Increase your sales revenue, occupancy, and NOI.
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What We Do
An essential tool to establish your sales and marketing infrastructure, sales process, training, expectations, and accountabilities.
Every great sales program starts with training. Training is fundamental to your company’s sales success. It provides the foundation on which the sales strategy is built.
Building a winning, top 10% sales force requires practice, the same as building a winning sports franchise. The professional who practices most (with an experienced coach) closes sales at the highest conversion levels.
Want improved sales results? Why are you waiting? Virtual and On-Site Sales Specialists provide you with sales superpower.
Turnover is killing our business. Top two reasons people leave are lack of training and not feeling valued. Click below to learn more about this 90-day engagement that is proven to enhance retention and job performance.
A fresh, objective view of your business that provides strategic direction based on data, analytics, processes, team talent, customer experience, and operational leadership.
Gain a fresh set of eyes’ perspective, assess sales skills, and gain customer experience insights into your senior living communities. Our experienced senior living shoppers uncover the entire prospect experience, from initial inquiry through the first impression, the tour experience, and post-tour follow-up.
We provide a solid marketing foundation through website development, search engine optimization, content marketing, email marketing, social media marketing, traditional marketing, and more.
During this action and content-packed masterclass, participants will: analyze data and activity to identify what areas need to improve, put an action plan in place that includes expectations, and more.
The AI-enabled app that’s revolutionizing senior living sales & marketing. Leverage the power of AI with the skills that personalized sales experience required in senior living.
See Us at These Upcoming Senior Living Industry Conferences
Argentum 2025 Senior Living Executive Conference
May 19-21, 2025, Tampa Convention Center, Tampa, FL
Don't Just Take Our Word For It
Vice President of Sales and Marketing
Country Meadows Senior Living
(5-star Amazon customer review) “Wish I had this workbook when I started in Senior Living Sales! Julie Podewitz has an amazing technique and coaching style. This workbook did not disappoint. If you are starting out in senior living sales or a seasoned salesperson, this workbook has something for you. The worksheets are useful to create a solid workflow to gain successful outcomes. I appreciate the refreshers on verbiage to use for conversation starters and follow up calls. The motivational messages throughout the workbook are great reminders to stick the plan and not get discouraged. I recommend this book for anyone wanting to learn about senior living sales or brush up on those skills.”
Mandi K.
“Village on the Park – Denton reached 100% occupancy in Assisted Living today… such a huge win and accomplishment!!
Each of you have been such a great support to us, so I wanted to also thank you for your part in this celebration.
I have no doubt more emails celebrating 100% occupancy will be coming across your inboxes for all our communities. Thank you again for your partnership and commitment to our success. We’re a pretty awesome team together and we’re so lucky to have you guys supporting us along the way.”
Melissa Taylor, Regional Vice President of Sales and Marketing
“Jessica has been so helpful, patient, and understanding in her role as Virtual Sales Specialist during our new acquisition. There have been a lot of obstacles for this team which has pulled their focus away from sales. She has been an asset when it comes to managing the past dues and current tasks in the database. She’s been understanding, has made things easier for us and has softened the blow of not having a Sales Director. All of this said, we are ridiculously grateful for her. THANK YOU! 😊”
Kaleigh Petree, RDSM
“In just 5 hrs of coaching with Julie, I’m already 100% better. Looking forward to the next 100%!”
Betsy Phillips, Sales Director
“GROW’s Virtual Sales Specialist has been extremely helpful when we have a vacant sales position. Melinda collaboratively worked with each community team to understand where she can help and made positive impact quickly. I would happily use GROW’s VSS again!
Eric Varin, Sr. Vice President of Sales
“Lori (Grow Your Occupancy Virtual Sales Specialist) is so incredible to work with, honestly. Her communication is on point. She is very organized, and I have learned so much from her on how to manage a database. Her confidence and comfort with calling folks is something I aspire to match along with training my team to be at her level. I have really learned how to be confident and relaxed when making calls. I am forever grateful for Grow and having Lori on our team.”
Sondra Jones, Regional Director of Sales & Marketing
“I wanted to let you know the Winnwood team watches your podcast and really enjoying it. Thank you for putting these resources available on your website!”
Andy Rauls, Co-Founder
“For the last year, Vitality Living has been using GROW Your Occupancy to help us deeply evaluate the quality of our sales efforts. Thanks for their efforts we have the most comprehensive picture we could have of our community sales experiences we could have. Totally love it!”
Christy Cunningham, Vice President of Sales & Marketing
“We are seeing amazing improvement on the digital side of things, increases in calls and downloads from our website popup. We are very pleased with all of your efforts!”
Tori Covington, Director of People Operations
“We recently hired Grow Your Occupancy to do on-site mystery shop skill assessments. We have successfully partnered with them for other services and had great outcomes.
To say that they delivered would be an understatement. We are very pleased with what the Grow specialists uncovered. Reports were comprehensive, and they provided recommended takeaways to increase occupancy and the sales experience for our prospects. We plan to use them again for our mystery shopping.”
Greg Crutcher, CMO
“Cady (Sales Specialist) has been amazing! Our team is very complimentary of her efforts – her level of communication and all she accomplished. In fact, Cady revived a lead we hadn’t reached in long time, he toured and is ready to move in. We are so grateful for her help!”
Kaleigh Petree, RDSM
“We have had great success with the virtual sales specialists at Grow Your Occupancy. The impact to the communities has been amazing. All the leads in our databases are now getting the attention they deserve, tours are being scheduled and we are seeing a good ROI from using Grow Your Occupancy as a part of our sales strategy. I highly recommend Grow Your Occupancy!”
Beth Huck, Sr. VP Sales and Marketing
“Julie is a wealth of knowledge for our industry. My two takeaways (from her training) are the importance of the discovery process and offering more options as next steps. Not everyone is ready to deposit now. I’m learning more everyday the importance of personalized follow up.”
Joseph Rosasco, Sales Counselor
“We hired Grow Your Occupancy to do a sales leadership training workshop for our Executive Directors. Julie provided great role-playing exercises that drove engagement and raised the team’s overall sales acumen. After the training we had some Executive Directors commit to spending at least 3 hours a week on outreach. It definitely hit home.”
Gift Mutemba-Mutasa, VP of Sales & Marketing
“GROW is an amazing organization. They provide exceptional service and value. We need a rather large number of mystery shops done in a very short timeframe. GROW got them done – beautifully – with time to spare. I cannot recommend them enough!”
Cindy Longfellow, Vice President of Business Development, Sales, and Marketing
“Juniper was so fortunate to have Julie Podewitz of Grow Your Occupancy join us for one of our monthly trainings. Her enthusiasm is contagious. Her content was spot on and compelling. We were particularly impressed by the focus on those mid-funnel, perhaps beyond ‘not ready yet’, but certainly stuck in the decision making process type leads. The detailed tactics, approaches, and even specific questions to begin to move these leads forward were incredibly helpful. Comments from our team were resoundingly positive. Thank you Julie for a terrific, quick-paced, and impactful training!”
Cindy Longfellow, Vice President of Business Development, Sales, and Marketing
“The Grow Virtual Sales Specialists have had a very positive impact on our communities. They are incredibly responsive, professional and productive; making calls to both new and existing leads, schedule tours and aiding with move-ins.
It’s such a relief to know that every lead is being taken care of, from those at the top of the funnel to those who may be stuck along the way.
At Transforming Age, we’re making great use of the VSS teams in multiple communities. They help fill vacant Sales Director positions and provide support to our existing sales teams.
Using Grow Virtual Sales Specialists has proven to be a wise investment, as they significantly boost sales productivity and deliver excellent results, giving us a strong ROI.
It’s been a pleasure working with Julie, Dresden and their team!”
Paul Barlow, Vice President of Sales and Marketing
“We’ve engaged Grow leadership and sales coaching services earlier this year and although we did not budget for it, we are definitely seeing an ROI from the investment and will be including it in 2024 budgets as we see the value of continued engagement.”
Sara Robertson, CEO
“I would recommend Grow Your Occupancy to anyone and everyone! The team at GROW cares about our prospects and our sales team. They understand their responsibility not only to us, their client, but to our industry. Integrity, honesty, respectfulness and great follow up–that’s how I describe the team at Grow!”
Paula Rathgaber-Gomez, Vice President of Sales
“My confidence and results grew during my coaching sessions with Julie. I went from 4 move ins monthly to 5 and then 7. I am more comfortable giving advice, creating the journey for the customer. It doesn’t feel salesy yet I’m achieving greater results. Do yourself a favor – invest in sales coaching!”
Jessi Barton, Sales Director
“My new ED shadowed on a tour, and part of her feedback was praise around listening, but also connecting in a way that the family knew I was listening…. all I could think was, “that’s training from Julie!”
John Michael Foley, Sales Director
“We engaged the Grow team to support our CRM transition. This was a huge project for us with many moving parts and decisions to make. Julie and her team supported us every step of the way in making the integration simple and successful. We implemented the recommended activity and conversion benchmarks. We also engaged them to create our own branded training guide which has been immensely helpful in supporting our teams.”
Jill Berry, Vice President of Sales and Marketing
Kristin Hambleton, Vice President of Sales and Marketing
“We hired Julie and her team to conduct mystery shops for us. I had used other vendors before. The shops that I received were scored fairly and accurately. The best part of the shops was the constructive coaching to encourage the salespeople to try different techniques! The salespeople accepted the feedback in a positive way using the coaching remarks to improve their performance. The audio was powerful and effective! What I particularly liked was the overall summary pointing out the high-level sales basics already in place, and then really helping with overall needs for the company. We will be using them again in 2nd quarter!”
Kristin Cherry, Vice President of Sales and Marketing
“I did love the training and took lots of tools from it. I borrowed her phrasing about matching your heartbeat to a community. I used it on my Friday tour, a very very very tough tour (we won over Stonebrook Village and Harbor Chase)! He emailed back over the weekend and deposited on Monday and repeated back that phrase as why we chose us!”
Sondra Jones, Regional Director of Sales & Marketing
“Using a virtual sales assistant for call outs, follow ups, and database cleanup has taken a huge burden off our sales teams’ shoulders. Removing this added stress allows them to focus on converting the highest probable leads by spending time developing deeper relationships with prospects.”
Lola Rain, Head of Marketing
“Julie first trained with our teams almost 15 years ago. We immediately saw occupancy and revenue growth and have continued putting her sales practices into place through the years. Implementing proven sales systems is a critical component to support our portfolio growth and change.
We recently brought Julie and her team back to lead our strategic sales initiatives in a post-COVID landscape. Her tactical strategies are simple to implement, make sense to our teams, and keep us grounded in the every-day whirlwind of running senior living communities. I am also a huge fan of her book. I carry it with me and refer to it often. Everyone on my team has a copy!”
Patrick Dooley, President & Chief Development Officer
“Julie is a pro at what she does and an excellent resource for marketing ideas and approaches to the senior living industry. Her positive spirit and time-tested ideas can make a big impact on your sales. It is well worth your investment!”
Mark Hamby, Director of Sales
“One Lincoln Park started using (Grow Your Occupancy) coaching services in 2010 when our “magic number” was 50. It is now 6! Julie has been instrumental in helping keep our sales team focused and motivated. Every coaching call makes us feel good about what we have accomplished and leaves us with greater clarity as to what we need to do. She has become very much a part of our team and I’m convinced, is one of the main reasons for our success.”
Ana Johnson, Executive Director, Independent Living
“I have worked with Julie Podewitz for over 5 years. Most recently, Julie has been providing coaching calls to my marketing team for a large independent living senior property. Our coaching calls with Julie have provided that extra push that resulted in record occupancy. We couldn’t be more happy to have finally reached our goals and are pleased to report that we now have an extensive wait list. Julie’s positive approach and attitude is motivating and her methods are tried and true. I am confident that if you are looking for a “coach” to fine tune the sales process, Julie is your go-to person!”
C. Ryan, Regional Director
“During the 6 ½ years Julie worked with me (as Director of Operations and Vice President of Marketing) and our marketing teams, she is the one individual with the greatest impact on our collective success, growing to 95% company-wide census. As a coach and presenter, Julie has a direct but supportive approach and has successfully guided me and others on our teams to be better sales people, managers, and coaches ourselves. She has the ability to capture your attention and keep you engaged. As a coach, she infuses you with the belief you can do it and celebrates when you do!”
Gretchen Vakiener, Regional Vice President
“The training I received from Julie had great impact on my professional growth. Through her coaching, I have been able to develop my skills of active listening, drilling down and closing!”
Elizabeth Bartleman, Regional Director Of Sales
“Julie’s coaching resulted in my career advancement. Not only did I personally grow occupancy to 100% with a waitlist, but then was able to help others advance their occupancy as well. Julie has the ability to help people tap into their strengths. She is intuitive and gets to know the people she works with. I grew both professionally and personally and highly recommend her training and coaching. It’s more than worth your investment.”
Shelli Webster, Senior Living Sales Expert
“Julie Podewitz is the ultimate Sales and Marketing Professional. In the 18 years that I have been in sales, I have never worked with someone with such an innate ability to train others while giving them such a sense of pride in the career that they have chosen. Anyone who has the pleasure to learn from Julie should consider themselves extremely fortunate and soak up every bit of knowledge that she gives to them.”
K. Walker, Senior Living Sales Specialist
“Julie inspired our group of owners, operators, and marketing/salespersons to use her brilliant tips to make the best use of leads and convert them to sales! Packed with wonderful, useful, and practical information that is easy to understand and implement.”
Tara Eckhoff, Executive Director
“Julie’s presentation resonated with our team members. She provided real-world examples and tools to differentiate themselves from the competition, accelerate the sales cycle and connect with prospective residents.”
Sloan Bentley, Former President
“I have had the privilege of working with Julie Podewitz in various roles. As a mentor, Julie was able to share her sales expertise and coach me on all aspects of relationship selling and effectively leading sales teams. As a supervisor, Julie provided me with the tools, support and leadership that allowed me to do my job to the fullest. Julie is an expert in senior housing sales. She is passionate about ensuring customers are treated right and staff is engaged and excited to do their jobs. I have the upmost respect for Julie and know that whatever she does, she will do it at 110%!”
Peggy Scoggins, Regional Director, Sales Expert, Senior Living Consultant
“Julie has a passion for helping others succeed. She helped me to think in ways I never did before and changed my techniques while staying true to my own style.”
Lindsay Steele, Director Of Admissions And Marketing
“It is a true honor to have known Julie for several years. I have worked with Julie in several capacities and it is apparent that she is the best! I would consider Julie an absolute expert in the senior-living industry. She’s an extraordinary leader and motivator. Julie has a way of coaching you to exceed your goals not only by believing you can, but also by inspiring you to reach beyond your comfort zone in a positive way.
Julie makes you want to do better than your best. Working with her and having her support, knowledge and motivation means so much when facing all of the different nuances that come into play in senior living and sales. From getting more leads, to lead nurturing, tour planning, closing, and customer service, whatever your need is, Julie can help. I highly recommend her. She is remarkable.”
Pamela Cupp, Senior Living Counselor
“Julie was my VP of Sales of my company and I quickly learned the massive amount of knowledge she had. She was amazing to work with for so many reasons. Not only was she extremely knowledgeable and intelligent, she was also extremely uplifting. She had a way of noticing your strengths and even pointing them out to you just in case you weren’t aware of them. She had a way of bringing the best out in you, so you could continue to push through when maybe it was a slow time of year. I truly admire and continue to build my relationship with her because you don’t always run across people that are genuine and true in helping you meet and exceed all your expectations.”
Tiffany R., Senior Sales Specialist
“Julie has an amazing gift that enables her to work with all types of marketing and sales personalities to help them discover their strengths and unique methods to improve their sales results. Julie has had a 100 percent success rate with helping to move multiple sales and marketing directors forward by helping them stay focused, set goals, and achieve a positive direct impact on their individual performance, while increasing community occupancy. Julie is one of the most caring, supportive, and effective executive sales mentor and coaching professionals I’ve met in my over 2 decades of working in retirement living. I consider her an invaluable business partner and a highly respected peer. She is the first person I call when a director has challenges or needs a refresh or new perspective. Most importantly the directors trust and value Julie’s approach and the effective tools she provides them, while being supportive and results driven. Julie is the real deal when it comes to connecting associates to better serve and help residents and families make a major lifestyle change. I’m most grateful to Julie and all her solutions-based ideas that she so willingly and ably shares.”
- Tom Baker, SVP
“Julie’s decades of deep senior living sales experience coupled with her passion for helping seniors and their families traverse the complex dynamic of where, when and how to move to senior living make her uniquely qualified to assess and fix senior living sales and personnel issues. Her love of teaching and sharing the discipline and her academic and empathetic approach to the process enable her to build teams, innovate, and adapt to a wide array of challenges that are likely to present themselves for any property trying to achieve or remain 100% occupied. Julie’s wisdom and ability to connect and build trust exemplifies leadership in the senior living sales space. She is beloved by residents and associates alike and most importantly, has fun every day doing what she loves.”
Rick Shamberg, Managing Director
“Julie’s training was an excellent restart & refresh for our marketing team. The straightforward & thought-provoking topics helped all of us think outside of the box with our communication and sales tactics.”
Hannah Hoover, Vice President of Marketing
“We hired Julie to speak with our sales leaders. Julie is a rockstar and her knowledge of the senior living space and understanding of sales makes her insights actionable and thoughtful. In our first session, Julie provided great feedback that we included in our standard process immediately. Our team keeps asking when we will have her back or if we can just hire her!”
Matt Reiners, Co-founder
“…but it (Julie’s sales playbook) is the BEST I had ever seen! Julie Podewitz truly knows what needs to be done to generate sales and has incorporated these winning systems and processes into her Playbook. That sure makes life easier and more profitable!”
Jack Daly, CEO Coach
“From my perspective as an owner and investor, the investment in hiring Grow is a great return on capital because not only does the sales team get a proven playbook of success but the owners of the building are able to de-risk the transaction by securing topline revenue stability via consistent sales procedures.”
Blanding Beatty, Chief Investment Officer
“Julie’s has been a top trainer and mentor for sales professionals with a wide variety of backgrounds. Her ability to mentor and connect with clients is a unique talent not often found. Julie’s coaching style is one of support with the right amount of constructive feedback. She gets results and constantly challenges her clients to the next level. Julie is extremely hands on in her training and breaks down the coaching so it’s manageable to learn and generates immediate results.”
Jennifer Saxman, COO
“Julie is a nationally recognized senior living expert who combines strategy, industry knowledge, coaching, and passion to drive big wins for her clients. If you’re ready for amazing growth with proven results, hire her!”
Amy Hollan
If you are a Regional in Senior Living, this book is a MUST have! It is very helpful to know how to best lead your team and collaborate with others in the community! This book provides so many tools to assist you!!
Julie has done an exceptional job of writing more or less a “handbook” for Senior Living Sales professionals.
Clear thoughts. Great graphs. Precise wording. Helpful and memorable bullet points. Not a book to read and forget. Keep it handy!!