Introducing the OneDay Flywheel to Drive Occupancy

The concept of the funnel is about as traditional as it gets in sales and marketing. It’s like pumpkin pie to Thanksgiving – part and parcel. But what if I told you that traditional funnel isn’t the best way to drive occupancy rates for senior living communities? Kind of feels like eating chocolate cake on turkey day at first, right?

Well, with the OneDay Flywheel to Drive Occupancy, we’ve replaced that old funnel with a dynamic, self-propelled lead and occupancy machine. Using the OneDay program as its core, our flywheel creates a powerful sense of momentum across your entire community, all focused on one thing – driving occupancy.

Sound too good to be true? I assure you it’s not. So read on and I’ll show you how our flywheel differs from the funnel you’re so familiar with and, most importantly, how it can create a potent competitive edge for your community.

The Flywheel: Maximum Efficiency, Superior Results

Think about that traditional funnel for a moment. You capture the audience’s attention at the top using broad strokes, then gradually progress them further down with an increasingly targeted message. Toward the bottom, you try to seal the deal with an emphatic call-to-action and, whether you were successful or not, start the whole process over again. And again. And again.

Now let’s look at the flywheel. Used in everything from windmills and trains to hybrid cars and satellites, a flywheel stores energy and returns it to a system. And maybe most importantly, the faster it spins, the more momentum it creates, sending even more energy back. It’s self-perpetuating.

But what does this have to do with your senior living community, you ask? Plenty. What if  different teams across your organization could, together, create a focused synergy aimed directly at improving your occupancy rates? That’s precisely what the OneDay Flywheel generates for our senior living partners through three interlinked components:

• Sales and Marketing
• Human Resources
• Resident Stories

Now I’m going to show you how OneDay’s program generates that critical momentum to drive maximum occupancy rates through each of these components.

Sales and Marketing

Your prospects and their adult children aren’t looking for glossy brochures from their ideal community. Instead, they want to feel a genuine connection with your staff and residents. They want to know that you're compassionate, understand this massive change they’re about to go through, and feel safe and comfortable with their choice.

There’s simply no better way to convey those feelings than with personalized video messages using the OneDay app. From prospect introductions and follow-ups to virtual tours of your community, a OneDay video forms powerful connections that no other form of content can match. Bar none.

Human Resources

Your staff propels your entire community forward. And as you know, it takes a special type of person to embrace the challenges in senior living, transform those challenges into opportunity, and use it to improve the lives of your residents in some way. Needless to say, that sort of employee doesn’t exactly fall out of a tree, so attracting and maintaining talent is key to your success.

But put yourself in a job candidate’s shoes. Would you prefer to read about a position on a career board or, instead, watch a video from an HR Director or VP of Personnel explaining the position and what a special place a community is? Or better yet, how about receiving a personalized OneDay video introducing the position, the community, and what it’s like to work there?

Of course, retaining key talent is just as important as attracting it, especially with the senior living industry having amongst the highest turnover rates in all service sectors. That’s yet another area where the OneDay program shines, allowing you to send video “shout-outs” for a job well-done, a customized introduction of your newest team member, or just sending a “thinking of you” video.

These types of messages are infinitely more personal than an email and give you an efficient, convenient, yet powerful way to recognize staff and express empathy. Naturally, these abilities are critical for retaining top employees during these challenging times, and the OneDay program is the perfect way to capture them.

Resident Stories

The third piece of our flywheel comes from Resident Stories. Social proof like testimonials are essential to your messaging, giving the viewer an open window into your residents’ perspectives and what it’s really like living in your community. With OneDay, you can maximize the impact of those testimonials so the viewer can hear a resident’s voice, see their smile, and watch them beem when talking about their quality of life and happiness.

OneDay videos are also a perfect way for your residents to share stories with their loved ones, particularly for communities limiting in-person visits. Those videos become treasured heirlooms, captured memories that can live on within a family for decades. And there’s just no replacement for those gifts you can provide a family through the OneDay program.

Putting the Pieces Together

Now let’s put the pieces of the flywheel together, beginning with Resident Stories.

1. Your sales and marketing team can use those Resident Stories in your social media channels, your website, and as testimonials to share with prospects. As detailed in one of our case studies, this allows you to book more tours and increase move-ins.
2. That increase in move-ins drives more revenue and creates room in your budget to both hire and retain the best of the best. These are the employees that showcase your culture, take pride in what they do, and want nothing more than to improve the quality of life for your residents.
3. Happy residents that feel comfortable and safe won’t want to leave your community. Therefore, along with increased move-ins, greater resident retention maximizes occupancy for your community. Given how much they’re enjoying themselves, that will come through in your testimonials and, thus, continue the momentum forward.

That’s the OneDay Flywheel to Drive Occupancy in a nutshell. It’s actually a concept we’ve been using for years here at OneDay, and to extraordinary success. We just figured it was about time to give it a name and start sharing all of the benefits it can bring to senior living communities.

But that’s what OneDay is all about – giving our partners the tools and insights they need to thrive, no matter the circumstances. So give our flywheel a whirl and see what it can do for your occupancy rates. I can’t wait to see the results.