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The need to recruit senior housing prospects earlier in the development process.
greystone

The need to recruit senior housing prospects earlier in the development process.

As a top-tier senior living consultant and manager, Greystone understands the importance of getting the word out early. It’s not a wise strategy, after all, to waste any valuable time before reaching out to prospective residents.

THE CHALLENGE

The need to recruit senior housing prospects earlier in the development process

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Residents seeking senior housing are not unlike those seeking a single-family home, in that they are planning a purpose-filled long-term residency with fulfilling lifestyle opportunities and built-in certainty and security. Early market awareness for presales is most important in Greystone’s ground-up developments, which First Vice President of Sales and Marketing Tricia Mackin terms “bluesky” communities.

Until the past few years, Greystone built detailed topographical maps of blue-sky communities during the development phase, which allowed prospects to view the homes within the context of the future property. But topographical maps had their challenges.

“The problem is that a wing might change during the development process,” Mackin said. “Then all of a sudden you have this expensive product that is no longer an accurate way to show what the property will look like. You can’t show visuals about what the interiors will consist of, or where the units are actually located within the property.”

Mackin knew virtual products would be more efficient, largely because property models could be updated on the fly and accessed digitally. So she took it upon herself to seek one out.

THE SOLUTION

Adding Engrain's TouchTour to Blue-Sky Developments

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In addition to wanting a more accurate representation of the property, Mackin craved the ability to show prospects realtime inventory availability of the community.

"We needed a way to show prospects that things were reserving quickly and that they needed to get on board, or they might lose the opportunity to have the floor plan in the location of the building that they want."

Tricia Mackin
First VP of Sales & Marketing
Greystone Communities

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Mackin was familiar with Engrain account executive Mary Greer and knew her company specialized in visualization technology. Mackin reached out to Greer, who soon met with Mackin and Greystone’s contingent of regional managers to provide a demo of TouchTour. Mackin and Greystone considered additional solutions, but none were as interactive and customizable as Touch Tour, and no others were as quick to update property inventory when holds were placed on a home.

Soon, Greystone incorporated several customized TouchTour sceens throughout each of its blue-sky communities, with smaller 32-inch screens in sales counselors’ offices and larger, more dynamic screens in discovery rooms and marketing suite display areas.

"TouchTour builds confidence, in that the senior client literally sees that the owner/community sponsor already has the logistics and details of the full project all figured out. They can envision themselves moving in tomorrow even though the property is not built yet. TouchTour really brought those visuals together, as well as emphasizes the urgency component to the sales process."

Tricia Mackin
First VP of Sales & Marketing
Greystone Communities

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The TouchTour software has enabled Greystone to work directly with clients to bring the full story of each Life Plan Community to life. Community-specific videos are developed to showcase the structured floor plans and locations within each new building. The senior prospect can envision what the community will look like when fully developed, and the interactive visualization assists the sales counselors in truly showcasing the lifestyle and service at each campus — in addition to the residential homes available to be reserved.

“We also can display charter benefits on the software. These show prospects the types of savings and benefits they could have if they make a commitment early in the pre-sales process as opposed to waiting for the construction to take place.”

Tricia Mackin
First VP of Sales & Marketing
Greystone Communities

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THE RESULTS

Hyper-quick presale processes, accelerated building timelines

While Greystone now uses TouchTour in some form across its portfolio, Mackin’s primary focus was to provide a boost for Greystone’s blue-sky communities. Mission accomplished.

What makes senior housing unique is that residents often commit to homes two years in advance at new developments, so it’s never too early to begin to showcase the reality of what is coming and how the client’s new home in the community will look and feel. Having an accurate representation of the community that far ahead of time has put Greystone ahead of the curve.

For instance, the presale process at Beacon Pointe at Fleet Landing, a senior community soon to open in Atlantic Beach, Fla., began 2.5 years ago. The process to secure the needed number of 10% deposits is typically forecasted at 12 to 14 months.

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