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Top 25 Priorities for Improving Senior Living Occupancy in 2025

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We asked our Solutions Advisors’ team members what their top priorities are for improving occupancy in 2025.  Check out our thoughts and let us know yours!  

  1. Establish activity and conversion goals/KPIs that advance prospects through the sales cycle and measure progress weekly to proactively adapt tactics. Understand how your activity goals compare to industry standards. 
  1. Adopt a person-centered sales culture focused on discovering the prospect’s needs and desires.  Every individual’s journey is unique. 
  1. Step outside of your comfort zone. Do things differently and measure the results. 
  1. Conduct annual sales training to establish and reinforce sales best practices. 
  1. Utilize your CRM as a relationship tool, not just a log of activities. 
  1. Hold weekly whiteboard planning sessions with the sales team and leadership to strategize prospect advancement opportunities. 
  1.  Introduce home visits, creative follow-up and prospect case studies into the mix of advancement activities. 
  1. Collaboration within the sales team is key. Brainstorm creative follow-up together as many heads are better than just one. 
  1. Assess your contract options and compare with your competitors. It may be time to offer a different financial option. 
  1. Implement a robust resident referral program and promote actively and consistently so it becomes part of the community culture.   
  1. Don’t just write an annual marketing plan that sits on a shelf. Hold quarterly marketing planning sessions to evaluate past performance and set goals for the upcoming quarter; accumulate data, analyze progress, adapt tactics as needed. 
  1. Creatively plan a mix of events that target different audiences depending on their ‘stage of readiness’, i.e., denial, thinking, planning or action. Events should be designed to generate leads, advance existing prospects through the sales funnel or convert prospects in late planning and action to deposit. 
  1. Follow up event RSVPs with personal phone calls with the goal of obtaining pre-event tours and conduct discovery.    
  1. Focus on increasing repeat tours, the primary indicator of lead advancement. If repeat tours are low, it may be a sales advancement issue, a product/programmatic issue where the tour does not meet the expectations of the prospects, or the sales team member has oversold/overwhelmed the prospect by showing them too much.  
  1. Evaluate your community’s signage and way-finding – both indoor and outdoor. 
  1. Improve your first impression: the concierge desk, main lobby and seating area, artwork, public restrooms, hallways, etc. 
  1. Appraise the sales center/hospitality room – is it comfortable, relaxing, private and homey feeling, stocked with refreshments? 
  1. At events, purposefully and strategically intermingle the sales team and pre-selected residents alongside prospects to answer questions informally and share their experiences with the community.  
  1. Incorporate AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) along with SEO strategies to create content that more fully responds to inquiries, building trust and rapport with your audience; organic traffic is key. 
  1. Review and update your community’s website content regularly.  Ensure the three top items prospects are interested in are easily accessible on your website: photos, floor plans and pricing. 
  1. Add FAQs to your Google Business Profile to address the key items prospects and family members are concerned about. 
  1. Establish easy ways for residents, family members and other stakeholders to provide google reviews. For example, provide a card with the Google URL asking for photos they may have taken and reviews of the event/community.  
  1. Regularly review where your residents have moved from to guide the future purchase of mailing lists. 
  1. Incorporate more videos on your website and YouTube channel. Understand what questions your prospects are asking and ensure your videos address their key objectives.  And use SEO keyword research to help guide the topics. 
  1. Have move-in ready apartments!