Don’t Let Your Senior Living Sales Slump This Summer!
Summer is almost here, and you want your senior living community’s occupancy rate to continue to sizzle!
Summer is typically the season when we see senior living sales slide – sometimes just a little but often a serious slump – primarily due to sales team and family (prospects) vacations. As a result, prospects can go cold, or even worse – are mishandled or lost by the backup team in the sales director’s absence.
Remember, we’re here to help our prospects! They reached out to us because of a serious need for our services. So, take stock of our tips to keep all your prospects sizzling this summer.
4 ways to increase senior living occupancy this summer
1) Enlist the help of a short-term sales specialist to cover for sales team vacancies
Everyone’s entitled to a vacation, but when your sales director is taking off for several weeks it shouldn’t mean your community’s sales coverage needs to suffer. A short-term solution like Grow Your Occupancy’s Virtual Sales Specialists and Onsite Sales Specialists can keep up the all-important continuity of coverage of the sales seat.
Grow Your Occupancy’s Sales Specialists are experienced and skilled senior living sales professionals who excel at maintaining community sales momentum. They act as a team strategist and communicate tours scheduled and set next steps in the CRM. Best of all, they can fill in for as little as 2 weeks while your community sales director is enjoying some R&R.
2) Remember that the Executive Director is the community’s true sales leader
Executive Directors are the true sales leaders of their communities because the responsibility to maintain high NOI and occupancy ultimately lies with them. They’re also responsible for maintaining the community’s mission-margin balance. (Read more: “3 Reasons to Empower Executive Directors to Be Senior Living Community Sales Leaders”.) Our sales specialists aline with the executive directors to keep sales moving during open positions and summer vacations.
3) Bolster your community’s back-up team
A sales director’s absence is an excellent time to reinforce the sales-focused culture throughout the community’s staff. Your back-up team “bench” should be deep enough to always provide sales coverage. They should be well-trained and practiced in handling inquiry calls and respond to new leads according to your community’s sales processes and procedures.
4) Always be guest-ready
Starting with the Executive Director and filtering down into every area and level of the community, everyone needs to be on board making the community ready to greet prospective residents and their family members. It’s everyone’s responsibility to make sure that the parking lot and outside areas are free of trash and debris, the lobby – including the restroom – are clean and tidy, the common areas look and smell fresh, the model apartment sparkles, and that the overall feeling and energy throughout the building is positive and energy high. (Read more: “6 Tips to Be “Guest-Ready” at All Times for a Prospect Visit”.)
Learn more
Looking for more ways to keep your senior living community full and thriving year-round? Grow Your Occupancy is here to help with sales specialists for hire, sales coaching and training for your team, hiring and onboarding support, optimizing your sales funnel, and more. Reach out to us today at success@growyouroccupancy.com and let’s take your senior living sales to the next level.
