If you’ve spent any time in senior living sales, you’ve likely heard some version of this:
“We need more leads!”
It’s one of the most common — and costly — assumptions, because the truth is, most communities don’t have a lead generation problem, they have a sales execution problem.
I recently talked with Patrick Leonard, Chief Revenue Officer at The Gatesworth, on an episode of The Grow Your Occupancy Podcast. After facing a 40-unit occupancy gap post-COVID, his team didn’t double their marketing spend or rely on deep discounts.
Instead, they focused on three foundational elements:
People, Process, Plan
The result: achieving and sustaining occupancy at or near 100% despite being the highest-priced option in their market.
Let’s break down what People, Process, Plan looks like — and how you can apply it.
People: The foundation of sales success
Not many of us are natural-born salespersons. Sales success requires the right skills, alignment with a sales doctrine, and accountability. Training, coaching, and leadership are the components that make up the foundation of the People element.
But People in senior livings aren’t just the community sales directors, RDSMs, and corporate sales leadership. It cannot be emphasized enough: in senior living communities, everyone is in sales. Executive directors, department heads, and frontline teams all play a role in preparing for tours, delivering an exceptional experience, and reinforcing the value of the community at every touchpoint. High occupancy can’t be credited to the sales team alone, it’s a collective effort across the organization.
Process: Where consistency drives outcomes
The right People operating without a defined and consistent Process are just “winging it”. “We’ve always done it that way”, “I do what’s always worked best for me”, and “No one ever told me how to sell here” are the hallmarks of “winging it” I often hear with new clients.
The first step toward the Process element is gaining clarity of how leads get to your community, move through your pipeline, and ultimately move into your community. What works? Where does the system frequently break down? Is any of the system documented?
With this clarity, you can now begin the work of standardizing the entire prospect experience and sales procedure into your Process. A successful sales Process includes, but isn’t limited to:
- Discovery (new lead)
- Tour preparation and execution
- Follow-up
- Home visits
- Addressing objections
- Closing
- Sales tools
- Expectations and benchmarks
- CRM utilization
- Reporting
- External marketing
- Outreach
- Events
- Training
- Practice
A standardized Process provides consistency. Formalizing your Process in a written Sales Playbook yields tremendous benefits and outcomes for the senior living operators who have invested in developing their own.
Plan: Turning big goals into daily action
The Plan is the final element. It often gets the most attention but is executed the least effectively. Why? Because big goals can be paralyzing. A goal to climb out of a 40-unit occupancy deficit, for example, can be overwhelming and frustrating. But a Plan to net up 3 to 5 units each month breaks down the big goal into clear, attainable milestones and lays out a path to success.
And here’s where we bring everything full circle: successfully executing the Plan requires the People and the Process elements you’ve worked hard to establish.
Unlike in the movies, where the plans always seem to be secret, your Plan needs to be visible across the entire team. Using the same example of netting up 3 to 5 move-ins each month, the team needs to be kept up to date on the progress toward the goal, know everyone’s role in it, and who is accountable for achieving it.
Grow Your Occupancy is here to guide you through your People, Process, Plan development
While the People, Process, Plan framework is simple, the knowledge, skill, and discipline to develop and execute it isn’t. Grow Your Occupancy’s senior living sales and marketing experts are here for you. Let’s talk about the right mix of leadership coaching, sales training, sales playbook development, hiring and onboarding services, and more to give your organization best-in-class People, Process, Plan.