Are You Taking Advantage of APFM’s January Lead Surge?
Each New Year, as sales women and men, we have the opportunity to reset. During the past twelve months, we have tirelessly worked to assist more residents move-in to our communities in order to at least offset those that are moving out. There were census goals to be met and quotas to be filled. Each January is an opportunity for all of us to start fresh and prepare to hit the new targets in front of us, no matter how lofty they may be.
January is the perfect month for communities to jump ahead. As mentioned in an article on Senior Housing News, quoting our Chief Marketing Officer, Ed Nevraumont, A Place for Mom  prepares all year to ensure our company is at its peak performance each January. In order to assist families in finding the best possible solution, we have to call all hands on deck as inquiry volume reaches record levels.
During January of 2014, A Place for Mom saw nearly 50% higher inquiry volume than the average of the preceding eleven months! 45% of the families referred in January of 2014 that have made the decision to move, moved within 31 days of referral to your community. These families are motivated to move and tend to be quick to make a decision to do so.  As your new goals are set for 2015, we want to assure you that your partners at A Place for Mom are ready to help you achieve those goals. The January APFM referral surge can help your community start the year off ahead of budgeted census and ahead of quota.
Best Practices for Making the Most of the January Lead Surge
1. Be the first community to contact a newly referred family. Those who responded to APFM referrals within two hours versus 24+ hours, on average, will garner your community an 11.5% greater share of APFM referred move-ins.[i]
2. Make three attempts to contact each APFM referral within the first three days. Those who are more persistent in trying to reach families, on average, achieve a 7.5% greater share of APFM referred move-ins.[ii]
3. Reach out to your local APFM Senior Living Advisor. Introduce yourself, let them know of any move-in specials at your community and update them on your availability
Leveraging the above best practices this month can help your team start the year off right. Not only could this set you ahead in your goals for the year, but, more importantly, it will help the hundreds of thousands of families who are faced with the life-changing decision of moving a loved one to a senior living community.
Do you have questions about the January lead surge? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
[i] Data from the 2014 APFM Secret Shop.
[ii] Measures the difference in share of move-ins for communities that responded three times versus one.