Construction Advertising and Marketing Program

10. Close Financing

11. Oversee the Construction/Architect’s Administration Process

12. Furniture and Fixture Selection and Installation

Charlestown Retirement Community, Catonsville, MD

13. On-going marketing

Finally, getting in to senior housing or expanding an existing community requires a passion for the people and the industry. Make sure that … you’re working with people that share that passion, what we do is more than bricks and mortar!

Editor’s Note: Tom Mann of Love and Company co-wrote this article with Kevin Glover of KGRW & Associates. The senior management team of these two companies have worked as a team on some of the nation’s most successful senior housing projects over the last decade.

Residents of The Heritage of Green Hills participate in a Super Noggin class.

Non-Profit Dedicated To The Cognitive Health of Boomers and Seniors Is Worth Talking About

It’s a beautiful thing when your work and your passion collide. Remarkably, I’ve had this good fortune several times throughout my career.

A couple of years ago, I was speaking at the International Council on Active Aging’s Conference (ICAA) when I was greeted by one of the most spectacular humans I have ever met. The ICAA conference seems to bring out extraordinary, caring people (a couple of years prior, I also met Maestro David Dworkin, the founder of Conductorcise). On this day, I met Bruce Findley.

Bruce’s story was fascinating. He was a VERY successful business man; a resident of Shell Point Retirement Community; and the founder of LEAF Ltd., a private foundation and 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting intellectual wellness for boomers and seniors. Bruce has gifted millions of dollars of his personal wealth to LEAF with his only goal of improving the lives of others.

He asked if TR Mann Consulting could help his team market an innovative brain wellness lifestyle program, which we later named Super Noggin. For me, it was an easy answer as my Mom had battled with Alzheimer’s before passing away.

So, what’s so innovative about Super Noggin?

If you’ve been paying attention to the brain fitness arena, there is a plethora of cognitive fitness computer programs. And many of them are very good. However, as a resident of a retirement community, one of the things Mr. Findley and his staff noticed was that boomers and seniors prefer to learn in a social setting. So his team set to work on creating something they’d enjoy — something they could envision maintaining. Just like fitness is a lifestyle change, creating healthy brain habits is a LIFESTYLE change.

So the team set to work. Based on the world-famous Nun Study and other current neuroscience research findings, Super Noggin is a comprehensive program offering a multi-pronged approach to LEARN and PRACTICE brain-healthy habits and to TRACK progress. The components of the program promote cognitive challenges, physical exercise, good nutrition, social interaction, stress reduction, and personal reflection.  And, as fitting to where we first met, Super Noggin is compatible with the wellness model of the ICAA.

One thing that makes Super Noggin different is that it is led by Certified Super Noggin Instructors through a network of participating locations such as wellness centers, gyms, YMCAs, retirement communities, JCCs, senior centers, community centers, and other facilities.

In Fayetteville, Arkansas, energetic 68-year-old Billie Jean Harvey is a perfect example of the type of person taking advantage of Super Noggin. She is healthy, active and engaged — and she’s looking to stay that way.

She was recently interviewed by NWA Online about her interest in the program.

“Sometimes, I just get lost in time,” the Fayetteville resident said. “I get tied up with what I’m doing and completely forget my schedule.”

Harvey said she and her husband worry about losing their memory because both of their mothers were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. She said she works to keep her mind sharp by doing puzzles and volunteering, but is concerned that her husband, 69-year-old Charles “Winston” Harvey, is stuck in a routine.

Harvey said she and her husband learned about Super Noggin while volunteering at the Fayetteville Senior Center. She said she was relieved when her husband agreed to participate in the program.

“I want to do whatever it takes to keep my brain sharp,” she said.

Chris Romick, a retirement community Sales Director in Reading, Pennsylvania agrees that the proactive approach is in line with his residents needs, “At The Heritage of Green Hills, which is a full-service retirement community for people 55 and up, our residents believe in prevention through a healthy lifestyle… rather than reactive health care. Our residents want to STAY healthy! This is why Super Noggin was such a perfect fit for our community. I can tell you this much, people have told us that one of the attractions for moving to The Heritage was the availability of Super Noggin.”

Expanding the program

Now that program is already serving hundreds of boomers and seniors, I’m actively looking to partner Super Noggin up with some progressive companies. I’m getting ready to knock on the doors of some major companies such as big pharma and long-term care companies.

Why? Because it makes sense for them. Let’s take long-term care providers as an example.

Why would Super Noggin make a useful marketing tool for long-term care providers?

Super Noggin provides a NO RISK opportunity to:

1. Lower marketing costs
2. Endear current prospects and potential clients
3. Lower your actual coverage expenses
4. Generate positive press

Super Noggin is modeled after the widely successful SilverSneakers program. The preventive health principals at work in the SilverSneakers program are similar to what we’d expect for Super Noggin. While SilverSneakers is focused on the physical body, Super Noggin is a cognitive lead fitness program.

The SilverSneakers Fitness Program has been a vital component of several major health plans’ acquisitions and retention strategies. These companies include AARP Medicare Supplement, SecureHorizons (AARP Medicare Complete), Humana, Health Spring, several Blue Cross Blue Shield plans, Kaiser Permanete, Bravo Health, and Highmark, just to name a few.

Voluntary disenrollment results in lost premiums as well as acquisition costs to replace members; programs like SilverSneakers and Super Noggin can help. In studies of health plan retention among SilverSneakers clients, voluntary disenrollment rates among program participants were substantially lower than among those not enrolled in the program. Depending on the size of the health plan’s membership, this difference can mean the retention of a significant number of members.

Responses from 8,400 SilverSneakers enrollees who completed the 2008 annual member survey support these findings. Based upon their experience with SilverSneakers:

•          61% said the likelihood of their remaining with their current health plan had improved or greatly improved.

•         71% said the likelihood of their recommending their health plan to friends or family had improved or greatly improved.

•         83% rated their health plan an 8, 9, or 10 on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the best.

•         58% said they were likely to choose another health plan offering SilverSneakers if it were no longer available through their current plan.

63 percent of SilverSneakers members said the benefit was an important consideration in deciding to join their health plan.

Lowering Coverage Costs

Insurance and health care companies are always seeking new ways to reduce direct and indirect health care costs. For companies that offer long-term care insurance, brain fitness is a key component to fighting rising health care costs. Some insurance companies like Penn Treaty American reported a reduction in claims after offering brain fitness exercises to their long-term-care insurance customers. Providing your members with important brain fitness knowledge enables them to live healthier, more independent lives.

The tools Super Noggin utilizes have been clinically proven to enhance cognitive abilities, reduce insurance claims, and improve lives:

• 5-year predicted reduction of medical expenditures by 3-4% (Wolinsky, 2009)
• Improves performance on activities of daily living (Edwards, 2002)
• Reduces risk of onset of depressive symptoms  by 38% (Wolinsky, 2009)
• On average an improvement of memory scores equivalent to approximately 10 years. (Smith, 2009)

(Source:  The business case for wellness programs in retirement communities and seniors housing, a white paper from the International Council on Active Aging).

A proactive cognitive health program can give policyholders the tools they need to actively address their concerns of developing dementia. Such a program may also reduce the frequency and length of future cognitive claims.

In recently published studies, participants practicing brain fitness showed statistically and clinically significant gains on standard cognitive batteries, while participants in control groups showed minimal or no gains. The gains are equivalent to 10 or more years of improved cognitive function (such as ability to remember and faster processing speed) among populations over age 60.

The Super Noggin could revolutionize the long-term care insurance industry … give a major PR boast to pharmaceutical companies … lift the profile of commerce giants like Wal-Mart … or alter the future of a country that faces a dementia crisis. The possibilities are endless!

Call To Action

So, who’s ready? Any and all contact suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I am driven by the generosity and vision of my good friend, Mr. Findley, and his goal of improving the aging process. His charitable group has created something definitely worth sharing!

Tom Mann, 410-292-4333

Is a game the way to consumers' hearts?

Mature Market Experts: more boomer, senior, and mature market news and stats you can use – Beyond Banner Ads. The yet fully unrealized potential of internet advertising hangs just out of reach as a tantalizing fruit for advertisers, as television advertising once did at its inception. The challenge is for advertisers to crack the code – how to get online users to pay attention to their marketing message. Especially, how to get the lucrative, savvy, mature baby boomer market to heed commercials as they browse the web, with real increases of sales in consumer goods and services. Some think the key to unlocking this elusive riddle will be to integrate enhanced interactive systems such as Microsoft’s new Kinect with the internet experience. To see a demo review of Kinect in game form click here. To read more on its advertising potential click here.

Don’t laugh, boomers and seniors have been big fans of augmented reality games from the beginning. An now, brain fitness programs like Super Noggin are incorporating games like these into their programming. It won’t be long before we see advertising as part of the environment.

Minor rant: I recently pulled out the instructions for my Jawbone headset … ugggg! Are you kidding me! The smallest, most impossible font I have EVER seen made the directions impossible to read! AliphCom, who do you think is buying these expensive bluetooth headsets? Let me give you a hint, they’re older and they have money. Please, please, please have your designer call us before you create your next packaging.

Great Grabz Wave grab bars offer beauty and safety

From coffee shops to clothing, the mature market is willing to use their disposable income.

How do you attract seniors to your town, city, or state? And what’s their value to the local economy? Late last year, I was asked to speak at the National Active Retirement Association (NARA) Conference on this topic. State representatives from across the country where in attendance, as was NARA’s founder Dan Owens, who has been harping on this overlooked fact for some time now. The beauty of attracting retirees to your town, is that essentially, the drivers are similar to what drives tourism. And, once you start that trickle of retiree money, it builds momentum like a fly-wheel, i.e., one restaurant attracts another … then an art gallery … then a museum …

Plus, attracting retirees costs less than it does to try to attract major manufacturers. And the return to the local tax base is a whole lot more! Think about how major companies hold small economies hostage (unless you do this, this, and that, we’re leaving). In addition, companies can and do go out of business. Seniors with their social security checks stabilize economies and diversify risk.

Shortly after this presentation, our team was invited to talk to several of the representatives of Opelika, Alabama (Opelika and Auburn are adjacent to each other and have grown to form one fantastic destination). Amazingly, the bulk of their marketing has been done with the young professional in mind. When I showed them the stats favoring boomers and beyond and their spending patterns, they were floored. Next, we reviewed some of their marketing materials, the type faces and fonts where so small and so dense, I couldn’t read it (at least not without getting a headache). Truthfully, they just hadn’t thought about how their marketing materials appealed to retirees. Fortunately, they quickly understood what I was saying. These folks get it! And, they are blessed with fantastic southern weather; a world-class university; charming, walkable towns; some of the kindest people on the planet; and an incredible value proposition from a real estate perspective — not a bad starting point!

Towns and cities all across America are aspiring to be on U.S. News & World Reports’ Best Places to Retire list. The reason -  many urban planners believe that the mature market will bring economic stimulus with them in various forms, such as job creation, a boom in real estate, retirement communities and senior housing sales, an import of savings and reliable incomes. Other advantages of attracting boomers/seniors/retirees include economic and social stability, an increase in the tax base and volunteerism. Compared to wooing industry, retirees are a bargain. But as the massive generation of baby boomers grow older, communities must also be prepared for a growing strain on local health care systems and infrastructure. To read more on the pros and cons of enticing the 65+ demographic to a local economy Master_Retiree_Attraction_FINAL_Report.

Also, here’s a great article about how one Florida town discovered that retirees, not NASA are the economic drivers for their economy.

Mature Market Experts: more boomer, senior, and mature market news and stats you can use – Does the Medium Effect the Message? Like all advertisers, you need to reach your audience in the most cost effective way possible. But are numbers the only consideration when determining where to place an ad? In other words, are all ad spaces created equally? Is reaching 1 million internet viewers the same as a television audience of 1 million? A recent AdweekMedia/Harris Poll, indicates that different consumer groups self report connecting more or less effectively with various media forms. While it may go against intuition, the baby boomers (55+ group) found search-engine ads more helpful than younger groups (20% compared to 16% of 18-34 year olds, 18% of the 35-44 and 19% of the 45-54 age groups). Conversely, the youngest group was most likely to respond to television advertising (34% of the 18-34 age group), with effectiveness of television ads declining with each age group. Of course, there are ways to increase a medium’s marketing prowess. For example, while 15% of respondents said they found newspaper advertising helpful when purchasing consumer goods, having a dedicated tabloid with no competitive advertising in it, will increase your ad’s power tremendously.

For more information on the study click here.

To read more on creating a customized 8 page newspaper  click here.

Attention Wellness Directors: You owe it to your residents to introduce them to Super Noggin and Conductorcise in 2011!

Mature Market Experts: more boomer, senior, and mature market news and stats you can use – Defining the Senior Market. Baby boomers, seniors, 55+, 65+, the mature market … all of these terms are rather nebulous when it comes to marketing. What exactly is the senior market? Undoubtedly there are differences between a 65 year old and a 112 year old. The NAHB Research Center (a subsidiary of the National Association of Home Builders) breaks the senior category into 4 groups: the Baby Boomer Generation, born 1946 to 1964; the Post War Generation, born 1928 to 1945; the World War II Generation, born 1922 to 1927 and the Depression Generation, born 1912 to 1921. Among the more senior seniors internet advertising may be ineffective, while for baby boomers it may be highly productive. Read here for a different perspective on defining your target audience. Also consider cultivating new lead sources in the senior provider community. The Older Americans Act mandates that every community has an Area Agency on Aging (AAA). This is a great network to be a part of. To be included, your business must earn the trust of the AAA.

Editor’s Note: Wow! Hard to believe another year has blown by! Happy holidays to all. The team at Love and Company wishes you an awesome 2011!

Mature Market Experts: more boomer, senior, and mature market news and stats you can use – Shared Housing – The Next Senior Trend? Many baby boomers find themselves rattling around in a big, empty house, alone and overwhelmed by the upkeep and financial drain. But they may wish to age in place rather than move on to assisted living. Other folks’ finances simply will not allow them to buy a home. So why not match these two groups up, and perhaps they can help each other out? That is exactly what the Shared Housing movement is advocating. The National Shared Housing Resource Center lists organizations attempting to get participants connected, either in a match-up program (which helps find a compatible boarder who either rents or offers services to the homeowner) or a shared living residence (where a group of unrelated people share a large  home). Taking this desire for symbiotic living a step further is the Co-Housing movement, where a community is planned and built around the concept of common living spaces, cooperative decision making, and shared work. If a senior needs some physical assistance, a willing house member or neighbor may reduce or eliminate the need for a health care aid. Both Shared Housing and Co-Housing are naturals for mature populations who may have lost a partner and are lonely, or would enjoy sharing a ride in return for babysitting. Maybe it takes a village to raise a child, but it is good for the 65+ age group too.

For more information on Co-Housing click here.

To read further on Co-Housing read this.

To read further on Shared Housing read this.

In fact, our team at TR Mann Consulting feels so strongly about this principal that we won’t accept a client for our customized newspapers unless they accept this one condition … WE WON’T WRITE ABOUT THE PAST. Remember, your residents and prospects are forward looking people who want to live in a forward looking community!

Editor’s Note: Speaking of forward looking, just returned from San Diego and the International Council on Active Aging’s Conference (ICAA) which was simply an awesome event. Great to see our clients, Super Noggin and Conductorcise, as well as the countless other friends pushing the industry forward.

Mature Market Experts: more boomer, senior, and mature market news and stats you can use – Images: A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words. Have you ever gone to a website only to be tempted to abandon it because the downloading of images seemed to take forever? And when it finally appeared on your computer screen, realized that the image was not worth waiting for? Not a scenario you should be putting current or potential clients through. As the proverb goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. But, in advertising it has to be the right picture. If the image is free, great; but has it been overused? The viewer will recognize it and not give much credence to your website or printed material. Images need to speak about the product – and assuming market leader and uniqueness are desirable attributes – they should not seem generic. If you are advertising to baby boomers, you need to consider if a photo of vibrant, natural looking, mature grandparents is more appealing and realistic than one of a campy forty year old couple? And remember, even the best image will be a turn off if it slows down the loading of a web page, so be sure images are optimized for the web. In any media, image excellence is essential to convey the message of quality.

For more tips on selecting and using the right photo click here.

Resources:

TR Mann Consulting - Senior Housing and Mature Market Sales (Active 55 retirement communities, continuing care retirement communities, assisted living, skilled care)

Free Marketing Audit (excluding travel) – call today to ask about our free marketing and sales audit for your community, 410-292-4333.

Note: San Diego is a great place to be in December. Our team, TR Mann Consulting, will be attending the upcoming International Council on Active Aging Conference (ICAA)  in San Diego, December 1st through the 4th. We’ll be exhibiting (Booth #1748) and we will also have an office suite for meetings. Feel free to email (Tom@TRMann.com) or call us if you want to catch up, 410-292-4333. I’m happy to say that at least two of our clients, Super Noggin and Conductorcise will also be attending. Hope to see you there!

Sources:

Love and Company

Free Marketing Audit (excluding travel) – call today to ask about our free marketing and sales audit for your community, 410-292-4333.