Sales in Senior Living

When marketing and sales departments work together, THAT’S when the magic happens. (Why these two departments were ever kept siloed or pitted against each other is beyond us.)

No, not every lead that comes in is going to be an ideal lead—even with nurturing. And not every “perfect” lead will close. That’s called life. As long as senior living sales and marketing teams understand and accept this about the other, the rest is gravy—or it should be, provided your organization fosters collaboration. (Yes, it’s ultimately up to the C-suite and department heads to align your senior living sales and marketing teams. HubSpot famously calls this “smarketing.”)

We can honestly say that the clients who experience the most success are the ones who encourage their  marketing and sales teams to work together, not against each other. This makes sense, right? The primary objective—boosting occupancy—is the same for both. And as the saying goes, two heads are better than one.

Together, the two teams can . . .

• Better understand prospective buyers. Like, REALLY understand them. You do this by developing buyer personas. Input from both departments—marketing and sales—will be critical. (In addition to talking to real buyers!)
• Map the buyers’ journeys. The marketing team will develop content and a website experience that caters to every stage of the journey. But as a sales rep, you need to get incredibly intimate with the latter stages. Because (ideally) you’ll be having many conversations with people in these stages.
• Provide prospects with the right content at the right time. The right content doesn’t just come from the marketing team. As a sales rep, you’re going to be talking to savvy buyers who’ll have further questions and needs. Your sales-marketing arsenal needs to be full of content that helps them.
• Determine what marketing tactics bring in the best leads (i.e., the ones most likely to convert into move-ins)
• Determine what sales tactics help close the most leads. Do your leads like senior living marketing events? Personalized tours? Chats with other residents?
• Create experiences for new Because marketing and sales don’t end once a resident moves in. A happy NEW resident can often be your best referral source. This will involve mapping the CUSTOMER’S journey.

Bottom line: Make sure your marketing and sales teams collaborate regularly.

Yeah, yeah, we know. Trying to get a talented senior living sales person to walk away from anything labeled “lead” will be difficult. And it might even sound counterintuitive. But hear us out.

Not all leads are created equal. Not all leads are the same.

If you’re currently working in an environment where ALL leads are dumped into the senior living CRM and it’s your job to work through them, one by one, you already know you’re going to be wasting time on a lot of them. Maybe even on the majority of them.

The reason it’s a waste: Most leads aren’t ready to “buy” today. They’re educating themselves. They’re considering their options. They’re not ready for a sales interaction. At least, not yet.

So why not leave those leads to your marketing counterparts? Let the marketing folks nurture those leads. And when the leads demonstrate they’re ready for a sales interaction (based on actions they take on the site), THEN they go to you and your sales team.

Doesn’t that sound SO much better? You’ll be working leads that have indicated that they want to talk to sales. Wouldn’t that be refreshing!

If all senior living sales departments made this one change, they would see remarkable results.

Sales reps would be converting MORE leads into move-ins. Yes, even if the sales reps are working with fewer leads. Because the leads they ARE working with will be truly ready. (We call these sales-qualified leads, rather than marketing-qualified leads.)

And because you’ve paid attention to understanding your buyers—and their journeys—you’ll be able to chat with them more easily.

See? This really is the last senior living sales guide you’re ever going to need!

That said, while having sales reps focus on SQLs is definitely one of the best senior living sales strategies you could follow, we also have plenty of other sales tips to help you and your team shine.

Yeah, yeah, we know. Trying to get a talented senior living sales person to walk away from anything labeled “lead” will be difficult. And it might even sound counterintuitive. But hear us out.

1. Accept that almost all prospects will engage with the website and other content before they ever engage with you.

Two humans communicating with each other is what sales reps live for, right? But that’s not always the path that sales follows today. Think about it. You can order pizza, groceries, and even cars without ever having to deal with another human being. While senior living sales still requires some human contact, it now comes much later in the process. If you’re going to be successful in senior living sales, you need to embrace this reality.

2. As a result, make sure your community’s website can effectively serve as your 24/7 sales assistant.

If you build your site right, it will give prospects the right amount of engagement and interactions, no matter the time of day. This is good news for your sales team. Let the site and marketing automation do the heavy lifting while the sales reps focus on high-intent leads.

3. When someone does call via phone, up your game!

Remember, this isn’t your grandmother’s initial sales inquiry. You need to have a smart strategy in place for every call. Make sure you ask relevant and pointed questions. (Including ones about finances!) Avoid making these common phone mistakes. And remember: HOW you follow up with people after that initial call plays a big role in moving the occupancy needle.

4. Mind your words.

The words you use during calls and in emails matter—probably more so now than ever before. Discuss messages and verboten words and phrases with your managers and with the marketing team. Prepare to pivot. What was once acceptable five years ago might not be today. Pay attention and share what you learn with colleagues.

5. Prepare for the unexpected.

If COVID-19 taught us anything, it’s this: Everyone needs to be flexible and willing to adjust how they approach their jobs (and daily lives). In terms of sales, learning how to create engaging virtual sales experiences will ultimately serve senior living sales teams well in the long run.

6. Make internal sales meetings shorter.

Ugh, no one needs another sales meeting on their calendar! Instead of the sit-down meeting that lasts an hour, turn yours into a stand-up huddle…much like they do in football!

7. Pay attention to the right metrics.

Analytics abound. But when it comes to key performance indicators (KPIs) and all the other alphabet soup and acronyms that make up marketing and sales analytics, make sure you pay attention to the right metrics—and that your interpretations of them are accurate and meaningful.

It’s also worth noting that you might need to re-think what occupancy means. You could have the best marketing and sales teams in the world, meaning they might be able to deliver move-ins. But if your services and retention efforts are lacking, well…those move-ins might result in move-outs.

8. The high-touch stuff still matters, too!

We’re spending a lot of time talking about digital presences and online metrics. But the stuff sales people love—the one-to-one interactions—still matter. So yes, you still have to rock site visits and know how to conduct engaging tours.

Senior living mystery shopping is a great way to make sure the high-touch “personal” stuff (like phone calls) are going well.

And, of course, don’t underestimate the power of networking, which can be a great source of referrals.

Oh, sales people! We see you! 🙂 You probably skimmed this guide and stopped here because of the section headline, right?

We encourage you to go back and re-read everything that came before this section. But in case you don’t—or in case you just want to hear it as plainly as possible—here’s how to increase sales in senior living and how to close a sale in senior living.

The strategies for both are the same:

• Start by working closely with the marketing team to identify and truly understand your ideal prospect. For senior living sales success, the marketing and sales teams need to collaborate closely and consistently. (Yes, really.) Buyer personas will vary (one for seniors, one for adult children). And personas need to align with different types of senior living, like assisted living and memory care.

• Find that special nugget that truly makes your community different. This is one of the most challenging things in our industry. All senior living communities sound the same. The question is, do they have to? (Short answer: No! Here’s one way to think about senior living differentiation.) 

• Create custom journeys on your website for prospects. The journeys enable and empower prospects to raise their hand when they’re ready for a sales interaction with you. The marketing team will do the heavy lifting in creating the site. Marketing automation will help streamline processes. BUT, you should be aware of what’s going on. And you should provide input and insight since you work day in and day out with prospects who buy into your community.

• Sales reps should ONLY focus on high-intent leads, rather than ALL leads. We call these sales-qualified leads (SQLs). Through the actions the prospect has taken on the website, they’ve indicated their readiness for a sales interaction.

• The marketing team should focus on nurturing the not-ready-yet leads. We call these marketing-qualified leads (MQLs). MQLs are usually in the awareness stage (they’re researching and learning) or the very early consideration stage.

• Sales reps will likely be working fewer leads. DON’T BE FRIGHTENED BY THIS DEVELOPMENT. The leads will be BETTER because the leads themselves have indicated they’re ready for a sales interaction. This means you’ll ultimately be closing more of them.

In our zeal for occupancy, we often don’t take the time to develop our sales talent. In fact, as an industry, we’re too quick to fire the underperforming sales person when, instead, investing in senior living sales training could make a difference.

Remember, sales is one of the only professions without a corresponding college degree. If we want our sales people to be successful, we need to empower them and give them the tools to succeed.

At Senior Living SMART, we work closely with sales teams (especially VPs of Sales) to help get sales reps to embrace the concepts described earlier (like focusing on SQLs rather than MQLs). Plus, we work to align sales with marketing. Because truth be told, that’s the ONLY way forward in our industry.

So if you’ve been thinking about investing in senior living sales training, you’re on the right track. (Reach out—we can provide you with helpful resources and referrals.)

Make sure the person and/or agency has deep experience in (or appreciation for) marketing. Because as we’ve mentioned throughout this guide, you need senior living sales and marketing to work hand-in-hand if you’re going to have any success in this highly competitive landscape.