How to Turn Your Tours Into a Yes: The VIP Visit Experience - Day 9

If you’ve ever wondered why families walk your community and then say “This is nice,” and never come back…

Then, this episode is going to change the game for you.

Today, we’re breaking down the Visit Experience (not the “tour.”)
Because families don’t tour homes…they visit them.
And the moment you shift your language, your energy shifts too.

Inside this episode, I walk you through how to stand out instantly, personalize every interaction, and turn a simple walkthrough into the beginning of a genuine relationship. 

Your biggest competition isn’t the competitor down the street, it’s the comforts of being home.

You will hear exactly how to help families feel:
seen, heard, valued, and understood… from the moment they walk through your door.

We talk about:

• The mindset shift from tour → personalized visit
• The real questions families ask themselves in IL, AL, and Memory Care
• How to upgrade first impressions with simple sensory cues
• The VIP Method (Visualize → Invite → Personalize)
• Three real examples of tailored visits that ended in move-ins
• How to follow up without feeling salesy or pushy
• The “homework strategy” that gets families to actually return your calls

Free Resource:

COMING SOON: The Personalized Visit Script & Checklist
A step-by-step guide to help you upgrade every tour into a relationship-building moment.

If you’re loving this series:

Share this episode with another operator, we’re all in this together!

Subscribe so you don’t miss the next part of the 21-Day All Things Senior Living Sales journey.

And if you're ready to increase your move-ins in 2026, join the Momentum Marketing Bootcamp. Founding cohort launches in December with special charter pricing.

Transcript

Tiffany Updated voice: 0:05

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 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. Hi! Welcome to Start With Occupancy. I am Tiffany Hill, Allen, your host, and I am excited about finishing this series with a focus because life keeps lifeing for all of us. This has been a really rough year for a lot of us, and the more that I keep pushing ahead, it just seems you just keep getting knocked down and the key is in entrepreneurship and business and life it's not, how you get knocked down, but how you get back up. And so while this series have been a labor of love that I've been working on for, it seems like forever, I wanted to reintroduce you guys to it. So if you haven't heard the prior, recordings, what we're doing is a 21 day all things senior living sales. So we're talking about the visit experience aka tours, and how to make them impactful. Many people who are new to the industry, and we're talking about people who are owners, managers, sales professionals, when they are finally in their place, whether they just opened or just got licensed, are not quite sure what to do when people actually show up at their door. So they're excited about their place, they're excited about what they're doing, and what they're able to offer, but they're not sure how to handle what a lot of people call the tour experience, but I call it the visit experience. I cannot claim this word or this phrase, but when the switch happened in the company that I worked with, I could not un switch it. Because, how many of us tour people's houses? We don't. We visit, and these are the homes of residents who live with us and we are supplying where they're going to live. And so you'll hear me say for your sake tour, but you'll also hear me say the visit and when I say the visit, this is what I'm talking about. One of the things that, I tell my, my, new owners is that you always have to ask yourself. As well as my new salespeople too. I'm not leaving you guys out, but you always have to ask yourself, how am I going to set myself, my community, and my staff, apart from not only the competition, but from the comfort of home. A lot of times people think that it's about the competitor down the street, but who is your biggest competitor? But the familiarity that comes with living at home and everything that is comfortable with that, if you are offering an independent living situation for aging adults. The question you should ask yourself is, why should I leave my home to move in with you?" Think about it. They're at home, they're independent, they don't have to go. They're leaving because of convenience, lifestyle, and, socialization, things like that."What do you offer that I cannot do or do not want to do for my own self?" That is the independent person. In assisted living, it is,"why is it safer here than it is at my home?" The family knows, what has to be done, but that's a question in their mind."Is your place going to be safer for my mom, my dad, whoever it is? Then where they are now? And, you have to show me how." The other thing that a resident might ask is, and they may not ask you directly, these are questions that should be in your mind, but it is Will I lose my independence? What does that look like? Will I be subjected to rules and routines that are, do not resonate with me or align with my own lifestyle?" And lastly, in memory care. This will be more from the family's perspective, right? But it's gonna be like,"Will my loved one be safe here? Will they be cared for? Will they have their dignity? Will you care for him or her like I would at home? And will your staff even know what their likes or dislikes are?" These are some of the things that are going through people's minds as they're going. To look for a new home, and more preferably a home where there is some form of care that is involved. And in independent living, they don't need direct care, people move into independent living because of socialization, because it might be, more affordable than where they're at. Sometimes they don't need assisted living, but they need someone to do their meals. They don't feel like cleaning their house. You have to prove to them or show them. I say prove meaning, show them, what is that benefit in your place? Can you see that this is not easy for anyone? There is so many different scenarios and situations and complexities to this decision making process that it can be overwhelming for families, for seniors and it can be daunting for you if you don't know to ask the right questions. It is our duty to personalize this visit experience or the tour experience so everyone feels seen, heard, and valued, and if you've listened to me at all, any point in time you will know that this is my North Star. Since we are in the quote unquote people business, it should be yours as well. So let's just talk about it. Okay? Most families who are visiting communities feel like many of them are exactly the same or have the same language. They're either generic, they're asking them the same questions. They sometimes are very rigid. They're feeling like they're on a museum tour, or they feel rushed. I even had somebody say that, because he didn't have his great-aunt with him, the sales manager refused literally to give him a tour of the community. And she was like, she needs to be here. And he was like, I can't take her. You know, all these, these places. I'm doing the initial visit to look at places and then I'm going to bring her. Do you know that sales manager at that big box community at one of the big corporations would not take him around the community. And from that moment on, he has a very bad taste in his mouth about that company no matter where they are. This is how this type of stuff impact people and the things that they remember. The other thing is that you don't want a family to leave you thinking, this is a nice place. It looks beautiful, but is it the right fit? That tells me if someone says that to me, and I've had families actually reach out to me and I would have to then go back and ask them questions about what's important to them. In essence, really doing a whole new discovery conversation with them, because obviously the person who was giving them What I call the walk around, never connected them to their community. At the end of the day, families need to feel seen, heard, valued, and I'll even throw in one other one understood. Do you understand what their needs are? Do you understand what their concerns are? Do you understand their likes, their dislikes? Their challenges? These are some of the things that you, as an operator trying to bring in families, when you hone in on this, it helps uplift your conversions, meaning how many people are visiting you and out of those people who are visiting you, how many are moving in? And so the first part obviously is getting them to say yes to the visit. And then the second part is once they come and visit you, to say yes to moving forward towards the move-in. Whether that is, going ahead and doing an assessment, whether it's that visiting their home to see what will fit into their apartment, whether that is, them coming back for a second visit to meet with a particular resident. Your tour aka visit is the start of a relationship. It is not an appointment. It's an appointment on your calendar. Yes, of course it is, but it is also the beginning or I would say the step up from the phone conversation if it was scheduled by the phone. But it is the beginning of a relationship. If you did the phone conversation correctly, it is going to further deepen it. If they are people who just walk in off the street and want to see your community because it was a referral, then it is the beginning of a new relationship. The key is that you stand out from every competitor instantly in the way you handle the visit A tour, aka visit isn't just a walkthrough of your community. It's a moment that shapes whether a family sees you as an option or the one. So my question to you, family, are you an option? Or are you the one and you always want to win out as being the one. Hands down! So let me tell you a quick story. I obviously, in my many years of being a sales manager and then being a regional manager, have conducted many quote unquote tours or I would say have hosted many families on a visit. notice how the language sounds different. So I, I just want you guys to hear, what does that sound like in your ears Sounds very different, doesn't it? I digress. I'm sorry, but I just had to go there because language and words matter. And I want you to understand that not only in this, but in this whole sales relationship and customer journey, so here's my thing. How do we personalize a visit? And so I'm going to give you just a few examples of what was done in the past, either by me or one of my team members. This one was by me. I had someone coming in who was an author of a book. He was a veteran. The book was well known. What I did is when he came in, I had a welcome sign with his name but the sign that was on the concierge desk said welcome", his name, author of and it was like, Hey everyone, we have a author that's coming in of course I had permission from the family, and I had the article that, he was featured and underneath the name of the community welcomes and is so honored to have you visit with us today. And so nobody knew that he was there for a visit to see the community. They just thought that we were hosting a author coming in, and so people was excited. So when I was taking them around, they were like, oh, you're the author. And they were like, tell us about this. And it was so exciting for that person who was visiting that he almost forgot the why. The reason of the visit was because he wasn't mobile like he was before. and that he needed additional help with his medications. The focus wasn't so much on the, shortcomings that I have in my life at this time, physically that I have to make this decision. It was look at these people celebrating what I've done in my life and who's really excited about meeting me for the first time. And so that turned around the whole narrative of what that visit was for that person. And yes, it was a move in. Thank you. second was a woman who lost her husband tragically and only took up painting. I would say, I think she was like 45 or something, and she had been painting in the mountains of North Carolina and had to come back to Florida. When she was looking at her apartment, she was still deeply, deeply grieving. I had another person who was an artist that had already given me permission to showcase her apartment where she featured her art on the wall. And so when this woman came, she looked at the empty apartment that she would be in and I said, Hey, I have someone else that I want you to meet. I introduced her to this particular resident who was already living with me, who had the art on the walls, showed how she showcased her art and they started talking about artist things and stuff like that. Again, it was a move in. Thank you very much. But it was personalized. These are some of the small little things that you can do. Who's the person's favorite sports team Who? How do you personalize the model room? If you have one or the future room for them, have you gone online and got their picture and that you put it on the refrigerator door or in a picture frame next to the nightstand? Do you know what their favorite book is that you have laid out on a bed when it's set up? These are little ways that you can personalize um, the visit, but even the model room or the future room of that resident to make them feel not only again, seen, heard, valued, but also welcomed and understood. The whole idea of personalizing this visit is to tailor the experience so that you can gain instant connection. You don't want it to seem fake. because it shouldn't be. If you're in this, be in it. Be in it for what it is. And that is helping people to live a more fulfilled life. I'm going to go over is the framework that we're going to set up for today's talk. I call it the VIP visit, aka tour, method. And the first thing you want to do is visualize. Prepare before they even arrive. What do you want this person to experience? And I say person meaning, is it the family that's coming first? Personalize the experience for that family member. Or is it the resident or both? Knowing who's coming on that initial visit and what is important to that person, again, this all goes back to that discovery conversation, but you want to prepare before they arrive, do your research. Yes. It might sound like a bit stalkerish but I wanted to know my families, I wanted to know what were they interested in. Like again, I cannot. reemphasize the importance of a good discovery phone call if you have the opportunity to do that before they come in. The more you know, the better you can connect. But to do this, understand that conversation or being prepared is vitally important. If you missed that discovery conversation episode go to day two of this 21 day series Literally the impact of your visit, aka tour goes back to what you did in that discovery conversation. and and you're not starting from zero unless they're walking off the street. If they call you and say,"Hey, I want to come in", get some vital information so that you can personalize that experience for them. Review your discovery notes before they come in. What are their interests? What are their fears? What are their hobbies and their triggers? Then you want to visualize through the lens of the family, and maybe then through the lens of their loved one, what that visit would look like for them. One of the things I always did at the beginning of the month is I knew what the events were. If you're a small home, you still should have a calendar of events that you're doing, whether it's movie night or whether it's going out to Walmart with your residents or going to a show. One of the smaller communities here, she has guests come in and talk to her residents or, play musical instruments for her residents. So I would highlight those things at the beginning of the month. If you're a sales manager, this is a quick tip for you. When you have your activity calendar, you highlight those things that are, good for prospective residents or their families to attend. This was planned for not only the initial visit but for a possible second visit or follow up. If I, if it was, coordinated, I did enough discovery. I knew their, likes and what their passions and hobbies were, and we had somoeone coming in for that. It was a good setup for an incredible first impressions, and impactful visit. For instance, if we had a violinist coming in for whatever reason I'm throwing that out there. I don't think I've ever had a violinist, but let's say we did, and I knew this person loved to go to the opera or the symphony. Then the day that the visit was scheduled was the day that the violinist was going to be there, if you understand. Invite participation, in what you're doing. Hve a resident ambassador. Also, inviting them to a lunch so they can experience what the food is like. Like I mentioned before, invite them to an event if it's something that they loved. A round of bridge or a round of bingo or, whatever activity, as long as it matched what they were or have expressed interest in, whether it was something they haven't done in a long time or something they wanted to do or they were looking forward to doing again in their life. These are some ideas. The purpose is to show them what life would look like inside of your four walls, right? Remember that you're not selling real estate. You are helping them to decide on a new lifestyle, a new living situation. So four walls is good. it should be clean, it should be aesthetically pleasing, but that's not what you're selling. You are selling a lifestyle and what will that lifestyle look like for them? Okay, then you want to customize. So again, visualize, invite, and then customize. excuse me. per personalize, I'm sorry, personalize. So is the V is for the visual. The I is for the inviting them And then the P is the personalization, We've been talking about it. You want to make sure you customize. It might just be if you're a smaller home, you don't have the budget for all of that. It could be music appreciation, it could be music theory, it could be, having, Karaoke, it could be like whatever you have in your community. and you should have a variety of things that's going on in your community. It should never be a community where people are just sitting there and watching TV and that's all they're doing. that is not, an enriched life, right? And I don't think any of us would want that. Here are some other practical tips for you: have a handwritten note or a welcome sign, on a blackboard or, something that you have. People love their names. They love seeing their names in lights. They love seeing their names publicized. They love feeling welcomed, Anytime you're able to personalize a sign. At the front door if they're more discreet than it could be inside the model or the open apartment that you are showing them, or open room if you're a smaller home. Don't neglect the sensory elements. What is their favorite snack? What is their favorite song? Do you have music that is just playing softly in the background of your home or inside of the model room or inside the room that you have open? Have a little Alexa in there playing something soft. This is why you should ask what kind of music do they like? What do they enjoy during the discovery? So then that way you can set the station to that type of music when they walk into that room. whether it's the model room or the room that they would be moving into. What activities do they like? These are all the sensories, and, if you've heard me a while, you know that when it comes to a visit, aka tour, I'm looking at what do I see? What do I smell? What do I hear? And, how does it make me feel? That is my mantra for everything when it comes to preparing for a family visit. Again, use the person's name. Even on this visit, capture more of what they said that they like, because you want to fold that into maybe a second visit, because sometimes people have to come more than once to see that this is right for them. Mention it again at the end of the visit. Use their name, not just saying Hey, your mom is this or your mom that, or this is something good for your mom, but use the mom's name. Miss Cynthia would like this. Or miss Cynthia likes, chicken and rice, what kind or how does she like the chicken prepared? like it's having conversations and the more you have conversations, the more you connect. Remember, this is an opportunity to build a relationship. Address everybody by their name. That is so important. Ask how they would like to follow up after the visit. And this is not an open-ended question, you know, say, how would you like me to follow up? You don't want that. This is one of those questions that you ask the questions and then you give them the ways of following up that you usually do. So you might say, and how would you like me to follow up with you? Do you prefer an email? You prefer phone call or text? But, but usually those are texts or phone call. and you want to also, I say personalize the visit with this. And this is something I did way before videos were even popular, After a visit, they would walk out the door, pull off, I would immediately send a text that says,"Thank you for coming in. I am looking forward to meeting your mom, Cynthia, or Miss Cynthia'cause I always call people by their, miss this and that.'cause we're here in the south down here but then I would also, Second that maybe a couple hours later."Hey, I was still thinking about you and Ms. Cynthia. Here's a quick video of the things that you said that you like. I know you're visiting other places and it can all get jumbled together, but these are some of the things that you said Ms. Cynthia would like just in case you want to show her or, you want to, look at it again, here's a video." And I did this way back, like in 2012 when it wasn't popular. and people appreciated that. They loved it actually. These are the little extra steps that you can do that is going to set you apart from other providers. Remember to ask them, how do you prefer for me to contact you? I would like to go ahead and follow up with you tomorrow based on our, or based on our conversation. I'm going to follow up with you tomorrow to go over this, that, and the other, because at which I'm not gonna go over today, but in every visit I always gave the family homework to do. I know that sounds crazy, but I did. I always gave the family homework to do and I always gave myself homework to do because it gave me a reason to follow up with them, and it gave them a reason to look forward to my call. There's another little tip there, but I'm just saying, maybe on another episode you guys let me know just by, commenting on my, Instagram or Facebook, you can DM me and say,"Hey, I would like to know more on how you did that." But I always gave them homework and I always gave myself homework and that way they would look forward to my call and it wouldn't be considered bothersome. I think a lot of salespeople and new owners feel like they're bothering a family, but remember they came to you because they needed help. So asking them how would they like to communicate? Phone or text? Usually, I try within 24 hours just to see if they had any questions and I would tell them that. And then also to give them whatever the homework, I had to, get back with them on whether it was from a question they had or resources they needed. It is always nice to have a departing gift, and I put that in quotations. It doesn't have to be a true gift, but this could be a branded item for the family to take with them. Obviously you want to have a brochure, with them. something to personalize the experience. for the caregiver's, another one. A lot of times the person is coming without their loved one, and if they don't have their loved one with them, it might be because they're overwhelmed as a caregiver. I have had it where caregivers really poured their heart out to me over the phone before the visit. And what I ended up doing is, giving them a little caregiver care package. You know, that could be tea with a mug and a journal, and back then it was a cd. Just be creative because the thing is that the, at the end of the day, people want to know again, that you care. And what you do now, in the foundation of building that relationship, even when there are customer service failures, possibly later on they will go back to remembering who you were. When they met you, meaning that, in, in the big box, you're not responsible for the customer service failures. You're just not. You can't be because that's not your thing. You can only tell what people are supposed to do and you hope that your executive director direct the team to do. If you're the owner, you have staff, you tell them what to do, but sometimes, for whatever reason, it doesn't come through the way your intentions are. But if a family knows your intentions and they feel connected to you and feel like you really care, then they know that you'll take care of whatever it is that failed them through the caregiving process. And that is great leverage because you want to show up as being present and really being a partner because that is what you are an actual partner to them. Let me know what ideas you have used in the past that was effective in, helping families and connecting with them on their, visit. What I'm going to do for you though, is I'm going to set up, it's not there yet now, I'm trying to wait till the series is done, so you guys have to hold on for me, but you can subscribe, so that when it comes out, I will let you know, um, create A personalized guide visit script and checklist so that you can upgrade every visit that you have, and that's going to be coming out real soon. If you're loving the series, please share it with another operator who needs that strategic support. Remember, sharing is caring and there are so many people who's going to need help that there is no reason to, um, not play nice in the sandbox. If you know someone who's struggling, help them out this maybe helpful for them. Subscribe so you never miss a step in the 21 Day All Things Sales journey that we're doing. And before you go, one more thing I would like to share with you that can truly shift your trajectory in 2026. You've been working, you're open, you're just not quite breaking through yet, and you're listening to this, I have something I created. It's called the Momentum Marketing Bootcamp. It is officially opening finally, in December, and I'm inviting a small group of what I call my founding cohort. This is for the early group who gets it, um, and who wants to be a part of the the charter cohort I've reduced this like by 60%, for you to be a part of this. and that is because you're gonna be the founding cohort. So if this is something that you might be interested in, you say,"What is it, Tiffany?" It is a bootcamp! It is a 10 week hands-on experience with me, as a group, a small group, where we will walk through three of my core programs Start With Occupancy, 90 days to 90%. And, Marketing For Move-ins. It is three of my bigger courses that cost much more and it's all going to be wrapped up together, at a much lower rate when it's a bootcamp, but even that lower rate is going down to 60% off. and that's happening in December. Start With Occupancy, the foundation and fundamentals every owner should master and should know in terms of preparing themselves as they open and as they are going out marketing their business. 90 days to 90% is the system that is creating your marketing plan is how you're going to simplify marketing and fill up your pipeline. and that's another sales term if you don't know, but we'll talk about that. And then is marketing for move-ins, which is the strategy that turns that plan that you made in 90 days to 90% into an actionable plan. It's How do you execute? And that's what we're going to be doing. So this bootcamp's going to remove all the guesswork. It's fast paced, condensed for you, and you'll get clarity, structure, accountability, and the actual tools that you'll need to grow your community in 2026. Listen, in the big box communities, the people that I was training, they all, whether it was memory care all the way up to independent living, had a number they had to reach every single month. My job was to get them where they needed to be upped and trained to get that. If you are getting anything less than for an assisted living. Four move-ins a month for memory care, less than two to three move-ins a month. And for independent living, depending on how big you are, anything less than, let's just say six. Move-ins a month, then you need this bootcamp because that is what I've been trained to do, is help people get, on average, about five move-ins per month. And if five move-ins will get your house completely full, then you need to be here. All right, also take a moment to check out Enspire Me Collective. It is my lifestyle brand created to uplift caregivers and operators and heart-centered entrepreneurs like you and a portion of every sale of Enspire Me Collective,$5 goes to people like you, it goes to, owners who are trying to make senior living affordable. And that is something that has always been in my heart. Now, it is actually coming together where I have something that I can grow and take that money and pour it back to you, the actual operator, to make sure that we are, really. having the opportunity to give affordable senior living options to aging adults. It is something that is so a part of my heart and I am so happy to have finally got this going. Your reviews will help this podcast reach more people, so don't be shy, and if you do write a review, please put in your name, the name of your assisted living or memory care or independent living community and the city and state, and I will shout you out on the podcast. love to hear from all of you guys. Thank you so much! Get ready for day 10.