By Rick Banas, Vice President of Strategic Marketing for BMA Management, Ltd. Follow Rick at twitter.com/rickbanas
Two words, both beginning with the letter C, had a major impact on me earlier this week.
Chance and Coincidence.
Chance was mentioned by the nurse from a Chicago suburb who ended up sitting next to me Sunday night as Blair Minton, Founder of BMA, and I were flying down to Florida. We were taking advantage of the opportunity to speak on Affordable Assisted Living at the 2009 Advanced Sales & Marketing Summit for the Seniors Living, Assisted Living and Nursing Industries.
The nurse was the last one to board the sold out Southwest Airlines flight and was only able to board because someone else had agreed to wait until the next morning to escape Chicago.
She was going down to Florida because her grandparents needed to move to assisted living, and she was the one chosen to help. She talked about receiving a phone call from her grandparent’s neighbors to let her know that her granddad had dropped the Thanksgiving turkey on the floor while taking it out of the oven. Just over a week later, her grandfather called to say that her grandmother was going into the hospital for a heart procedure.
At least her grandparents recognized the need to make a move. But “where?” was the problem. Family was scattered in three different parts of the country, none lived anywhere close to Florida. Financial resources were limited; her grandparents had no assets and only $2,500 a month combined in Social Security and pension benefits. The average cost for assisted living for just one person is more than $3,000 a month, and this does not include any other living expenses outside of the monthly fee.
I was able to talk with her about the Supportive Living program in Illinois, which serves those 65 and older of all incomes who need some help to maintain their independence, and about the affordable assisted living communities we operate through the Supportive Living program throughout the state. Having limited financial resources would not limit them from obtaining the assistance they need.
Her comment as we were getting ready to deplane is that our just happening to sit together gives even more credence to her belief that nothing happens by chance.
The next morning, our keynote speaker at the Sales and Marketing Summit talked about his belief that “there is no such thing as coincidence” as he discussed the power of using stories in sales presentations.
Matt Rix of Mattrixx Presentations, LLC., is an exceptional storyteller who has given presentations to hundreds of business and sales groups. Stories are so powerful, he stresses, because “it is not what people hear that counts . . . it is what they remember.”
He talked about his “Mattrixx” for developing “Signature Stories” that are unforgettable.
He is a true believer in Mark Twain’s approach to storytelling; “make a point and then tell a story to illustrate the point you are making.”
Click here for more information about Matt.
Based on the two experiences, I quickly changed the opening to our presentation to make a point about “coincidence and chance” and tell a story about two of the nearly 4.5 million people in the United States who can potentially benefit from affordable assisted living.
Just chance and coincidence?
Follow Blair Minton, Founder of BMA Management, Ltd. at twitter.com/bmaman
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