I am taking this week to stretch. No, I am not taking an aerobics class or spending the week at a spa; I am attending the CASP (Certified Aging Services Professional) Summer Institute, conducted by the Coalition for Leadership in Aging Services, based at the University of North Texas. The program allows individuals who may have expertise in one area of senior living to broaden their knowledge of all areas, and provide them with a better perspective of how continuing care retirement communities serve the needs of seniors.
As marketers, that’s always our goal ― to broaden and deepen our knowledge of the business and to develop more targeted, powerful, insightful and motivational communications that go beyond the description of service offerings and get at the real heart of the matter. So I am in class this week and will share some immediate perspectives from each day.
Day One: The theme for me was relationships. Topics covered included human resources, community administration and leadership, and marketing. They all have the common thread of relationships, each from a different angle. Hiring, training and motivating a staff is all about relationships. Employees stay or leave a company largely because of the relationships they have with their supervisors and co-workers. Senior leadership in an organization is about building environments in which individuals can grow, excel and support healthy group dynamics so those individuals work effectively as teams. Working together is about relationships. And marketing a senior living community is first about connecting with the prospect and meeting their individual needs, but it is also about the community spirit the prospect sees, feels and experiences when they visit — it is all about building a relationship.
Senior living is a people business, top to bottom. This is not surprising, given that it involves providing a service. But as we talk about the beautiful campus and the great pool and the library and the fitness center, let’s not forget that human connection. Community spirit is such a powerful tool in marketing a community. Prospects can and do sense this and they are attracted to it. How do you create that spirit? Well, it has a lot to do with how you approach human resources and community leadership. You have to build and nurture the environment that can create that spirit.
That’s how the Day One dots connected for me. Let’s see what Day Two has in store.
Last week Microsoft unveiled Bing, its new online search engine that it calls a “decision engine.” Bing replaces MSN Search and Live Search but offers more than just a new name. Search results are organized into categories. For example, search for “Alzheimer’s” and results are organized into articles, symptoms, tests, medication, treatment and prognosis. Users can also seamlessly tab between different types of content – web sites, images, videos, shopping, news and maps. When applicable, Bing provides local business listings (like Google).
The competitive landscape for search engines shapes up like this: Google way out in front; Bing/MSN, Yahoo! and Ask.com fighting for a very distant second place (by 60+ percentage points). Bing is showing early promise, but only time will tell. Has Google finally met its match with Bing? Watch this video and then try it out. What do you think?
Many of us who have entered the senior care profession do so out of a profound love of working with older adults and their families. However, it quickly becomes evident that senior care is also a business, with ambitious census and profit expectations. And those who are responsible for sales unfortunately bear the brunt of those lofty goals.
While we are always cognizant of your sales objectives, we sometimes lose sight of the fact that each lead or prospect is not simply a means to reach your goals. This is especially so in assisted living or memory care communities, where families come in looking for a solution to a painful situation that is burdensome and confusing. It is for this reason that the senior care sales position is different from any other, and requires a different mindset to be truly successful.
I call this the dilemma of “margin versus mission.” We know that you need to make sales for the community to prosper and be successful, and, quite frankly, to keep your jobs. However, it is critical that we take the time to understand and address the needs of prospective residents and their families, and offer the very best solution given their unique situation. Sometimes that may mean referring them to another community or type of care.
So the next time a family visits your community in search of care for an aging loved one, be sure to ask yourself the following questions:
- Am I fully present for this family, listening intently to determine their needs? Or am I thinking ahead and trying to figure out how to “close” them on my community?
- Do I understand that this is a family in crisis that most likely does not have an informed understanding of all their options?
- Is my community truly right for this individual, and if not, will I have the courage to provide the right solution, even if it means losing the sale?
- Am I empathetic to this family’s situation and portraying myself in a genuine, concerned and compassionate manner?
- Are my actions consistent with my community’s mission statement?
If you can answer yes to all these questions, your chances of building your census with the right type of residents increases dramatically. Sure, you may lose a sale through a referral to home health or private duty. But you not only have helped a family in need, but also developed potential referral sources by doing the right thing. And that is the definition of smart selling.
