21 Day Series: Are You Losing Business & Don't Even Know It

Transcript

Tiffany (3): 0:00

When analyzing. senior living communities in my years as a regional, there are a few places where there are holes in your business, places where you are losing business. You're losing opportunities. And there are things you can do today. To ensure that you are taking advantage of every opportunity presented to you. And today that is what we're going to be going over. As we kick off the 21 days senior living campaign. Stay Tuned. Uh huh. Welcome to Start With Occupancy, the podcast for senior living owners, operators, and sales professionals./Hi, I'm Tiffany, marketing strategist and former corporate baddie who got tired of producing results for wall street and wanted to make a change on main street./I provide quick tips, idea nuggets, and case studies to help you with proven sales, marketing, and business development strategies along with leadership concepts so that you can inspire change, impact lives, and improve outcomes for the aging, their families and your teams./I'm committed to equipping you with the tools, the knowledge and resources that you need to excel in your business./With over 12 years of experience working inside senior living companies, large and small, I've developed a deep passion for advocating for the aging adult and those who care for them, all while driving business growth./So whether you're already in the senior care industry or maybe you would like to be, if your mission is to serve them, my mission is to serve you./Join me as we unravel the strategies and tactics that drive success in your business while making a difference in someone's life./The goal in 2024 is to touch, guide, and impact the lives of 10 families per month!/Are you with me? It's time to be inspired, gain practical tips and own your future.

Tiffany: 2:05

Hello friends. Uh, this is me, Tiffany Hill Allen, welcoming you again to another episode of the start with occupancy podcast. And today we're actually kicking off going through our 21 days of senior living social media campaign. Um, I wanted to start this, like on the first of the month. Um, because I just like things to be very clean. However, um, due to so many circumstances, I'm starting today. So what I'm doing is giving you a binge worthy. Number of episodes that you can, um, listen to and that you can, um, kind of, I don't know what to call it, that you can binge on. That's what it is like Netflix binge you can Netflix binge on this. So. 21 days of senior living social media campaign consists of me giving you 21 consecutive days. Of information about senior living in every platform that I'm on. I say that because between today and tomorrow, you're going to be bingeing on each platform with all of the different. Segments of senior living. And each platform is going to be a little bit different on how I am describing senior living. So it all depends on whatever platform that you follow me on that this is going to be, the information you get. So it's going to be so interesting because it gives me an opportunity to record all of these different. insights about senior living. plus I have some other things on recording too, but the cool part is that it will give me a library of content. that will be available for you. So it's all done for you is all done in love. Um, and that is what we're doing. We are actually going to be talking more about sales and marketing, strategies, and tips. So for you my podcast listeners. And if you're watching me on YouTube, It is going to be, sales strategies and marketing tips for 21 days. And so these are actual things I would tell my team. As a regional, for six years. You get to really coach, train, and you are responsible for the sales. metrics, but also the revenue driver of these communities. It's a very interesting dynamic and how it works in senior living yes, you are responsible for sales and marketing for a lot of these, companies. Um, but you have little to no say in operations and. Um, You usually report to operations who is more concerned typically about. Um, All the things that isn't revenue driving. And so it, it creates a certain interesting dynamic when it, when you're working in the corporate arena of this industry. Um, and so I'm just going to table that and leave that there that's for another episode or another podcast outlive your life podcast is about the career and business of senior living, but for what we're going to do today, we're going to talk about mastering quick responses for better tour conversions. are you ready to get into it the information is going to be good for you to take notes on. have your, your, you know, your, um, pen and paper ready, or if you're listening to it while you're in the car, make sure you save it that, so that you can go back to it because these tips are going to be pure gold for you. We used to call it speed to lead. I don't really like the word lead when referring to customers, I will have a list for you to download about the terms and words to use and to avoid in senior living, um, with other people in the profession. as you're, growing your business. And or with families. What we used to call it with speed to lead. Um, what I like to call it is the first to show up. Right? You want to be the first to show up. you want to give. Potential residents and their families, the ultimate when it comes to customer service experience. And so. This is important. And I'm going to give you five reasons why I actually wrote some of this down for you. the thing that I want you to remember. When you are. Responding to people who are coming to you. The one thing I want you to think about is this. Most people. Do not look for senior living. Which entails assisted living memory care, independent living. Because everything is rosey at home. That is your first inclination in your mind that okay. I need to respond to people right away. If you was a 9 1, 1 operator. Would you be like, oh, I'll get back to them tomorrow. Oh yes. They called me. Oh, you wouldn't do that. Why wouldn't you do that? Because you know that the need is urgent, even if they may not say it as. For the person to call you about what is going on with their loved one and family member, and to take that step. Immediately to me says that there's an urgent need in that person's household or with that person's loved one. When you are the first to respond to that inquiry that comes to you. question mark in thier head. Do I need senior living or I think I need assisted living. Or, I might need help with my loved one who has dementia. The first thing to do, and the first reason why you should respond immediately. Number one is to establish rapport with the person. You want to give that person, what is an example of what you're going to give them and care, which is first-class service and how do you do that? Is by showing them that they are important. Right. Um, And you also get the opportunity to develop rapport first. Before anyone else? And I say that because most people, when they're looking. They're looking at several places They're usually going down a list, calling places to either get information or to set up appointments. So if you are the first to respond, meaning that they call you and you actually answer the phone. And you actually start what we call discovery process, finding out what is going on in their loved one's life, whether it be their mom, their dad, sister, brother, uncle, grandma, whoever it is. Then what will happen is that you have an opportunity and a chance. And I love to say it this way. You get to have their first introduction into this industry. With them. Does that make sense? You get to be the person that is going to be the face of the industry for them. Let's say the first five calls, they have a bad taste in their mouth because people aren't available, they can't get their questions answered. Um, the concierge was rude. And now you're the fourth person that they call. You automatically with the tone of your voice, the smile that they can see over the phone, the care and concern that you can give them. you're now able to develop a rapport by asking amazing questions. You have more of a to be able to turn that inquiry. I'm at the beginning of my journey of looking through this into an actual move in. And that is the whole point of what you're doing. And so in order to have residents, that means you have to go through the steps from beginning to end when a family first contacts you all the way through the end of their journey to be the answer and the solution that they're needing in their life at this moment in time. So the first is to really be able to establish the rapport, make sure that you have that intact. Second reason is this. You get to, solve their challenges first, right? If you are responsive, meaning that when they call you or your staff is able to answer that call immediately. Now, um, you get to do the full discovery process and you get to help them in their journey to solve whatever's going on. You know, usually they're concerned about something that's happened in their loved one's life is why they're reaching out to you, which we talked about the 9 1 1, but now by being the first to respond and first to talk through their challenges. Now you are the first person who gets to, I always will say that you'll see that well, who gets to help them solve the questions they have in their mind? Is this the right time for my mom, this is the right. And I'm going to use mom just as a general, but is this the right? Type of care that my mom needs. Um, is this the right price? Who do I go to to find the, the cost? I, you know, if you're all private pay and they're looking for something that's going to be medicaid. You are the one who gets to say, Hey, while we're not a Medicaid supported community, let me help you find the ones that are. And let me tell you who I partner with when people do call me. Number one you're again, you're giving that great first impression to that person. Number two is when they say, you know what to their neighbor or their colleague at work or whatever, even though this place wasn't for me, she was so helpful that she gave me the other places. You always want to leave that amazing customer experience for families and or for residents because of its independent living. It will be a prospective resident that will actually give you a call. We talked about the establishing of rapport is one reason why, being able to solve their challenges and issues or questions in their mind is the second reason why it matters. The third reason, you have a higher rate of converting them into an actual move in. Um, the thing is that. As you're helping families along their journey. And as you become their go-to source and reliable information source, and their resource. You have a better chance of helping that family move into your community. If it is the right fit, I'm always going to say that if it's the right fit, it has to be the right fit At least in my mind for a family to move in because I want number one, them to be happy. I want the resident to be happy. I want my staff to be able to care for them properly. Um, and I want it to be a win-win for everyone. And so sometimes we have to work through that with families, with residents, with staff. But at the end of the day, You want to be the help and the support, um, that that family needs. And so by, Establishing the rapport sooner. By helping them to solve their challenges. You have a better chance of converting them into an actual moving. The fourth reason is that it will give you a competitive edge. I will tell you, working in corporate. for the big boxes. Um, One of the things that I have found is even in doing secret shops, by the way, I know I'm, I'm, I'm stuffing my sentences here, but in doing secret shops, which I've done recently as early as like, um, assisted living week, um, and. What I have found is that a lot of times. The bigger locations while you may think they have the resources and the training and everything like that. To answer people's phone calls right away. Or to respond to those questions that they may have much, like we just talked about solving their problems and their challenges that they're having with their loved ones. They're not. I remember one time doing a survey and we did a shop in my company of all of the sales managers We do this periodically. On average, the response rate of being able to get in contact with a person on the initial inquiry was only 67%. What that tells me is that there is a wide opportunity And this was a really good organization. Like very, very good in terms of training and support and resources. So now you go through all the other organizations that don't have those things and you have a really good chance of doing the first two things we talked about sooner because of your ability to respond to them quickly. So your competitive edge is established just by answering the phone. Or the email. Um, Just right off the bat. And lastly it enhances the perceived value, meaning this When somebody is calling around and you have a lovely voice. Someone who's responsive. Someone who, um, is inviting. Um, someone who you get to actually have conversation sounds like the care. Now when they're calling other people. The value that you hold will be a lot greater. Um, because if you are this responsive, when they're just asking questions. How much more responsive will you be when their mom, dad, uncle, grandma, whatever live with you? And people are looking at places that aren't just a place. Where their loved one live. But that will also be able to communicate to them if they have any questions, challenges, issues, or complaints later on down the line. And the more you're able to show that you are responsive individual. The more confidence that they will have that even if something happens and they had a question or a complaint or a concern. You're building that confidence and that trust that you would be responsive even then. So these are the five reasons why, what we call is speed matters when it comes to responding to the initial inquiry I'm going to give you the detailed steps on how to do this. And I, I want you to take a look at this, right. You need to, as an owner operator, or if you're a sales professional. Set up a sequence like a protocol For instance, if I owned a community and what I used to tell my people. The phone should ring should not ring more than four times. That should be. You know, or three times, like you set that up. So that everybody has the expectation and they know what to do. The second thing is what is the initial response from anyone who answers the phone? A lot of times people leave the, what I call the basics up to their staff to figure out. When you go to places that are high in customer service. They do not leave any ambiguity for their staff to figure it out. You think about Chick-fil-A you think about, really high quality companies, maybe apple, when you call in, they pretty much. lay everything out. They have a full training program and they lay out what their expectations are. And so if you lay out your expectations, staff, the phone will not ring more than three times, no matter what. If that is your expectation, guess what? Now you have a staff that's responsive. Staff. This is how you answer the phone. Hello, my name is, or it's a wonderful day at, or whatever you decide that you want. And we'll go through that down a line. But. Those are the things that helps to establish. Who you are and why you're different. And that is how you gain more residents. So, if you think about, let's say the Chick-fil-A's of the world. When you go into Chick-fil-A and you order your stuff. At the end when they're giving it to you. The one thing you can, you can pretty much be sure of. They're going to say it's my pleasure. Like, that is what they do when whenever, you say, thank you. It's my pleasure. Or it's my pleasure to serve you. Like, you know, because so many people say the same thing that that is a part of their training program. So my question to you is what is a part of your training program or how are you. Uh, establishing that in your community. If you're a sales manager in a corporate environment, most times it is up to you. Get with your E.D. and start establishing what that culture is going to look like, because you are the driver for that. If you are an owner, an operator, um, or a manager. It is up to you to establish that with your team. So, what does that look like? So you want to set up a protocol that the phone is gonna ring, but so long, this is how you're going to answer. If somebody leaves the message. What is that protocol on the followup? If they did miss the call by any chance, do they call right back and say, hi, we missed this call. We wanted to call you back. Our manager's not available right now. Um, she will get back with you. I'm emailing her now. Like what does that look like? You as an owner operator needs to establish that protocol. Personalize the initial responses, what I said, make sure that it has a warm tone to it. Make sure you talk to your employees, what voice inflection looks like and sounds like if you need training for that, I am available where I can do a quick. training on how to answer phones, like I said, I leave nothing up for people's ideas. And I'll tell you that. The story I got was, um, through Oprah's book, there's a book she had with a psychologist and neurologist, a child psychologist, and he was also a neurologist and it was called, um,"What Happened To You?", right? Um, And so it was just so interesting. She was talking about. How the director of the film that she was doing, asked her to tuck in a child into bed. And after several takes of her doing the action, he came to her and says like, you know, cause she could, she just wasn't doing it. Right. I guess. Um, he said, you know, tuck her in and she had to tell that director I've never been tucked in as a child. I don't know how to tuck a child in. She didn't have any children of her own, so she didn't know. In that moment. And of course you can't look it up on Google. You know, And see it on YouTube at that moment because she was on set. And I think about how many times we have staff come in and we tell them to do the basics. What we think is the basics make up the bed. Take out the trash. You know, change your resident. We understand that they know the basics, but do they know, know, know the basics? Do they know how you perceive the basics? So my thing is when you're talking to, or when you're training your staff rather. At their onboarding, how do you want the phone to be answered? What is the tone? Train them. If you have too on tone inflection. If you have to have a little cue card, I used to have a little card, um, that would say, hello, my name is, and it would just be like, or hello, thank you for calling blah, blah, blah. How can we help you today? Or how can we serve you today? Whatever you want that to look like. So I used to have these little cards and I gave them out to the team. Also if there is a call and you want them to start taking that initial information, which I highly suggest that they get a name, email address, and phone number, if at all possible with maybe two to three other questions, if they're busy, they can always ask the call them right back, because they're in the middle of working with a resident, but I'm going to call you back and give them a specific timeframe, you know, within the next hour, whatever that is. Um, but definitely training your staff to be able to answer those calls and having a protocol set up is really important. So step one, just so that we can make sure we're clear is to have a protocol. Step two is to make sure the greeting is personalized. Step three is to train your staff on what you expect. Um, that inquiry intake is going to be. Emphasize to your staff, that the quickness of responding to that. Uh, inquiry is, is also super important. The fourth step is using some. What they call is client relationship management tool or CRM. The reason why I say this is important is because. Um, I have seen, especially in more in the residential side. Um, where people, and it happens in corporate, too, with concierge, with the front reception desk person, they're using sticky notes. They're using. Pieces of paper that's ripped. That does not work when it comes to a good follow up system. Um, sometimes they get lost and then families don't get in touch and then they call back and say, well, I left a message and now they're already aggravated because they're like, what do I have to do to find out information? Because I need some thing and some place to think about for my loved one. And this has become hard for me. And that is what they're saying. And it is our job in my belief that families already going through enough stress and pressure of whatever's going on in their loved one's life. That it is up to us to try and alleviate that for them. And that is why we are providing our business as a solution for families. making sure you have some type of CRM tool. That's not just for that initial message, but also for what your follow up sequence is going to be afterwards. What does that look like? When they initially called, did you invite them to come in to visit you? That should be on the first call. Um, you know, or second at least, right. And I say second, meaning that if the first one's just taking a message. The next call is to get all of what we call the discovery information, trying to discover what is going on in their life. At that point, that is where we're going to now say, okay, we would like for you to come in because we believe that we're a great fit for your loved one. And we want you to come in and see us. So what happens after then? Will they come in? So now having a CRM is going to help you. congregate, all those leads Those inquiries, I should say, you know, those. Those customers into a system. So that you can make sure that you follow up appropriately for each one. And what does that follow-up look like? Again, there's a sequence for that. One company I was with, it was, um, seven touches in 10 days, we had to touch them in some form or fashion within the first 10 days of their initial call to us, whether that be text, email. Uh, visit. A home visit to go back to, like, we had a variety of touches again, that's going to be on another tip. Um, but that is something that we did. What is yours? Is it five touches in the first 10 days? Is it something that's going to make sense to what each and every family come to you with? You know, but having a sequence and set of I don't want to make it so hard. Like, a protocol, having something. Especially if you have a staff member and you need to hold them accountable, if it is your own business. This is to help you become organized. So a CRM does that. Um, FOBFlo is a really good one that my friend Cameron J. Barker has. And it helps you with so much more than just a CRM. It helps you with your website and your landing page. If you're going to do some Facebook ads and it helps you with. texting and emails, like it helps you with all these different things. So I think when I think about a complete system, His is one of, I would say the better ones out there for the smaller guy. Right? Some of the other ones are real big. The other one is, um, That is a very practical tip I want to do with you guys is making sure you have a script.Very simple. That is available for your staff. I know I mentioned it earlier. But a simple script for them that you can either train them on when somebody initially calls to give you the right information so that when you follow up, you have a jump off. A cold follow-up is when you just have a name and a number. That's what I consider a cold follow up, right. You're basically your staff left you the message and you just have a name and number, and now you have to say, hi, this is who I am. You called us. And now you have to go through the whole thing. If you have a little bit of information, just a little bit what's mom's name or dad's name? Um, where are they located? Are they in the hospital or they're at home? Um, and what are your, you know, your three main concerns what's going on with them at this moment in time that I can pass along to our owner. That alone will help you so that now you can say, Hi, Judy, I see that you called me about your mom, Doris. Um, and I understand that you're really concerned about her safety and her nutritional needs. And, she's isolated a lot and you're concerned about that. Is there anything else? I need to know what it, tell me more about it. Now you're opening up the door and now it sounds like you care now. It sounds like it's not just a person that you're just calling back. And the worst thing I think can happen is when your staff asked that question, and then when you call back, you're just like, hi, you just call me. And then you don't address anything that, that first initial person, your staff member got in terms of information. I believe that have conversation with families. Should be a stepping stone. Each conversation is a stepping stone from the other. So having some form of documentation of what that stepping stone is behind will help you with your next stepping stone and your next stepping stone. I hope that all makes sense, but that is. Like sales 101 The other thing is using texts emails. Um, video emails, video texts to follow up families. Is amazing. Like these are channels of communication that will set you apart, meaning a lot of times what people don't realize is is the, um, the magic is in the follow-up. There's magic and trying to get people to call you. Cause that's in its own, magic um, you know, um, where you having the wand and you're like, please Lord send me, people, send me people, right. Um, that the other magic is when you have them, how are you moving them along? It's the nurturing process? And I say, moving them along, meaning like, how are you moving them closer to become your loved resident? And, you know, hopefully you're in this because you have a passion for it. Um, and this is where all of that comes in. And then the other benefit of a CRM tool is tracking your results. How do you know if that marketing program that you have put out is working, unless you track, how many phone calls you received from it? How many visits to your community came from that one marketing program that you spent a thousand dollars on or$200 on or whatever it is? How do you measure your ROI? How do you know? Speaking at this place gives me more traction, than speaking over here at this place. Um, visiting this skilled nursing facility, I'm getting more traction than visiting this one over here. As an individual owner, do you really care about that? You may not. But you definitely care about the results and the results are, do I have residents in my community? And. And how do I get them in. And if you're not able to, to track what you're doing. At least on a small scale. Then how do you know what you're doing is working? What you might see. It's just not working, but now you don't know, what's not working about it. And so I always say to owner operators, you know, when they call me, it's like, how many visits have come into your place? Let's say in the last 30 days. And sometimes they just don't know. Well, I've only had three. Maybe Here four maybe. So that averages out to one a week. Well, what are you doing when you got that for where they are clustered or they over time? Was you doing some activity? I'm trying to dig in to find out how can we, where, where is there? Where could you do more? And where did you get those four from? And. And a lot of times people just aren't able to tell me. So we start from scratch. And that is okay. But the key is, is that when you're tracking your performance, You're tracking, what's working and what's not. And it doesn't have to be as detailed as it is in corporate. I probably do not suggest it. But having something as simple as the FOBFlo CRM would be a really great way of doing that. I hope this was helpful what I'm going to do for you today is I'm going to have for you a quick response. Um, script. And a checklist some of the things that you should be thinking about. And so, um, I will have that, I'll put it in the show notes for you below. And, um, I thank you so much for your time, and I know it is very valuable and you're busy, but hopefully you would have found this super helpful.

Tiffany Updated voice: 32:25

Well, don't miss out on any of the 21 strategies to help you achieve a hundred percent occupancy. Just hit that subscribe button and you'll be the first to hear when new episodes come out and you will never miss a tip. Not only for these 21 days, but going forward. And. If you can do me a huge favor. If this episode gave you some aha moments, I'd love you to rate the podcast. Your reviews will help me so much. I read all of them and I love to hear your feedback. So thank you so very much. And don't forget to download the information and checklists.

Tiffany: 33:02

All right. You guys have a wonderful day and a very successful week.