The Human Side of Senior Living: Sales, Technology & Helping Residents Stay Independent

In this episode of The Grow Your Occupancy Podcast, host Julie Podewitz, CEO & Founder of Grow Your Occupancy, sits down with Matt Kelley, Regional Vice President of Operations and Business Development with Personic Health, for a wide-ranging conversation about senior living, sales fundamentals, innovation and helping older adults maintain their independence. Matt shares lessons from a career that began in senior living and eventually expanded into home health and mobile wound care. He also recounts a recent eye-opening experience helping a friend’s mother search for an independent living community. She was qualified, ready to move and motivated, yet getting someone to answer the phone, return calls, provide information and consistently follow up proved surprisingly difficult. Julie and Matt discuss why the fundamentals still matter: answering the phone, having backup systems in place, responding quickly, providing useful information and making prospective residents and families feel seen, heard and valued. In a competitive senior living market, great customer service can be one of a community’s most powerful differentiators. The conversation also explores Matt’s work with Elevion Health and an innovative approach to medication adherence and wellness support. Through brief telehealth visits delivered through a resident’s television, clinicians can provide medication reminders, check in on residents, identify potential changes in condition and offer families an additional layer of reassurance and human connection. For independent living operators, solutions like these may also provide another way to differentiate their communities, support residents who need a little extra help and potentially allow some residents to remain independent longer before transitioning to assisted living. Whether you’re a senior living sales professional, executive director, operator or industry leader, this conversation is a reminder that innovation matters, but so do the basics. Like, subscribe and share The Grow Your Occupancy Podcast for more conversations about senior living sales, marketing, operations and occupancy growth.