PowerPoint Presentation

WE HAVE ENTERED A NEW ERA OF SELLING SENIORS HOUSINGPresented by Traci Bild & Jayne Sallerson

Its Time to Raise the BarRaising The BarWHILE IT USED TO BE ABOUT CARE AND OPERATIONSYou MUST add the sales component to the puzzle to survive and THRIVE! Must be EQUAL priority.Its Time to Raise the BarRaising The BarRaising The Bar

Raising The BarRaising The BarINDUSTRY INFOIndustry occupancy:

IL 07 93.8% Dec 08 89.8% Dec 09 88.2% Dec 10 87% July 11 - 87.7%

AL 07 91.5% Dec 08 88.9% Dec 09 88% Dec 10 89% July 11 - 88.4%

CCRCs are now 89.7% occupied, down from 90%.

You should be at 98-100% at all times (you are close!).

THERE HAS BEEN A SOLID UPTICK IN OCCUPANCY SINCE 4Q2010Raising The BarRaising The BarINDUSTRY TRENDSRecord attrition.

Older and frailer new residents coming in.

Length of stay now down to just under a year and a half.

Competitors discounting at record rates.

More demanding and educated consumers.

Unprepared sales counselors.Raising The BarRaising The Bar Krackel

Mr. Goodbar

Milk Chocolate

Dark Chocolate

Pick your favoriteRaising The BarRaising The BarHaving the right people in your community is one of pieces of the occupancy puzzle.

Are you hiring the right people?

Raising The BarEMPLOYEE PROFILINGEmeritus Senior Livings state of the art and scientific approach to profiling our Employees.

Raising The BarRaising The BarAudience SurveyMr. Good Bar You are analytical and logical. You gather data first before giving an opinion, play the devils advocate at meetings, tend to see all the possibilities and drive people crazy by sharing all the what-ifs. You hate deadlines and put off starting things as the consummate procrastinator. You like to be the expert, but do things in your own time frame. You have a tendency to overanalyze things (analysis paralysis. You like there to be rules that everyone follows because your work best with structureand you hate surprises

Raising The BarRaising The BarAudience SurveySpecial Dark-You are patient, thoughtful, insightful, reflective, dependable, resourceful, loyal, and you like to see a project through from start to finish. You are an individualist, a problem solver. You work well with difficult people, though you have little patience for incompetence or lies. You set high standards for yourself and others

Raising The BarRaising The BarAudience SurveyMilk Chocolate- You are an all American, love baseball, mom and apple pie. You are the cheerleader for your program, a good PR person, a great fundraiser, level headed, kind, thoughtful, playful, nurturing, dependable and loyal. You help others to shine and you always remember everyones birthday. Others often turn to you for help.

Raising The BarRaising The BarAudience SurveyKrackel You are creative, optimistic, and always able to see the cup as full. You are messy (that desk or office), but organized (eventually youll find that missing item you know you will). You like to be hands on. Youre a little off-beat, ditzy, funny, friendly, outgoing and always willing to help. You like the surprising things in life. You also appreciate situations that allow flexibility, change and growth

Raising The BarRaising The BarEDs are pivotal for creating a Sales Culture

Raising The BarWhat Does a Great Sales Culture Look Like?Entire team is engaged and energetic about sales. You talk about it every day!!

Fast response to inquires

High occupancy.

Great Customer Satisfaction.

Huge resident and family involvement.Raising The BarRaising The BarDo you really have a sales culture?

SALES:Systematic process of REPETITIVE and MEASURABLE milestones, by which a salesperson relates his offering of a product or service in return enabling the buyer to achieve his goal in an economic wayCULTURE:Generally refers to PATTERNS of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activities significance and importance.Raising The BarRaising The BarTRUTHAre you out of ideas? Tried everything to grow occupancy?

You must master sales systems to grow occupancy, revenue, and investor return.

Before you master sales systems, you must master your mind.

As a leader, must teach your team how to master their mind and get them focused on what it is they want.Raising The BarRaising The Bar

Raising The BarRaising The Bar100% OCCUPANCYRaising The BarFilling a community is like putting pieces of a puzzle together. You have to slide one piece in at a time until the puzzle is complete.

You have to know what the pieces are and the order in which you need to place them.

Why we have filling buildings down to a science. How does that benefits you?

Raising The BarBild Stats Compared to Industry StatsThe difference is in the systems and focus on selling. Look where we have the potential to go!Raising The BarRaising The BarMUST MASTER SALES SYSTEMS TO GROW

A SYSTEM for increasing traffic: Outreach.

A SYSTEM for the inquiry process.

A SYSTEM for personal visits.

A SYSTEM for effective follow up.

A SYSTEM to retain residents.

Keep it SIMPLE! One step for each aspect of the sales process, thats it!

Must commit and hold people accountableRaising The BarRaising The BarCOLLABORATION

Raising The BarRaising The Bar100% communities...what is their secret sauce?Executive DirectorResident Care Director (RN,LPN)Marketing Director Collaborate everyday and throughout the day.

Collaboration is KeyRaising The BarCOLLABORATIONNo longer optional.

Must come from the top down and be integrated into your culture.

Must become a priority and part of your LT strategy. Leadership must set the example.

You have to TEACH people HOW to create this type of environment in their communities.

Raising The BarRaising The BarCOLLABORATIONAs an industry we simply dont collaborate.

Executive director, sales counselor and director of nursing must collaborate regularly. Second tier is the departments heads and line staff.

Must have business basics 101 for all new hires and current staff to foster collaboration.

This is essential to growing to 100% occupancy.

Raising The BarBEST PRACTICEMake collaboration a consistent part of your message. Never stop talking about it.

Reward staff who step up to the task in front of their peers. Incentives work great!

Work with the ED to help him/her understand why collaboration is so important and what he/she can do to facilitate it.

YOU set the example.

Raising The BarRaising The BarDo you know how much time your sales counselor is spending Selling?

Raising The BarRaising The BarINCOME PRODUCING ACTIVITIES Main reason you are not full.

What exactly are IPAs?

Why do non-IPAs get all the time and attention?

What should the expectation be?

How do you hold people accountable?

Tough love: What do you do with non-performers?Raising The BarRaising The BarINCOME PRODUCING ACTIVITIES Why do we fail to implement here?

I see a lot of All talk and no action. There is little to no consequence for people who do not perform.

Sales counselors are doing everything BUT selling. ED needs to protect their time and ensure 90% of it is spent doing IPAs.

Most have not had to really sell in the past.

Raising The BarRaising The BarPhone coverage for concierge/receptionist or breaks. -1 hour per day-5 hours per week-20 hours per monthChasing paperwork for move-ins-5 move-ins-30 minutes per move-in-2.5 hours per monthSigning Resident Agreements-5 move-ins per month-1 hour per move-in-5 hours per monthRaising The BarRaising The BarCoordinating move-in on move-in day- (handling issues etc.)-5 move-ins -1 hour per move-in-5 hours per monthActivity Related Tasks (resident parties, holiday decorations, resident activities)-1 hour per week-4 hours per monthRaising The BarRaising The BarYour Sales Counselor is Spending36 hours a month on NON -REVENUE GENERATONG TASKS.

You just lost at least one move-in for the month-$3500.00 per move-ins.

Annualized lost revenue- $42,000

If you lost 1 per month- Annualized Lost Revenue- $504,000

Raising The BarRaising The BarBEST PRACTICERewards people for their EFFORTS versus their results.

Get people focused on what they CAN CONTROL versus what they cant.

Introduce them to the formula for success which simplifies filling the building in a BIG way.

Raising The BarLets Talk SystemsSystem versus idea

Raising The Bar#1: Professional OutreachReferred leads are four times more likely to close than non-referred leads. What is your referral plan?Raising The BarRaising The BarREFERRAL OUTREACHTying into collaboration, Ops must free up sales to go out & do outreach. There must be a strong back up team in place as well.

Your Sales Counselor should be out in the community 2-3 mornings per week working referrals and GOING STRAIGHT FROM HOME.

Focus must be to bring value, educate, and communicate with referral sources consistently.

Raising The BarRaising The BarThe #1 most important skill factor required to drive occupancy is to get more people in the door.

Raising The BarAverage inquiry to visit rates for AL is 45% & IL 35%Our benchmark is 60% with a goal of 75%

Our student average is 74%.Raising The BarRaising The Bar#2: The Inquiry System40% of all incoming calls are mismanaged.

75%+ are mismanaged at night and on weekends.

HALF YOUR LEADS ARE COMING IN AT NIGHT & ON WEEKENDS.Raising The BarRaising The BarGetting people in the door is the #1 most important skill factor required to drive occupancy.

Convert Captured Calls Into Tours

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LETS LOOK AT YOUR TOOL BOXInquiry Connection Sheets Adult ChildProspective ResidentFront Desk

Introduced this to you last year. Did you use it?

A location for your tool box.

COLOR CODE CCSRaising The BarRaising The BarOBJECTIVESObtain control of the call.Focus prospects on their needs.BILD value.Book a personal visit.Every caller is treated as a HOT lead!Follow the system and move shops to 100% and conversions to 75%.

Raising The BarRaising The BarCONVERT APPOINTMENTS TO SALES

Raising The BarRaising The BarAverage Visit to Move inAL = 22% - Our Benchmark is 40-50%*IL = 20% - Our Benchmark is 40%CCRC = 12% - Our Benchmark is 25%Our student average is 40%

*Total Visit to Move In includes all re-visits which impacts conversionRaising The BarON SITE VISITSPeople used to look at 1.9 communities prior to making a move.

It then moved to 4 communities prior to making a move.

Today, its as high as 7-8 communities.

How do you stand out?Raising The BarRaising The BarFIRST IMPRESSIONSWhat do your prospects FEEL when they come into the community?

Raising The BarRaising The BarAPPOINTMENT PRE-PLANNINGSales counselors ARE NOT pre-planning their appointments.

Communities blend together and no one stands out from the other. It hurts but its true.

Industry shops indicate over and over that the experience had by shoppers is not positive overall. Why would people be excited to buy?Raising The BarRaising The BarAPPOINTMENT PRE-PLANNINGWhy we are not doing it:

Never had to in the past.

We are not in a proactive mindset and not looking to see the sale through. Its always about the next person walking in the door for the sales counselors.

Not USING this piece of the system consistently.Raising The BarRaising The BarBEST PRACTICERequire that visit planning sheets are done on all pre-set appointments.

Spot review them weekly. Talk the language.

Engage staff to come up with ideas and to foster collaboration.

Never stop asking, What was your WOW?

Raising The BarINCENTIVES VS. TRAININGWhich works and why?Raising The BarPart of IPAs and it is NOT happening at anywhere near the level it should be.

Consumers are demanding service and we are not giving it beyond the initial tour.

Need a solid, follow up system in place, with measurable results weekly.

This must be closely managed if you really want to turn this around.FOLLOW UPRaising The BarRaising The BarFOLLOW UP

Why its not happening:We all talk about it but sales counselors are not held accountable. There is no consequence.Lack of effective follow up systems and tools.Call reluctanceits very real.

Raising The BarRaising The BarFOLLOW UPYou can have a great inquiry system in place and an incredible tour experience. Yet if follow up does not happen, the sale will not happen.

He will follows up gets the sale.

It is critical that you focus on this aspect of the business to NET up and grow occupancy.

Raising The BarFROM WAIT LIST TO RESIDENTThink, Membership program.

Get wait list people to experience the community so they want more of that experience.

Engage more often and they will move sooner.

The grass must be greener on your side of the fence!Raising The BarRaising The BarACCOUNTABILITYYou must have a culture of accountability.

People will rise to the level you expect of them.

Sales counselors seek accountability and want you to notice when they perform.

Holding people accountable requires laser focus on core metrics you are trying to improve.

Raising The BarRaising The BarACCOUNTABILITYWhy we dont hold people accountable:

In the past, sales came easy. Wasnt needed.

Not sure where to draw the line. Managers are afraid of losing good people.

Loyalty to staff impedes ability to effectively manage results.Raising The BarRaising The BarSpot check community lead bank weekly. Dont ask, go right in and look at the evidence.

Build follow up call blocks into their calendars.

Provide solid follow up tools that foster success (they have them, are they using?).

Hold them accountable to 20-25 follow up calls per day.

Create action plans when they do not do it.BEST PRACTICE FOR RDSMRaising The BarBEST PRACTICENever take your eye off of the magic number.

Maintain CONSISTENT FOCUS each and every week in contrast to many managers or RDSM who give all their time to challenged properties only. Everyone gets attention every week until 100% occupied.

Say the same thing over and over and over until the team gets it. Dont let people off the hook.

Role play, ask to see forms completed, etc.

Raising The BarRaising The BarRESIDENT RETENTIONSales, operations, and resident care must communicate to make sure the experience is whats been promised.

Sales generates new move ins, ops and nursing find ways to keep existing residents.

It requires a collaborative team effort to keep community full.

Share why you are not admitting people, etc.

Raising The BarMake it a system to have sales hand off info to ops and resident care to ensure follow through.

The more involved ops and nursing is early on, the more bought it they will be when the resident moves in.

Connect the pieces of the puzzle.

RESIDENT RETENTIONRaising The BarOTHER BILD TOOLSWe motivate, educate and inspire.

We find out whats in it for them to get their building to 100%. www.getmotivatedbook.com

We use DISC assessments to make sure the right person is in the chair.

We make it about them, not us. Our goal is to make the team look amazing!Raising The BarRaising The BarWhat is it you want?Raising The BarQuestions? Comments?

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