Jack Armstrong

Recently Electric Mirror installed LED lighted mirrors into newly renovated apartments in a senior living community in Florida.

The reason for the sale was not for energy savings or reduced maintenance cost, which in itself would be reason enough to purchase these products. It wasn’t because the mirrors benefit the health and well-being of the residents who will occupy those apartments, although those residents certainly would tell you how much they love them.

So why did they have these units installed? It is a very simple motivation. Multi-facility operators in the know are looking for upscale fixtures for their properties to give them a marketing edge. They want improved closing averages from their sales staffs, which translate into higher occupancy levels.

When you take a tour of the average senior living apartment, you are looking for value-added features that will make residents appreciate the money they are spending and ensure a safe and satisfying environment. Kitchens have cool new features in the appliances, but the bedrooms, dining rooms and bathrooms tend to be fairly ordinary.

A lighted mirror in the bathroom turns it into one of the “wow” responses from the prospective resident. If you can get that kind of reaction out of one of the normally mundane rooms of the apartment, that memory will stand out in the decision-making process. And if sales staff members are trained to espouse the virtues of energy savings and health and wellness benefits of LED lighting, then you may have reached the tipping point in the decision process.

By this time, you might be saying, “That is a great sales pitch, but these lighted mirrors are too expensive.” If you haven’t priced them in the last 12 months, you would be wrong. LED lighted mirrors now are less expensive than florescent mirrors. The tipping point has been reached. Now there no longer is a reason to buy fluorescent fixtures to get a lower price.

The real key to getting great pricing is quantity. Order more than 20 units and they are affordable for most project budgets. Or consider a long-term purchasing agreement that allows for quantity pricing on smaller orders.

Jack Armstrong is national sales manager, healthcare, for Electric Mirror. He may be reached at [email protected].

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