Senior Placement Services: Tim Meehan's Expert Guide to Stress-Free Senior Placement
Jul 01, 2024
Patricia
Ever wondered what it takes to find the perfect retirement community for your loved ones without the stress and financial burden? Tim Meehan, the president and founder of Senior Placement Services, joins us to uncover the intricacies of the senior placement process. With over 15 years of experience and a background that includes stints with Brookdale, Summerby, and a caregiver company, Tim likens his role to that of a real estate broker for retirement communities. He sheds light on common misconceptions about costs and provides a free concierge service to guide families through this emotional journey. His deep expertise ensures families can make informed decisions without worrying about additional expenses.
The conversation doesn't stop there. Tim expands on his organization's extensive network that spans across Alabama, covering areas like Tuscaloosa, Huntsville, Mobile, Daphne, and Montgomery. He emphasizes the readiness of his team to assist families statewide. Patricia and Tim wrap up their enlightening discussion by expressing their appreciation for local businesses and providing details on how listeners can nominate businesses for future episodes of the Good Neighbor Podcast. Tune in for heartfelt stories, expert advice, and a comprehensive look at the service landscape for senior care. #GNPNorthport #SeniorPlacementServices #SeniorServices #BirminghamSeniors #SeniorCareAlabama #seniorservices #seniorcare #elderlycare #eldercare #seniorliving #assistedliving #caregiving #healthcare #caregivers #retirement #homehealthcare #caregiversupport #seniorresources #caregiver #health #seniorconnection #retirementplanning #retirementgoals
Ever wondered what it takes to find the perfect retirement community for your loved ones without the stress and financial burden? Tim Meehan, the president and founder of Senior Placement Services, joins us to uncover the intricacies of the senior placement process. With over 15 years of experience and a background that includes stints with Brookdale, Summerby, and a caregiver company, Tim likens his role to that of a real estate broker for retirement communities. He sheds light on common misconceptions about costs and provides a free concierge service to guide families through this emotional journey. His deep expertise ensures families can make informed decisions without worrying about additional expenses.
The conversation doesn't stop there. Tim expands on his organization's extensive network that spans across Alabama, covering areas like Tuscaloosa, Huntsville, Mobile, Daphne, and Montgomery. He emphasizes the readiness of his team to assist families statewide. Patricia and Tim wrap up their enlightening discussion by expressing their appreciation for local businesses and providing details on how listeners can nominate businesses for future episodes of the Good Neighbor Podcast. Tune in for heartfelt stories, expert advice, and a comprehensive look at the service landscape for senior care. #GNPNorthport #SeniorPlacementServices #SeniorServices #BirminghamSeniors #SeniorCareAlabama #seniorservices #seniorcare #elderlycare #eldercare #seniorliving #assistedliving #caregiving #healthcare #caregivers #retirement #homehealthcare #caregiversupport #seniorresources #caregiver #health #seniorconnection #retirementplanning #retirementgoals
Speaker 1:
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Patricia Blondheim.
Speaker 2:
Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. I'm your host, patricia Blondheim, and today we have good neighbor Tim Meehan, and Tim is the president and founder of Senior Placement Services in Birmingham and in Tuscaloosa. Tim, how are you today?
Speaker 3:
Hey, great to be with you, Patricia. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, it's a pleasure and thank you for coming by. I want to know what do you do? What is Senior Placement Services?
Speaker 3:
Basically, I would say the easiest way to explain it to a layperson is senior placement services. We're kind of like a real estate broker for retirement communities. So I have contracts with all 33 retirement communities in town where I can send them business, and what I do is it's a base, it's kind of a concierge type service. So I do all the legwork for my clients I make the call, set the tours up, go with them on the tours, walk them through the whole process and by doing it that way, it's like I brought the retirement community referral and they will pay me a finder's fee if they land in that particular community, if they land in that particular community. And so I don't charge my clients anything. It's a free service to them. But they're using my expertise over 15 years of doing this so that they can basically tap into what I know and I can help them through their journey.
Speaker 2:
Well, a concierge service makes me think that maybe you need to have a gold-plated insurance policy or a really big retirement account to use your service. Is that correct?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, really it's just kind of a free service. I just always tell people I know it sounds like it's too good to be true, but the retirement communities, they pay me well and they're happy to see me and they're always knowing that I'm potentially bringing them a customer. So the good thing is is it's a win-win, because it's a rough time for people. They don't really know this stuff like I do, and they can just use a free service, my senior placement services company myself to help them go through this process and I can usually guide them through very, very easily and stream it down and make it real simple for them.
Speaker 2:
It is an overwhelming process. It is, I mean, just fraught with emotion. And there you are, in the middle of all of that. How do you handle that?
Speaker 3:
Well, you know, I've done it for so long. I started this back in 2009. Not my company, but I was with Brookdale for a couple of years, then Summerby for four years, then four years with a caregiver company. So I have a very good background with it, or at least something similar. If somebody throws me a curveball, I might have something similar in my background. So I know how to deal with situations and family dynamics and things like that. So usually I can calm people down to the point where we can just kind of, you know, talk through a situation, cut to a chase on which retirement community works best for them within their budget and make everything work. So that's ultimately what I'm trying to help people with.
Speaker 2:
Well, you mentioned your journey, that you've been in this industry for a good number of years and you have all that experience. What else have you experienced on your journey? I mean, what brought you here to a place that was intensely caring relationship with your customers.
Speaker 3:
Well, I would say I had six years of practical experience in the retirement communities doing it, so I learned how to do it through practical experience. My company is not a franchise. I started it up myself and then, when I also had the four years with a caregiver company well-rounded background for actually starting my own business up doing this. So when I talk to people, I can speak to the retirement community side on the inside and the things that they look for to get people in, and then also I understand the caregiver world. So when people say, hey, what should I do, I'll know exactly how to tell them and advise them properly. So I would say I kind of thought, hey, I could make a go of this and make it work.
Speaker 3:
There were a lot of people that thought I was cuckoo. And then there were some people that said, yeah, you really need to do this and, uh, this. And you know it was a little daunting, you know, because I had to come up with the name, had to come up with the collateral's, had to go out and get the contracts. I didn't have anybody saying, okay, here's how you do it. From my past experience, knew what I was doing and just decided to run with the ball.
Speaker 2:
so that was kind of the background well, people enter into the search for for an assisted living, residence or anything else like this with a certain number of misconceptions, and I'm sure you run into a lot of them. Can you unpack something for me?
Speaker 3:
Well, I think a lot of times this is one that kind of comes up with me when I tell people, hey, this is a free service, happy to help you out, they'll kind of pause for a second and say, well, how do you do this for free, you know? And is this going to cut into what you're paying in order to pay you? And really the answer to that is the retirement communities pay me. What you pay in rent monthly is not affected at all by that. They've budgeted my stuff into their, their budget.
Speaker 3:
You know referral fees, but, um, yeah, that's, I'd say, one misconception that a lot of people think that if they get me to help them, that somehow it's going to affect their rent rate and it really doesn't. But what it can do by using me is I kind of know the ins and outs so I might be able to help them with some specials going on or know how to talk to the sales counselor about any kind of deals with apartments that are further down the hall or any kind of something they might tell me about that they might not tell the average person because they know that I would know how to explain that to them. Hey, this really is a good deal. This is something you want to take a look at, and so I have a real good relationship with all the retirement communities in town and you know I can really help people if they just give me a shout.
Speaker 2:
And retirement communities have changed a whole lot since, I think, in the last 10 years, honestly so in a very short period of time.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, that's a good point. A lot of people you know Patricia, I know we're roughly the same age and you know our parents, you know they have their knowledge of this world, so to speak, is hospital, nursing home.
Speaker 3:
They don't know that there's a thing in the middle called retirement communities, and retirement communities key in on your social side of care. Hospitals and nursing homes are your clinical side of care, so that's all they sort of know a lot of times. But when you take them into a nice place in town and you walk around and you start seeing their eyes get real big and it's like a cruise ship at port, you know. I mean, some of these places are beautiful. We discussed this before we got on the air.
Speaker 3:
There's places in town that are just absolutely beautiful and, quite frankly, when I was in house doing this, I would oftentimes be doing a tour and the siblings, you know the kids, would go hey, how old do you have to be to get in this place? You know, it was like they got it immediately. You know how nice it is. And then the parents, you know, after they kind of went through and saw how nice the apartments were and all the things that were in the building that they could participate in, the light bulb went off and they were like, wow, this is not what I expected, you know, but it's really good and so, yeah, a lot of them now are just beautiful.
Speaker 2:
They're absolutely beautiful and so, yeah, a lot of them now are just beautiful. They're absolutely beautiful no-transcript.
Speaker 3:
Well, I do like to play golf. You know, I played a lot of sports when I was young, but I'm at the point now where I can't do what I used to do. I played a lot of basketball and baseball and tennis and racquetball and stuff when I was young. Now the knees don't cooperate, so I play golf pretty much. And the other thing I do I'm a commissioner for a little league here in town called the Joy League, which has been actually going since 1958. It's a league that, uh, for a four to 12 year old boys and girls, also kids with special needs, that, um, and it's a coach pitch. It's not really a hyper-competitive league, it's just more for fun, and so I've been doing that about six years, and previous to that I coached for about five when my son was young, and so I kind of do that. Those are kind of my two big things.
Speaker 2:
Let's switch gears a little bit and talk about. You know, we'll zoom out and talk about something that challenged you in your life, that made you different, possibly better.
Speaker 3:
Well, I think the whole step to branching out and doing this from scratch was one of those things that had to do a lot of praying, a lot of soul searching, a lot of do I really think I can run with this, not having really the franchise to to ask questions to and help me with? It was basically I had to create an identity. You know, come up with a name. I had a good buddy of mine that helped me with coming up with a logo, another good buddy to help me with the shirts and so forth. Then I sketched out what I wanted for collaterals, gave that to my friend who helped me actually come up with the collaterals, went around going and getting all the contracts with all the places in town. So it was a lot of. I had to keep saying to myself this is going to work, this is going to work. Persevere, persevere, keep going, keep going. Even when the money wasn't coming in.
Speaker 3:
Initially I just had to keep my eye on the ball long term and then I'd say after about Patricia, probably four to six months, things started to kind of turn.
Speaker 3:
Then everything started to kind of happen and you know, I was placing people and people were getting wind of the fact that Tim's not doing the caregiver world anymore. He started his own placement and had a real good reputation in town and a lot of friends and they started referring to me and the more I was helping people, the more the reputation got better and people were referring me. And then people I worked with referred me to more people and so now it's been a great word-of-mouth thing. I hate to say it, but I don't really have to go out and market like I used to. I just have a lot of people calling me to help them out and I'm very blessed in that department. Just over the years living in town, a lot of friends from you know past experiences that give me a shout to help them. So I'd say that getting it all started, you know, just from scratch, that was the biggest hurdle, I would say, in my life to really making this go.
Speaker 2:
Now, what would you like our listeners, Tim, to take away about senior placement services?
Speaker 3:
I would say please give me a shout. You know it's a free service and I started my career in 2009,. So I've got 15 years in the industry, six in the retirement community world, four in the caregiver world and then six and a half years doing my business. So I would say it won't cost you a dime, but I can certainly impart a lot of knowledge on you and help you with the whole process, and I can move this as fast, medium or slow as you want to move, and I'm not a high-pressure guy.
Speaker 3:
I just kind of listen to what people tell me and I advise them just like I would my own family. I'm not really I've got no dog in the hunt when it comes to the places. I just want to match them with what's best for them and I think that's a reputation I've got too is I'm not trying to place them in the highest place money-wise in town. I want to make it fit with their budget and with their needs, and so I think that's one of those things that I hope people maybe take away from this, patricia, is that I'm really genuinely going to try to help do what's best for them.
Speaker 2:
How can our listeners find you, Tim?
Speaker 3:
Well, you could catch me on my cell phone. I don't mind getting calls, I'm old school, so you can catch me on my cell phone 205-913-3902, 205-913-3902. Or you can catch me at Tim at SeniorPlacementServicesLLCcom. So, tim at SeniorPlacementServicesLLCcom my accountant told me to put LLC behind it, patricia.
Speaker 2:
So you got to do what you got to do you know, tim, it's been a pleasure getting to know you and thank you for telling me all about senior placement service. It's been an education for me and an extreme pleasure.
Speaker 3:
I might add this one thing Sure, we also have five people in town that work with me and they handle different areas of the state, so we do have folks that can work Tuscaloosa. I've got folks that can work Huntsville, mobile, daphne, montgomery, so I would say, anywhere in the state that you might be looking, probably someone in our outfit is going to be able to help you.
Speaker 2:
Thank you. Thank you, tim, and it's been great meeting you.
Speaker 3:
Hey, great to talk to you, Patricia. I sure do appreciate it.
Speaker 1:
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpbirminghamcom. That's gnpbirminghamcom, or call 205-952-0148.
