Community & Sales Event Highlights

Buy Now, Move Later Program

During the Pandemic, created a program called “Buy Now, Move Later” allowing prospects to use the website to view videos of all available apartments on the website, download the application, complete paperwork with either DocuSign or download and mail it in, and move in when they felt safe, all promoted with a full digital (SEO/SEM) component.  When the Pandemic restrictions ended, people moved in quickly and this Senior Living community was one of the first in the State and country to achieve (and exceed) pre-Pandemic occupancy.  

Drive Through Parade at Franke Tobey Jones

During the Pandemic family members and visitors were not allowed to visit residents for over a year which was emotional and heart breaking for everyone involved.  Team members hosted weekly hallway happy hours, fitness programs were moved to the hallways and everything was being done to keep residents safe, well and engaged.  However, after several months it was just so difficult, that we created a “drive through” parade so family members and friends could at least get “eyes on” their loved ones who were all doing well.  We invited everyone to decorate their cars and cruise through our 20 acre campus…and invited residents (including assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing with care givers) to line the route.  It was absolutely amazing!  We expected 20 cars and over 100 showed up, blocked neighborhood streets the duration of the parade.  People were so thrilled to see each other.  This also garnered stories on two broadcast evening news stations, 12,000 FTJ Facebook engagements, and stories in several local newspapers.  It was the right thing to do!  It was so popular, we hosted a second parade shown in this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3Gt3lbCLKU

Tacoma Senior Living Tour

The thought of moving to a senior living community typically conjures up thoughts, images and smells of your grandma’s nursing home.  Today, senior living is not like that at all.  Most senior living communities are modern, beautiful and wonderful places to live.  The goal was to develop an educational event in which seniors could visit five communities in one day, taste  their food, see their common areas and apartments, and meet residents.  Five competing communities came together to host this event in 2014, and it’s been so wildly popular, the event has been hosted twice a year ever since to an at capacity crowd each time.  Over 1,200 seniors have participated, all with rave reviews, and many have moved into these communities.

Priority Perks Program

I created the Priority Perks program to decrease the time it takes for a prospect to make a deposit to move in, and then decrease the time it takes to actually move in.  The Priority Perks Passport features 10 Perks – 10 ways depositors can start enjoying FTJ TODAY.  Once they start enjoying the FTJ benefits, the goal is they will move in sooner.  For those taking advantage of these Perks, FTJ has seen a quicker move in rate.  If only one person moves in one month sooner than originally planned (and there have been more than one), FTJ avoids the loss of income from an empty apartment ($2,500-$6,000 per apartment per month).  Cost of program: $358.

Memory Point Added Value Prospect Tour

With increased competition and prospects taking longer to make a buying decision, I created a prospect tour that would stand out among the competition and be exceptionally memorable...ultimately to drive sales quicker.  To create several WOWS! along the tour route, prospects are given memorable items that tie into FTJs competitive advantages and lifestyle.  After this program was implemented, in the first six months sales/admissions were up nearly 20% over the same time period the previous year. The cost of the entire program for six months was $1,460.  The national average cost for one move-in at $4,500.

Care Center and Luxury Apartment Grand Opening

Opened 100,000 square feet of new living space in a Care Center and a luxury apartment building.  I created, and the team helped implement, successful pre-marketing and grand opening events which resulted in filled the apartment building and memory care eight months before projections.  With consistent marketing, occupancy has remained at nearly 100% since fill-up.

Senior Prom for Pierce County

Franke Tobey Jones has a rich and deep history as a wonderful non-profit continuing care retirement community with a mission “To enrich and extend the quality of life for seniors in our community.”  We raise money annually and open our community every day of the year for all seniors who live in Tacoma/Pierce County to participate in our wellness/fitness programs and our Senior University classes.  For this particular event, instead of having seniors come to us, we decided to create an event that we would bring to the greater Tacoma/Pierce County community. Our goal was to develop a fun, upbeat, interactive event that anyone age 55 or better could attend.  Hence the Community Senior Prom.  It ended up being so successful that it was held for eight years straight.  In fact, it became so popular, the event had to be moved to an event space double the size.  The event was great PR for Franke Tobey Jones, and was a perfect event for our not-for-profit 403(b) status.

Wellness Walk and Fair at Franke Tobey Jones

The Annual Wellness Walk and Fair is a way to showcase Franke Tobey Jones’ excellent Wellness/Fitness Program which many residents and several hundred non-resident seniors participate, and to invite this group as well as the general senior public to join in a morning of short walks around campus, a Wellness Fair and a light snack.  It’s an anticipated event each fall.

Artfully Aging - Senior Art Show (statewide event)

Franke Tobey Jones mission is “To enrich and extend the quality of life for seniors in our community.” One of the goals of our Senior University program, open to anyone 55 or better, is to keep seniors intellectually and creatively engaged. The FTJ mission and the Senior University goal inspired the creation of the FTJ Senior Art Show.  It showcases outstanding artwork from Pacific Northwest artists age 55 and better who have continued to be creative throughout their senior years.  Since the inception, ten shows have been curated and exhibited at FTJ and the last five have moved to the Tacoma Art Museum.