How Your Senior Living Community Can Say NO to Paid Lead Aggregators

To keep new lead flow occupancy and NOI high, many senior living operators turn to lead aggregators like A Place for Mom or Caring.com. While convenient, this reliance on paid lead aggregators comes at a high price to the senior living communities.

Can senior living communities stop using the lead aggregators they feel they can’t do without?

And if they can, how do they do it?

The answers are a) yes they can, and b) here’s how you can develop effective lead generation strategies that cost your community less and grow NOI.

The high cost of leads from paid aggregators

As previously mentioned, there is a big price tag attached to a paid aggregator senior living lead. Even though the prospects themselves don’t pay for the service, the senior living communities pay in the thousands of dollars – typically the first month’s rent plus care charge – when the lead becomes a resident. This fee is due regardless of how long a resident resides in the community.

If a low- or no-acuity lead like an independent living lead comes from a lead aggregator, the cost can be stretched out over the entire stay of the resident, or at least in theory. But a higher acuity lead – for example memory care or higher acuity assisted living leads – may only reside in a community for a short while before they either need to move out for a higher level of care or pass away. In those cases, the lead cost really cuts into the NOI. 

How to reduce or eliminate your reliance on paid lead aggregators

Optimize your in-house marketing strategy:

Consider all that you could do if you reallocated some or all the funds that currently go to the lead aggregators into proven marketing channels. Investing in your website’s SEO, your social media presence, and content marketing are some of the best choices and will pay dividends down the road by attracting leads organically.

Add in paid ads campaigns to balance out your organic marketing strategy.

Strengthen local community engagement

We’re talking outreach. And no, outreach isn’t dead. Getting out into your local community and building partnerships with professional lead referral sources like geriatric care physicians, discharge planners, elder law attorneys, clergy, and financial advisors will keep your community at the top of their mind when they are able to refer to a senior living community. These referred leads convert at a MUCH HIGHER rate than those from lead aggregators.

Offer your community to host lunch-and-learn events for your professional referral sources. For example, a seminar on estate planning will benefit both your community and the attorney presenting the material.

Don’t forget to be a visible member of the local area by participating in holiday parades, sponsoring senior groups, and advertising in neighborhood and church directories.

Sharpen your sales skills and lead management processes

Turning off the flow of hot leads from the lead aggregators means making a renewed commitment to working cooler leads.  Keep customers engaged, even if they “aren’t ready right now.” Work on practicing and improving key skills like empathic listening, building rapport, following up, advising and overcoming objections.

Do not forget to add home visits into your sales process. Prospects who benefit from home visits have a higher move in conversion.

Because the senior living sales cycle can stretch from a few months to well over a year, committing to using your CRM is imperative to track, manage, and nurture leads through their unique prospect journeys.

 Use your CRM’s analytics tools to better understand your leads, track conversion ratios, and make informed decisions about your marketing strategy.

Measure and adjust

Successfully saying no to lead aggregators for the long-term means committing to change, leaning into discomfort, and continuous measurement and improvement. Identify what your key performance indicators (KPIs) for sales are and regularly measure activity against them.  

For example, what are the conversion rates to move in for organic leads, leads from friends, family and residents? From professional referrals? The quantity is less, the quality is higher. 

 Finally, seek opportunities for improvement in the areas of lead generation and selling through periodic reviews.

Learn more 

Ready to partner with an experienced team to help you say no to paid lead referral sources? Grow Your Occupancy is here to help with sales coaching and training for your team, hiring and onboarding support, optimizing your sales funnel (Occupancy Funnel,) and more. Reach out to us today at [email protected] and let’s take your senior living sales to the next level.

5 Habits Every Executive Director Can Do to Grow Senior Living Occupancy 

The executive director has perhaps the greatest influence over occupancy growth in their senior living community. In our blog, “3 Reasons to Empower Executive Directors to Be Senior Living Community Sales Leaders”, we shared 3 specific reasons why executive directors should be empowered to be senior living community sales leaders: 

  1. They’re responsible for maintaining the mission–margin balance  
  2. They’re the champion of the culture 
  3. They hold the team accountable to meet NOI goals and celebrate its successes 

 In this blog, we share how executive directors can be their community’s sales leaders.  

5 habits every executive director can do to grow senior living occupancy 

#1: Check your community’s CRM daily 

Nothing gauges the pulse of a senior living community’s sales pipeline like its CRM. In it you’ll find the current month’s in/out net, pending move-ins and move-outs, the day’s tours, and sales activity to benchmark. Checking your community’s CRM each day is a simple habit that takes just 5 minutes for you to take away the day’s most important sales details. 

#2: Begin the morning stand-up meeting with sales  

Not only should you be preparing an agenda with key points for your morning stand-up meetings, starting them with sales reinforces the sales-focused culture in the community. The sales portion of stand-up is more than just an occupancy update, you’ll want to ask the sales director about who will be touring the community that day. The important details to cover are more than age and medical issues, you’ll want to learn about the prospect, their family, and how the staff can personalize the tour experience. Spend 5 minutes on each upcoming tour and confirm the personalization that will take place. 

#3: Make post-tour thank you calls 

Call everyone who tours your community within 24 hours of the tour to thank them for considering your community. It’s a great opportunity to make a positive impression, continue the conversation, provide another connection beyond the salesperson, and allow the prospects to provide you with actionable feedback about your community. These calls have proven themselves to increase closing ratios, which is a strong reason for doing them. 

#4: Commit to doing community involvement and outreach  

Leads referred by professionals in your local community convert at a much higher rate than other lead sources. Community involvement by the executive director is critical to maintaining strong word-of-mouth, reputation, and referrals. If the executive director is not seen, your senior living community will go under the radar of many of these prime referral sources. Promote your senior living community’s leadership – its strength and tenure – and its culture in the greater community. Bring along other team leaders to build their networking skills and to gain exposure to professional referral sources. 

Prime opportunities for community involvement and outreach include the chamber of commerce, service clubs like Rotary, volunteer organizations, churches, and senior support groups.  

#5: Protect your sales directors’ selling time 

Nothing saps a salesperson’s productivity like attending irrelevant meetings and performing activities that are not income-producing. Resist the urge to encroach upon your salesperson’s defined selling time by pulling them into meetings that don’t involve sales or saddling them with responsibilities like lease signings and room turns. Every minute they’re pulled away from time they should be spending on calling prospects is time and money wasted. 

Level up your executive director’s sales leadership skills 

Looking for executive director sales training and ongoing support to drive strong occupancy growth at your senior living community? Grow Your Occupancy is here to help with sales coaching and training for your team, hiring and onboarding support, optimizing your sales funnel (Occupancy Funnel), and more. Reach out to us today at [email protected] and let’s take your senior living sales to the next level.  

Strategies for Generating New Sales Leads for Senior Living Communities 

Generating new sales leads for senior living communities is an ongoing challenge that requires a blend of traditional and innovative sales and marketing strategies. Waiting in your sales office for the phone to ring, or for an older adult and their family to walk in off the street to tour your community are unlikely to drive occupancy growth. The same goes for spending time on non-sales activities like visiting with the residents, attending social networking events, being expected to join in on multiple weekly staff meetings, and manually writing long emails to your prospects.  

Strategies for generating new sales leads for senior living communities 

Here are some of our top lead generation tips for senior living sales and marketing teams: 

Optimize your digital presence  

Establish a strong online presence through a website that is user-friendly, has strong SEO, and incorporates content marketing like keyword-rich blogs, pillar pages, and gated downloadable content. Establish and maintain a strong paid SEM campaign, have lead conversion points on your site such as a chat, downloadable informational pieces, and a tour scheduler.  Each time a click and action is required there is a 30% drop off in visitors.  Be cognizant of this and make your digital customer journey as easy as possible.  

Utilize online marketing 

Targeted digital advertising will help you reach your potential residents and their families. There are paid ad options in a range of price points, from short-term Facebook post boosting for under $100 to the sky’s-the-limit ongoing Google Ads campaigns. 

Engage with the local community 

Connect your senior living community with your local area on a regular basis. Participate in local events relevant to seniors, host educational seminars at your community, and collaborate with healthcare providers on events like health and wellness fairs to increase visibility and generate referrals. 

Implement a referral program 

Your current residents, their families, and your staff can be some of your biggest cheerleaders. Develop a referral program that incentivizes them when a lead they referred moves into your community. 

Personalize your follow-up 

Use the notes you’ve added in your senior living CRM to personalize your follow-up with leads. Understanding their specific needs and concerns and connecting with them on those points can help to build a strong relationship that converts leads into residents. 

Offer virtual tours and events 

Virtually unheard of before the pandemic, virtual tours are here to stay because they’re an effective way to show off your community to a lead who may not be able to tour in person. Examples are seniors out of the area who may be relocating due to a family move, or perhaps a senior in rehab considering a move to senior living post-discharge. 

Promote your community on social media 

Utilize the broad array of social media platforms to showcase your community’s lifestyle, events, and success stories. Engaging content can attract new leads and enhance your community’s reputation. While Facebook is considered to be the top platform for engaging with seniors, AARP research shows that other platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube are growing in popularity with older adults. 

Offer valuable educational content 

Elevate yourself from a salesperson to a trusted advisor by providing your leads with valuable information about senior living options, financial planning, and wellness tips through blogs, eBooks, and webinars. 

Leverage technology 

Implement marketing automation and analytics to understand lead behavior better and tailor your marketing efforts more effectively. Go beyond the basics of only sending automated emails by supplementing your strategy with SMS text messaging and use a lead engagement tool on your website such as Occupancy Funnel. 

Network with professional referral sources 

Build relationships with local professionals like healthcare providers, elder law attorneys, financial advisors, and others who are in a position to advise older adults and refer them to your senior living community. 

Seek feedback for continuous improvement 

Regularly collect feedback from prospects about tours, events, and inquiries to improve your marketing strategies and address potential residents’ needs more effectively. 

Conclusion 

By implementing these lead generation strategies, senior living communities can set themselves apart in a competitive market, ultimately increasing occupancy rates and building a thriving community. 

Learn more   

Looking for more ways to generate new leads and drive strong occupancy growth? Grow Your Occupancy is here to help with sales coaching and training for your team, hiring and onboarding support, optimizing your sales funnel (Occupancy Funnel,) and more. Reach out to us today at [email protected] and let’s take your senior living sales to the next level.  

 

7 Mistakes to Avoid for Higher Senior Living Regional Director Retention and Better Outcomes 

Most senior living regional directors of sales and marketing (RDSMs) are promoted because of their success as community sales directors. It makes sense to promote high performing, dedicated, driven professionals, yet the rate of turnover and failure in this role remains high. 

Senior living sales requires a high level of skill, the ability to manage multiple responsibilities, the ability to stop the whirlwind to listen and empathize with the customer. This is true at all levels of sales: sales counselor, sales director, sales specialist, regional, divisional and VP roles.  

Given this, it makes sense to promote a sales director and let them jump into the regional role where they can have similar success. The problem is the skills that make a person successful at the community level do not necessarily translate into managerial roles.   

Why sales directors promoted to regional sales leaders often fail 

The main reason sales directors promoted to a sales leadership role fail is because training at the regional level often lacks. Often, regional sales directors are thrown into the whirlwind. This is not due to malintent; it’s due to lack of regional director playbook, the urgent need to fill in for open sales positions, and the daily whirlwind everyone experiences. Regional directors feel extreme pressure to perform and without structure and specific expectations and how to lead their business, are in a constant state of disappointment and failure.   

The impact of failure in the regional sales leadership position 

Failure (thus turnover) in the regional position puts your business in a vulnerable position. Your organization cannot afford the loss of sales momentum. Open sales positions cost millions of dollars in lost revenue annually. This preventable loss must be addressed to stay competitive in a crowded market, where net margins are squeezed.   

7 common missteps to avoid and strengthen your company’s revenue-driving engine 

Misstep #1: Assuming they have knowledge of the role and its responsibilities, a.k.a. “throwing them into it”. 

Regional sales directors are running a business. They need a playbook. What is expected and how to achieve expectations should be clearly communicated. This needs to be in writing and reviewed regularly.   

Misstep #2: Assuming sales director success equals regional director success. 

Regional positions require skills in structuring a business, leading others, interpreting, and building strategies based on data analysis and sales performance. The selling skills used as a sales director are used in this position, but in an elevated way that requires training and practice.  

Misstep #3: Requiring adherence to a strict travel schedule. 

Gone are the days of “Tuesdays through Thursdays at the building” travel requirements. If this is required because it’s always been that way, it’s time to reconsider why. Is it necessary to be at the building? What can be accomplished virtually? What can be accomplished in a group setting? How much time does a regional director spend with the team while they are on site? Is it productive for the team?   

Travel is time-consuming, stressful, and costly. Require travel only when necessary.   

Misstep #4: Redundant reporting. 

Why are we requiring multiple report formats that show the same data? Why is the CRM reporting function not used? Some regional directors spend all day Friday doing reports. It’s a waste of their time, as is repeating the same data on three separate calls each week.  

Reporting is critical, no doubt, but consider the cost of requiring manual and duplicate reporting. Engaging an outside source for a fresh set of eyes can be beneficial as it’s challenging to pull out of the weeds of what has always been done “this way.”  

Communication is important as well. Corporate leaders may ask for their own reporting which is a duplication of another report required by a colleague. Executive Directors feel this pain all too often. 

Misstep #5: Not requiring skill building through role play. 

Coaching others is a skill not many practice enough. Coaching others is not telling them what to do or how to do it, it’s cultivating others to grow their skills by problem solving and strategic sessions. Coaching sales is a challenge. Coaching others HOW to coach takes things to another level.   

Misstep #6: Not giving them autonomy to make decisions based on what is best for their book of business.   

Many companies treat regional directors as glorified sales specialists. They are placed onsite to fill empty sales positions. They are given instructions and have little or no say in how to run their region. We fail to support the development of strategic thinking – building a plan based on outcomes and what actions are necessary to achieve goals.  

Instead, they’re told what to do, how to report and where to go. They’re blamed for the failures without considering they may not have had the control they need to make different decisions. That said, once the structure and expectations are clear, the coaching of strategy in rhythm, they should own the outcomes and know the whys behind them. 

Misstep #7: Blaming regional sales (and sales PERIOD) for OCCUPANCY outcomes.   

Occupancy is two-fold, move ins and move outs. Sales is NOT responsible for move outs and should only be evaluated on sales and move in growth.  

Learn more 

Looking for more ways to keep your senior living regional directors of sales and marketing productive and driving occupancy growth? 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. 

Don’t Let Your Leads Get Snowed In! 4 Ways to Increase Occupancy This Winter

Winter is here, and as the snowflakes start to fall, you want your senior living community’s occupancy rates to continue to rise! This is a time that many “relax” and wait until after the holidays, after the winter. In our effort not to bother people, we fail to stay connected and prospects go “cold” (literally during the winter!) Remember, they raised their hand. Polite persistence and creative ways to engage can keep your prospects WARM and continue to grow your occupancy this winter.

4 ways to increase occupancy this winter

#1: Light a candle in the window with your digital strategy

Your senior living community’s welcome to prospective residents begins online. A well-rounded digital strategy is key to keep your new lead pipeline strong:

  • Be sure your website is optimized for accessibility and search engine visibility. It needs to be easy to find and easy to navigate.
  • Virtual tours and resident testimonials help create a comprehensive online experience for visitors. Make it immersive!
  • Engage in content marketing with articles and videos about senior lifestyles and community events, and establish your community as a knowledgeable resource. 
  • Use social media, like Facebook and Instagram, to connect with potential residents, sharing updates and educational content to create a sense of community. They want to know what is happening at your community. What are the residents doing? What are they missing by not living there?
  • Targeted email and SMS marketing will keep you in touch with prospects, so you can offer them tailored updates and information. Utilize online advertising, such as Google and Facebook Ads, to reach a wider audience and re-engage (through retargeting) interested individuals. 
  • Showcase positive reviews from residents to build trust. Form local partnerships and host online events to enhance visibility and community involvement. Using a tool like Occupancy Coach 
  • Don’t forget to use analytics tools to track the effectiveness of your digital strategies and adapt based on outcomes. Be sure you highlight your community’s unique attributes for a strong online presence.

If this sounds like a lot, Grow Your Occupancy can help you streamline your marketing funnel for optimal success! Learn more here. 

2: Unwrap the gift of discovery for your prospects

As you learn about what is meaningful for your potential residents, you can tailor their experience of discovering your community in a way that resonates with their unique needs.

Some effective ways to do this during the winter season are:

  • Connect prospects and families with a current resident—virtually. Even though the weather outside may be frightful, virtual meeting technologies can be a delightful way for potential residents to meet future neighbors and get to know your community.
  • Offer to drive when the weather is bad. Picking prospects up from their home and giving them transportation to your community for a visit will emphasize your community’s commitment to their convenience and safety.
  • Reach out to adult children of prospects with relevant seasonal information. For example, isolation is a common problem among older adults, and it tends to be more severe during the winter months. 

In your conversations with prospects and families, direct the discussions to WHY they are considering living in your community. How would it make life easier for them? What are the main reasons they would decide to move versus remain where they are?

Plant the seed in prospects’ and families’ minds that life in a caring, supportive senior living community like yours may be the best solution to the challenges they and their loved ones are facing during the winter.  

#3: ‘Tis the season for home visits

The winter can potentially be a lonely time for homebound seniors. Spread your community’s welcoming spirit beyond your walls by arranging home visits to prospects. 

●     Start by identifying potential residents from local sources such as senior centers or healthcare providers. 

●     Customize your visits to reflect each individual’s interests and needs. Be ready to address questions about costs, services, and care levels, and offer reassurance and clarity. 

●     Sharing elements like a sample meal or community newsletters can provide a real-life glimpse of your community. If possible, consider bringing along current residents who can offer authentic insights into community life. 

●     Following your visit, stay in touch with personalized notes or small gifts. Use technology like virtual tours for remote engagement or as a supplementary tool. 

●     Continually seek feedback to improve your approach, always respecting the potential resident’s privacy and scheduling visits professionally.  

Done right, with a focus on personalization and genuine care, home visits are an outstanding way to build trust and personal connections with potential residents and their families. 

#4: How are mom & dad after the holidays? Ask them what they want & need!

Open up a conversation among prospects, their families, and your sales team by developing a questionnaire focusing on key areas like care needs, lifestyle preferences, and financial considerations. Incorporate these questionnaires into your printed and digital marketing materials, and encourage readers and viewers to fill them out and turn them in.

You’ll need to train your sales team to interpret the responses to your questionnaire, so they can personalize follow-up discussions and address prospects’ specific concerns while highlighting the features and benefits your community offers. Regularly analyzing the responses to your questionnaire will also help you to adapt your services and marketing strategies so they best align with your prospects’ evolving needs. 

Be sure your questionnaire is easy to complete, and strictly adheres to data protection regulations to ensure privacy and build trust. Using questionnaires as part of your outreach fosters better engagement and educates prospects about your community, which will help your occupancy grow.

Now that you’re equipped with some evergreen ideas on how to grow your occupancy this winter, why not take the next step and learn more? 

Join us on Wednesday, December 13, 2023 at 1 p.m. EST for a complementary Sales Leadership Webinar hosted by Melisa Jones-Knight, Sr. VP of Sales & Marketing at Elegance Senior Living, and our very own founder and CEO, Julie Podewitz.

Don’t let those leads hibernate all winter! Reserve your spot at our free webinar today!

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 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.

7 Ways to Keep Senior Living Sales and Marketing Outreach Warm During the Holiday Season

As the holiday season twinkles on the horizon, it’s the perfect time to add some extra sparkle to your senior living community’s sales and marketing outreach efforts. Here are seven of our favorite ways to help you not only light up your occupancy rates but also bring joy and warmth to your community. Let’s unwrap these festive ideas together!

1. Unleash the magic of social media: Host a holiday contest

Get ready to sprinkle some digital cheer and show off your community’s holiday spirit online! Organize a holiday-themed contest, such as a competition for the best-decorated tree or the most creatively designed, scrumptious-looking holiday cookies. 

Encourage local professionals, family members, residents, and staff to post their entries on social media, tagging your community. For a first prize, offer something that’ll have them jingling all the way like a gourmet dinner or a festive holiday gift basket. Set a specific week, like the second week of December, for the contest. This digital festivity spreads holiday cheer far and wide and showcases the creativity, closeness and vibrant life at your community. 

2. Support a good cause: Host a heartwarming holiday drive

Imagine your community as Santa’s workshop—a place of giving, where kindness is the currency. Host a food drive, winter coat drive or Toys for Tots initiative, and watch as generosity fills the air. 

Transform a part of your community into a holiday photo booth, complete with twinkling lights and festive décor, where donors can capture their good deeds.  

This isn’t just about collecting donations; it’s an opportunity to showcase the warmth and welcoming nature of your community. It’s a fantastic way to get people through the doors and let them experience the holiday spirit that permeates your community.

3. Promote fellowship: Invite prospects for a holiday meal

The holidays can be a lonely time for many older adults. Extend an invitation to prospects, especially those who might be spending the holidays away from family, to share the camaraderie of a special holiday meal at your community. 

This gesture is not only an act of heartfelt kindness, but also a chance for them to experience firsthand the caring, family-like atmosphere your community offers. As you showcase the welcoming spirit, the sense of belonging and the nurturing environment that awaits potential residents, you give them a chance to taste the lifestyle, quite literally! An experience like this could be the deciding factor for those considering joining your community.

4. Deck the halls with creativity: Resident wreath and door decorating contests

Foster a festive atmosphere and let the creative spirits soar with a holiday wreath and resident door decorating contest. Invite everyone – residents, staff, local professionals and community members– to participate. 

Keep the excitement buzzing by running the contest for about 10 days or so and set up a voting system for the best decorations in various categories. Invite the public to vote, bringing in potential prospects. 

This event isn’t just about decoration; it’s about weaving a tapestry of community involvement and holiday spirit among residents, staff, and visitors. It’s a fun way to display the vibrancy and creativity of your community, making it attractive to potential new residents.

5. Spread joy beyond your doors: Reach out to homebound prospects

In the spirit of the season, why not extend your reach beyond your community? Reach out to your network of referrers, find out who’s homebound during the holidays and play Santa by preparing and delivering festive meals to folks who might be spending the holidays alone. It’s a gesture that says, “We care, no matter where,” and it’s a wonderful way to strengthen bonds with referrers while demonstrating your caring commitment to the broader community. 

6. Sweeten the holiday season with a community tour of lights and cookie deliveries

Another tasty way to spread the holiday cheer beyond your senior living community is by pairing a Festive Holiday Lights tour with cookie deliveries. 

First, gather residents and family members for a fun day of baking and packaging Christmas cookies. Then, embark on a tour of the local area in the community van to admire the dazzling holiday lights. Along the way, stop in at the fire department, city hall, and local businesses to share the homemade cookies. 

This delightful combination of sightseeing and spreading joy not only entertains residents but also strengthens community bonds, and shares the caring spirit of your senior living residence. 

7. Warm hearts with a holiday card party

Create a cozy gathering where residents, staff, and their families come together to sign and mail holiday cards donated by your referral partners. Everyone, from the youngest to the oldest, can add their personal touch with a warm message, while sharing Christmas treats. 

These cards filled with joy and good wishes will travel near and far, reaching service members overseas or brightening the day of local homebound seniors. It’s a simple yet beautiful way to weave together the threads of community, kindness and holiday warmth.

7½: Shine a light on isolation with insightful content

As a bonus, complement your holiday outreach with engaging content about the impacts of isolation, particularly during the holiday season. Share articles or videos that discuss the benefits of living in community, tailored for the holiday context. This will present your community as not just a place to live, but a place to thrive, especially in the challenging winter months.

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 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!

5 Tips for Implementing Facebook into Your Senior Living Marketing Plan

Once the domain of teens and young adults, social media is now widely accepted by older adults and has become a part of their regular lives. According to a 2022 Gallup poll, 69% of all US adults aged 55 and older have a Facebook account, and 60% use it daily or weekly. 

What’s the takeaway from this data for senior living sales and marketing professionals? Not only are your prospects utilizing Facebook in a big way, but so are their adult children. Here’s how to capitalize on seniors using Facebook by making it a part of your senior living marketing plan.

5 tips for implementing Facebook into your senior living marketing plan

Why focus on Facebook and not other social media avenues? 

In that same Gallup poll, we see that only 13% of adults 55 and older children are utilizing Twitter daily or weekly, and only 21% are on Instagram daily or weekly. Dani Merlino, Grow Your Occupancy’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing, shared this story: 

“My sweet Gram is on Facebook despite her account being hacked about 15 times now! When I start to talk to her about other social media platforms, her eyes glaze over and she thinks it’s all nonsense. Facebook was the first platform she dared to try and it’s going to be the last. It took her four years to figure out how to post and to understand that when she was commenting on my pictures the rest of the world could also see her comments (which led to some fun conversations). Between Facebook and television that’s about as much technology as she can handle for the day. She knows how to use it to get neighborhood gossip. Why fix something that isn’t broken by adding more social media platforms?” 

How to capitalize on the 60% regularly using Facebook

Older adults are definitely using Facebook, so how do you use that to your senior living community’s advantage? Engage with them! Respond to their comments on Facebook. It will make them feel special that they were heard and acknowledged. 

Tailor your posts to be most enticing to them by post pictures instead of long written content. When you do post written content, be sure it is meaningful and relevant to them. 

Make Facebook fun and engaging by holding regular giveaways! Your prime audience loves freebies. Getting the freebie into their hands also creates prime opportunities to either visit them at their home or invite them into your community.

Consider Facebook ads. You don’t need to be a paid ads wiz to do this. Facebook allows you to easily boost most posts, within a budget of your choosing. Plus, you get to pick the call to action like a phone call, initiating a chat, or a visit to your website. 

How to make your Facebook ads relevant

Merlino shares: “I once worked with a digital advertising agency that designed an ad for one of my communities in a rural setting. The ad read, “Luxurious community with a 5 Star feel. Enjoy our fine dining.” It is a 40-bed community out in the middle of the country, surrounded by farmland. Our typical prospects were not interested in a luxurious community and fine dining.” 

What’s the takeaway from this story? Know what is important to the demographic you’re marketing to. In that story, that community’s residents were interested in a small-town feel, with home cooked meals and all the comforts of country living. Your Facebook ads should be realistic and not misleading. Be wary of using stock photos: do they really look like your residents? Do they portray the lifestyle your ideal prospects are seeking? Consider using images of your actual residents (with their permission) for your Facebook ads. 

Targeting options for Facebook ads

Facebook considers ads for senior living communities to be in the Housing Special Ad Category, therefore the ad targeting options like age and gender are not available. Facebook does target housing ads to users within a 10 mile radius of the community so they definitely are worthwhile, especially considering you can set your budget per ad as low a few dollars and still have a high likelihood of getting a few clicks.

Be strategic about including Facebook posts into your marketing plan

Let your short-term sales goals inform your marketing strategy, including a schedule of Facebook posts that reach the ideal prospects. For example:

Do you have a glut of independent living studio apartments? Plan out 5 meaningful Facebook posts per week that include pictures of actual residents participating in activities and partaking in your community’s nice amenities. Boost one of them as an ad each week.

Do the approaching winter months mean the likelihood of frigid temperatures and severe weather? Utilize resident testimonials to showcase the benefits of worry-free and maintenance-free living. 

In today’s world where more people are on Facebook than are receiving the daily newspaper, and you can advertise on Facebook for a minute fraction of a print ad, don’t count out Facebook as a key part of your senior living community marketing strategy.  

Ready to take your senior living occupancy growth success to a new level by incorporating Facebook into your senior living marketing plan? Grow Your Occupancy provides the sales coaching, accountability, onboarding, playbook, and marketing expertise essential to your senior living sales and marketing success. Learn more about Grow Your Occupancy here. Or book your free 30-minute consultation today.

The 3 Most Common Pitfalls in Senior Living Sales: Sales Specialists Speak

The Grow Your Occupancy Sales Specialists are a team of experienced and highly motivated senior living sales professionals who support our clients’ community sales teams, fill in when sales positions are open, when the sales team needs a boost and when cold databases need a “deep clean.”

They’ve worked in hundreds of our clients’ prospect databases. They find areas of opportunity and where sales gaps can be sealed for better outcomes. 

Below, we share the three most common pitfalls they’ve identified that impede sales success in senior living communities.

The 3 Most Common Pitfalls That Impede Senior Living Sales Success

Pitfall #1: Calls to Prospects Are Spaced Too Far Apart

This pitfall holds true for leads at every stage of sales funnel. Here are four common scenarios:

  • Slow New Lead call response, i.e. no speed-to-the-lead. Even when marketing automation is in place and an acknowledgement of an online inquiry takes just seconds, a personal call is key to starting a relationship with a prospect. However, we frequently see hours, days, and weeks pass before a calloutattempt is made to a web lead. Sometimes no call attempt is made. Speed of initial response AND cadence of attempts is key in reaching more of your new leads. Do not rely on emails-they give a false sense of security. 
  • Giving up on new leads too soon. All too often, we’re seeing salespeople make only one or two callout attempts and then giving up. In some cases, the lead is closed after only an email or text. You must continue trying until you reach the lead, and heavier at first! Texts and emails are no substitutes for calls, they are only additional routes to try to connect.
  • Losing the momentum post-tour. The tour is the linchpin in the process! Getting a prospect into the building for a tour is a key milestone in the sales process. It’s a time when they are as likely to make a decision as ever, so failing to keep the momentum going after the tour is a missed opportunity to close to a deposit. Don’t wait too long after the tour (it’s common to see a delay of 1-2 weeks after the tour before attempting another connection) before connecting. Pick up the phone later the same day or the next day to thank them for coming in and continue following through as promised. Failure to follow through is a broken promise.
  • Taking “we’re not thinking of moving for 2 years” at face value. Sure, there are prospects who mean it when they say they’re 2 or more years out, but it’s usually not the case. We see salespeople scheduling the next step 6 to 9 months out when they hear that. You want to respect and listen to your customer, but be proactive and plan on more consistent connections with them – or else they will forget about you and decide to stay home.  Often, “two years out” means, “I’m not ready to move today.” A series of small advances is necessary for prospects to move forward. Waiting until they call you is a plan for failure. 

Pitfall #2: Lead Pipelines That Are Primarily “COLD”

When a prospect tells you they aren’t ready right now, and you space your next follow-up step with them 6 months later, it’s no wonder they go cold! As a salesperson, you are in the driver’s seat.  You are the trusted advisory.

Closing strong doesn’t mean trying to close to a sale at every connection, closing strong means using your sales skills to suggest the best next step for them: what they should do, decide, or think about. 

Plan your next reconnection when you connect. Give useful advice. Give every connection a purpose, not a “just checking in” call. 

Pitfall #3: Rushing the Sale

In our attempt to not be “salesy,” our actions can come across as “salesy.” Failing to do adequate discovery because we feel it’s “too pushy” results in inadequate information to make a connection with the prospect. 

We see salespeople showing prospects apartments that are too big or expensive because they didn’t ask the right questions early on. They ask, “Do you want the one bedroom with a patio or the two bedroom?” “Do you want to put down a deposit?” “Are you ready to schedule an assessment?” Instead, they get marked down as a “cold” lead when they say they’re not ready now, because of a failure to truly discover the motivation and where the customer “is” in their thought process.

Don’t skimp on the discovery. Ask questions, find out what the prospect wants and needs. Offer appropriate options. If you can’t go linear, go deeper. Learn more.

Bonus Pitfall: The Pipeline Is Heavy in Paid Referral Sources

Depending on paid referral sources to fill your sales pipeline is an expensive way to grow your occupancy. There are lead generation alternatives that convert at a much higher rate and at a lower cost, including a strong network of professional referral sources, a program of referrals from friends, families, and current residents, and “word of mouth” referrals that result in your community’s solid reputation.

Enhance your outreach/business development. Be consistent. Plan events that attract new business as well as potential referral sources. Reinforce and communicate your friends, family, resident and team member referral programs often. 

Ready to take your senior living occupancy growth success to a new level by identifying and avoiding the most common sales pitfalls? Grow Your Occupancy provides the sales coaching, accountability, onboarding, playbook, and marketing expertise essential to your senior living sales and marketing success. Learn more about Grow Your Occupancy’s sales coaching and training here. Or book your free 30-minute consultation today.

Dare To Be Different – Five Ways to Make Your Senior Living Community Stand Out From The Rest

There are endless choices today for seniors and their families when the time comes to consider a move to a senior living community. The National Center for Assisted Living reports that around 28,900 assisted living communities are currently operating in the United States. You don’t want to get lost in that crowd! 

The single most important point to remember as you market your community and seek to stand out above the competition is this:

For seniors, and for their families, choosing a senior living community is an emotional process.

Of course practical considerations like services and amenities, price, and logistical considerations like staying close to family play an important role.

But in the end it is the way the prospect feels about your community that will determine whether they move in, or move on.

Read on as we explore five key ways to make your senior living community stand out from the rest by connecting with seniors and their families on a deeper level that builds rapport and trust, guides them toward their best decision, and results in increased sales and occupancy.

Five ways your senior living sales team can stand out from the rest

1) Demonstrate genuine empathy and compassion

It’s important to put yourself in the shoes of your potential residents and their loved ones and show real understanding for the unique challenges and feelings that seniors and their families may experience when considering a senior living community. By demonstrating empathy, you create a connection with your potential residents and establish trust.

Compassion motivates you to take action to alleviate their concerns and fears by answering their questions, providing reassurance, and offering resources and support that can help them make informed decisions.

Empathy and compassion will help you build strong, meaningful relationships with your potential residents and their families, and create a positive experience for them during a challenging time. This will lead to more sales.

2) Forget about the sale

Not completely, and just for a little while! But the initial connection with a prospect, whether in person, over the phone, or even over social media, is not the time to try and “close the deal.” Instead, step back and take the time to listen to their needs and concerns (empathy and compassion) and to connect with them on a person-to-person level. This is an essential step because….

3) People prefer to do business with other people who they know, like, and trust

This is especially true when considering a life-changing “business decision” like a move to a senior living community. By taking the time to listen and connect with prospects, and demonstrating empathy and compassion for their difficulties, you will meet the know, like, and trust criteria and be far more likely to eventually make the sale.

4) Make the tour a time to stand out

The customer experience during their tour of your community is another area where, with some thoughtful attention to detail, you can make your community stand out. When hosting a prospect and their family, consider:

  • Sending them an itinerary ahead of time, so they know what to expect during their visit, and can budget their time and energy accordingly.
  • Have a plan in place within your team, including operations staff, that facilitates the tour while showing the community at it’s best–for example hold off on vacuuming areas where the tour is in progress, having vacant rooms presentable for viewing, etc.
  • Make parking easy! This detail gets noticed, especially if you can arrange for valet parking for guests.
  • Roll out the red carpet! Meet them at the door, have a personalized welcome sign in the lobby, find out their favorite music ahead of time and have it playing….you’ll never go wrong making your prospect feel as if they are the most important person to ever walk through your doors.

5) Don’t miss following up post-tour as a time to make a lasting impression.

Post-tour follow up is another way to go the extra mile and cement a positive relationship with your prospect. Send a thank you note with a small gift, or even a personalized video message from the Executive Director using a video communication service like Covideo. If it hasn’t happened yet, a visit to your prospect’s home may be in order. No matter what, stay in touch, always be helpful and give prospects and families the time and space they need to make a comfortable and happy decision. If you’ve followed the steps listed here, there’s a great chance their decision will be to move into your community!

That concludes our list, but be sure to register now for Grow Your Occupancy’s complimentary Sales Leadership webinar on Wednesday, March 22, 2023, where our CEO, Julie Podewitz, and a panel of expert guests will discuss this topic in more detail. See you there!

3 Takeaways from 2022 to Reinvigorate Senior Living Sales in 2023

2022 is behind us, whew!

For many of us in senior living sales, 2022 marked a symbolic turning of a corner away from the pandemic upheaval of previous years. Our community doors opened again to prospective residents, masks were mostly put away, staff returned to the workplace, and the fears that senior living communities were a hotbed of infection were put to rest.

The start of 2023 is an opportunity to take a closer look at all we in senior living sales have been through since the quarantines first went into effect, and consider the lessons we’ve learned. It’s also an opportunity to improve our systems and processes and reinvigorate ourselves and our teams.

Takeaway #1: Consistency is key.

One of the go-to phrases we hear a lot when results are under benchmark is:

“The definition of insanity if doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

– Albert Einstein

(It’s just one of “13 Inspiring Einstein Quotes Never Actually Said by Einstein”, by the way.) It’s a valid concept, but when it’s used as the justification for making changes to sales systems, people, and processes we need to be careful. Why? Because of the temptation of solving the problem too soon, or before we know the primary cause.

To improve sales outcomes, consistency is key. Without consistency, it is impossible to accurately measure your current systems and processes, analyze the data, and devise ways to solve the shortcomings. Before taking a “let’s throw new ideas against the wall and see what sticks” approach to solving a problem, look to see if your sales systems and processes are being followed consistently.  In other words, WHAT is being done, how often and how well (or not.)  Doing the same thing over and over makes sense, IF the WHAT is defined and understood.

Takeaway #2: Sales continues to be a neglected silo.

We see this over and over: the sales department in senior living companies continues to be an under supported and underappreciated silo pushed to the fringes of the corporate structure. It seems like sales doesn’t get the respect it deserves because it is often misunderstood. Expectations don’t align with training, support, budget, compensation. As a result, when margins get tight and budgets are cut, sales suffers more than other departments.

Even though the sales department is the primary revenue source for senior living operators, its budget is among the first to get slashed. When sales departments are forced to cut back, they do away with training, support, and technology. Don’t squeeze out sales! Your NOI will thank you for it.

Takeaway #3: Selling senior living takes grit.

Success in senior living sales takes grit. The job requires a resilient mindset to survive. It’s a long game; the conventional wisdom that it takes 6-8 touches to make a sale is way off the mark in senior living. It’s more like 22-28 touches over 3 months to a year or more, depending on the level of care.

There is a lot of rejection. In sales there are more losses than wins. You’ve got to make dozens of call attempts to connect with the prospects in your database. Then they ghost you or tell you – after months of connecting with them – that they’re no longer interested, or they’re moving to a competitor.

Sales leaders: don’t forget grit. As you’re working with your sales teams, remember that it takes grit to succeed, so recognize it and acknowledge it when you see it. When you’re looking to hire new salespeople, look for grit as a key trait for success. Grit is going to yield results in senior living sales more often than just about anything else.

What are your takeaways from 2022 that you’re going to apply to 2023? Want to share how you’re planning to reinvigorate sales in your senior living company in 2023? We’d love to hear from you!

Ready to take your senior living sales success to a new level by elevating your 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.

Don’t Squeeze Out Sales!

Depending on who you ask, the U.S. is either heading into a recession or is already in one. According to a recent poll in The Wall Street Journal, economists think there is a 63% chance of a recession in 2023.

If a recession in 2023 really does pan out, what might that mean for senior living operators? You can bet we’ll see higher expenses in the form of increased costs of everything from financing to labor to food to supplies. As expenses increase, NOI is squeezed; when NOI takes a hit, budgets get tightened.

When budgets go under the microscope to reduce expenses, it’s tempting to cut sales and marketing. It’s often the first area to go when things get tight.

Maintaining your target NOI

As costs are expected to rise, revenue growth is more important than ever before to maintain a target NOI. Revenue growth in senior living can come from raising rates, or by growing occupancy. In an up economy, raising rates might be the tactic to take, but with recession fears weighing on everyone – especially seniors who might be seeing their retirement income suddenly not stretching as far – selling at a competitive market rate is going to be a competitive advantage for you.

Don’t give in to the temptation to offer discounts and concessions to fill your communities though; remember that the consumer equates lower prices with lower quality. How do you increase occupancy without giving away the profits then?

Your greatest asset right now

Your sales department’s output is your organization’s greatest asset. Motivated, results-oriented, and proven sales leaders are your secret weapon for achieving occupancy growth – right now and in the coming year. But like any other motivated, results-oriented professionals, they need training and coaching to stay in top form; think of your sales leaders as Olympic athletes and you won’t be too far off the mark.

Sales training and coaching

Adopt the mindset that your sales leaders are the best asset your organization has heading into a turbulent economy. Don’t forget that the best deserves the best in professional development, so don’t skimp on training and coaching. Senior living is a high-level sale that needs top talent to make the sales happen, so continue coaching up their skills.

Development and retention

Finally, place a priority on developing new talent and retaining the existing talent in your organization’s sales department. Invest in their professional development by providing them with ongoing training and support. Reassess your rewards structure, whether it’s bonuses, perks, or both, because employee retention increases when top producers are rewarded.

Ready to take your senior living sales success to a new level by elevating your 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.

Solving the Occupancy Puzzle – What’s the Problem?

I drive a nine-year-old car. I love my car. It’s incredibly reliable. It’s not fancy, but it gets me where I need to go. I want to drive it forever. It’s always started when I get in.

Except for this week.

I got into my car. It wouldn’t start. And my heart sank.

I don’t know anything about cars other than how to drive them, to get where I need to go. I called my husband. He said, well, maybe it’s the starter. Maybe the battery’s dead. He’s not a mechanic either. So of course, I call the expert, and the car’s taken to the mechanic. And before throwing out possible solutions, she asked some questions. How long has this happened? Has this happened before? What are you hearing? What other problems have you had? Is this working? Is that working? There’s probably a checklist they go through, before diagnosing the problem.

Another example: if you’re a parent, maybe your child doesn’t want to go to school one day. There could be many reasons for that. Maybe it’s an illness. Maybe there’s a test that day that they didn’t study for. Maybe they’re being teased. Maybe they have a crush on somebody who doesn’t like them back and it’s painful. Maybe it’s PE day. Before you decide if they can stay home from school, you drill down by asking questions to identify why they don’t want to go.

The senior living sales analogy to these scenarios is a hot lead who comes in for a tour but then doesn’t make a deposit to move in. In fact, it’s just the opposite – they seem to cool off very fast. When the regional sales manager, executive director, or corporate sales director questions the sales director about why this hot lead didn’t deposit, the sales director hems and haws or is outright defensive when asked about the sales process:

“Did you personalize the tour experience based on what you learned during the inquiry process?” “Was the prospect greeted by name at the front desk?” “Did you show them features and amenities relevant to their wants and needs?”

We work in an incredibly emotional business, and the day-to-day work in a senior living community is a whirlwind. And certainly, COVID brought that whirlwind to an even higher level of difficulty. Unless you’ve really been in it, it’s difficult to wrap your head around the challenge of being proactive instead of reactive within this whirlwind. It takes a lot of practice and commitment and discipline to work proactively.

In the stress of the whirlwind, established sales processes and procedures slide. Sales directors “throw things against the wall and hope something sticks.” And as managers, instead of responding logically and thinking through a root cause analysis, it’s natural for most to react emotionally. That often leads to solving the wrong problem or taking a wide swing at trying to figure it out versus a more precise aim. How often have you heard a regional director or corporate-level manager say one of these?

“We need more leads.”

“We need to do more outreach.”

“We need better leads.”

“We need to make more calls.”

“We need to do more home visits.”

“We have to have a sense of urgency.”

These are all examples of reacting emotionally and trying to solve the wrong problem.

About five years ago, I was given a book called Traction by Gino Wickman. In it, he talks about solving the problem too soon, or before we know the primary cause. Wickman’s concept of “IDS” really hit me over the head. The concept is simple, and it’s changed my life. I’d like to share it with you.

IDS is also known as the Issues Solving Track. Wickman is all about simplifying processes, systems, messaging, and vision. He’s an expert in helping entrepreneurs build their business. The IDS in the Issue Solving Track is simply Identify, Discuss, Solve.

Start with identifying what problem we’re trying to solve. Many of us, myself included, often jump to solve the problem. With good intention, someone comes to us for advice, and we just give ’em some advice or really tell them what to do. We’re either in a hurry or we feel we know the answer, and maybe we do, but unless somebody takes that advice and implements it, we’re not going to know, is it the right advice or not?

Often, the time spent identifying is well worth the outcome. In other words, spending more time on the front end to get a better result at the end.

Let’s start with identify. What contributes to the result in senior living sales? It’s two components: action – what you do – and skill – how well you do it. The actions in our case are sales activities and outreach activities, and we’re concerned with the quantities: how many calls, tours, outreach appointments, lead source analysis, referrer analysis, conversion metrics, and so on. And the skill component is how well each of those are done.

To identify this problem, we need data – facts. Identify the problem based on facts, not emotion. Your senior living communities are hopefully using a CRM to log all their sales activity. (If they’re not, that’s your new problem to solve!) What is the data telling you? Establish some activity parameters.

For example, based on current sales conversions for the trailing 6 months and 12 months, how many tours or opportunities does it take to get a deposit? Very simply, if you’re converting at 25%, you’re going to need four opportunities, four tours, to get a deposit. Keep it simple.

Next is discuss. What are the contributing factors, how do they influence the outcomes, And then learn more: ask questions, investigate the answers, dig deeper, ask more questions, and discuss, discuss, discuss.

Only after identifying and discussing the problem can you begin to solve the problem. This also holds true for your sales directors working with prospects. Often, they jump to solve the prospect’s problem that moved them to consider senior living:

The prospect is no longer driving. Well, we have a van, we can drive you!

They’re not eating regularly and healthily? Oh, we have a chef-prepared meals!

They’re isolated and alone? Oh, well we have a great activity calendar!

Boom, boom, boom. Just solved all their problems. Why are they not moving in?

Identify. Discuss. Solve. We need to head back to identify what it is we’re really trying to solve. In this case, it’s what is really influencing the prospect’s decision that is influencing the sales performance outcomes.

As you begin this approach or elevate this approach in your world, don’t hesitate to reach out. We’re in this together. 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.

6 Tips to Be “Guest-Ready” at All Times for a Prospect Visit

The doorbell rings unexpectedly. You peek out the window and see a familiar car in the driveway. It’s a surprise guest at your front door. The first thing on your mind: the house is a mess! On the way to answer the door, you frantically pick up things left lying around and throw them in the coat closet.

Just like at home, guests – both scheduled and drop ins – are welcome at our senior living communities every day of the year. In the case of a visit to your community, making a stellar first impression is crucial.

The importance of making a great first impression

One of the biggest challenges we all have is to look objectively at something or someone we know well. Even people whose job depends on being able to observe objectively –to figuratively “take a step back” and see from a fresh perspective – really have challenges. This is usually the case with highly creative people like artists, musicians, writers, and architects, but you may be surprised that salespeople can also benefit from observing objectively.

Why? Because you can’t have a first impression your senior living community without an objective perspective.

First impressions are lasting impressions

Think about some businesses you’ve been to once or twice but no longer frequent. Maybe it was a restaurant where you were kept waiting a long time before being acknowledged. Or a boutique where the staff weren’t helpful. Or a car service center where the waiting room was filthy. Whether those experiences are representative of the way those businesses operate all the time doesn’t matter; your first impression wasn’t a good one, and it became a lasting impression because you remember it and don’t go back to those places.

The way your senior living community looks and feels represents your values, expectations, customer experience. How your staff interacts demonstrates what it’s like to work, experience, live in your community. All that plays a big part in the first impression. Your prospects are asking themselves: “can I see myself living here” / “can I picture my mom living here”, and if the first impression isn’t a good one, the answer is going to be a firm “no.”

6 tips to keep your senior living community guest-ready

Guests and prospects visit your community at any time, and often unannounced. Be prepared to welcome guests, be tour-ready, and be always guest-ready with these tips.

  1. View the community with a fresh set of eyes. Each day as you walk from your car and into your building, look around with a fresh set of eyes. Take note of details like trash, weeds, dead flowers, signs put on doors and walls with scotch tape, odors, stains on the carpet, scuffs on the walls, etc. Ask other staff members to do same – because a fresh set of eyes will see things you don’t, even as you’re trying to be objective. Pay close attention to the first impression your community presents upon entering the building: a welcome sign, fresh flowers, music playing, pleasant smells, and residents engaging in life in the front area should all be parts of the first impression whenever possible.
  2. Make “clean” a priority. Clean bathrooms, surfaces, floors, windows, and even the air all make a powerful impression that clean is a priority at the community.
  3. The concierge is first. The concierge or front desk manager is a powerful opportunity to make a good first impression. Set guidelines for greeting visitors that include standing when able, smiling, and greeting. If the concierge is on the phone, acknowledge the visitor. Greet scheduled guests at the front door and let them know they’re expected. Train, practice, and reinforce the first impression with the concierge.
  4. Keep the model apartment in show-ready condition. Keep the lights on, the music playing, the temperature cool, the air smelling fresh, the décor tidy, and pillows plumped.
  5. Set an “always guest-ready” expectation for the entire team. Visitors are a common and frequent occurrence in a senior living community and can include both scheduled and unexpected prospect tours, and visitors seeing a loved one. Communicate, train, and reinforce to all the staff the expectations when encountering a guest: acknowledge that there is a guest, make introductions when able, smile, make eye-contact, and be prepared to answer questions or defer to someone who can. Sales directors should know the team, know the residents, and acknowledge all by name.
  6. Be a gracious host. The discovery area – the space where you sit with prospects and their loved ones – should be a welcoming and comfortable area that is kept clean and fresh. Supply it with beverages and snacks and offer both to all guests.

Assess your guest-readiness

Keep tabs on your community’s guest-readiness by making these 3 activities part of your sales procedures: 1) Request feedback from residents and staff via periodic surveys. 2) Keep close tabs on your online reputation by regularly reading reviews on Google, Facebook, and elsewhere. 3) Solicit a 3rd party to mystery shop the community to evaluate first impressions and the customer experience.

 

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.

3 Reasons to Empower Executive Directors to Be Senior Living Community Sales Leaders

Senior living providers who expect and empower their community executive directors to be sales leaders know this is essential for optimum performance. The sales leadership structure of most senior living organizations looks like this:

CEO → VP of Sales → Regional Directors of Sales → Community Sales Director

The result is often a community sales director who feels isolated and not supported, and it shows in their sales performance.

Executive directors are responsible for net operating income. Top-line revenue is the first part of this equation. High occupancy cures many problems. When executive directors are part of an organization’s sales team – filling a role as a community sales leader between the regional director of sales and the community sales director – the leadership and support they provide is essential to the success of the community.

Here are 3 specific reasons why executive directors should be empowered to be senior living community sales leaders.

  1. They’re Responsible for Maintaining the Mission–Margin Balance

The executive director of a senior living community is the manager and leader of their business. They are responsible for the mission of the business, which is to provide high-quality care, amenities, and services to the community’s residents. They are also responsible for the margin of the business, which is the relationship between revenue and expenses.

The success of the senior living community depends on maintaining a balance between mission and margin. A senior living community that doesn’t fulfill its mission will fail. A senior living community that doesn’t keep the margin in profitability territory will fail. Executive directors that turn their back on their community’s occupancy success are not supporting the mission-margin balance. Leading sales is every bit as important as leading the resident experience.

An executive director’s role as community sales leader includes:

    • Supporting a sales process that is clear, coherent, and simple. Ensuring that everyone in the organization follows the process.
    • Expectations and benchmarks are clearly communicated.
    • Promoting the alignment of the department managers’ goals with the sales process and goals.
    • Participating and prioritizing outreach into the greater community.
  1. They’re the Champion of the Culture

Executive directors are the culture champions of the community. Every community has its own unique energy that can be felt as soon as you walk in the front entrance. The staff feels it, the residents feel it, and their loved ones feel it. Customers decide to move based on emotion over every other factor. The community needs to “feel” good. This starts with a strong culture.

Culture is no single thing, it’s a lot of little things. It’s how the team members engage with the residents and each other. It’s the way staff members greet visitors and residents alike. It’s sensory inputs too, like the music, temperature, and smells (Think about how you feel when you smell fresh-baked cookies or fresh popcorn at the movies.).

The executive director knows the community, team members, and residents. They have the power to create and influence the culture. If the executive director makes sales a positive and strong focus in the community’s culture, the team is going to focus on it too. In senior living communities where sales is a part of the culture, it’s not uncommon to see residents take an interest in “selling” the community by volunteering to be resident ambassadors or open their apartments to prospective residents touring the community.

  1. They Hold the Team Accountable – AND Celebrate Its Successes

An executive director who clearly communicates expectations to the team also has the responsibility of holding them accountable. Benchmarks and measurements are key components of every sales system. When sales is a part of the culture and every department’s goals are aligned with sales, accountability depends on the ability to measure team performance against the benchmarks.

Performance shortcomings need to be addressed. Part of holding others accountable is to find ways to remedy the shortcomings. The other part is to take corrective action if necessary, up to and including removing and replacing an individual.

The positive side of benchmarks and measuring performance is that successes can be identified, and success deserves to be celebrated. Oh, and celebrating the successes of not only individuals but as a whole team pays big dividends to the culture of the organization.

What successes should be celebrated in a senior living community? All of them. Net occupancy growth. Keeping expenses down. Positive reviews by residents and families. A deficiency-free inspection. Staff certifications. Years on the job. You name it. It all benefits the culture.

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.

How to Solve Your Staffing Pain With a Sales Solution

Staffing and sales are worlds apart in business – they couldn’t be any farther apart, right?

If you’re thinking that the pain points you’re feeling when trying to fill positions in your senior living company can’t be solved with sales solutions, we’re here to tell you it’s just not the case!

Pain Points

At first glance, the pain points of filling positions and increasing occupancy might not seem to have much in common, but when you think about it, they’re not that dissimilar:

The Sales Pain Point: Increasing Occupancy

The sales department within your senior living has the heavy burden of driving revenue and NOI, and the way to do that is by increasing occupancy so that it exceeds census losses.

The Staffing Pain Point: Filling Positions

Similarly, your senior living company’s HR department has the heavy burden of filling positions in a highly staff-dependent business. In a care-based business, filling caregiver, operational, hospitality, business, and sales positions is vital to the survival of the business.

The Solution

This is a case of not needing to reinvent the wheel. The solution to applying a tried-and-true sales strategy to your staffing challenges only requires understanding a process that works well in one part of the business, some creativity to tweak it so it works in another, and willingness to do what it takes to make it work. The key components of this solution are: systems & processes, and metrics.

Systems & Processes

Systems and processes serve some very important functions in business: they maintain a high level of organization, consistency, accountability, and production. If you already work in an HR capacity, you almost certainly have systems and processes in place to keep you organized and in compliance when onboarding new staff. But what you most likely lack is strong systems and processes for attracting and engaging with top talent prior to an offer of employment. Here’s where applying sales systems and processes really shine.

Technology really is your best friend here. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software really revolutionized sales in the 1980s when it began to displace the Rolodex, account card files, and spreadsheets as a way to keep track of the customer relationship. CRMs have evolved since then into a highly effective, intuitive, and automated system for moving sales prospects through a journey we like to call the sales funnel (think of a funnel where lots of sales prospects go in the top, and out of the bottom comes sales). Without going off on a tangent of all the incredible things modern CRMs do (like automatically sending out emails and texts, prompting the sales person with activity to-dos, and so much more), it’s safe to say that using sales technology to manage job applicants is a no-brainer.

Metrics

Metrics are relatively simple data analytics that are very valuable and easy to understand. In the case of senior living sales, a key metric is inquiries-to-tours, which is the percentage of people inquiring about a senior living community who then – as a result of contact with the sales person – come in for a tour. So, if you get 10 inquiries, and 5 come in for a tour, the inquiry-to-tour metric is 50%. In the case of staffing, some valuable metrics to track are:

  • Job posting views-to-applications received – How many applications do you receive in relation to the number of views an online job posting received.
  • Speed-to-lead – How quickly do you respond to the receipt of an application? This one is so important – we can’t stress it enough that treating applicants like highly sought-after prospective clients makes a big difference in attracting top talent. More about speed-to-lead below.
  • Applications received-to-interviews offered – How many interviews did you offer compared to the total applications received?
  • Interviews offered-to-interviews conducted – How many applicants actually followed through on your interview offer?
  • Interviews-to-job offers – How many job offers did you extend compared to interviews conducted?
  • Offers-to-acceptance – How many offers of employment were accepted?
  • Acceptance-to-hires – How many accepted offers of employment were actually hired?

The Whys of Metrics

Why track metrics for staffing in the same way we do for sales? Because it’s really challenging to know where the weaknesses and gaps are in your systems and processes. Without data, you’re just making educated guesses and basing often costly decisions on them. For example, if your offers-to-acceptance metric is low, you may want to look at the competitiveness of your compensation package. It’s worth noting that metrics and benchmarking go hand-in-hand. The more you know about your metrics month by month and year by year, the better you can set goals – benchmarks – to enforce accountability of your systems and processes.

Speed-to-Lead
As we stated above, the quicker you can respond to an applicant, the better the impression your company is going to make on them, and the more likely they are going to consider your company as a place they want to work. What does effective speed-to-lead look like?

  • Within 10 minutes: An automated response – email, text, or phone call – thanking them for their interest in your company.
  • Within 4 hours: A personal call with a short, quick, and meaningful dialogue to learn more about them and let them know you care about them.

Recruiting top talent is often a pain point for senior living providers, but it doesn’t need to be! A systems and procedures approach based on a proven prospect management system like the one your sales department uses might be just what you need to turn around the challenges your HR department faces. Need creative recruiting thinking for your senior living company’s HR department? Grow Your Occupancy is here to help! Book your free 30-minute consultation to find out how!

The 3 Pain Points Felt by C-Level Executives in the Senior Living Industry Today

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, if you asked any C-Level executive in the senior living industry, “What has been your biggest pain point during the last 15 years?” the answer almost certainly was: low occupancy. They needed more sales, more move-ins, more revenue, and increased NOI. While this is still a major concern, two others have risen to the top, thanks to the unforeseen consequences of the pandemic.

The top 3 pain points senior living C-level executives are feeling today:

#1: Recruiting top sales talent

Despite the fact that sites like LinkedIn, Indeed, ZipRecruiter and others have made it easier than ever to a) post a listing for an open sales position to a wide audience, b) target your ideal candidates, and c) efficiently accept resumes, the fact remains that weeding through a stack of unqualified or inexperienced applicants for a senior living sales position sometimes feels like a monumental task. Couple that with high competition for well-qualified sales professionals – both within senior living and across other industries – and upward pressures on compensation, and you can begin to see the scope of this pain point.

Solution: In the current environment of staffing shortages and a wider variety of open positions to apply for, applicants are evaluating your company just as much as you are evaluating them. Want to stand out as a great place to work? Take a page from your sales funnel and treat applicants like you do sales inquiries: acknowledge their application with a timely follow-up call or email. with them. Offer enticing opportunities for professional growth including training and coaching toward mastery. Paint a positive picture of your company culture by sharing testimonials of happy staff.

#2: Retaining sales staff

A great sales team is like a championship sports team – they need continuous training and coaching to stay in top winning form. They need the support and encouragement of leaders that understand the challenges they face and acknowledge the hard work it takes to move the occupancy needle. They also need a positive workplace culture in the community to keep up not only their own morale but that of everyone on staff.

Solution: A strong and positive culture in the workplace makes for happy staff that want to stick around. It doesn’t happen by itself though; it has to be established and nurtured by the leadership on a daily basis. Giving out kudos, bringing in lunch for the staff on a regular basis, and maintaining an atmosphere of positivity are all good examples of a strong culture. Also, look for ways to support the professional and personal needs of your staff, like ongoing opportunities for training, coaching, and mentoring.

#3: Low occupancy levels

While filling senior living communities to 100% has never been easy, the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic compounded the difficulties faced by sales teams. Negative stories in the press slowed the flow of qualified leads. Hinderances like locked down buildings that prevented in-person tours made moving prospects along in the sales cycle more difficult than ever. Vacancies or scheduling gaps in sales director positions at communities let inquiries fall through the cracks.

Solution: Hiring good sales talent is just part of the solution. It’s also necessary to retain great people by providing opportunities for professional growth, and train and coach them to mastery and success. The last part of the solution is to make sure the community’s back-up team is always rounded out, providing continuous coverage by key staff members trained in the basics of the sales system so no lead gets lost.

These pain points for senior living industry C-level leaders don’t need to continue being a source of grief. Others have been where you are and have solved the challenges and moved beyond them. Consider enlisting the help of an executive coach with senior living industry experience for a fresh perspective on your challenging pain points – and some solutions you can implement.

Ready to find out how Grow Your Occupancy can help you? Book your complimentary 30-minute strategy session here.

4 Tips for Leading Sales Teams to Success

Sales leadership in senior living is much more than giving out “rah-rahs” to sales directors for their successes and calling them out with “gotchas” for their mistakes. Sales leadership is about ensuring the company’s sales culture and processes are in place to have a meaningful impact on the overall success of the organization. It’s also about inspiring sales teams to achieve greater success by delivering specific messaging, consistency, expectations, and communication.

Here are four (and a half) tips can help sales leaders be more effective in leading sales teams to success.

 

Tip 1: Review the CRM Reports Before You Go

We hear it all the time: a regional director of sales and marketing arrives at a senior living community to work with the sales director for the day, but they have no plan in place for what they hope to accomplish during their time there. The result is time and money wasted by having to uncover the challenges the community faces once they get onsite. Not just the regional’s time, but also the sales director’s time.

The irony is that the CRM has the all the data and reporting the regional director needs to identify challenges and opportunities in the community ahead of time. Use this data to build strategy and identify areas of focus.

Don’t wait until you get onsite.  Do your research in the CRM prior so your strategy is in place. To address the challenges, and build a plan of action.

Send the agenda a few days in advance. Are call out attempts low? Plan to spend the day making calls. Are professional outreach appointments not producing results? Plan on visiting referral sources and work on those skills. Are prospects not moving from tours to deposits? Plan on a morning of calling hot prospects and asking them for deposits.

 

Tip 2: Set Specific Benchmarks and Expectations

Not knowing what to expect is the number one cause of job dissatisfaction.

All too often, a regional director rolls into the community to work with the sales director, presents them with a set of targets and goals, and then exits at the end of the day without having given guidance on how to meet the objectives. This type of sales leadership can not only cause action paralysis, it can also conflict with standard processes and past training.

Don’t leave your sales director hanging without direction. Offer clear steps to success and skill building support and keep it all aligned with the framework of your sales process. Set a cadence for following up after your visit to ensure the time, effort, and energy spent translates to the results you expect.

 

Tip 3: Set Goals That Are Measurable and Incremental, and Collaborate to Gain Buy-In

The “I have all the answers, I’m an expert” leadership style isn’t effective in managing sales teams. Sales directors in senior living communities need a regional director who can clear the path to success, create energy and opportunity, and course correct as needed. These skills and traits build confidence in the sales teams that if they follow the plan, good results will happen.

Everyone wants to have a voice. Take input from the team and promote their ownership of the strategies you put in place. Include the other relevant staff and departments beyond the sales team as well to support and strengthen buy in.

 

Tip 4: Set – and Stick to – a Regular Coaching Session Schedule

Sales coaching is like dieting or any other habit intended to create a positive change: it’s easy to set out the steps and processes but not so easy to stick to them! As with many things in business, having an established routine and sticking to it creates efficiencies, and sales coaching is no different. Here are 4 parts that all of your coaching sessions should have that are worth sticking to:

  1. Set an agenda – in writing – and follow it.
  2. Send the agenda a day or more prior to the coaching session.
  3. Assign homework with the expectation that it will be done.
  4. Ask these ‘Five Sales Coaching Questions’ every time, with the expectation that each will be answered:
    • What challenges and roadblocks do you need help with?
    • What have you been focused on improving?
    • What is holding you back?
    • What have you been doing that has been working well?
    • How can I help support you?

 

BONUS TIP 4.5: Be Consistent

Sales leadership and coaching need to be ongoing, repetitive, and reinforced to be effective. Leading and coaching only when there is a crisis is not an effective leadership style. In fact, crisis leadership and coaching may actually be contributing factors to the crisis itself!

 

At Grow Your Occupancy, we’re experts in senior living sales management and we’re here to help you manage and coach your sales teams. Ready to find out how Grow Your Occupancy can help you? Book your complimentary 30-minute strategy session here.

The 4 Sales Management Missteps Senior Living Operators Make

Learning from our own missteps is a sign of maturity. Learning from the missteps of others and applying those lessons when working with those you manage is a key trait of a successful manager. In the senior living industry, there are some sales management missteps that are all too common. Here are the top 4, and the fix for each of them.

 

#1 Not managing expectations.

It usually goes something like this: One of your senior living sales directors, who up to now has produced results, begins to slip in their performance. Upon close inspection, you find that they’re not hitting their sales activity benchmarks, or utilizing the CRM, or following the sales system. When you ask them about it, they respond with, “Well you never told me to do that!” And you know what? They’re right, and you didn’t.

The fix: Formalize your company’s specific expectations and benchmarks in writing. Review it with them upon their hiring and have them sign off on it. Review the expectations and benchmarks regularly as part of your scheduled performance reviews.

#2 Lack of consistency in coaching.

Coaching yourself to sales success is just plain difficult. Why? Coaching requires objectivity, honesty, and accountability, three things most of us have trouble turning inward on ourselves. Professionals who are expected to perform at a certain level benefit greatly from having a coach. If the coaching is not consistent or too infrequent, though, the results are a loss of motivation, a decline in skills, and missing performance goals.

The fix: Schedule frequent coaching sessions with your sales directors to work on sharpening sales skills. Aim for a 30 minute session twice a month. Block it out on the calendar, send out invitations, and set an agenda so it doesn’t get “into the weeds” with other details that are not related to coaching.

#3 Infrequent feedback – or none at all.

This one is along the same lines as managing expectations. Maybe you’re reviewing your senior living sales director’s inquiry call recordings, and you find that they aren’t asking open-ended questions during inquiry calls, or getting contact details, or regularly suggesting a tour. Maybe they’re hitting their benchmarks so you don’t give them feedback about it, but it’s kind of bugging you because they’re not following the sales system! And all the while they’re probably thinking, “I must be doing alright, because no one is telling me any different.”

The fix: Allowing too much time to go by without feedback – or not giving it at all – can cause frustration and resentment in the long run. Address your concerns in a timely manner and in a constructive fashion so they are teaching opportunities instead of confrontations.

#4 Tolerating poor performance for too long.

A senior living sales director is just not meeting their sales benchmarks month after month, despite all your efforts to work with them to improve. But we like them because they’re nice or they’re funny or they’re so good with the residents and the staff loves them, so we overlook the fact that they’re not moving in new residents.

The fix: The fix for this one is not easy an easy one for the simple reason that it can be emotional. It’s hard sometimes to take emotion out of accountability, but cutting loose a poor performer is sometimes what is required.

 

Many figures in history from Eleanor Roosevelt to Groucho Marx have said, “Learn from the mistakes of others, because you can’t live long enough to make them all yourself,” and the same is true in business – there are lessons to be learned from the missteps of others when it comes to managing others to success. At Grow Your Occupancy, we’re experts in senior living sales management and we’re here to help you manage and coach your sales teams. Ready to find out how Grow Your Occupancy can help you? Book your complimentary 30-minute strategy session here.

You’ve Got the Leads, Now What?

“We need more leads!”

How often have we heard this from our senior living sales directors? How often have we said this ourselves? Saying it is almost a reflex when the question of “why is occupancy down?” comes up. After all, new leads are the top of the sales pipeline for all sales, so more leads in = more move-ins, right?

So we crank up our lead generation machine. We optimize our website and refine our marketing automation and implement our paid social ads strategy. We get lots of potential residents finding us in Google searches, and filling out forms on our websites, and clicking our ads  – and as a result, we get more leads into the top of the pipeline. But what happens in many cases? The occupancy needle doesn’t move.

Why?

Keeping the funnel topped off with new leads is important, but a lack of leads is not necessarily the problem in most occupancy bottleneck situations. The problem is a lack of selling.

Most of us who work in sales have heard the rule of 7 of sales and marketing a million times. It’s the average number of times we need to interact with a customer before they decide to buy, or in the case of senior living sales, decide to move in. But if we’re not following our systems and actually interacting with our potential residents (i.e. responding to their initial inquiry, following up, inviting them for a tour, following up, asking for the deposit, following up – you get the idea), we’re not keeping them interested and engaged, and not moving them forward in the pipeline toward moving in.

What do you have to gain by using our sales systems?

I’ve heard it said anecdotally in recent years that the sales pipeline in our industry converts leads to move-ins at a rate of approximately 10-12% across all senior living categories. I estimate that just 1 in 5 sales directors working at a senior living community where a sales process and a sales culture are in place are actually adhering to their process. So just imagine the results if it was more like 2 in 5 (or 3 in 5, or 4 in 5) who are diligently selling. Hypothetically, if we converted at 20% – just 8-10 basis points more than where we are now – the industry would quite literally run out of beds!

4 keys to increasing occupancy

The secret to growing occupancy in senior living communities comes down to doing 4 things:

Hire great sales directors. Hire for attributes like coachability, positive attitude, and a willingness to adhere to a tried-and-true sales system.

Foster a great sales culture. The best sales director, if forced to work in a vacuum or an unsupportive environment, will not be nearly as successful as one who works in an environment where sales is appreciated and supported at all levels.

Focus on selling. It wasn’t all that long ago when sales directors in senior living communities needed to wear a lot of different hats including generating leads and marketing their community. Today, thanks to strong SEO, marketing automation, and social media advertising, leads come to your community, and your online presence does most of the marketing for you. That leaves the sales directors to focus on what they do best – and what is most productive – selling.

Use the sales system. It really doesn’t matter which system is you’re using, as long as you’re using it consistently. Sure, some are better than others, but none will produce results if they’re not used by the sales directors.

Converting senior living leads to move-ins isn’t an unsolvable puzzle as long as the pieces are there. Take a close look at your communities and see if the keys to occupancy growth are there – great sales directors, in a great sales culture, focused on selling, using a sales system. If a piece is missing, give us a call, we’re experts at solving the occupancy puzzle, and we’ll help you grow your occupancy.

Ready to find out how Grow Your Occupancy can help you? Book your complimentary 30-minute strategy session here.

The Sales and Marketing Tool Every Senior Living Operator Must Have

Wouldn’t it be great if your senior living company had a reference source for all things sales and marketing? A single point of truth that everyone in your organization can refer to for guidance on sales and marketing processes, procedures, best practices, expectations, and benchmarks? Do your company – and yourself – the biggest favor by establishing a sales playbook, an indispensable tool every senior living operator should have.

A sales playbook is an invaluable go-to reference guide that provides clear, concise, and definitive guidance and answers for your team. It has the added benefit of saving time because your sales directors can consult the sales playbook when a question arises instead of inquiring with your senior living sales leadership team. Here are just a few of the sections every senior living sales playbook should include:

Sales Director New Hire Procedures and Checklist

This section covers every onboarding activity that needs to take place in the first few weeks after a new sales professional is hired into your senior living company. This includes meeting the team; setting up logins for all the systems they’ll use; reviewing materials, sales tools, and marketing plans; training on your company’s sales systems and CRM; sales skills practice sessions; and more.

Benchmarks & Expectations

This section covers in detail the senior living sales activity benchmarks like numbers of call attempts, tours, deposits, and move-ins, and target conversion ratios. It also covers expectations over the first 30-60-90 day periods and beyond, starting with all the new hire onboarding activities and going all the way through achieving all benchmarks and goals.

The Details of Your Sales System

Whether it’s your own homebrewed sales system or one you’ve adopted from a sales consultant or other source, here’s the place to outline and explain the specifics of the system, from the basics to the finer details. You’ll want to include all your sales tools and processes, from the initial inquiry through conducting tours and closing. Note that this section will comprise the majority of your sales playbook.

Marketing Plans

A marketing plan is a high-level tool for managing prospect and referral source events, outreach, advertising, and promotion. The marketing plan pulls together the budget, schedule, focus, details, and the expected impact on leads and occupancy into a month-by-month summary that’s easy for all parties involved to refer to.

Referral Sources Outreach & External Business Development

Referrals of prospective residents can come from a variety of sources including friends, employees, current residents, paid agencies, and professionals. Developing relationships with professionals who can, should, and will refer to your community is critical to growing occupancy. In this section of your sales playbook, you’ll want to outline your processes, tools, and resources needed to maintain a strong referral source outreach program.

Networking

Networking and outreach are two different activities, even though they both involve your sales directors getting out into the community to build relationships. Outreach – as mentioned above – is developing relationships with the professionals who can reasonably be expected to refer to your community. Networking on the other hand is casting a large net to get to know as many people as you can for the purposes of building awareness of your community and finding new referral sources. This section outlines your networking program’s processes, tools, and resources.

Events

Events are in-person or virtual gatherings sponsored and run by your community for the purpose of attracting qualified leads, referral sources, and influencers to your community. Your sales playbook presents the details, tools, and resources necessary for holding a successful event of any size.

Glossary of Terms

There isn’t a sales organization today that doesn’t rely on a large vocabulary of terms, phrases, and acronyms. You’ll want to list and define all your terms in your sales playbook’s glossary so everyone in your organization is “on the same page” with the lingo.

 

Your sales playbook needs some extra attention to keep it a useful and valuable resource for your organization, so you’ll need to:

  • Work out where it will be kept to make it easily accessible to your team. A permanent location in your company’s online file sharing system is a great solution.
  • Keep it current by setting a timeline for review and revision cycles. At least once a year the guide should be reviewed by the corporate sales leadership. Be sure to note the current version on the cover, such as naming it “(your company’s) 2022 Sales Playbook”.

Need a best-in-class sales playbook for your senior living company’s sales department? Grow Your Occupancy is here to help! Book your free 30-minute consultation to find out how!

The 5½ Senior Living Sales Metrics to Master

Sales people are like Olympic athletes – they train, practice, and are coached to perform at high levels. And like athletes, their performance is measured. Just think about a sprinter that trains to run the 100-meter dash, only they never paid any attention to their time. They have no way of knowing if they are improving, or if they are in the running to compete against other sprinters. That would be silly, wouldn’t it? The same is true for sales professionals – it would be silly to not measure sales performance. We call measuring performance metrics.

In senior living sales, there are 5 metrics every sales professional needs to know and measure regularly. We’ve also thrown in an extra half metric for good measure!

Metric #1: Overall Lead-to-Connect Ratio

Of all your new leads, how many have you contacted?

A connection happens when a) you pick up the phone, b) the prospect answers, and c) you have an initial conversation – a connection. Keeping track of call outs and connections is easy. If your CRM doesn’t track this for you, a low-tech way of tracking it is keeping a sticky note by the phone. Make a checkmark every time the phone is picked up. If the call is answered, circle the checkmark.

Metric #2: Prospect-to-Tour Ratio

Of all your new prospects – meaning new leads you’ve spoken with – what percentage of those come in for a tour?

Since 70%+ of senior living leads are coming from the Internet, the challenge of first connecting with a new lead is greater than ever before. We need to connect with a lead first, do discovery and then schedule a tour or home visit. Strong discovery and emotional connection at this stage will increase the conversion to tour ratio.

Metric #3: Tour-to-Sale Ratio

A.K.A. Tour-to-Deposit. Of tours held, in any given time, what percentage close to the sale?

A sale is simply collecting the check, taking a deposit. If your Tour-to-Sale ratio is 10%, the question to ask is, what decision did the other 90% make? Did they choose another community? Did they choose to stay in their home? How can you build more value with your prospects to increase this ratio? Knowing this conversion helps determine how many tours are needed to get to the number of sales needed.

Metric #4: Deposit-to-Move-In Ratio

Of all your deposits, what percentage move in?

Why is this metric important? There are reasons within our control and beyond our control why a prospect who made a deposit doesn’t move in. The reasons beyond our control are death and acuity higher than your community can provide care for. The reasons over and above that – the ones within our control – are the ones that may be an issue that warrants a closer look by sales management.

 

Metric #5: Outreach Appointment-to-Professional Referral Received Ratio

Of all your professional outreach appointments held, what percentage resulted in a referral received?

Simply put, it’s the number of referrals received from a professional in a given time period compared to the number of outreach appointments completed. For example, a Sales Director completes 20 face-to-face outreach appointments this month, and during this same month the community received 4 professional referrals. The appointment-to-referral ratio is 20%. For every 5 appointments completed, a referral was received. A second example: 10 appointments, 1 referral received. 10 to 1, 10% appointment-to-referral ratio.

We place high importance on this metric because referrals from professionals in your community convert to prospects at a significantly higher rate than referrals from paid referral sources – often 5 times more often.

 

And the ½ Metric: The In-Out Grid

Occupancy growth requires that a community have more move-ins than move-outs over a time frame like a month, quarter, or year. We call it netting up when there are more move-ins than move-outs, and netting down when opposite. There’s an easy way for sales professionals to keep track of their move-ins and move-outs to arrive at their net occupancy change: the In-Out Grid. It looks like this:

Move-Ins Move-Outs
1/5 Henry 1/1 Johnson
1/10 Smith 1/22 Rivers
1/14 Jones
1/31 James
Total Ins: 4 Total Outs: 2

In this example, in January there were four move-ins and 2 move-outs. The result of the 4 ins and 2 outs is net of +2, or they netted up 2.

Measuring sales performance with metrics and paying close attention to them on a regular basis is vital to knowing where the weaknesses and gaps are in your systems and processes. By keeping on top of a handful of key metrics like the ones above, it makes the task of improving sales skills much easier for the sales professional and managers.

Need a best-in-class sales playbook for your senior living company’s sales department? Grow Your Occupancy is here to help! Book your free 30-minute consultation to find out how!

Senior Living Regional Directors – An Underappreciated Resource

The Regional Director of Sales and Marketing is a role that is pivotal to a senior living operator’s success; they can make a tremendous impact on occupancy levels, the health of the community sales teams, and most importantly the revenue of the company. But the challenges senior living Regional Directors of Sales and Marketing face today in leading the sales teams in senior living communities to occupancy growth are many:

  • Competition among senior living communities is fierce, not only in the choice of physical community, but also in lifestyle, amenities, and monthly rates.
  • Families are taking longer to make a decision. Greater access to information online is lengthening the decision-making process.
  • Sales teams require more support, better support, expert guidance, and accountability to achieve the desired results.
  • Sales team turnover remains high for a variety of reasons both internal and external.
  • The characteristics of our customers’ personas are ever evolving, requiring constant tweaking of sales and marketing strategies.
  • The digital marketing landscape seems to change before our eyes. New tools, technologies, ways of communicating, and social media platforms come and go on a regular basis.

Despite these challenges, the fundamentals of relationship-based selling have stayed the same. Fact: sales systems and processes work. Even the most naturally gifted salesperson will produce more when using a system. But success with a sales system requires mastery, and mastery requires practice. Practice doesn’t make perfect, but it is required to master senior living selling skills.

The Regional Director of Sales and Marketing supports it all. It is a challenging job; one that often goes undervalued and underappreciated by leadership above and sales teams below. A regional director wears many hats and carries a heavy load. The highest expectations are at the regional level, and the responsibilities are many and the pressure is high. Yet, there is often a lack of specific expectation, training, and guidance. All too often, they lack the structural foundations – such as a playbook, training, expectations, coaching, and ongoing support – necessary for success. This causes stress, which leads to burnout and turnover, which in turn stops the forward momentum of sales success.


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The biggest gap in supporting this pivotal position is caused by a lack of tools, training, and guidance. We ask the regional directors to manage multiple communities, hold others accountable, identify problems, and create solutions. We require success yet fail to provide a roadmap to achieving it.

The lack of established regional director fundamental training may be because the job is so multi-faceted. Many corporate sales executives do not know where to start. Many do not have a roadmap. Often, a highly successful community sales director is elevated into a regional manager role, a role in which they lack the needed experience and skills in planning, training, mentoring, and accountability.

Three ways to support and strengthen your regional director sales team:

  • Provide a playbook. Also known as a sales manual, this is a written guide to your company’s sales policies, procedures, measurables, and exercises.
  • Set and support expectations. Outline your company’s specific expectations for sales success and provide your regional directors with the tools to support and achieve the expectations.
  • Provide leadership coaching. Being an effective leader is not an innate talent, it’s a skill that needs to be developed, practiced, and refined. Provide your regional directors with a leadership coach who understands both sales and leading others to success.

Despite the many challenges faced by senior living providers today, sales management is one area where investing in the people can have a measurable impact. Giving your Regional Directors of Sales and Marketing the tools and support they need to be successful pays off in a healthy sales team, occupancy growth, and increased revenue.

Ready to find out how Grow Your Occupancy can help you? Book your complimentary 30-minute strategy session here.