Tag: sales tools

By Melinda Haney

As we head out of the pandemic, we head into 2023 nervous about the economy. Cost of doing business is higher than ever, therefore budgets are squeezed. As difficult as it is, now is the time to invest in your sales teams. With the economy weighing heavily on our minds, history can teach us a lesson on how to get through rough times in a fashionable way.

Since the turn of the last century the length of ladies’ hemlines up and down the leg have followed the stock market – the highs corresponded to miniskirts and the lows to floor length dresses. This is called the hemline index theory.

How does The hemline index mirror senior living sales? When people had less to spend, fashion demanded an investment in more fabric to cover the full leg. When the economy was better, women spent money on hosiery, spending more on less. Buying shorter skirt lengths showed they could afford nicer undergarments.

The sales lessons of the hemline index

During the 2008 recession, the senior living communities that invested in their sales teams had record high occupancy, while those that didn’t suffered – and in some cases went out of business. This time mirrors lessons learned then. Invest in the fabric of your sales team. Thoroughly review the aspects of your lead generation, prospect management, sales training, and referral management. Make sure you do not have any holes in your fabric. Don’t be skimpy.

Another fashion trend during hard economic times is lipstick. I know, it seems far away from senior living but once again, it applies (pun intended). When times were tough and people were unable to afford travel or expensive gifts, more women purchased makeup, especially lipstick. Lipstick became a luxury; it was a noticeable fashion statement and women started to put their “faces on” before leaving the house. Looking put-together mattered more during hard economic times.

Attracting the most talented sales professionals is more important than ever. Sales teams should offer a great first impression of your community. A well-trained sales team should make it look natural – this takes commitment and practice. Sales can be demanding and stressful, it takes practice, coaching, and having the necessary tools and support to grow conversions, census, and revenue.

When the going gets tough, well, you know the rest. We need to get tough to face more challenges, more competition, rising costs, and customer fear. Each day offers an opportunity to advance a sale and it is never too much to expect results. Elevating skills and talent and adding time to sales (team effort) will pay off in additional move-ins and higher occupancy.

Moving into a senior living community is an emotional decision. Often a resident decides to move into the community based on a feeling. The feeling of the community or community culture is made up of many intentionally meaningful details. When the leadership of the executive director and the team of directors in a community plans and executes a strong culture, the community, as they say, sells itself. This is not effortless. To be executed with consistency it requires a fully aligned and executed sales infrastructure behind the scenes.

So, with interest rates are rising and economic times are difficult for many, remember we are in this together. With years of senior living experience, supporting sales teams is our passion. Forecasting and celebrating success is what we like most. We honor the seniors who fashioned themselves using the Hemline Theory and continue to enrich our lives with every exchange.

Ready to take your senior living sales success to a new level by elevating your executive directors to community sales leaders? Grow Your Occupancy provides the sales coaching, accountability coaching, and sales-skill coaching essential to fill that important role. Learn more about Grow Your Occupancy’s sales coaching and training here. Or book your free 30-minute consultation today.

By guest contributor Emma Grace Brown

Senior living owners and operators today should be well-versed in the concept of collaboration. Some researchers say that working with people of varying backgrounds and different areas of expertise will generate stronger ideas. When put into action, your employees should feel the effects of collaboration and be comfortable with speaking to you about their ideas for the company. If you want to create a more efficient work environment, consider these six ways to improve collaboration efforts, courtesy of Grow Your Occupancy.

1. Nurture Effective Communication

Communication is the foundation of teamwork, both within and across department divisions. Consider training programs to help your team understand the benefits of using positive body language and maintaining eye contact when they speak. These techniques show that the speaker is self-assured and interested in the conversation. Additionally, keeping your arms to your side makes you appear more confident and relaxed, whereas crossing your arms can appear aggressive or distant.

2. Improved Software Tools

Collaborative software tools can boost communication through email, digital voicemail, chat forums, and instant messaging. Remote work relies heavily on software tools that allow video conferencing and document-sharing. If you give employees the ability to call conference meetings or collaborate quickly online with minimal effort, you’ll find they communicate with each other more often.

You should also take advantage of tools that will greatly streamline your interaction with customers. For instance, an online invoice generator simplifies record-keeping while also facilitating faster and more efficient payments from customers. And best of all, it’s free!

3. Encourage Feedback

If you create a work environment that promotes consistent feedback, you’ll notice that operations will improve all around. You also show your team that you have faith in their ideas and respect their opinions. For those team members that are shyer about speaking up, offer a platform for them to share their thoughts anonymously or in private.

Another way to effect positive leadership with your team is to make time to connect one-on-one with each of your team members. In the busy senior living community environment, this may seem impossible at first blush. But the benefits to trust and empowerment within your team are worth it. A team that feels comfortable offering feedback is one that can collaborate effectively.

4. Reward Efforts

Openly reward your team when their collaborative work pays off. If you see a project come to fruition, give them positive feedback in front of the office. Have weekly or monthly company meetings where you discuss successes and recognize the employees that made them happen. Offer incentives for important goals and follow through with your promises in a timely manner.

5. Build a Creative Environment

There are many ways that you can build a creative work environment. Get to know your employees and try to incorporate their interests into the office culture. For example, if your senior living community or headquarters office allows pets – and it doesn’t interfere with staff duties – allow office pet days.

If you allow pets, find fun ways to incorporate them into the workday, such as having a walking meeting outside. Search online for a Walk Score map first. This is a great way to locate and evaluate at a glance the areas near your office that are best suited for walking. You, your team, and their pets will all feel energized and engaged with the occasionally walking meeting.

Avoid micromanaging employees. Allow them to take risks, and you’ll create an environment that fosters innovation. Also, promote opportunities for continuous learning, and when you have employees that are actively learning new ways to benefit the company, ask them to share them with the other employees. This creates an environment where everyone feels comfortable learning from one another and asking each other for help when they need it.

6. Strategize Cross-Team Collaboration

Cross-team collaboration is the creation of an interdepartmental team to work on a single project. You can boost collaboration among departments by:

• Choosing team members that understand each other
• Assigning a leader to delegate
• Aligning project goals and communicating them to the team
• Encouraging members to understand each department’s goals
• Setting a timeline for the project

Another way to foster collaboration is to create a process map using a template. A process map will allow you to define project goals, brainstorm ideas and solutions, and determine the steps involved. This can keep your team organized and improve efficiency.

Obviously, collaboration hinges on good communication. When you encourage people to work together and help them better understand one another, you create a work environment that nurtures productivity. Your goal as a leader should always be to make sure your team members are happy at work.

Ready to take your senior living sales success to a new level by elevating your executive directors to community sales leaders? Grow Your Occupancy provides the sales coaching, accountability coaching, and sales-skill coaching essential to fill that important role. Learn more about Grow Your Occupancy’s sales coaching and training here. Or book your free 30-minute consultation today.

As COVID-19 restrictions have eased, in-person networking and prospect events have been added back onto the schedule at senior living communities. And for good reason: well-planned events attract new customers to your community. (If you haven’t added them back to your schedule, now is the time to start.)

While virtual events have produced mixed to positive results for the senior living communities, there is no denying that in-person events that welcome people into the communities produce greater results and strengthen reputation and community “buzz”.

As we roll into September, the time is perfect to begin planning networking and prospect events for the busy end-of-year holiday season.

Don’t know where to start? Need some inspiration? Here are the five “P”s of networking and prospect events to know to pull together in time for strong year of year results.

#1.  Plan

Events do not need to be huge parties to be considered successful. Smaller events – like holding a lunch and learn for 3 to 5 prospects or hosting the local garden club’s luncheon – can be considered a success if it results in one hot prospect that eventually moves in. A small event that produces a move-in is a successful event outcome! 

Ideally, an event is scheduled 90 days in advance so there’s time to prepare and promote, but there is still time to promote and hold successful events for fall.

Establish your objective. More on this in part #2 but knowing what you want to get out of an event – whether it’s connections with referrers or moving prospects along in their journey – is a key part of planning.

You’ll want to establish your budget and make sticking to it a priority. As we enter the last quarter, you may need to be careful in the use of the budget.

Consider pooling budgets with other departments, such as the sales and marketing budget being pooled with the activities department budget. This can provide some extra funding to make the event even more spectacular.

Another consideration is to join forces with another company or organization. Co-marketing a prospect event with a complementary business or seeking sponsorships for a networking event benefit everyone involved.

Know the holidays and plan around them. Holding your event adjacent to but not on one of the major religious celebrations will increase the attendance. Here are the 2022 dates of the year-end religious holidays:

• Halloween: October 31
• Thanksgiving: November 24
• Hanukkah: December 18 – 26
• Christmas Eve and Christmas: December 24 – 25
• Kwanzaa December 26, 2022 – January 1, 2023

#2.  Pick Your Audience: Prospects or Referrers (or Both)

Is your event intended for prospects, current residents and their loved ones, referral sources, or some combination of all of these? (Note: Your events calendar should include some events for just prospects and others for just referrers.) Is it an open house or is it by invitation-only? Are you serving appetizers or is it a sit-down holiday dinner? Is it non-denominational or religious holiday-themed? The budget plays a part in some of these questions, so be mindful of the cost of each option as you plan.

#3.  Pull Together a Team

Who at the community is the captain of the event? The executive director, the sales director, and the activities director should all be involved, but assigning ownership to one person will improve the organizational structure, focus, and direction. Other department heads in the community that may have a role to play in the event include culinary, dining, and maintenance.

Assign responsibilities for:

Decorating: Add a warm and personal touch to the event by supplementing the community’s holiday decorations with handmade decorations, gifts, and signs made by the residents. Not only are they great activities for the residents to work on but they help the budget.

Food and beverages: It’s key to involve the culinary team early on so they can deliver on food and beverage planning, preparation, and serving.

Entertainment: Live holiday music contributes to the warm and welcoming feel of the event. Some options include enlisting the community’s favorite piano or guitar player who regularly entertains the residents; or inviting a local student choir or instrument ensemble. Entertainment talent books up early so schedule them now!

Set-up and clean-up: Who will be responsible for setting up before and cleaning up after the event? Keep this in mind as you plan the event so that ample staff is scheduled to be on hand.

#4.  Promote

What’s your game plan for letting your invitees or the public know about your event? What tools are at your disposal? Here are some possibilities:

• Schedule posts on your community’s Facebook page
• Include a story in your monthly e-newsletter
• Send out event-specific email blasts with an RSVP included
• Hand out event announcement flyers
• Deliver personal invitations to prospects or referrers
• Make an invitation to the event the purpose of a prospect or referrer call
• Send Sales Mail or One Day video e-blast invitations

Keep in mind that people need to feel invited. A mass posting won’t drive traffic nearly as much as an invitation that feels personal. Plan to personally call every event attendee within 72 hours before the event. Remember to track all event activity in your CRM!

#5.  Perform the Post-Event Protocol

After your event, plan to track all the leads through to move in. This is critical to determining your event’s Return on Investment (ROI). ROI is the relationship between how much your event cost (the investment), and how many move-ins resulted from it.

Get the most marketing value out of any pictures and videos you and your staff took at the event by posting them to social media. Write personal thank you notes to attendees and send them out within a few days of the event.

Hopefully these 5 “P”s of networking and prospect events encourages you to begin planning your events for the busy end-of-year holiday season! We love to hear about successful events, so drop us a line and let us know what works for you!

Ready to take your senior living sales success to a new level by elevating your executive directors to community sales leaders? Grow Your Occupancy provides the sales coaching, accountability coaching, and sales-skill coaching essential to fill that important role. Learn more about Grow Your Occupancy’s sales coaching and training here. Or book your free 30-minute consultation today.

Marketing events are a goldmine for attracting both highly motivated prospects and referral sources to your senior living community. If you don’t have an active calendar of marketing events in your sales toolkit, you’re missing out!

Planning and executing effective marketing events doesn’t require a small army of event planners and staff. These 6 steps will help you successfully plan your next marketing event.

1. Think Small. An effective marketing event doesn’t need to a) be elaborate, and b) draw a massive crowd. Coming out of the pandemic, many people are still shy when it comes to large crowds, so small group events will still draw attendees. Events like lunch n’ learns, educational speakers, art classes, cooking demos, outdoor gatherings, etc. are in this small event category. Promote the fact that it’s a small event by promoting the intimacy, i.e. don’t be afraid to say that space is extremely limited.
2. Plan Ahead. Last-minute events typically aren’t successful. Why? First, just about every event has a lot of moving pieces, many of which have lead time involved. Second, prospects and professional referral sources need some advance notice get it on their calendar. Don’t go overboard though, 2-3 weeks is sweet spot between the time they are invited to the date of the event.
3. Hold Events Outside. Whenever possible, take advantage of fresh air and the beauty of the warmer months to bring people together outdoors. Have a back-up plan in place for rain/weather contingencies though. For example, be ready to pivot to a drive through grab-and-go event in which the hors d’oeuvres you were going to serve are now bagged take-out style!
4. Bring the Event to Those Who Can’t Attend. Do you have a few folks who expressed interest but cannot attend due to a conflict or other reason? Offer to record the presentation, deliver the meal, enter them for a chance to win a door prize, etc. Did someone RSVP but not show up? Give them the same service!
5. Extend Invitations Personally. Don’t rely on postcards, social media posts, or mass emails only. People respond much better to a personal invitation. Invite prospects and referral sources in person or by phone calls (leaving a voice mail counts) first, then follow up with video message, email, or text.
6. Text a Reminder. We all have forgotten about an event that we said we would attend. Want to boost attendance to your event? Text a reminder to your RSVPs the day before the event.

Finally, as I’m writing this article in August, the time to be planning your fall and holiday events is NOW! Don’t let the prime opportunity to hold an open house, giftwrapping party, after-5 mixer, canned goods or toy drive event, or other seasonal networking event go by – use our 6 steps above and start planning your upcoming events today.

Ready to take your senior living sales success to a new level by elevating your executive directors to community sales leaders? Grow Your Occupancy provides the sales coaching, accountability coaching, and sales-skill coaching essential to fill that important role. Learn more about Grow Your Occupancy’s sales coaching and training here. Or book your free 30-minute consultation today.

Senior living is a high-touch, emotional business. In our ever-growing digital world, technology is taking on a greater role in sales almost before our eyes, but there is still tremendous value in a truly personal touch.

During a recent sales workshop a top sales director was asked to share her tips and tricks. Her response, “I don’t have any. Just do the work. Be consistent. Stay focused on selling, make your calls, plan your tours, practice your skills, make strong outreach connections. Most importantly, personalize the experience.”

Since buying decisions are heavily influenced by our emotions, creating a personalized, meaningful experience is critical in senior living sales success. A simple example of personalization is the hand-written note.

I’ve been thinking about the hand-written note a lot lately. I talk a lot about doing them in the course of the prospect’s journey. I’m curious how many still do, especially in this digital age.

When the student is ready, the teacher appears

Recently, a sales associate shared a move -in success story. He is focused on creating hand-written notes, especially for warm or even cooler database prospects. He committed to (and is following through on) sending five handwritten notes weekly.

Imagine his surprise when the phone started ringing.

Within one month of sending his first batch of notes (approximately 20) he has given four tours and has received two additional phone calls thanking him for his kindness.

He also took a deposit and signed a lease with a prospect he’s been working with – on and off – for over a year. She’s been hot, warm, cooler, warmer, cooler, hot and back to cool. She called him after receiving his note and told him she is now ready to move forward. When asked what is was that prompted her today she said, “Your cards and notes have meant the world to me. You didn’t give up, even after I cancelled two tours. No one else has been so kind. You even remembered my birthday.”

We all love the sales that happen quickly, the prospects who speed through the sales funnel. The truth is though, most don’t. The salespeople who continue prospect conversations with personalization are rewarded with unexpected “bluebirds” that fall from the sky; the sales that seem to come out of nowhere.

Today’s sales wins (lagging measures) are a result of past efforts (leading measures). That hand-written card mailed six months ago is still remembered today.

6 reasons you should be sending out handwritten notes

1. Your competitors aren’t doing it. It sets you apart from the other senior living communities your prospect is considering. It keeps you at the top of their mind.
2. It’s a tangible reminder of their connection with you. The envelope with your name in the return address and the card with a recap of your last conversation will help them to remember their connection with you a lot longer than the email that was deleted as soon as it was read.
3. It’s respectful. It’s a statement that older adults can relate to and appreciate – because it was once a common courtesy that has mostly disappeared from today’s society.
4. It’s a guaranteed open. In our digital world of tracking opens on emails, we’re lucky if we get more than a 20% open rate. A personal, hand-written note in their mailbox will almost certainly be opened.
5. It’s an opportunity for a next step. The note can include an invitation to visit the community for lunch, for example. That will then give you an opportunity to follow up with a call: “I’m calling about the invitation to lunch I sent you…”
6. It is an efficient use of your time. Writing a handwritten note takes less time than several unsuccessful call-out attempts.

Are you writing and sending out handwritten notes as part of your regular sales routine? Have you made it part of your company’s sales procedure? I’d like to hear from you about your successes with handwritten notes! I’d love to hear from you! Email me at [email protected] – or better yet, drop me a handwritten note to me at:

Grow Your Occupancy

Attn: Julie Podewitz

5500 Maryland Way, Suite 320

Brentwood, TN 37027

Ready to take your senior living sales success to a new level by elevating your executive directors to community sales leaders? Grow Your Occupancy provides the sales coaching, accountability coaching, and sales-skill coaching essential to fill that important role. Learn more about Grow Your Occupancy’s sales coaching and training here. Or book your free 30-minute consultation today.