January 2024 marked a significant milestone for the Watermark CRM Suite™ and more importantly, the initial framework for My Watermark Experience. Buyers today want resident-centered, individualized experiences and lifestyles, but today’s senior living sales approach has not adopted this method, often resorting to clinical and financial discovery only to then present a well-rehearsed, generalized presentation of the community. Incorporating more individualized approaches, based on consumer preferences, can answer the call.
My Watermark Experience is both an internal and external customer experience program aimed at improving satisfaction, loyalty, and rates through providing profoundly unexpected customer engagements. In order to do so, associates must be empowered with a common purpose but also see our customers as individuals. Understanding customer preferences in lifestyle, dining, self-care, and the pursuit of their passions is critical to creating individualized experiences. The company is leveraging Salesforce to solicit these preferences not only through a salesperson’s discovery skills but also directly from the prospect and family.
Direct Customer Engagement in CRM
Encouraging prospective customers to interact directly with the Watermark CRM Suite should provide new insights as well as improve engagement. Giving seniors a voice in their own discovery notes through multiple pre-sales surveys is just one method that will be deployed. Upon move in, a full review of the new resident’s preferences will occur and be entered into the system. These will not only benefit community life teams but also provide new prospect-to-resident matching capabilities in the pre-sales environment. The simple fact that Watermark prioritizes customers’ individuality and incorporates this information through the sales cycle can provide an elevated experience over the competition.
Operationalizing Individual Experiences
A common phrase with industry sales veterans is that living in a community is like “living on a cruise ship.” This sentiment may now fall short with the demand for customer-centered approaches. At Watermark, our communities are certainly well appointed, but it is how we shape each resident experience that is paramount. The “buy a room on the boat and go enjoy” cruise ship method should, in our opinion, be focused on how we can tailor the experience to the individual. Understanding preferences is the first step, operationalizing the preferences is next — and surprisingly, there are many low- or no-cost programs that can be implemented.
Watch for future On the Mark articles on how communities utilize preference sheets to give the experience today’s seniors demand both pre- and post-sale.
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