January is a time of “new.” New year’s resolutions, new commitments, new goals. While looking at how to enhance our life is a positive, what tends to happen is an overcommitment; a complete overhaul of behaviors or setting the goal out of reach. It leads to frustration and failure. In fact, over 90% of “new year’s resolutions” are forgotten by the end of January.
To be successful in senior living sales, one must commit to focusing on income-producing activities. Evaluate how your time is currently spent. Be honest. How much of the day is spent talking with customers?
Some statistics say that only two hours a day are spent on revenue-generating activity. This needs to shift. Maximize your time. Spend it with your leads.
Sounds simple, right? It is simple, but it’s not easy.
Most people have a tendency to procrastinate. There are many ways to get distracted away from sales, especially at a senior living community. If your goal is to achieve better outcomes (more sales = move-ins), commit to one of these habits at a time, until mastery of all is part of your daily schedule.
Five (simple) habits of highly successful senior living sales professionals
#1: Pick up the phone. The phone is your friend. Remember, you are not “bugging” your customers.They reached out to you. They “raised their hand” for help. It’s our job to reach out to them, not theirs to reattempt to reach us. Even in this virtual world, our customers need to speak with us.
#2: Respond immediately to all new leads and continue attempting daily to connect for at least 5 days. Sprinkle in texts and emails, but remember, the connection is the next step in the process. These are warm leads, not cold calls. They reached out to you for help. Here is where your sense of urgency comes into play. You have a problem? It’s my priority! Waiting several days before attempting a phone call is a recipe for failure.
#3: Keep your CRM current. “I did it but it’s not in the CRM” is an excuse. Data entry may not be your favorite thing to do, but it is a vital part of sales. Your CRM is your business management tool. Treat it as such.
Past dues mean broken promises. Prioritize your day for your CRM and lead follow-up. Don’t overschedule your day and never go past due.
#4: Utilize the “Power Hour” strategy. Hang a sign on your door that you are unavailable and on important calls. Engage your A-Team to provide back-up for you while you are focused on your CRM. Do not allow interruptions. Redirect residents. If you have a lock, lock your door.
Vary your call-out times to evenings and weekends to allow for ample opportunity to connect with customers. Ask your executive director is you can adjust your schedule to come in later on the day(s) you stay late to make calls. Track progress. You’ll be impressed with how much is accomplished during non-interrupted “Power Hour” time.
#5: Prioritize your time. Revenue generation is your responsibility. Delegate tasks that are not income producing activities. Examples include putting together brochures, making copies, running errands, decorating, etc. Ask to be excluded from meetings that do not require sales director input.
And finally,
#5 ½: Stop relying on email communication as your primary communication source. Emails are the LEAST effective form of communicating with leads. In fact, they provide a false sense of security that connection is occurring. There is zero correlation between the number of emails and number of sales. Emails are the least productive, but often the #1 sales activity. Pull a T12 sales activity report. What percentage of time is spent sending email? One resolution may be to reduce this percentage by 50%. Phone calls and text messages should always be the primary focus with emails offering secondary communication.
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Looking for more ways to keep your senior living community full and thriving year-round? Grow Your Occupancy is here to help with sales coaching and training for your team, hiring and onboarding support, optimizing your sales funnel, and more. Reach out to us today at [email protected] and let’s take your senior living sales to the next level.
