October 15, 2025 • 60 mins
Summary
In this episode of From Leads to Leases, host Jerry Vinci speaks with Melissa Hannah Fritz, creator and host of Inside Senior Living, a PBS docu-series that aims to educate families about senior living options. Melissa shares her journey of creating the show, the challenges faced in the senior living industry, and the importance of storytelling in connecting with families. The conversation covers the need for honest conversations about aging, the role of media in shaping perceptions, and the future of senior living content. Melissa also discusses her upcoming keynote at SMASH 2025 and the actionable steps for industry leaders to innovate and connect with prospects.
Get our FREE Authentic Storytelling Checklist to start putting these strategies into action. Get the checklist here.
Learn More
- Watch Inside Senior Living on PBS
- Learn more about Inside Senior Living show
- Connect with Melissa Hannah Fritz on LinkedIn
- Catch Melissa's Keynote at SMASH 2025
Takeaways
- The show aims to spark conversations about senior living.
- Families often wait until a crisis to explore senior living options.
- Television can effectively educate the public about senior living.
- Building trust is crucial in the senior living industry.
- The aging population presents a significant challenge for senior living.
- Storytelling is essential in sales and marketing for senior living.
- Empathy and vulnerability can enhance connections with prospects.
- The middle market in senior living is a growing concern.
- Innovative solutions are needed to address the senior living crisis.
- The importance of attracting talent to the senior living industry.
Chapters
00:00 From Leads to Leases - A Senior Living Business Podcast
01:52 Welcome to Melissa Hannah Fritz - Host & Creator of Inside Senior Living
03:02 Conceptualizing Inside Senior Living TV
09:29 What is Slowing Down the Senior Living Sales Process
11:32 Building Trust Through Public Media
13:37 Funding Challenges and Future Directions
16:49 The Potential of Commercial Platforms
20:20 Celebrating Achievements and Future Goals
22:24 Navigating the Show Pitch Process
25:08 The Growing Demand for Senior Living Content
27:34 Changing Perceptions of Aging and Senior Living
30:51 Innovative Approaches in Season Two
32:32 The 30 in 30 Campaign: A New Initiative
35:23 Addressing the Senior Living Crisis
38:25 Bridging the Middle Market Gap
41:39 How Operators Should Leverage Storytelling
44:22 Storytelling Compels Action
50:16 Keynote Insights and Call to Action
Keywords
senior living, Inside Senior Living, PBS, aging, family conversations, education, trust, Emmy nominations, storytelling, sales strategies
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
We're in a crisis because we wait to understand what's coming
down the pipeline for us in the senior living, the senior care
industry. There's not enough even if
everyone could afford to move into a senior living community,
there's not enough apartments, there's not enough staff to take
care of everyone. And so that's why we see such a
(00:21):
big thrust in senior living because we all know we are in
for it. We we are gracing for how do we
care for our aging population? What is the most powerful way to
change how families decide on senior living isn't a new ad,
but a national public media series that puts real choices on
(00:42):
screen. Today we go behind the camera
with the woman who built that show from 0.
Welcome to From Leeds to Leases ACCR Growth podcast that helps
senior living providers transform their complex
challenges into opportunities. Listen in for stories from
industry leaders, innovative strategies and insights, and
(01:03):
with our expertise, learn how toincrease occupancy faster,
Guaranteed. Welcome back to another episode
of From Lease to Leases, the podcast that dives deep into the
senior living and senior care industries, bringing you
insights, strategies, and stories from the experts at the
forefront of innovation, leadership, and care.
(01:23):
I'm your host, Jerry Vincey, CEOof CCR Growth, and for those of
you who don't know about us, CCRGrowth is a full service
marketing and growth agency that's exclusive to the senior
living industry. And through this podcast, I'm
here to guide you through the evolving landscape of senior
care, exploring the innovations,the strategies and leadership
insights that are shaping the future of the industry.
So whether you're a provider, a caregiver, or industry leader of
(01:47):
the show is here to help you make informed decisions and
create meaningful impact. All right, today's guest is
Melissa Fritz, creator, executive producer and host of
Inside Senior Living, the PBS N docu series that follows real
families as they navigate aging and care decisions.
The series was built to spark conversations between caregivers
and their loved ones, to celebrate the people who serve
(02:09):
in senior care and point viewersto trusted local resources.
You can watch Season 1 on pbs.org, or you can stream it on
PBS Passport. Melissa didn't come up through
television. She started in senior living,
sales and consulting, and duringthe pandemic, while helping her
own family through her father's Alzheimer's, she saw a gap for
(02:31):
honest, practical content and decided to build it herself.
That decision became inside senior living and the show's
real family's real choice lens. Today, she's developing Season 2
and expanding distribution whilekeeping the show's educational
core front and center. And she's also taking the stage
at Smash 2025 in Las Vegas this October, where the focus is on
(02:53):
senior living, marketing and sales outcomes.
So, Melissa, welcome to the show.
I'm so glad to have you here. Thank you.
I appreciate it being here. I know I, I talked a little bit
about the series in the intro and I wanted to just start out
by you telling your story about where this where this concept
came from. I know we kind of talked before
you said something about you wanting to build the series that
(03:16):
you wished existed when you wenton the senior living journey.
So can you take us to that moment you realize that the
resources you need didn't reallyexist?
And what did you try first? And and then what gap did you
see? Well, this whole concept came
out of the pandemic where I was working at the community level
and sales and marketing. All of us at that time, you
(03:38):
know, life was not normal and certainly senior living, sales
and marketing was not normal, wasn't normal going into through
a community and having, you know, change into scrubs and
wear an N95 mask, especially notbeing a clinical person.
So I would go home just desperate to figure out a way to
(03:58):
help connect families with more resources that I know are out
there. There's a lot of great senior
living resources actually. But what I found really
interesting, especially during the pandemic, was why aren't
people finding them? And why is why are most families
waiting until they're in a crisis until they do do any
(04:20):
research into senior living? So that coupled with the phone
call I get from my mom where shehas broken her ankle and she
cannot take care of my father with Alzheimer's dementia and
they happen to live 2 hours away, that really sparked my
desperation to find something that starts sparking these
(04:43):
conversations. I mean, really the intent of the
show is really number one, to spark the conversation so that
families are not put in this place of waiting until they're
in or near crisis to investigatesenior living.
And so I found for myself, even though I had worked in the
industry for, let's see, over 7 years at that time, you know,
(05:07):
it's different when it's your own parent.
And that was the catalyst or kind of the plot twist for me
that really changed my story andjust made me determined to
figure out a way to produce content, to connect people, to
start sparking these conversations.
And I just didn't know how hard,you know, creating and and
(05:32):
producing and distributing ATV show was or would be, you know,
I'm really glad that I stuck to it.
And, you know, it's a lot of it.It's so much luck.
That's a yeah. I'm.
I'm in awe of what you actually built in the time that you built
it. What was the catalyst for it
being televised? Because I know a lot of
(05:54):
communities, they try to connectwith families, they try to do
the education piece so that they're thinking about these
things before they're in a crisis.
But usually they're using like brochures and tours to bring
that, bring that out. I mean, what convinced you that
a television series would be themost effective path?
What convinced me is that I I doknow of so many communities.
(06:16):
So many corporations that have produced excellent, great
quality content that's educational.
Even our state resources across America are fabulous, but
there's not distribution. So you have a beautiful YouTube
channel that nobody's seeing. And and so that just struck me
as really odd. Why is the general public not
(06:38):
seeing that these channels? And what I, I believe, my theory
is that people don't even know what to Google.
That's how little we know as a society about the process of
aging and finding senior living and senior care.
And so for me, I just thought, if I'm going to do this, I have
(06:59):
to dream big. And the biggest I can imagine,
because that's going to reach the most eyeballs, and that's
the only way that I'm going to be able to make an impact, to
help my fellow content creators that are doing, in my opinion,
just such a great job, includingyourself to help tell your
story, to help tell the stories of all these great companies
(07:22):
that have the education piece. They're just not getting to a
broader audience. I know season one too, it avoids
promotion and kind of centers onthe education and dignity side
of things. The belief around that, you
know, that honest specific stories, they're going to reduce
that fear and unlock decisions for reluctant families, which
story beats consistently to helpsomeone go from like a no way
(07:44):
family to actually reconsideringsenior living.
Well, I would say what I found and certainly doing the the show
was families that got out and actually looked at senior
living, even if their intent wascompletely solidified on aging
in place at home. The families that could get past
(08:07):
the insistent that, Nope, I'm going to age in place.
I'm going to age in my own home and come hell or high water, I'm
going to this is what I'm going to do.
But the problem is what if planning ahead?
And So what was successful for me and the in the some of the
episodes in the show was the families that were willing to
(08:28):
take a look and willing to create a plan, willing to have a
plan, willing to have those conversations with their
families. Those turned out to be the most
successful. Were there patterns across
season one that you noticed thatkind of led to them stalling
their decisions? And then if so, what finally
unlocked the momentum? I got some of them to say yes.
(08:49):
I would say in Season 1, most ofour cast, so most of our cast
families were open to conversation.
We're open to making a plan. And you will see, obviously I'm
not going to give it away, but you will see in especially one
of our episodes, to me, it's very obvious the family that is
(09:09):
very much in denial and doesn't want to face reality.
I think that that creates a verystark contrast.
If you watch all 8 episodes, families that will avoid crisis
and have avoided crisis are the ones that are willing to talk
about it and make a plan. I was looking at some data too,
(09:31):
just about move insurance and, and the whole process of going
from, you know, someone being a prospect to someone becoming a
resident. In 2024.
The data point says something like to only 24% of tourists
converted to move insurance. For assisted living, the average
length of the sales cycle was like 95 days.
(09:52):
And for independent living, it's145 days, which is crazy that
that's a long sales cycle. And I know for CCR CS it's even
longer. I've, I've worked with some that
on average it's three years. You know, do you, do you feel
like that lack of education is abig reason why that sales cycle
is so long? I'm not sure if it's a lack of
education as far as how long thesales cycle is for senior
(10:16):
living. My experience on the community
side is I truly believe that people, in addition to not doing
their research ahead of time, not having the information and
knowing what the process is, they wait until there's a
crisis. But also I think a really big
(10:36):
factor is the fact that people are in general waiting a lot
longer than they should be to make a move because of finances.
They're afraid of running out ofmoney.
It's it's a financial issue morethan it is the lack of education
issue to some extent, but they go hand in hand because the more
(10:59):
you know, the more you can financially investigate what
your options are. And there are so many different
senior living communities for all different types, all
different levels of income and socioeconomic status.
So I think the more we educate ourselves, the more we start
talking about it, the more we just make this a an everyday
(11:22):
conversation, the better off we'll be.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's a huge decision
that impacts not just the personmoving in potentially, but the
entire family unit. Talking about trust.
A little bit back to the show, Ithink it's awesome that you went
the PBS route. I think public media, there's
guardrails, right? So it's going to limit the
(11:42):
promotional aspect of what you can put out there and force your
content to earn trust. What did you learn about earning
trust when you can't sell on air?
Do you mean earning trust with the public?
Yeah, yeah. Well, I feel like it's much
easier to earn trust with the public when they know that
(12:03):
you're not trying to sell them something.
And that is why I believe PBS isthe number one most trusted
media brand in in America because they have made a
commitment to that and their editorial content standards are
extremely rigorous. So that was one of the first
(12:25):
things I did when I got this deal to do this with PBS is I
downloaded their editorial and financial fundraising standards
to make sure that we were in compliance.
And it's also the FCC too, right?
Don't aren't there there's rulesor or guidelines that you have
to fall for those did that kind of, I guess that probably helps
(12:47):
shape how you wrote and cut season 1, right?
Absolutely, because we just had to be mindful of things like,
you know, accidental product placement or when we were
interviewing experts, we would give them credit, you know, for
their position, but there wouldn't be a promotion about
their organization. And certainly product placement
(13:11):
type situations where, you know,we have a couple scenes where we
have a cast member on treadmill and exercise equipment.
And I remember going through theediting process and pointing
out, OK, we should probably take, you know, shade out the
logo that's spread and center that you can see for about 30
(13:33):
seconds, so. Right, that makes sense.
It's very different. I know in 2025 there was some
rescissions that passed are kindof clawing back the the budgets
that were already appropriated for for public stations and
producers. So I would imagine that Season 2
(13:54):
for inside senior living, it's going to have to kind of shift
how you're approaching that. Are there changes in your
distribution method or underwriting now that have
changed since those rescissions have gone into place?
Yes. So everything about getting ATV
show produced is about money, you know, is about funding.
(14:16):
And so we were really fortunate that the timing of Inside senior
Living this first season, I don't think if I had gone to
pitch this a year ago, we would be able, we wouldn't be making
the show at all just because of these funding issues that are
going on with PBS and the Corporation for Public
(14:37):
Broadcasting. So in TV, in the TV business in
general, there's a lot of tightening of budgets.
So the process right now that we're in is we actually have
funders who want to, we have a couple companies who have
identified, hey, we want to fundthe show, but we run into
(14:59):
conflict of interest and issues like that if we go with PBS.
But they might not have enough funding for us to go like with a
mainstream network. So we're just trying to figure
that out right now. It really does affect how the
show will be distributed in the next season and beyond.
(15:20):
But I'm very hopeful that we cancontinue either with PBS or find
something similar that we can continue to deliver the content
in the original format of just the continuity of integrity that
we are. We are truly out there to
further the cause of this entireindustry because most of us who
(15:44):
are in senior living and especially a senior living
salespeople, most of us are in it for the right reasons.
We just want to help people. And so my real hope and dream is
that, you know, the universe will produce enough
philanthropists in the senior living and beyond industry to
provide the funding to keep moving this forward so that we
(16:07):
can really grow this into a movement similar to back in the
day when, you know, depression and mental health was very
stigmatized. It wasn't mainstream, but now it
is. And so I, I often compare those
two to what I'm trying to do right now.
I'm trying to bring this whole conversation of aging and senior
(16:29):
living and even dying into mainstream conversation and
culture. So it's a very lofty goal, I
realize, but I feel like we in this industry have an
opportunity right now to change it and we need to do everything
we can to further this. What if a commercial platform
(16:51):
came knocking rather than just an educational platform?
What would that opportunity looklike?
How would that change the show? A commercial platform could
change the show in a couple different ways and there are
different, you know, there are different ways to do this show
(17:12):
within the bounds of what I created to be.
I have copy written the concept or I have registered the concept
for the show. And my original concept was to
create a much more real estate and truly inside the senior
living industry show where I would be bringing cast member
(17:33):
families into more senior livingcommunities.
What happened with Season 1 is Icouldn't get the access.
So I just even as much as I havea lot of relationships inside
the senior industry, I think because the show hadn't hadn't
been produced, it had been proven.
(17:54):
And I think there was a lot of speculation, maybe maybe a
little fear. Because what we see in the media
often times when people and television crews go into a
senior living community, it often times doesn't turn out to
be a real positive picture that they're painting.
So I'm happy that now I've I've proven that my intent is to
(18:16):
paint the picture of the truth of the good things that are
happening in senior living and the benefits of senior living so
that we can move forward with a commercial, whether it's PBS or
a mainline like a Roku or Netflix or whatever that is.
I don't think that the structurewould change that much.
(18:38):
I think it just changes as far as who can sponsor and
advertise. I mean, PBS, it's a sponsorship.
On a mainstream broadcaster or network, It's it's an
advertiser. So I would imagine, I would
imagine now that Season 1's wrapped up and people can see it
for what it is, that your kind of authority and credibility
(19:01):
have obviously increased. So has that level of access that
you're getting now has that increase, or has it been easier
to get it than before? Absolutely.
It is like if you, if you Googlehow, how difficult is it to get
ATV show, you know, deal with, you know, with an idea, it's
virtually 0 because these what Ilearned and I didn't know this
(19:26):
is even PDS, all of the mainstream studios and streaming
networks, they they want new ideas, but they want proven
ideas because their jobs are on the line and it has to, it has
to be profitable. It has to be a good concept
that'll produce results and results for TV is viewers.
(19:47):
So they are looking for something that is going to
attract viewership. And when we went to pitch this
on an international level at themarket with all of the major
streaming, you know, HETVANE, Lifetime, Magnolia, PBS, all of
those, what I heard so often wasI love this idea.
(20:08):
This is so great. This is so needed.
They would tell me their own story of a loved one who they're
dealing with who has, you know, but I'm not really sure, you
know, because this hasn't been done before.
So now that this is a proven concept, now that we have
successfully created a national TV series and and received 2
(20:28):
Emmy nominations for it, it definitely makes the next
seasons much easier to sell and to produce.
And it's to gain sponsorship money too, for sure.
You just, you just glossed over that.
You just got 2 heavy dominations.
I mean, that's, that's pretty amazing in and of itself.
I love that. Congratulations, by the way.
So. Thank you.
I, I just, I can't even believe what I mean.
(20:50):
I, it's weird because I try to stop myself and appreciate what
I've done in the last four years, but you know, when you're
working so hard and you've got agoal and I've also learned that
I'm building a business in the meantime.
I'm, I'm, I kind of miss the days in a way of going to my
(21:12):
job, helping seniors, you know, helping their families and
getting my paycheck. And that was wonderful.
This has been extremely hard. A lot of personal investment put
into it, just physically, emotionally, financially that
people just don't realize. So my goodness, to get one, not
(21:33):
one, but two Emmy nominations isreally for me rewarding because
it validates the importance of what I'm doing and it actually
helps encourage me to keep goingbecause it is very frustrating.
It is very hard to keep at it, to keep trying to keep trying to
solicit funders and then keep things moving along with the
(21:58):
actual brand and show. Yeah, just from a branding
perspective. Yeah, No, absolutely.
I think from a branding perspective, being able to say
the Emmy nominated show inside Senior Living or eventually the
Emmy award-winning show inside Senior Living, that that's as
much social proof as you'll everneed to be able to do so much
(22:19):
more and get and get the messageout to more viewers, you know,
So I love that for you. I know most, so most people when
they think about creating a show, I think it starts and
stops with something like what I'm doing right, a podcast or
maybe a YouTube channel or something like that.
So if you wanted to pitch something like this to a group
of, of networks, I mean, what's the best way to do it?
(22:39):
Is it when you when you pitch, do you just pitch the idea?
Do you create a a pilot of your own and submit it to them?
Like what? What does that process look
like? Very good question.
So the process to get a show deal like a development deal is
you want to create a very clear pitch document, you want to have
(23:00):
a very clear purpose, a log line, a summary, and then you
want to create something will show proof of your concept.
So what you do not need to do a whole pilot episode because you
can achieve that by doing what'scalled a sizzle reel, which is
virtually like a trailer or say from Leeds to leases.
(23:25):
And the beautiful thing about you having a podcast with video
is you could compile composites from your YouTube channel and
create a 2 minute sizzle reel with your pitch.
And then you go out and you actually pitch that to the
networks, which it's very hard. And I tell people, if you think
(23:47):
you're going to just come up with this idea, do a sizzle
reel, create a pitch document and get get in front of a buyer
without making a significant financial investment, you're
wrong. I'm sure that it's been done
before, but you need to get in front of the right people.
And you have to. You have to go to the markets,
(24:09):
you have to go to festivals, youhave to get your sizzle reel in
front of people. Yeah, there's no no shortcuts
for sure, which is daunting in and of itself.
I can imagine. Yes, yes.
But these, think about it, thesenetworks, they, they want to
know that you have, why would they invest in you if you aren't
(24:31):
investing in you? So it's very interesting because
what my husband and I discoveredwhen we went to this big
marketplace is there are so manygreat ideas, I mean, thousands
of great ideas that people have put so much money into, but
there's only so much money at these networks to give funding
(24:54):
to. And they're very, very skittish
about putting money into someonewho is not proven, you know,
proven producer has money backing them already.
It's it's a really rare thing. I mean, I would think too, given
where we're at in terms of the baby boomer population exploding
into the senior living market, this is probably a timely topic
(25:16):
that a lot more networks are going to want to pick up
coverage on pretty quickly. Because just to serve their
demographic, we've got the the sandwich generation who are all
trying to figure out, you know, how they're going to manage
taking care of mom or dad or both, plus their own kids.
And then you've got this influx of older adults who are also
trying to navigate their options.
And so it, I think it's going tobe an interesting shift.
(25:40):
And I, you already see it. I mean, you look on Netflix now,
you see there's a couple of movies that are all focused on,
you know, senior living. And I don't recall there ever
being a time like that. Ever.
No. Before now, so it's pretty
interesting. It's very exciting for me to
see. We've got, whether you like it
or not, the golden Bachelor on ABC, hugely successful.
(26:03):
They did not expect that, you know, they did not expect that,
but the population actually enjoys this content.
A man on the inside with Netflix.
Super great show. Funny, I love how Ted Danson
just nails it as far as inside what it looks to live inside of
a senior living community and then the different players.
(26:25):
And then you have Tyler Perry does an assisted living comedy
show. Bradley Cooper just did APDS on
caregiving. So there's definitely, I think
we're going to see more and morequality content coming on board
because there's a demand for it.And the more content, whether
it's comedy or drama or documentary, these are the types
(26:49):
of things that start changing our society and our culture, and
we'll hopefully continue to spark the conversations.
Yeah, I think two things it doesis it destigmatizes senior
living, which still has this weird perspective.
And it also desensitizes people to it being a crisis.
Because if they've already been exposed to it multiple times,
(27:10):
they're going to know if if theystart seeing the signs in their
in their parent, you know, if they're not getting around the
house as well as they used to orthere's some cognitive decline,
things like that. If we're talking about it more
in our regular conversations or the shows we're watching, it's
going to be far less of a thing for people to actually come to
grips with the fact that, oh, maybe I need to look into this
(27:31):
with my family member, you know?Yes, absolutely.
And the more they see on TV or online, What assisted living
looks like, what independent look in living looks like, even
what memory care looks like. This is not a nursing home.
It's amazing how even today withthe Internet and all the
(27:53):
resources that are available online, most of the calls that I
would get. And I'm, I'm curious to know if
your listeners or viewers would say the same thing.
It's shocking to me the people who the older adults who I don't
want, you know, my daughters wanting me to move to a nursing
home and they're calling an assisted living.
(28:14):
Like there is a lot of misinformation out there because
people don't want to talk about it.
We don't want to talk about getting older.
We don't want to face aging. And that's just something that,
gosh, you know, what's the alternative?
I kind of like aging personally.I'm, I'm into it because it
(28:36):
means I'm living. So we, we have to start
somewhere. And if all of us do our part and
in the senior senior industry, in the entertainment industry,
I, I truly believe we can start a movement.
We can change the way we're viewing aging and the school
process and viewing our elders. So many other cultures treat
(29:01):
their elders different. There is just such a greater
respect in some other cultures for our elders.
There's a lot of things we coulddo, we could learn from other
countries and cultures when it comes to our elders.
Absolutely. A recent guest of mine too was
talking about the fact that only10% of the available market ever
(29:22):
moves into senior living. So I think a big part of that is
that that perception out there that's still seeing a certain
way. And I do think that the more
exposure and the more normalizedthis becomes, that number will
will start to increase, not onlybecause there's more people in
the market looking for housing, but I just think that people
will see it more as a acceptableoption, right?
(29:44):
It's either it's either the family members that are pushing
back or the the older adult themself who have that sordid
view. I mean, my parents are in that
category. I'm not moving into one of those
places. It's like, have you ever visited
one of those places? You know, there's like 78 years
old? Like do you still want to be
walking up and down three flights of stairs for the next
10 years? You think that's safe?
(30:04):
You know, so I think just just education and and exposure is
going to be so important. Yes, my own mother.
Oh, my goodness. After my father passed away, it
was I don't want it. There's there's so many old
people there. I'm too young.
Yes, you are on the younger side, mom.
But you know what's wrong with being around older people?
(30:28):
I mean, that right there tells you our perception in Society of
the value, how we value older adults and being grown walkers.
But I don't want to be around. I don't, you know, I don't want
to go have lunch in, in a restaurant that has walkers
lined up in the hallway. What does that say about us and
(30:49):
our attitudes? I think that's very interesting.
For season 2 of the show too. I know season 1 you're very
intentional about how you went about putting it together and
what your goals were. What is season 2 look like?
I mean is that is it more of thesame or are you going at it from
a different angle? Season 2 I plan to design season
(31:09):
2 much more like a house huntersfor senior living and with with
a little bit of intervention thrown in.
So I would really love to show more of the real estate options
in season 2. But what happened in Season 1 is
I have to have cooperation from communities and senior living
(31:33):
operators to do that. So the benefit is I've built a
lot of trust and I have one company here in Minnesota that
is willing to let me in and basically open up their doors
and give me the resources I needto truly film inside senior
living, different senior living communities.
(31:55):
But we'll just see. It all depends on the
distribution. So it's weird because it's like
I can't, I can't secure the funders until I know what the
distribution is. And the distribution doesn't
happen until. So it's, it's a, it's an
interesting dance of juggling different pieces at the same
time and hoping it all comes together at the end.
(32:17):
But my desire is to well, that'sthat's why I set out to do this
30 and 30 campaign is to producesome content.
Tell us, tell us about that. Tell our audience about that.
OK, so I came up with this crazyidea this summer.
Yeah, this is another crazy idea.
(32:38):
Hey. Well, because my crew that
they're in Chicago and we're trying to brainstorm season 2
and our strategy and what we're going to do with this PBS
situation going on. So I said what if we you know
what if we just got cameras and we just got a small crew
together and we did this blitz of following me visiting 30
(32:59):
senior organizations in 30 days.OK, that's great, Melissa, let's
do that. OK, So it was very ambitious put
together kind of at the last minute, but we just completed
the touring 30 senior organizations in 30 days and
we're in the editing process of that that will launch October
1st through 30th. But my goodness, I'm so excited
(33:23):
because this is much more like what I would like to see us do
in Season 2, is really digging in to what the options are for
communities. And with each community that I
toured, I, we had them sit down with me and give me some
educational components, like tell me one thing you really
(33:45):
want the general public to know.And each one of those components
we are then compiling and creating another documentary,
but a a documentary feature filmout of that.
So we're going to feature 30 different senior communities
giving really good hands on educational expertise to the
(34:07):
public. That's amazing.
I can't believe we did that in the summer.
I know, I know. I'm on a mission.
I'm on a mission and and I see that.
The thing is, this isn't just me.
I actually feel very uncomfortable being in the
spotlight and being in front of the camera.
You would never guess that, but I truly, I truly don't see
(34:30):
myself as any kind of expert. I truly see myself as I am crazy
enough to just put myself out there and to try ideas and see
if they work. And I really, really want to
propel what I see happening as all these true experts, all the
real talent and passionate people who have gifts and love
(34:55):
for older adults that are doing the hard work every day.
I want to promote that. I want to show that to the
world. I want to tell those stories to
the world. And so as long as it works and
I'm able to continue doing this,I will do this because I just
see it as me giving a microphone, me giving another
(35:15):
platform to the industry to continue to do the great work
that so many people are doing. You feel like we're in a crisis.
Is that why this work is so important?
Yes, I do. I feel like as a society we're
in a crisis because we wait. We wait to understand what's
(35:40):
coming down the pipeline for us,all of us, if we have the
blessing of living long enough. And that's a crisis.
And then I think we also have a crisis in the senior living, the
senior care industry. There's not enough.
Even if everyone could afford tomove into a senior living
community, there are not enough.They're not enough apartments,
(36:03):
there's not enough staff to takecare of everyone.
And so that's why we see such a big thrust and senior living
communities doing a lot of outreach and home and community
based services types of care andoutreach because we all know we
are in for it. We, we are kind of bracing for a
(36:25):
big hit as far as how do we carefor our aging population, all of
us as we age. And we all know the struggles
that the senior living industry has already.
And we unfortunately see a lot of the negative things in the
news. We've got to, we've got to
(36:47):
manage that. We've got to get that under
control. We have to come up with more
innovative ways to deliver care.And I think a lot of that is
going to depend on how we use technology and AI moving
forward, how some of these deliveries are managed.
But yeah, I I think we are in a crisis, but think Americans are
(37:09):
really good, good at being in denial of our crisis.
Yeah, it's definitely scary. I mean, I've been looking at the
housing data. There was a report that came out
last year said something along the lines of even if every
single development project was completed between at the time
2024 and 2026, it would only account for about 33% of the
(37:29):
housing that was actually going to be needed.
So I mean, that's such a monumental gap that we have to
cover. I'm not really sure what the
plan is. I haven't really heard anybody
propose anything that I was like, that's going to solve it,
you know. So I think, again, you're right.
I mean, people are just waiting.It's a, it is a crisis because
we as a country are waiting for this massive surge in
(37:51):
population. Like 2027 is going to be the,
there's going to be 11,500 people, Americans that are
becoming 65 and older every single day.
And then I could, you know, it goes down from there, but still
it's going to that's a huge influx.
It's like 4 point. I was at 4.2 million seniors in
(38:15):
2027, something like that, that that turned 65.
That's, that's just a crazy numbers.
I don't know how we're going to solve that.
Obviously not everybody's looking for housing.
One of the questions I had just about you talking about the the
3030 by 30 was I know price attention is real for for adult
(38:36):
children because there's not a lot of options like that.
Middle market is just it's growing and growing and growing.
There's a big divide between people who can afford it and
people who can't. Did you come across any sense
that there's anyone's trying to address the middle market
challenge when it comes to senior living or does that, is
(38:56):
that another kind of crisis that's that has not really been
figured out yet? Yes, I believe and we have a
couple spots that feature home care and home based services.
I think that is what will transform senior living and be
able to at least ease some of the pain in the middle market is
(39:19):
quality home based services and clinical services that can at
least keep folks in their home longer so that the financial
impact isn't devastating for them.
So I'm, I'm excited that we havea couple home based services
that will feature that really give some good insight into how
(39:43):
they're filling that gap, how they're bridging the gap in the
senior living industry. It's exciting.
Yeah, I think that makes sense. I mean, people are living
longer, healthier lives, right? So the need to move into a
community based setting is not as critical maybe as it once
was, right. So having someone come into the
(40:04):
home maybe a few hours a day or a few times a week could be a a
viable solution for a lot of older adults and and certainly
save on cost versus, you know, long term care option.
So. Yes, yeah.
I think the statistics do say that most, most Americans want
to age in place in their own home.
(40:25):
So I think that we're trying. I think that that solves a lot,
at least temporarily. We'll see what happens.
But in general, we just need a lot more services.
We need a lot more senior livingand we need a lot more staff to
be attracted to this industry. And that's the other thing, too,
(40:45):
that my whole goal of really highlighting what a rewarding
career path this is and how manypeople, my gosh, in 30 and the
30 and 30 campaign we just did, how many people we interviewed
that. Yeah.
In high school, I worked in dining services.
(41:06):
And then now they're director ofnursing or they're an executive
director or a marketing director.
So many people who have moved upthe ranks, scores, changed
roles. It is a fabulous career path and
super rewarding. Very hard work, but anything
worthwhile is a lot of work. So I also want to try to attract
(41:29):
by showing what senior living really looks like to younger
people to attract more talent toour industry.
Building a show like this, I mean, you're, you're essentially
building story story assets, right?
And that, you know, they're inspiring, they're educational,
they're helping motivate people to to learn more, to make
(41:51):
decisions before they're in crisis, all of those things.
I mean, how do you think leadership within a senior
living community could apply that model?
You know, so if a sales director, for example, is
listening to this episode, I mean, what's this?
What's step one for them to start building those types of
like story assets within the community that would actually
(42:11):
help? I think storytelling is such a
critical component to sales and marketing and senior living.
It's a great critical component for any type of sales.
But where I think that sales andmarketing at the community
level, how they can really help their job and their community is
(42:33):
to start investing. And from the time you get the
first lead, from the first call in, to invest as much time as
you can possibly give to that initial discovery.
Who are all the players? Who are the decision makers?
Who's the resistant 1? And to start looking at every
(42:54):
single lead as a story, as an episode, a potential episode.
And how can we help resolve their issue?
And who can I, who can I employ from our community, whether it's
a resident or another staff member who can help me, who can
engage with me in this lead to help them understand or help
(43:18):
them overcome their objections so that they convert to a
resident? I think it's, it's not just the
sales and marketing person's responsibility to invest in the
stories of Leeds. So that's where sharing, sharing
the real stories, sharing the stories of your leads with your
(43:40):
team is critical because now you're starting to build those
relationships before they're even on site, before they even
tour. You are prepping your team and
your staff and your residents with the, with the new storyline
that's coming in and how can we,how can we as a community help
(44:01):
them, help them integrate as faras friends, socialization,
healthcare, any type of servicesthat we can connect them with?
I think that's really critical. I think it's hard, hard to
measure sometimes from a branding perspective.
Sometimes it's hard to measure what that's generating for the
(44:22):
community. How do you create a story that
what actually drives next step or causes someone to take action
versus just watching it, just viewing it?
Here's where I think it's important to also be able to
identify and connect your own story or the story of others in
your community. With that lead the ability to
(44:43):
connect with empathy. Maybe you haven't.
Maybe you haven't gone through this yourself, but maybe your
parents have. Or maybe you can give an example
of a resident who did move in who say maybe was very
resistant, but now they're thriving, they love it.
You could connect that person orget a quote from that person to
(45:05):
provide to your lead. So I think it's important to to
share your own story because that also also breaks down
barriers of trust with your leads.
If leads know you're willing to be vulnerable with them, they
will be vulnerable with you. So kind of matching that
vulnerability because this is such an incredibly vulnerable
(45:29):
time for your prospects. And the more empathy, the more
support, the more commitment they see from you to try to
connect on their level, I think will really help that.
Certainly, that's kind of the method that I used personally.
And even before my father was diagnosed, I had a grandmother
(45:50):
that spent eight years, went through the whole process.
I've watched my mother go through the process with my
grandmother. And so I knew a little bit about
it and I was able to, you know, share that story.
Oh, I recall when my mother was going through this, this was
really hard on her because my grandmother started getting very
agitated with her and angry withher.
(46:11):
So it just depends on what theirstory story they're sharing with
you and being able to quickly connect something that you can
relate to their story. I think is, is a very good
strategy to build trust and connect with your prospects.
I've had really good feedback from folks who have moved in.
(46:35):
Like, thank you so much. You, you've listened.
Just being a listener, it's amazing how much people need to
and it's you need to just vent. You need to just let it out.
But, and that's hard to do when you're in this role because
you're hardly getting, you're hardly getting coffee, much less
lunch in a day. You know, you're running around
(46:56):
the community. So I know sometimes, I know
personally, it's really hard sometimes to just slow yourself
down and listen and ask those key questions about how well
they're really feeling, who's struggling the most and to be
able to connect with that personCan be, can be change, life
(47:19):
changing. I was just doing an interview on
another podcast talking about the soft selling of, of senior
living and how that ultimately what it is, it's tapping into
the emotions of the person that you're speaking with.
Because we all understand that this is an extremely emotional
difficult decision. And it's something that you have
(47:39):
to connect with someone on a human level first, genuinely
connect with them. And it's it's not even about
selling at that point. It's about making sure that
they're aware of their options and that if this is a good fit
for them that they they understand why this might be the
best option for them. That's why I love.
I never saw myself as a salesperson.
I still don't see myself as a salesperson.
(48:00):
I see myself as really an advocate.
And when you can view yourself that way, and this is where
leadership is so important because the leadership, the
companies that I've worked for that really facilitate and
encourage their frontline sales and marketing people to be that
advocate, then you're empowered to truly do what's best for that
(48:23):
family. Instead of I got to sell
apartments, I've got a, you know, I have a quota here to
fill. I have a census to, to grow.
That's where I think in the longrun, a community and a company,
a management company or ownership company builds so much
more by truly having that integrity to just to be able to
(48:48):
say maybe you should check thesesources out, maybe maybe home
care for now. But to really do what's best for
the older adult and their familyis I feel like why we are here
and what our role truly is. Yes, we need to make money, but
if you do the right thing, the money will follow.
(49:11):
That's just my belief system andit's worked pretty well for me
so far, but. I think it's interesting too
that I've seen quite a few communities that have actually
changed their sales positions tocalling them advocates.
So I do think that that is in alignment with quite a few ways
that we're we're now selling versus, you know, trying to,
(49:33):
it's not like buying a car or a house or anything else.
You know, we can't just sell people on the amenities and the
features. It's got to be human focused.
Yeah. And even even overcoming these
objections takes time. I mean, yes, even if somebody is
in a crisis and still takes timeto educate them, meet them where
(49:57):
they're at, and then guide them through the process to success,
where they feel good about the process and they feel good about
moving into your community. That's just as important as the
sale because you want them to besuccessful in your community,
especially in a world with Google reviews.
The last thing I want to talk about with you is you've got an
(50:20):
upcoming keynote presentation atSmash, which is the end of
October. What?
October 22nd, right? Is that when the Smash starts?
Yeah. October 20th.
OK, Yeah, that's exciting. Are you able to give our
listeners a little taste of whatthey can expect your keynote?
What's the core idea of your keynote and why is that an
(50:43):
important piece for you right now?
Well, at Smash, I will be givinga keynote entitled Plot Twist,
How Stories Drive Success, and Iam going to be sharing a few
examples of major plot twists insenior living and business and
(51:06):
entertainment in my own life that really can drive success if
you make the choice to do something about, you know, to
jump on that plot twist and to turn it into something for good.
So I'm very excited because I think I think this is going to
be a great crowd. Smash is always full of just the
(51:31):
most influential sales and marketing executives and high,
high power people. So I'm honored to be in front of
these people feel very much it'sit's kind of overwhelming to
think of, you know, being able to speak to people that I feel
like are far more have far more expertise in senior living.
(51:54):
However, it's exciting for me because I think that I am going
to bring something so inspirational and so
motivational to them just by sharing my own plot twist and
how it created a national TV series that's, you know, gotten
2 Emmy nominations. So if we can apply that
(52:14):
philosophy to wherever, whateveryour plot twist is in your own
life or in your own business, your own community, where what
is that plot twist and how can you bring it to the next level
is really the the idea? I can imagine this is going to
be such a hot topic for people too, because this is, I mean, no
(52:36):
one else. I was there last year.
There wasn't a single conversation that had anything
to do with what it is that you're doing.
So I think your approach has been so unique and I think a lot
more communities, we'll probablyget on board with creating more
of a story, a storyboard conceptfor how they go about telling
the story of their community andtheir their residents and trying
to connect with people on that level.
(52:56):
I think there's, there's a lot of power behind that.
If there was, if someone when someone goes to smash and sees
your presentation, after they see your presentation, what
would you want them to do in thenext 30 days?
I would want them to write down what you know, what those plot
twists, the pain points, whatever you want to call them,
(53:19):
are, and then brainstorm, literally brainstorm one to five
strategies, ideas, crazy ideas. It can be as crazy as you think.
And then that would be 30 days. And then 60 days I would want
you to focus. I would want you to wind that
down to 1.1 idea and then by 93 days, I want you to have a plan
(53:44):
of how you're going to implementthat one idea.
And it might fail, it might not,you might become the next big,
big thing. But the whole idea is that we
keep moving forward, we keep innovating, we keep strategizing
and looking for new ways to reach our leads, reach our
(54:04):
prospects, to help families, to streamline our business
operations and to navigate this whole thing we're all doing,
which is called life at the sametime.
And they'll never know if they don't try, right?
So you got to, you got to start somewhere.
Exactly, I love that. Like my dad used to say, you
(54:24):
know, if you have an idea, go for it and just don't give up on
it, you know, and you will know when the right time to switch
gears and try something different.
You kind of innately know that. So that's the philosophy.
That's what I've done through this whole process of this show
is I kept saying to myself, all right, well, when the door
(54:47):
closes, I'll. I'll get, I won't give up, but
I'll just go back to see their living, working community, you
know, do what I love. And the door hasn't shut
completely yet. So as long as it's just a little
bit open, I'll keep trying. Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, my advice to anyone in in a space where
they're building anything is it's an iterative, it iterative
(55:10):
process. It's not everything's going to
work every single time. So you take you try this thing
and maybe you fail, but maybe there were two things out of the
six that you tried that worked. So you take those two and then
you carry those to the next, youknow, iteration of it and you go
from there. So I think eventually you get
to, you know, a winning formula like you've put together here
and and you know, and then you just move forward from there.
(55:32):
And now again, you're trying, you're up leveling from where
you were. So it's it's just a continuous
process. So I love to see that.
Yeah. Well, I think and how that
applies to your audience, you know, from leads to leases is
sometimes I think corporate putsus in a box and we have our
(55:53):
discovery form and that's reallygood as a guide.
But there's also something that you can add personally to that
sometimes you can't change. Like I've worked for companies
that Nope, this is exactly the way we want to treat every lead
and it's very much structured and there's no give on that,
(56:14):
which I think is unfortunate because each salesperson brings
something so unique to the table, which is their story,
their history, their personality.
And so please, even if you work in a community where you feel
very constrained in your abilityto really step outside of the
(56:36):
box, remember that your own story, your own personality,
your own spin on things, your own warmth, your genuine self is
what those prospects need to connect with, not a form.
Yes, you can follow the form, but it's your story that's most
(56:56):
important to convert those leads.
I think that's a great message for us to wrap up the show with.
So, Melissa, thank you so much for being here.
This was like a great conversation.
I know our audience is going to get so much out of this.
And, and just I, I'm excited forpeople who haven't heard of the
show. So now go check it out because
(57:16):
it is it is a powerful series that you put together and I'm
really excited to see what's coming next.
So where can our audience go to learn more about Inside Senior
Living or connect with you directly?
Well, to learn more about insideSenior living, you can go to our
website which is inside Senior living dot TB or best way to
connect with me personally and the show is on my LinkedIn and
(57:40):
I'm Melissa Hannah from Melissa Hannah Fritz on LinkedIn.
I'm out of Minneapolis and also if you want to watch the show,
it is available on pbs.org/inside Senior living.
So many ways, even Google it. It's kind of fun.
It's kind of fun when I have family members that will Google
(58:02):
show TV shows about senior living and then up comes inside
senior living, a man on the inside and Tyler Perry's
assisted living. It's kind of fun.
You're in good company. That's awesome.
I love. It Yeah.
OK, well, that's great. Yeah, we'll make sure.
Yeah, we'll, we'll put all that in the show notes so everybody
can get access to it. Thank you so much, Jerry.
(58:24):
Yeah. Absolutely.
This was this was a great interview.
So thank you. And so as we wrap up today's
episode, I want to extend a hugethank you to you, Melissa Fritz,
for joining us and sharing the origin and impact of Inside
Senior Living and how story truth can change family
decisions. We'll link your website, your
PBS pages, and smash details in the show notes so listeners can
(58:45):
connect. And as always, we hope you found
this episode insightful and inspiring.
Don't forget to subscribe to ourpodcast on your favorite
platform and stay tuned for moreepisodes where we continue to
explore the evolving world of senior care, covering everything
from innovative care models and leadership strategies to family
support, technology and the future of aging.
And remember that From Leads to Leases isn't just an audio
(59:08):
experience. We're also a video podcast.
So if you want to see the video versions of our episodes like
the one here with Melissa, make sure to subscribe for free to
our YouTube or Spotify channels.I'm Jerry Vinci, CEO of CCR
growth. Thank you for joining us on From
Leads to Leases and please like,subscribe and share this episode
with anyone who might find it useful.
I'm truly grateful for your timeand attention.
(59:29):
And until next time, lead with strategy and with heart.
Chat with you again soon. Thanks, Melissa.
Bye. Thanks for listening to From
Leads to Leases. Are you ready to fill your rooms
faster and increase occupancy? Visit ccrgrowth.com to learn
about our Senior Growth Innovation Suite, a proven
system to generate highly qualified tour ready leads,
(59:51):
accelerate sales and reduce acquisition costs.
Let's connect and turn your challenges into opportunities.
See you next time.
We're in a crisis because we wait to understand what's coming
down the pipeline for us in the senior living, the senior care
industry. There's not enough even if
everyone could afford to move into a senior living community,
there's not enough apartments, there's not enough staff to take
care of everyone. And so that's why we see such a
(00:21):
big thrust in senior living because we all know we are in
for it. We we are gracing for how do we
care for our aging population? What is the most powerful way to
change how families decide on senior living isn't a new ad,
but a national public media series that puts real choices on
(00:42):
screen. Today we go behind the camera
with the woman who built that show from 0.
Welcome to From Leeds to Leases ACCR Growth podcast that helps
senior living providers transform their complex
challenges into opportunities. Listen in for stories from
industry leaders, innovative strategies and insights, and
(01:03):
with our expertise, learn how toincrease occupancy faster,
Guaranteed. Welcome back to another episode
of From Lease to Leases, the podcast that dives deep into the
senior living and senior care industries, bringing you
insights, strategies, and stories from the experts at the
forefront of innovation, leadership, and care.
(01:23):
I'm your host, Jerry Vincey, CEOof CCR Growth, and for those of
you who don't know about us, CCRGrowth is a full service
marketing and growth agency that's exclusive to the senior
living industry. And through this podcast, I'm
here to guide you through the evolving landscape of senior
care, exploring the innovations,the strategies and leadership
insights that are shaping the future of the industry.
So whether you're a provider, a caregiver, or industry leader of
(01:47):
the show is here to help you make informed decisions and
create meaningful impact. All right, today's guest is
Melissa Fritz, creator, executive producer and host of
Inside Senior Living, the PBS N docu series that follows real
families as they navigate aging and care decisions.
The series was built to spark conversations between caregivers
and their loved ones, to celebrate the people who serve
(02:09):
in senior care and point viewersto trusted local resources.
You can watch Season 1 on pbs.org, or you can stream it on
PBS Passport. Melissa didn't come up through
television. She started in senior living,
sales and consulting, and duringthe pandemic, while helping her
own family through her father's Alzheimer's, she saw a gap for
(02:31):
honest, practical content and decided to build it herself.
That decision became inside senior living and the show's
real family's real choice lens. Today, she's developing Season 2
and expanding distribution whilekeeping the show's educational
core front and center. And she's also taking the stage
at Smash 2025 in Las Vegas this October, where the focus is on
(02:53):
senior living, marketing and sales outcomes.
So, Melissa, welcome to the show.
I'm so glad to have you here. Thank you.
I appreciate it being here. I know I, I talked a little bit
about the series in the intro and I wanted to just start out
by you telling your story about where this where this concept
came from. I know we kind of talked before
you said something about you wanting to build the series that
(03:16):
you wished existed when you wenton the senior living journey.
So can you take us to that moment you realize that the
resources you need didn't reallyexist?
And what did you try first? And and then what gap did you
see? Well, this whole concept came
out of the pandemic where I was working at the community level
and sales and marketing. All of us at that time, you
(03:38):
know, life was not normal and certainly senior living, sales
and marketing was not normal, wasn't normal going into through
a community and having, you know, change into scrubs and
wear an N95 mask, especially notbeing a clinical person.
So I would go home just desperate to figure out a way to
(03:58):
help connect families with more resources that I know are out
there. There's a lot of great senior
living resources actually. But what I found really
interesting, especially during the pandemic, was why aren't
people finding them? And why is why are most families
waiting until they're in a crisis until they do do any
(04:20):
research into senior living? So that coupled with the phone
call I get from my mom where shehas broken her ankle and she
cannot take care of my father with Alzheimer's dementia and
they happen to live 2 hours away, that really sparked my
desperation to find something that starts sparking these
(04:43):
conversations. I mean, really the intent of the
show is really number one, to spark the conversation so that
families are not put in this place of waiting until they're
in or near crisis to investigatesenior living.
And so I found for myself, even though I had worked in the
industry for, let's see, over 7 years at that time, you know,
(05:07):
it's different when it's your own parent.
And that was the catalyst or kind of the plot twist for me
that really changed my story andjust made me determined to
figure out a way to produce content, to connect people, to
start sparking these conversations.
And I just didn't know how hard,you know, creating and and
(05:32):
producing and distributing ATV show was or would be, you know,
I'm really glad that I stuck to it.
And, you know, it's a lot of it.It's so much luck.
That's a yeah. I'm.
I'm in awe of what you actually built in the time that you built
it. What was the catalyst for it
being televised? Because I know a lot of
(05:54):
communities, they try to connectwith families, they try to do
the education piece so that they're thinking about these
things before they're in a crisis.
But usually they're using like brochures and tours to bring
that, bring that out. I mean, what convinced you that
a television series would be themost effective path?
What convinced me is that I I doknow of so many communities.
(06:16):
So many corporations that have produced excellent, great
quality content that's educational.
Even our state resources across America are fabulous, but
there's not distribution. So you have a beautiful YouTube
channel that nobody's seeing. And and so that just struck me
as really odd. Why is the general public not
(06:38):
seeing that these channels? And what I, I believe, my theory
is that people don't even know what to Google.
That's how little we know as a society about the process of
aging and finding senior living and senior care.
And so for me, I just thought, if I'm going to do this, I have
(06:59):
to dream big. And the biggest I can imagine,
because that's going to reach the most eyeballs, and that's
the only way that I'm going to be able to make an impact, to
help my fellow content creators that are doing, in my opinion,
just such a great job, includingyourself to help tell your
story, to help tell the stories of all these great companies
(07:22):
that have the education piece. They're just not getting to a
broader audience. I know season one too, it avoids
promotion and kind of centers onthe education and dignity side
of things. The belief around that, you
know, that honest specific stories, they're going to reduce
that fear and unlock decisions for reluctant families, which
story beats consistently to helpsomeone go from like a no way
(07:44):
family to actually reconsideringsenior living.
Well, I would say what I found and certainly doing the the show
was families that got out and actually looked at senior
living, even if their intent wascompletely solidified on aging
in place at home. The families that could get past
(08:07):
the insistent that, Nope, I'm going to age in place.
I'm going to age in my own home and come hell or high water, I'm
going to this is what I'm going to do.
But the problem is what if planning ahead?
And So what was successful for me and the in the some of the
episodes in the show was the families that were willing to
(08:28):
take a look and willing to create a plan, willing to have a
plan, willing to have those conversations with their
families. Those turned out to be the most
successful. Were there patterns across
season one that you noticed thatkind of led to them stalling
their decisions? And then if so, what finally
unlocked the momentum? I got some of them to say yes.
(08:49):
I would say in Season 1, most ofour cast, so most of our cast
families were open to conversation.
We're open to making a plan. And you will see, obviously I'm
not going to give it away, but you will see in especially one
of our episodes, to me, it's very obvious the family that is
(09:09):
very much in denial and doesn't want to face reality.
I think that that creates a verystark contrast.
If you watch all 8 episodes, families that will avoid crisis
and have avoided crisis are the ones that are willing to talk
about it and make a plan. I was looking at some data too,
(09:31):
just about move insurance and, and the whole process of going
from, you know, someone being a prospect to someone becoming a
resident. In 2024.
The data point says something like to only 24% of tourists
converted to move insurance. For assisted living, the average
length of the sales cycle was like 95 days.
(09:52):
And for independent living, it's145 days, which is crazy that
that's a long sales cycle. And I know for CCR CS it's even
longer. I've, I've worked with some that
on average it's three years. You know, do you, do you feel
like that lack of education is abig reason why that sales cycle
is so long? I'm not sure if it's a lack of
education as far as how long thesales cycle is for senior
(10:16):
living. My experience on the community
side is I truly believe that people, in addition to not doing
their research ahead of time, not having the information and
knowing what the process is, they wait until there's a
crisis. But also I think a really big
(10:36):
factor is the fact that people are in general waiting a lot
longer than they should be to make a move because of finances.
They're afraid of running out ofmoney.
It's it's a financial issue morethan it is the lack of education
issue to some extent, but they go hand in hand because the more
(10:59):
you know, the more you can financially investigate what
your options are. And there are so many different
senior living communities for all different types, all
different levels of income and socioeconomic status.
So I think the more we educate ourselves, the more we start
talking about it, the more we just make this a an everyday
(11:22):
conversation, the better off we'll be.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's a huge decision
that impacts not just the personmoving in potentially, but the
entire family unit. Talking about trust.
A little bit back to the show, Ithink it's awesome that you went
the PBS route. I think public media, there's
guardrails, right? So it's going to limit the
(11:42):
promotional aspect of what you can put out there and force your
content to earn trust. What did you learn about earning
trust when you can't sell on air?
Do you mean earning trust with the public?
Yeah, yeah. Well, I feel like it's much
easier to earn trust with the public when they know that
(12:03):
you're not trying to sell them something.
And that is why I believe PBS isthe number one most trusted
media brand in in America because they have made a
commitment to that and their editorial content standards are
extremely rigorous. So that was one of the first
(12:25):
things I did when I got this deal to do this with PBS is I
downloaded their editorial and financial fundraising standards
to make sure that we were in compliance.
And it's also the FCC too, right?
Don't aren't there there's rulesor or guidelines that you have
to fall for those did that kind of, I guess that probably helps
(12:47):
shape how you wrote and cut season 1, right?
Absolutely, because we just had to be mindful of things like,
you know, accidental product placement or when we were
interviewing experts, we would give them credit, you know, for
their position, but there wouldn't be a promotion about
their organization. And certainly product placement
(13:11):
type situations where, you know,we have a couple scenes where we
have a cast member on treadmill and exercise equipment.
And I remember going through theediting process and pointing
out, OK, we should probably take, you know, shade out the
logo that's spread and center that you can see for about 30
(13:33):
seconds, so. Right, that makes sense.
It's very different. I know in 2025 there was some
rescissions that passed are kindof clawing back the the budgets
that were already appropriated for for public stations and
producers. So I would imagine that Season 2
(13:54):
for inside senior living, it's going to have to kind of shift
how you're approaching that. Are there changes in your
distribution method or underwriting now that have
changed since those rescissions have gone into place?
Yes. So everything about getting ATV
show produced is about money, you know, is about funding.
(14:16):
And so we were really fortunate that the timing of Inside senior
Living this first season, I don't think if I had gone to
pitch this a year ago, we would be able, we wouldn't be making
the show at all just because of these funding issues that are
going on with PBS and the Corporation for Public
(14:37):
Broadcasting. So in TV, in the TV business in
general, there's a lot of tightening of budgets.
So the process right now that we're in is we actually have
funders who want to, we have a couple companies who have
identified, hey, we want to fundthe show, but we run into
(14:59):
conflict of interest and issues like that if we go with PBS.
But they might not have enough funding for us to go like with a
mainstream network. So we're just trying to figure
that out right now. It really does affect how the
show will be distributed in the next season and beyond.
(15:20):
But I'm very hopeful that we cancontinue either with PBS or find
something similar that we can continue to deliver the content
in the original format of just the continuity of integrity that
we are. We are truly out there to
further the cause of this entireindustry because most of us who
(15:44):
are in senior living and especially a senior living
salespeople, most of us are in it for the right reasons.
We just want to help people. And so my real hope and dream is
that, you know, the universe will produce enough
philanthropists in the senior living and beyond industry to
provide the funding to keep moving this forward so that we
(16:07):
can really grow this into a movement similar to back in the
day when, you know, depression and mental health was very
stigmatized. It wasn't mainstream, but now it
is. And so I, I often compare those
two to what I'm trying to do right now.
I'm trying to bring this whole conversation of aging and senior
(16:29):
living and even dying into mainstream conversation and
culture. So it's a very lofty goal, I
realize, but I feel like we in this industry have an
opportunity right now to change it and we need to do everything
we can to further this. What if a commercial platform
(16:51):
came knocking rather than just an educational platform?
What would that opportunity looklike?
How would that change the show? A commercial platform could
change the show in a couple different ways and there are
different, you know, there are different ways to do this show
(17:12):
within the bounds of what I created to be.
I have copy written the concept or I have registered the concept
for the show. And my original concept was to
create a much more real estate and truly inside the senior
living industry show where I would be bringing cast member
(17:33):
families into more senior livingcommunities.
What happened with Season 1 is Icouldn't get the access.
So I just even as much as I havea lot of relationships inside
the senior industry, I think because the show hadn't hadn't
been produced, it had been proven.
(17:54):
And I think there was a lot of speculation, maybe maybe a
little fear. Because what we see in the media
often times when people and television crews go into a
senior living community, it often times doesn't turn out to
be a real positive picture that they're painting.
So I'm happy that now I've I've proven that my intent is to
(18:16):
paint the picture of the truth of the good things that are
happening in senior living and the benefits of senior living so
that we can move forward with a commercial, whether it's PBS or
a mainline like a Roku or Netflix or whatever that is.
I don't think that the structurewould change that much.
(18:38):
I think it just changes as far as who can sponsor and
advertise. I mean, PBS, it's a sponsorship.
On a mainstream broadcaster or network, It's it's an
advertiser. So I would imagine, I would
imagine now that Season 1's wrapped up and people can see it
for what it is, that your kind of authority and credibility
(19:01):
have obviously increased. So has that level of access that
you're getting now has that increase, or has it been easier
to get it than before? Absolutely.
It is like if you, if you Googlehow, how difficult is it to get
ATV show, you know, deal with, you know, with an idea, it's
virtually 0 because these what Ilearned and I didn't know this
(19:26):
is even PDS, all of the mainstream studios and streaming
networks, they they want new ideas, but they want proven
ideas because their jobs are on the line and it has to, it has
to be profitable. It has to be a good concept
that'll produce results and results for TV is viewers.
(19:47):
So they are looking for something that is going to
attract viewership. And when we went to pitch this
on an international level at themarket with all of the major
streaming, you know, HETVANE, Lifetime, Magnolia, PBS, all of
those, what I heard so often wasI love this idea.
(20:08):
This is so great. This is so needed.
They would tell me their own story of a loved one who they're
dealing with who has, you know, but I'm not really sure, you
know, because this hasn't been done before.
So now that this is a proven concept, now that we have
successfully created a national TV series and and received 2
(20:28):
Emmy nominations for it, it definitely makes the next
seasons much easier to sell and to produce.
And it's to gain sponsorship money too, for sure.
You just, you just glossed over that.
You just got 2 heavy dominations.
I mean, that's, that's pretty amazing in and of itself.
I love that. Congratulations, by the way.
So. Thank you.
I, I just, I can't even believe what I mean.
(20:50):
I, it's weird because I try to stop myself and appreciate what
I've done in the last four years, but you know, when you're
working so hard and you've got agoal and I've also learned that
I'm building a business in the meantime.
I'm, I'm, I kind of miss the days in a way of going to my
(21:12):
job, helping seniors, you know, helping their families and
getting my paycheck. And that was wonderful.
This has been extremely hard. A lot of personal investment put
into it, just physically, emotionally, financially that
people just don't realize. So my goodness, to get one, not
(21:33):
one, but two Emmy nominations isreally for me rewarding because
it validates the importance of what I'm doing and it actually
helps encourage me to keep goingbecause it is very frustrating.
It is very hard to keep at it, to keep trying to keep trying to
solicit funders and then keep things moving along with the
(21:58):
actual brand and show. Yeah, just from a branding
perspective. Yeah, No, absolutely.
I think from a branding perspective, being able to say
the Emmy nominated show inside Senior Living or eventually the
Emmy award-winning show inside Senior Living, that that's as
much social proof as you'll everneed to be able to do so much
(22:19):
more and get and get the messageout to more viewers, you know,
So I love that for you. I know most, so most people when
they think about creating a show, I think it starts and
stops with something like what I'm doing right, a podcast or
maybe a YouTube channel or something like that.
So if you wanted to pitch something like this to a group
of, of networks, I mean, what's the best way to do it?
(22:39):
Is it when you when you pitch, do you just pitch the idea?
Do you create a a pilot of your own and submit it to them?
Like what? What does that process look
like? Very good question.
So the process to get a show deal like a development deal is
you want to create a very clear pitch document, you want to have
(23:00):
a very clear purpose, a log line, a summary, and then you
want to create something will show proof of your concept.
So what you do not need to do a whole pilot episode because you
can achieve that by doing what'scalled a sizzle reel, which is
virtually like a trailer or say from Leeds to leases.
(23:25):
And the beautiful thing about you having a podcast with video
is you could compile composites from your YouTube channel and
create a 2 minute sizzle reel with your pitch.
And then you go out and you actually pitch that to the
networks, which it's very hard. And I tell people, if you think
(23:47):
you're going to just come up with this idea, do a sizzle
reel, create a pitch document and get get in front of a buyer
without making a significant financial investment, you're
wrong. I'm sure that it's been done
before, but you need to get in front of the right people.
And you have to. You have to go to the markets,
(24:09):
you have to go to festivals, youhave to get your sizzle reel in
front of people. Yeah, there's no no shortcuts
for sure, which is daunting in and of itself.
I can imagine. Yes, yes.
But these, think about it, thesenetworks, they, they want to
know that you have, why would they invest in you if you aren't
(24:31):
investing in you? So it's very interesting because
what my husband and I discoveredwhen we went to this big
marketplace is there are so manygreat ideas, I mean, thousands
of great ideas that people have put so much money into, but
there's only so much money at these networks to give funding
(24:54):
to. And they're very, very skittish
about putting money into someonewho is not proven, you know,
proven producer has money backing them already.
It's it's a really rare thing. I mean, I would think too, given
where we're at in terms of the baby boomer population exploding
into the senior living market, this is probably a timely topic
(25:16):
that a lot more networks are going to want to pick up
coverage on pretty quickly. Because just to serve their
demographic, we've got the the sandwich generation who are all
trying to figure out, you know, how they're going to manage
taking care of mom or dad or both, plus their own kids.
And then you've got this influx of older adults who are also
trying to navigate their options.
And so it, I think it's going tobe an interesting shift.
(25:40):
And I, you already see it. I mean, you look on Netflix now,
you see there's a couple of movies that are all focused on,
you know, senior living. And I don't recall there ever
being a time like that. Ever.
No. Before now, so it's pretty
interesting. It's very exciting for me to
see. We've got, whether you like it
or not, the golden Bachelor on ABC, hugely successful.
(26:03):
They did not expect that, you know, they did not expect that,
but the population actually enjoys this content.
A man on the inside with Netflix.
Super great show. Funny, I love how Ted Danson
just nails it as far as inside what it looks to live inside of
a senior living community and then the different players.
(26:25):
And then you have Tyler Perry does an assisted living comedy
show. Bradley Cooper just did APDS on
caregiving. So there's definitely, I think
we're going to see more and morequality content coming on board
because there's a demand for it.And the more content, whether
it's comedy or drama or documentary, these are the types
(26:49):
of things that start changing our society and our culture, and
we'll hopefully continue to spark the conversations.
Yeah, I think two things it doesis it destigmatizes senior
living, which still has this weird perspective.
And it also desensitizes people to it being a crisis.
Because if they've already been exposed to it multiple times,
(27:10):
they're going to know if if theystart seeing the signs in their
in their parent, you know, if they're not getting around the
house as well as they used to orthere's some cognitive decline,
things like that. If we're talking about it more
in our regular conversations or the shows we're watching, it's
going to be far less of a thing for people to actually come to
grips with the fact that, oh, maybe I need to look into this
(27:31):
with my family member, you know?Yes, absolutely.
And the more they see on TV or online, What assisted living
looks like, what independent look in living looks like, even
what memory care looks like. This is not a nursing home.
It's amazing how even today withthe Internet and all the
(27:53):
resources that are available online, most of the calls that I
would get. And I'm, I'm curious to know if
your listeners or viewers would say the same thing.
It's shocking to me the people who the older adults who I don't
want, you know, my daughters wanting me to move to a nursing
home and they're calling an assisted living.
(28:14):
Like there is a lot of misinformation out there because
people don't want to talk about it.
We don't want to talk about getting older.
We don't want to face aging. And that's just something that,
gosh, you know, what's the alternative?
I kind of like aging personally.I'm, I'm into it because it
(28:36):
means I'm living. So we, we have to start
somewhere. And if all of us do our part and
in the senior senior industry, in the entertainment industry,
I, I truly believe we can start a movement.
We can change the way we're viewing aging and the school
process and viewing our elders. So many other cultures treat
(29:01):
their elders different. There is just such a greater
respect in some other cultures for our elders.
There's a lot of things we coulddo, we could learn from other
countries and cultures when it comes to our elders.
Absolutely. A recent guest of mine too was
talking about the fact that only10% of the available market ever
(29:22):
moves into senior living. So I think a big part of that is
that that perception out there that's still seeing a certain
way. And I do think that the more
exposure and the more normalizedthis becomes, that number will
will start to increase, not onlybecause there's more people in
the market looking for housing, but I just think that people
will see it more as a acceptableoption, right?
(29:44):
It's either it's either the family members that are pushing
back or the the older adult themself who have that sordid
view. I mean, my parents are in that
category. I'm not moving into one of those
places. It's like, have you ever visited
one of those places? You know, there's like 78 years
old? Like do you still want to be
walking up and down three flights of stairs for the next
10 years? You think that's safe?
(30:04):
You know, so I think just just education and and exposure is
going to be so important. Yes, my own mother.
Oh, my goodness. After my father passed away, it
was I don't want it. There's there's so many old
people there. I'm too young.
Yes, you are on the younger side, mom.
But you know what's wrong with being around older people?
(30:28):
I mean, that right there tells you our perception in Society of
the value, how we value older adults and being grown walkers.
But I don't want to be around. I don't, you know, I don't want
to go have lunch in, in a restaurant that has walkers
lined up in the hallway. What does that say about us and
(30:49):
our attitudes? I think that's very interesting.
For season 2 of the show too. I know season 1 you're very
intentional about how you went about putting it together and
what your goals were. What is season 2 look like?
I mean is that is it more of thesame or are you going at it from
a different angle? Season 2 I plan to design season
(31:09):
2 much more like a house huntersfor senior living and with with
a little bit of intervention thrown in.
So I would really love to show more of the real estate options
in season 2. But what happened in Season 1 is
I have to have cooperation from communities and senior living
(31:33):
operators to do that. So the benefit is I've built a
lot of trust and I have one company here in Minnesota that
is willing to let me in and basically open up their doors
and give me the resources I needto truly film inside senior
living, different senior living communities.
(31:55):
But we'll just see. It all depends on the
distribution. So it's weird because it's like
I can't, I can't secure the funders until I know what the
distribution is. And the distribution doesn't
happen until. So it's, it's a, it's an
interesting dance of juggling different pieces at the same
time and hoping it all comes together at the end.
(32:17):
But my desire is to well, that'sthat's why I set out to do this
30 and 30 campaign is to producesome content.
Tell us, tell us about that. Tell our audience about that.
OK, so I came up with this crazyidea this summer.
Yeah, this is another crazy idea.
(32:38):
Hey. Well, because my crew that
they're in Chicago and we're trying to brainstorm season 2
and our strategy and what we're going to do with this PBS
situation going on. So I said what if we you know
what if we just got cameras and we just got a small crew
together and we did this blitz of following me visiting 30
(32:59):
senior organizations in 30 days.OK, that's great, Melissa, let's
do that. OK, So it was very ambitious put
together kind of at the last minute, but we just completed
the touring 30 senior organizations in 30 days and
we're in the editing process of that that will launch October
1st through 30th. But my goodness, I'm so excited
(33:23):
because this is much more like what I would like to see us do
in Season 2, is really digging in to what the options are for
communities. And with each community that I
toured, I, we had them sit down with me and give me some
educational components, like tell me one thing you really
(33:45):
want the general public to know.And each one of those components
we are then compiling and creating another documentary,
but a a documentary feature filmout of that.
So we're going to feature 30 different senior communities
giving really good hands on educational expertise to the
(34:07):
public. That's amazing.
I can't believe we did that in the summer.
I know, I know. I'm on a mission.
I'm on a mission and and I see that.
The thing is, this isn't just me.
I actually feel very uncomfortable being in the
spotlight and being in front of the camera.
You would never guess that, but I truly, I truly don't see
(34:30):
myself as any kind of expert. I truly see myself as I am crazy
enough to just put myself out there and to try ideas and see
if they work. And I really, really want to
propel what I see happening as all these true experts, all the
real talent and passionate people who have gifts and love
(34:55):
for older adults that are doing the hard work every day.
I want to promote that. I want to show that to the
world. I want to tell those stories to
the world. And so as long as it works and
I'm able to continue doing this,I will do this because I just
see it as me giving a microphone, me giving another
(35:15):
platform to the industry to continue to do the great work
that so many people are doing. You feel like we're in a crisis.
Is that why this work is so important?
Yes, I do. I feel like as a society we're
in a crisis because we wait. We wait to understand what's
(35:40):
coming down the pipeline for us,all of us, if we have the
blessing of living long enough. And that's a crisis.
And then I think we also have a crisis in the senior living, the
senior care industry. There's not enough.
Even if everyone could afford tomove into a senior living
community, there are not enough.They're not enough apartments,
(36:03):
there's not enough staff to takecare of everyone.
And so that's why we see such a big thrust and senior living
communities doing a lot of outreach and home and community
based services types of care andoutreach because we all know we
are in for it. We, we are kind of bracing for a
(36:25):
big hit as far as how do we carefor our aging population, all of
us as we age. And we all know the struggles
that the senior living industry has already.
And we unfortunately see a lot of the negative things in the
news. We've got to, we've got to
(36:47):
manage that. We've got to get that under
control. We have to come up with more
innovative ways to deliver care.And I think a lot of that is
going to depend on how we use technology and AI moving
forward, how some of these deliveries are managed.
But yeah, I I think we are in a crisis, but think Americans are
(37:09):
really good, good at being in denial of our crisis.
Yeah, it's definitely scary. I mean, I've been looking at the
housing data. There was a report that came out
last year said something along the lines of even if every
single development project was completed between at the time
2024 and 2026, it would only account for about 33% of the
(37:29):
housing that was actually going to be needed.
So I mean, that's such a monumental gap that we have to
cover. I'm not really sure what the
plan is. I haven't really heard anybody
propose anything that I was like, that's going to solve it,
you know. So I think, again, you're right.
I mean, people are just waiting.It's a, it is a crisis because
we as a country are waiting for this massive surge in
(37:51):
population. Like 2027 is going to be the,
there's going to be 11,500 people, Americans that are
becoming 65 and older every single day.
And then I could, you know, it goes down from there, but still
it's going to that's a huge influx.
It's like 4 point. I was at 4.2 million seniors in
(38:15):
2027, something like that, that that turned 65.
That's, that's just a crazy numbers.
I don't know how we're going to solve that.
Obviously not everybody's looking for housing.
One of the questions I had just about you talking about the the
3030 by 30 was I know price attention is real for for adult
(38:36):
children because there's not a lot of options like that.
Middle market is just it's growing and growing and growing.
There's a big divide between people who can afford it and
people who can't. Did you come across any sense
that there's anyone's trying to address the middle market
challenge when it comes to senior living or does that, is
(38:56):
that another kind of crisis that's that has not really been
figured out yet? Yes, I believe and we have a
couple spots that feature home care and home based services.
I think that is what will transform senior living and be
able to at least ease some of the pain in the middle market is
(39:19):
quality home based services and clinical services that can at
least keep folks in their home longer so that the financial
impact isn't devastating for them.
So I'm, I'm excited that we havea couple home based services
that will feature that really give some good insight into how
(39:43):
they're filling that gap, how they're bridging the gap in the
senior living industry. It's exciting.
Yeah, I think that makes sense. I mean, people are living
longer, healthier lives, right? So the need to move into a
community based setting is not as critical maybe as it once
was, right. So having someone come into the
(40:04):
home maybe a few hours a day or a few times a week could be a a
viable solution for a lot of older adults and and certainly
save on cost versus, you know, long term care option.
So. Yes, yeah.
I think the statistics do say that most, most Americans want
to age in place in their own home.
(40:25):
So I think that we're trying. I think that that solves a lot,
at least temporarily. We'll see what happens.
But in general, we just need a lot more services.
We need a lot more senior livingand we need a lot more staff to
be attracted to this industry. And that's the other thing, too,
(40:45):
that my whole goal of really highlighting what a rewarding
career path this is and how manypeople, my gosh, in 30 and the
30 and 30 campaign we just did, how many people we interviewed
that. Yeah.
In high school, I worked in dining services.
(41:06):
And then now they're director ofnursing or they're an executive
director or a marketing director.
So many people who have moved upthe ranks, scores, changed
roles. It is a fabulous career path and
super rewarding. Very hard work, but anything
worthwhile is a lot of work. So I also want to try to attract
(41:29):
by showing what senior living really looks like to younger
people to attract more talent toour industry.
Building a show like this, I mean, you're, you're essentially
building story story assets, right?
And that, you know, they're inspiring, they're educational,
they're helping motivate people to to learn more, to make
(41:51):
decisions before they're in crisis, all of those things.
I mean, how do you think leadership within a senior
living community could apply that model?
You know, so if a sales director, for example, is
listening to this episode, I mean, what's this?
What's step one for them to start building those types of
like story assets within the community that would actually
(42:11):
help? I think storytelling is such a
critical component to sales and marketing and senior living.
It's a great critical component for any type of sales.
But where I think that sales andmarketing at the community
level, how they can really help their job and their community is
(42:33):
to start investing. And from the time you get the
first lead, from the first call in, to invest as much time as
you can possibly give to that initial discovery.
Who are all the players? Who are the decision makers?
Who's the resistant 1? And to start looking at every
(42:54):
single lead as a story, as an episode, a potential episode.
And how can we help resolve their issue?
And who can I, who can I employ from our community, whether it's
a resident or another staff member who can help me, who can
engage with me in this lead to help them understand or help
(43:18):
them overcome their objections so that they convert to a
resident? I think it's, it's not just the
sales and marketing person's responsibility to invest in the
stories of Leeds. So that's where sharing, sharing
the real stories, sharing the stories of your leads with your
(43:40):
team is critical because now you're starting to build those
relationships before they're even on site, before they even
tour. You are prepping your team and
your staff and your residents with the, with the new storyline
that's coming in and how can we,how can we as a community help
(44:01):
them, help them integrate as faras friends, socialization,
healthcare, any type of servicesthat we can connect them with?
I think that's really critical. I think it's hard, hard to
measure sometimes from a branding perspective.
Sometimes it's hard to measure what that's generating for the
(44:22):
community. How do you create a story that
what actually drives next step or causes someone to take action
versus just watching it, just viewing it?
Here's where I think it's important to also be able to
identify and connect your own story or the story of others in
your community. With that lead the ability to
(44:43):
connect with empathy. Maybe you haven't.
Maybe you haven't gone through this yourself, but maybe your
parents have. Or maybe you can give an example
of a resident who did move in who say maybe was very
resistant, but now they're thriving, they love it.
You could connect that person orget a quote from that person to
(45:05):
provide to your lead. So I think it's important to to
share your own story because that also also breaks down
barriers of trust with your leads.
If leads know you're willing to be vulnerable with them, they
will be vulnerable with you. So kind of matching that
vulnerability because this is such an incredibly vulnerable
(45:29):
time for your prospects. And the more empathy, the more
support, the more commitment they see from you to try to
connect on their level, I think will really help that.
Certainly, that's kind of the method that I used personally.
And even before my father was diagnosed, I had a grandmother
(45:50):
that spent eight years, went through the whole process.
I've watched my mother go through the process with my
grandmother. And so I knew a little bit about
it and I was able to, you know, share that story.
Oh, I recall when my mother was going through this, this was
really hard on her because my grandmother started getting very
agitated with her and angry withher.
(46:11):
So it just depends on what theirstory story they're sharing with
you and being able to quickly connect something that you can
relate to their story. I think is, is a very good
strategy to build trust and connect with your prospects.
I've had really good feedback from folks who have moved in.
(46:35):
Like, thank you so much. You, you've listened.
Just being a listener, it's amazing how much people need to
and it's you need to just vent. You need to just let it out.
But, and that's hard to do when you're in this role because
you're hardly getting, you're hardly getting coffee, much less
lunch in a day. You know, you're running around
(46:56):
the community. So I know sometimes, I know
personally, it's really hard sometimes to just slow yourself
down and listen and ask those key questions about how well
they're really feeling, who's struggling the most and to be
able to connect with that personCan be, can be change, life
(47:19):
changing. I was just doing an interview on
another podcast talking about the soft selling of, of senior
living and how that ultimately what it is, it's tapping into
the emotions of the person that you're speaking with.
Because we all understand that this is an extremely emotional
difficult decision. And it's something that you have
(47:39):
to connect with someone on a human level first, genuinely
connect with them. And it's it's not even about
selling at that point. It's about making sure that
they're aware of their options and that if this is a good fit
for them that they they understand why this might be the
best option for them. That's why I love.
I never saw myself as a salesperson.
I still don't see myself as a salesperson.
(48:00):
I see myself as really an advocate.
And when you can view yourself that way, and this is where
leadership is so important because the leadership, the
companies that I've worked for that really facilitate and
encourage their frontline sales and marketing people to be that
advocate, then you're empowered to truly do what's best for that
(48:23):
family. Instead of I got to sell
apartments, I've got a, you know, I have a quota here to
fill. I have a census to, to grow.
That's where I think in the longrun, a community and a company,
a management company or ownership company builds so much
more by truly having that integrity to just to be able to
(48:48):
say maybe you should check thesesources out, maybe maybe home
care for now. But to really do what's best for
the older adult and their familyis I feel like why we are here
and what our role truly is. Yes, we need to make money, but
if you do the right thing, the money will follow.
(49:11):
That's just my belief system andit's worked pretty well for me
so far, but. I think it's interesting too
that I've seen quite a few communities that have actually
changed their sales positions tocalling them advocates.
So I do think that that is in alignment with quite a few ways
that we're we're now selling versus, you know, trying to,
(49:33):
it's not like buying a car or a house or anything else.
You know, we can't just sell people on the amenities and the
features. It's got to be human focused.
Yeah. And even even overcoming these
objections takes time. I mean, yes, even if somebody is
in a crisis and still takes timeto educate them, meet them where
(49:57):
they're at, and then guide them through the process to success,
where they feel good about the process and they feel good about
moving into your community. That's just as important as the
sale because you want them to besuccessful in your community,
especially in a world with Google reviews.
The last thing I want to talk about with you is you've got an
(50:20):
upcoming keynote presentation atSmash, which is the end of
October. What?
October 22nd, right? Is that when the Smash starts?
Yeah. October 20th.
OK, Yeah, that's exciting. Are you able to give our
listeners a little taste of whatthey can expect your keynote?
What's the core idea of your keynote and why is that an
(50:43):
important piece for you right now?
Well, at Smash, I will be givinga keynote entitled Plot Twist,
How Stories Drive Success, and Iam going to be sharing a few
examples of major plot twists insenior living and business and
(51:06):
entertainment in my own life that really can drive success if
you make the choice to do something about, you know, to
jump on that plot twist and to turn it into something for good.
So I'm very excited because I think I think this is going to
be a great crowd. Smash is always full of just the
(51:31):
most influential sales and marketing executives and high,
high power people. So I'm honored to be in front of
these people feel very much it'sit's kind of overwhelming to
think of, you know, being able to speak to people that I feel
like are far more have far more expertise in senior living.
(51:54):
However, it's exciting for me because I think that I am going
to bring something so inspirational and so
motivational to them just by sharing my own plot twist and
how it created a national TV series that's, you know, gotten
2 Emmy nominations. So if we can apply that
(52:14):
philosophy to wherever, whateveryour plot twist is in your own
life or in your own business, your own community, where what
is that plot twist and how can you bring it to the next level
is really the the idea? I can imagine this is going to
be such a hot topic for people too, because this is, I mean, no
(52:36):
one else. I was there last year.
There wasn't a single conversation that had anything
to do with what it is that you're doing.
So I think your approach has been so unique and I think a lot
more communities, we'll probablyget on board with creating more
of a story, a storyboard conceptfor how they go about telling
the story of their community andtheir their residents and trying
to connect with people on that level.
(52:56):
I think there's, there's a lot of power behind that.
If there was, if someone when someone goes to smash and sees
your presentation, after they see your presentation, what
would you want them to do in thenext 30 days?
I would want them to write down what you know, what those plot
twists, the pain points, whatever you want to call them,
(53:19):
are, and then brainstorm, literally brainstorm one to five
strategies, ideas, crazy ideas. It can be as crazy as you think.
And then that would be 30 days. And then 60 days I would want
you to focus. I would want you to wind that
down to 1.1 idea and then by 93 days, I want you to have a plan
(53:44):
of how you're going to implementthat one idea.
And it might fail, it might not,you might become the next big,
big thing. But the whole idea is that we
keep moving forward, we keep innovating, we keep strategizing
and looking for new ways to reach our leads, reach our
(54:04):
prospects, to help families, to streamline our business
operations and to navigate this whole thing we're all doing,
which is called life at the sametime.
And they'll never know if they don't try, right?
So you got to, you got to start somewhere.
Exactly, I love that. Like my dad used to say, you
(54:24):
know, if you have an idea, go for it and just don't give up on
it, you know, and you will know when the right time to switch
gears and try something different.
You kind of innately know that. So that's the philosophy.
That's what I've done through this whole process of this show
is I kept saying to myself, all right, well, when the door
(54:47):
closes, I'll. I'll get, I won't give up, but
I'll just go back to see their living, working community, you
know, do what I love. And the door hasn't shut
completely yet. So as long as it's just a little
bit open, I'll keep trying. Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, my advice to anyone in in a space where
they're building anything is it's an iterative, it iterative
(55:10):
process. It's not everything's going to
work every single time. So you take you try this thing
and maybe you fail, but maybe there were two things out of the
six that you tried that worked. So you take those two and then
you carry those to the next, youknow, iteration of it and you go
from there. So I think eventually you get
to, you know, a winning formula like you've put together here
and and you know, and then you just move forward from there.
(55:32):
And now again, you're trying, you're up leveling from where
you were. So it's it's just a continuous
process. So I love to see that.
Yeah. Well, I think and how that
applies to your audience, you know, from leads to leases is
sometimes I think corporate putsus in a box and we have our
(55:53):
discovery form and that's reallygood as a guide.
But there's also something that you can add personally to that
sometimes you can't change. Like I've worked for companies
that Nope, this is exactly the way we want to treat every lead
and it's very much structured and there's no give on that,
(56:14):
which I think is unfortunate because each salesperson brings
something so unique to the table, which is their story,
their history, their personality.
And so please, even if you work in a community where you feel
very constrained in your abilityto really step outside of the
(56:36):
box, remember that your own story, your own personality,
your own spin on things, your own warmth, your genuine self is
what those prospects need to connect with, not a form.
Yes, you can follow the form, but it's your story that's most
(56:56):
important to convert those leads.
I think that's a great message for us to wrap up the show with.
So, Melissa, thank you so much for being here.
This was like a great conversation.
I know our audience is going to get so much out of this.
And, and just I, I'm excited forpeople who haven't heard of the
show. So now go check it out because
(57:16):
it is it is a powerful series that you put together and I'm
really excited to see what's coming next.
So where can our audience go to learn more about Inside Senior
Living or connect with you directly?
Well, to learn more about insideSenior living, you can go to our
website which is inside Senior living dot TB or best way to
connect with me personally and the show is on my LinkedIn and
(57:40):
I'm Melissa Hannah from Melissa Hannah Fritz on LinkedIn.
I'm out of Minneapolis and also if you want to watch the show,
it is available on pbs.org/inside Senior living.
So many ways, even Google it. It's kind of fun.
It's kind of fun when I have family members that will Google
(58:02):
show TV shows about senior living and then up comes inside
senior living, a man on the inside and Tyler Perry's
assisted living. It's kind of fun.
You're in good company. That's awesome.
I love. It Yeah.
OK, well, that's great. Yeah, we'll make sure.
Yeah, we'll, we'll put all that in the show notes so everybody
can get access to it. Thank you so much, Jerry.
(58:24):
Yeah. Absolutely.
This was this was a great interview.
So thank you. And so as we wrap up today's
episode, I want to extend a hugethank you to you, Melissa Fritz,
for joining us and sharing the origin and impact of Inside
Senior Living and how story truth can change family
decisions. We'll link your website, your
PBS pages, and smash details in the show notes so listeners can
(58:45):
connect. And as always, we hope you found
this episode insightful and inspiring.
Don't forget to subscribe to ourpodcast on your favorite
platform and stay tuned for moreepisodes where we continue to
explore the evolving world of senior care, covering everything
from innovative care models and leadership strategies to family
support, technology and the future of aging.
And remember that From Leads to Leases isn't just an audio
(59:08):
experience. We're also a video podcast.
So if you want to see the video versions of our episodes like
the one here with Melissa, make sure to subscribe for free to
our YouTube or Spotify channels.I'm Jerry Vinci, CEO of CCR
growth. Thank you for joining us on From
Leads to Leases and please like,subscribe and share this episode
with anyone who might find it useful.
I'm truly grateful for your timeand attention.
(59:29):
And until next time, lead with strategy and with heart.
Chat with you again soon. Thanks, Melissa.
Bye. Thanks for listening to From
Leads to Leases. Are you ready to fill your rooms
faster and increase occupancy? Visit ccrgrowth.com to learn
about our Senior Growth Innovation Suite, a proven
system to generate highly qualified tour ready leads,
(59:51):
accelerate sales and reduce acquisition costs.
Let's connect and turn your challenges into opportunities.
See you next time.
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