Find the Right Fit: Evaluating the Total Cost of Ownership for Sales & Marketing Automation

When selecting a Sales & Marketing automation platform for your communities, it’s easy to focus on the starting price—but the true value of a solution comes from understanding its total cost of ownership (TCO).

TCO takes into account not just the initial investment, but all the ongoing and often hidden costs that can impact your budget, your team’s time, and ultimately, your ability to grow occupancy and NOI.

Here’s a framework to help Senior Living operators evaluate TCO thoughtfully—and what to watch for during the decision-making process.

📧 Database and Contact Fees

What to look for:
Some platforms base pricing on the number of contacts in your database, not just the ones you're actively engaging. As your database grows, so can your bill—sometimes significantly.

Questions to ask:

• Is pricing based on active contacts or total database size?
• Are there additional charges for contacts you're nurturing long-term?

How Further approaches it:
All contacts are included in our monthly fee. No per-contact charges, so you can grow your database confidently.

📱 Phone and SMS Costs

What to look for:
Solutions that charge separately for phone lines, SMS messaging, or call tracking can lead to rising costs as you scale outreach efforts.

Questions to ask:

• Are voice and text features included, or billed separately?
• What happens to costs if you double your sales outreach volume?

How Further approaches it:
Phone and SMS capabilities are part of every subscription, with no extra per-line fees.

🧑‍🏫 Onboarding and Support

What to look for:
Some platforms charge substantial onboarding fees or reserve meaningful support access for premium service tiers.

Questions to ask:

• What’s included in onboarding and implementation?
• Is ongoing customer support an additional cost?

How Further approaches it:
Onboarding and ongoing support are included—no surprise fees if you need help launching or growing.

🛠️ Customization and Flexibility

What to look for:
Generic platforms often require heavy customization to adapt to Senior Living workflows, which can mean hiring consultants or investing significant internal resources.

Questions to ask:

• How much technical work is needed to tailor the platform to our industry?
• What happens if our sales process changes next year?

How Further approaches it:
Further is designed specifically for Senior Living, making customization faster, easier, and something you can manage as your business evolves.

The TCO Equation

If that feels like a lot, you’re not alone. Sales & Marketing automation pricing can be complex and difficult to navigate. Here’s a easy way to calculate and compare the typical year-one TCO when you're evaluating vendors for your organization.

Start by asking the following questions for each vendor:

• “How much do you charge for email contacts?”
• “Do you charge extra for phone lines for call tracking and SMS?”
• “How much does it typically cost one of your customers to customize and launch your platform?”
• “How much does a typical customer spend per year on ongoing configuration and maintenance?”

Once you have that information, you can easily calculate the year-one TCO with this equation:

Year-One TCO = Number of Communities * (Annual Platform Fee + Annual Email Fee + Annual Phone Line Fees + Annual Agency Support) + Setup Costs

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Building Confidence in Your Investment

The best Sales & Marketing technology doesn't just fit your needs today—it supports your growth, adapts with your business, and makes budgeting easy and predictable.

When evaluating solutions, consider:

✔️ What’s included vs. what’s extra
✔️ How costs could change over time
✔️ The time and resources needed for setup and maintenance
✔️ Whether the platform is purpose-built for Senior Living or adapted from another industry

At Further, we believe technology should feel like a partnership, not a math problem. That’s why our pricing is simple, transparent, and all-inclusive—giving Senior Living operators the tools they need to increase occupancy and NOI without financial surprises.

Interested in a personalized TCO comparison? Request a custom demo from Further to get your custom TCO analysis.