![10 Training Tips For Senior Living Sales People in 2013]()
by Diane Masson | Jan 14, 2013
1) Identify your sales team’s attitude toward the occupancy goals – do they believe they can hit the occupancy goal? – if not – check out my blog tip from last week – Sales Meeting Tips to Increase the Occupancy in 2013.
2) Are they differentiating your senior living community from the competitor down the road? Never say anything bad about the competition, but always highlight your retirement community’s strengths.
3) Have you set a quota for a certain number of calls per week and is the director of marketing or executive director tracking it? Sales people just want seniors to come in and put down a deposit. A lot of sales are made with that quick follow up phone call to invite the senior back again for a 2nd or 3rd look.
4) A “wow” tour, including painting a picture of the lifestyle, can make the monthly fee look like a bargain…
5) Do you have exciting events that draw new faces into your community and inspire 2nd and 3rd looks to move forward?
6) One negative word, like calling your community a facility, can cause a senior to back away from the move. Who wants to leave their beautiful home and move into a facility?
7) Have your focused on selling to personalities? Some analytical drillers want every scrap of paper you have ever published on your community to make a decision and other seniors can walk away from information overload. Tailor each tour to the personality of each customer…
8) Focus on each senior’s hot buttons, like not being a burden to their kids…
9) Are you asking for the deposit – every single time?
10) Creating urgency to make a decision now is a must – it’s awesome when you have two different seniors considering the same apartment!
Diane Twohy Masson is the author of “Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full,” available for sale at Amazon.com. Masson’s book will be required reading at George Mason University in the Fall as part of the marketing curriculum. She is currently consulting with Seniors For Living and two debt-free Continuing Care Retirement Communities in Southern California – Freedom Village in Lake Forest and The Village in Hemet, California. Connection and partnership opportunities: Email diane@marketing2seniors.net Twitter: @market2seniors Web: www.marketing2seniors.net Blog: http://marketing2seniors.net/blog/
![Why is this the BEST TIME of the Year TO CALL Your Database!]()
by Diane Masson | Dec 16, 2012
The last couple of weeks before Christmas and New Years is a key time to call your senior living database. When visiting family members (like boomer children) say, “Mom or Dad – let’s start exploring retirement housing options for you.” The senior can say, well The Village or Freedom Village just called last week… The Boomer children will say, “Great, let’s go check that community out first.”
Many sales people spend their entire precious selling time – attending resident holiday parties, enjoying carolers or other live entertainment. This is not the time to sit back on your laurels and hope your retirement community will miraculously get fuller in 2013.
The work ethic of a senior living sales person before New Years can dictate a surge of move-ins in early 2013. This is an opportunity to jump the census by 2 – 5 percentage points!
It’s time to smile and dial, because this is the best time of the year to call your database. Many seniors are lonely and you may be the only phone call they receive during their entire day. Able-bodied seniors drive or fly to see children and grandchildren for the holidays – so they may not be home. Frailer seniors have to hope their kids will come visit them and are usually home. Either way, the children may notice a change in their senior parent(s) and start exploring options. Make sure your senior living community is top of mind with the senior – it only takes a simple phone call!
Call Your Database Now to Increase Occupancy for Early 2013!
Diane Twohy Masson is the author of “Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full,” available for sale at Amazon.com. If your curiosity is piqued to inquire on Diane’s availability to speak at a senior housing conference (CCRC, independent living, assisted living, skilled nursing or memory care) – please call: 206-853-6655 or email diane@marketing2seniors.net. Diane is currently consulting in Southern California for Freedom Management Company, the proud debt-free owners of Freedom Village in Lake Forest and The Village in Hemet, California. For more information: Twitter: @market2seniors Web: www.marketing2seniors.net Blog: http://marketing2seniors.net/blog/
![10 Worse Traits of Nightmare Applicants in Senior Housing?]()
by Diane Masson | Dec 10, 2012
Part 1 last week, described the top 12 traits for hiring a successful senior living sales person at a retirement community. Now let’s flip the coin over and maybe some nightmare applicants can improve themselves for future interviews in the process.
Let me share what happened with the most unbelievable applicant recently. When he returned my call, I set a phone interview for the next morning at 8:00 AM. The next morning, I asked him if he had looked at our website. He said that if I could send him a link, then he would take a look at it later. Seriously? I started to laugh, because it was so ridiculous! He then asked if it was a requirement to look at the website before speaking with me further. I was still trying to be nice and gently said that he knew from the previous evening that we were going to have an interview this morning – why would you not prepare for it? Well at that point he did not want to talk to me any more…
Here is my list of 10 worse traits of senior living sales applicants. Feel free to add to the list or share an unbelievable hiring experience of your own:
1) Constantly interrupts during the Interview and does not listen – Stop it!
2) Tells me they are ONLY motivated by money – There is such a thing as being too honest!
3) Has a history of 15 or less phone calls per day – What did you do all day, if you did not have any prospects?
4) Say they have sales experience but it’s really being an order taker – Stop wasting my time!
5) Too aggressive – Seniors don’t like aggressiveness!
6) Too laid Back – Sorry, this is not sales!
7) Dresses for a nightclub – One had a very short skirt and when she sat down, it got event shorter!
8) Boring and/or no energy – If you put me to sleep, then you will put seniors to sleep too! Next!!!
9) Being a know it all – Don’t tell me you know my business, when you have never been in senior housing sales in your life!
10) Last but not least – Never looked at our website or prepared for the interview in anyway! Really?!!? Come on, do you really want a job?
Diane Twohy Masson is the author of “Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full,” available for sale at Amazon.com. If your curiosity is piqued to inquire on Diane’s availability to speak at a senior housing conference (CCRC, independent living, assisted living, skilled nursing or memory care) – please call: 206-853-6655 or email diane@marketing2seniors.net. Diane is currently consulting in Southern California for Freedom Management Company, the proud debt-free owners of Freedom Village in Lake Forest and The Village in Hemet, California. For more information: Twitter: @market2seniors Web: www.marketing2seniors.net Blog: http://marketing2seniors.net/blog/
![Is There A Strawberry On Your Plate – In Senior Living?]()
by Diane Masson | Nov 4, 2012
On my recent flight to Seattle, I had the most plain Jane lunch plate presentation ever in first class. It was literally a sandwich on the plate. Seriously?!!? No chips, cut up fruit, piece of parsley, a piece of lettuce with a tomato – nothing! The stark whiteness of the plate surprised me. Then I started thinking, why didn’t they at least put a nice red strawberry on the plate like they used to – what happened? Is Alaska Airlines cutting costs? How much could twelve strawberries cost? My impression of food in first class was not a “Wow” experience.
Has your senior living community cut too many operational costs too? Could it be affecting the first impressions of your community and keeping the occupancy down? Are you serving guests refreshments in real glasses or china? Or have you cut refreshments out all together or serve them in cheap syrofoam? Are there fresh flowers in the lobby? As you walk down the halls, are the walls streaked black from walkers and electric carts? Have the corner edges and doorways of apartments been banged and dented from electric carts? When was the last time you refurbished the lobby? Is the furniture getting old and tattered?
Marketing directors and sales people cannot work miracles! If your occupancy is down, invest in some “Wow Strawberries” to make a great first impression! It keeps your current residents and family members thinking positively about the retirement community. Happy residents can mean lots of referrals.
A chef in one of my Continuing Care Retirement Communities said, “The very first bite is always with the eyes.” When lunch or dinner plates are served in your senior living community dining room, what do they look like? Are they a “wow?”
The details make the difference…can you afford 12 strawberries?
Diane Twohy Masson is the author of “Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full,” available for sale at Amazon.com. If your curiosity is piqued to inquire on Diane’s availability to speak at a senior housing conference (CCRC, independent living, assisted living, skilled nursing or memory care) – please call: 206-853-6655 or email diane@marketing2seniors.net. Diane is currently consulting in Southern California for Freedom Management Company, the proud debt-free owners of Freedom Village in Lake Forest and The Village in Hemet, California. For more information: Twitter: @market2seniors Web: www.marketing2seniors.net Blog: http://marketing2seniors.net/blog/
![What Can Make Your Senior Living Community Extraordinary?]()
by Diane Masson | Oct 7, 2012
Every senior living community struggles to differentiate themselves from their competitors. How can you do it? When a customer walks in the door – how can they feel an immediate difference with your community? Let’s take a moment to compare restaurants – which can be so alike too…
My husband and I decided to treat our selves to Sunday brunch at Laguna Beach. We didn’t want to go to the expensive tourist choice on the bluff. Hmm, where to go? We picked a place that looked good, but was not on the ocean side of the street. The wait for a table outside (it was 80 degrees) was 2 hours. We decided to eat inside and we had a small view of the ocean.
Five extraordinary experiences happened at this restaurant that blew us away. Our waiter was wonderfully attentive, the overall service was outstanding and the food was incredible – none of these made it extraordinary. Here are the five things that did:
- The waiter welcomed us the moment we sat down, asked if we had been there before (we said no) and then he assured us that we were going to have the most incredible brunch (Wow!).
- When my husband asked where the restroom was (after he tried to find it himself) a server did not just point in the right direction, they actually escorted him (Wow!).
- Then my husband returned to the table, a staff member anticipated his arrival, picked up his napkin and as he sat, put it on his lap (Wow!).
- The plates were removed within 20 seconds of each of us finishing our food (Wow!).
- Now listen to this one, they quietly wiped the water up that had sweated from the ice water glasses, so our table was perfectly clean again (Wow!).
In my opinion, this dining experience, at the Sapphire in Laguna Beach, was comparable to the finest service that I have ever received at Canlis – the most famous and expensive restaurant in Seattle, Washington that serves Presidents and Kings (I was lucky enough to go once on a “big” birthday.)
If your retirement community, assisted living or Continuing Care Retirement Community only did #1 – with every guest – what would happen to your occupancy? I am a big advocate of speaking positive into existence! Do you actually tell people when they arrive at your community that they will be in for a treat and that you are excited to show them around and introduce them to some staff and residents?
I would love for you to share something you or your staff does to make your senior living community extraordinary for people visiting your campus for the very first time? Who’s first?
Diane Twohy Masson is the author of “Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full,” available for sale at Amazon.com. If your curiosity is piqued to inquire on Diane’s availability to speak at a senior housing conference (CCRC, independent living, assisted living, skilled nursing or memory care) – please call: 206-853-6655 or email diane@marketing2seniors.net. Diane is currently consulting in Southern California for Freedom Management Company, the proud debt-free owners of Freedom Village in Lake Forest and The Village in Hemet, California. For more information: Twitter: @market2seniors Web: www.marketing2seniors.net Blog: http://marketing2seniors.net/blog/
